STERRA BARON
By
California, opening up in 1849 and wide open for its conquest by greed, offers a spacious territory for Mike McGann, may hombre, as he is given a deed to the Princessa ranch. Now, with the discovery of gold, McGann's rights are firmly contested particularly by Peyton (who had thought to put one over on him)-but Mike goes on to mine it. Gold is worth its weight in violence (Joaquin Murrieta figures in some of it) but Mike emerges as the patron of the Princesa, fends off the encroachment of Peyton, refuses to shoot to protect his empire- and is saved by the canny strategy of his friend and banker- Benson.... Aggrandizement here is not limited to the man- but extends to the genre- a sort of jumbo western and for that audience.