Galloping Gallagher on AllMovie

Western star Fred Thompson was, for many years, the biggest single moneymaker for the small-scale production firm of FBO. The Thompson vehicles enabled the tiny studio to expand to the point that it was attractive enough to be gobbled up by prestigious RKO Radio Pictures. All of this was still five years in the future when, in 1924, Thompson played the title role in Galloping Gallagher. Although released subsequent to The Mask of Lopez and North of Nevada, this fine silent western was most likely the first Fred Thomson oater filmed. Very much in the tradition of Tom Mix, this good-humored little silent melodrama features Thomson as a happy-go-lucky drifter who is elected sheriff of Tombstone on account of his fine horsemanship. He falls for a lady minister (Thomson regular Hazel Keener) and unmasks the town's banker as a notorious bandit known as "Lily Finger." More important than that, Thomson gets to exhibit his much-admired mount Silver King, who plays a major role in the proceedings. Rumor had it in 1920s Hollywood that the consistently high quality of the Fred Thompson westerns was due to the uncredited input of Thompson's wife, award-winning screenwriter Frances Marion.