CODE OF THE PRAIRIE [1944] - Sunset Carson 

When I first saw the "breaking the fourth wall" ending where Smiley tells the kids to go home because they had been at the movies all day long, I smiled. I'm sure some of the "oldsters" would have seen that movie at the time and never gave it a thought. But now, the memory brings a tear to your eyes for the good old days.

One of the Top Stars of the Durango Kid movies for a long time. SOME of Smiley's BEST STUFF!

Smiley Burnette worked with several of the Republic cowboys before going onto Columbia. Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bob Livingston, Eddie Dew and Sunset Carson. He knew his worth and how it brought fans to the movies. When Sunset Carson came along, Smiley was used as fan attraction because nobody knew who Sunset was. It's true that he would upstage someone if he could but he probably thought "I'm as good as you are." When he went to Columbia to appear with Charles Starrett, he had the same attitude but the Columbia execs probably inflated his ego saying that he was going to give the Durango series a shot in the arm. This is what he told Starrett so naturally they got off on the wrong foot.

So this was a movie with two second fiddles and no leading man?

The Bat in this movie was not Bat Masterson just a similar sounding last name.

Bat Matson