CLASSIC 1950s CAMP!

Rugged fugitive and soldier-of-fortune Dan McCloud (Ronald Reagan) washes up on the island of Puerto Barrancas while on the run from authorities. There he is blackmailed into joining a plot hatched by a crooked exporter (John Wengraf) to disrupt the banana-plantation activities of the beautiful Flanders White (Rhonda Fleming). Things become complicated when McCloud falls in love with White which leads to trouble for all concerned, especially McCloud's 'employer' who quickly realizes he's not getting what he paid for.

Ronald Reagan always wanted to do more westerns, and the Gipper signed with Pine-Thomas productions to do this film because not only had they given him his first starring western (The Last Outpost), but they pitched this film to him as a western with a tropical setting. Indeed, Tropic Zone has many hallmarks of a classic western with Reagan's two fisted fugitive character finding safe quarters and redemption via a failing farm which is coveted by a villain. Rhonda Fleming, who was a great friend and often co-star of Reagan's, shows she's a worthy match for any man and is very convincing as a no-nonsense businesswoman, showing that 1950s women business owners could certainly do more than run beauty salons.