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Handsome silent star Fred Thomson's fifth western for producer Andrew Callaghan was the old story of a prizefighter falsely assuming he has permanently injured an opponent in the ring (real-life boxer Al Kaufman). Thomson's Lightning Kid hightails it to the West where he manages to defeat a local bully, former fighter-turned-dance-hall-operator Wildcat Rea (Frank S. Hagney). Thomson cut a handsome figure astride his famous horse Silver King, and his films often included children. The Dangerous Coward benefitted from both child actors and Hazel Keener, a pert redhead who appeared in the initial six Thomson oaters. The trade magazine Variety considered the film "one of the best (to) have come along in some time."