The Phantom Bullet (Silent)

Tom "Click" Farlane, a rugged cowboy who just happens to also be an expert amateur photographer, gets word from the family ranch in Texas that his father has been murdered. The only clue is that the killing bullet was fired from an automatic. Once in Texas, he pretends to be a clueless city boy in order to catch the ranch hands unawares. Though he is met with jeers from his father's men, Click attracts the attentions of pretty judge's daughter Jane Terrill. While snapping a photo of them together with a timed shutter, a shot goes off - from the same gun that killed Pa Farlane! Developing the photo, Click learns the gunman is Don Barton, the ranch foreman. When Barton takes Jane captive, Click must shed his soft city slicker pose and come to the rescue.

Based on the serialized novel Click of the Triangle T by Oscar J. Friend, The Phantom Bullet is an amusing silent western comedy starring Hoot Gibson, one of the most popular cowboy actors of the era. An accomplished rider and rodeo champ before he ever set foot in front of a camera, Hoot started out as a stuntman. By the mid-twenties he was a bona-fide Western star at Universal, starring in their big-budget "Jewel" productions. Later, Gibson appeared in countless westerns for smaller studios such as Allied and Republic after his contract with Universal came to an end. Sadly, by the end of his life, Hoot was reduced to working as a greeter at casinos in Las Vegas, the money from his film career long since depleted by bad investments and reckless living. His leading lady in The Phantom Bullet, the lovely Eileen Percy, was often paired with the young Douglas Fairbanks, playing Doug's love interest in Down to Earth, The Man from Painted Post, Wild and Wooly, and Reaching for the Moon (all 1917).

BONUS: Shootin' Mad (1918): When a crooked dance hall owner shoots an elderly settler and frames "Broncho Billy" Anderson for the murder, it's up to the legendary cowboy to clear his name and save the old man's daughter from the killer's clutches. Directed by Jess Robbins.