The Hawk of Powder River

U.S. Marshal Lash La Rue finds that the viscious outlaw gang leader is beautiful Jennifer Holt, so evil that she had her guys kill her uncle before he could expose her, and is plotting to add her cousin to the list of murdered relatives.

Arguably Eddie Dean's best Western -- and certainly the balladeer's most unusual -- THE HAWK OF POWDER RIVER features busy B-Western heroine Jennifer Holt as Vivian, the "Hawk" of the title and the murderous leader of a gang of outlaws. When a local newspaper editor begins a crusade against the Hawk's reign of terror, Vivian has her henchmen murder him. Her uncle (Budd Buster), the owner of the Chambers Ranch, accidentally discovers the gang's hideout, and he, too, is killed. Next in line is Vivian's pretty cousin, Carole (June Carlson), but she is saved in the nick of time by cowboys Eddie Dean and Soapy (Roscoe Ates), who decide to get to the bottom of the fearful goings-on. Eddie sets a trap for Vivian's fiancé, Cochrane (Eddie Parker), and THE HAWK OF POWDER RIVER ends in a shootout during which Vivian is killed. In between the carnage, Dean sings four ballads accompanied by Andy Parker and the Plainsmen.