Summary
Gunsight, a blistered blister on the desert’s hide, exhales dust and copper rumors; into its maw strides Rimrock Jones, all rawhide nerve and pick-ax dreams, only to be gutted by the parchment talons of Andrew McBain, a solicitor who weaponizes an arcane statute—Apex Law—like a scalpel across a claim map. Uprooted but unbroken, Rimrock claws deeper into the iron crust and unearths Tecolote, a subterranean cathedral of verdigris wealth, yet shackled by poverty. Enter Mary Fortune, court stenographer, hearing-impaired, quick-silver intelligent; she bankrolls the prodigal prospector with two thousand hard-saved dollars, refusing simple interest, instead demanding a seat at the boardroom altar where men’s futures are wagered over ore assays. Deafness thickens; Mary flees westward to Manhattan’s white-coated audiologists, Rimrock in shambling pursuit, hearts louder than dynamite. Wall Street’s basilisk, Stoddard, covets Tecolote’s subterranean rivers of metal; he dispatches Hazel Hardesty, a siren lacquered in sin and city neon, to narcotize Rimrock with champagne nights. Telegrams crisscross the continent like electric veins; Mary races back to Gunsight, ballot in hand, to block the hostile coup. Bullets whine, fists crack, and in a final dust-swirl Rimrock storms the operational parapet, rescuing both mine and muse, sealing narrative fate with a kiss that tastes of grit, gunpowder, and gratitude.
Synopsis
In the mining town of Gunsight, an unscrupulous lawyer named Andrew McBain applies the obscure "Apex Law" to trick Rimrock Jones out of his newly discovered copper mine. Undaunted, the reckless young prospector locates an even richer mine. Having no money to develop the Tecolote, Rimrock borrows $2,000 from stenographer Mary Fortune, who, when the mine proves its worth, decides to retain a vote on the board rather than take back her loan. Plagued by deafness, Mary travels to New York to consult a specialist, followed by Rimrock, who now loves her. Stoddard, a Wall Street financier who has designs on Rimrock's mine, hires a vamp named Hazel Hardesty to detain Rimrock in the East, but Mary returns to Gunsight in time to prevent Stoddard from taking control of the Tecolote. Rimrock reappears to save Mary from Stoddard's gang, after which he locks the loyal Mary in an embrace.
Review Excerpt
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Spoilers ride shotgun; keep your six-shooter cocked.
The Lode and the Law
Mining-country folklore insists that every nugget of ore carries a ghost, and Rimrock Jones proves it—only here the phantoms are legal clauses, stamped onto parchment by a vulpine attorney whose grin glints colder than any vein of copper. Director Donald Crisp, armed with a scenario distilled from Dane Coolidge’s serialized chapters, stages the frontier less as Manifest Destiny’s playground than as a crucible where capi..."
