AllMovie

Poverty-row mainstay Morris R. Schlank elevated a local California cowpuncher to stardom in this obscure silent western, the first in a proposed series that never materialized. Tex Covey was but one of many cowboys accompanying producer-director Ben Wilson to Kernville in Central California in 1928. The young amateur appeared briefly in Flashing Hoofs, starring stunt-man Cliff Lyons, before Wilson, line-producer Nat Cordish, and Schlank chose him to star in a series of his own. The Phantom Pinto, which also featured Covey's horse "Ranger," told the rather commonplace story of a cowpoke foiling the plans of a gang of horse thieves. Covey apparently didn't work out as a western star, and the series was continued with yet another stunt performer, Cheyenne Bill.