The Best (and Worst) of the West! Reviews and Observations on B-Westerns by Boyd Magers Most Recent Reviews Page

Search/Find: If you wish to find a particular review of a film title or movies by a cowboy hero, simply use your web browser's built-in FIND function and that will allow you to search down this page for your keywords.  In the upper left of your screen, you should see the word 'EDIT' on both Netscape and Internet Explorer.  Click on that, and in the drop down menu, click on 'FIND' to do your search.  In Netscape or Internet Explorer, you can also hit the Ctrl-F key combination to open the FIND box (hold down the Ctrl Key in the lower left of your keyboard, and press the key for the letter F).  In the 'Find What' box, type in a word or short phrase like buck jones, or sunset carson, or republic, or monogram.  When done typing, begin the search by clicking on the 'Find Next' button which will take you to the first occurrence of that word or phrase (or to the end of this page, if no match is found).  Keep clicking on the 'Find Next' button to continue down to all the matches.

Printing this webpage: I would suggest you do NOT attempt to print this.  When last I checked, this would require a bunch of pages to print.  Plus the reviews are not in any particular order, so it would be difficult to wade through all those pages looking for a film title, western hero, etc.  If you wish to have this information locally on your PC, I would recommend you click on "File" and then do a "save as" in Internet Explorer or Netscape. And save this page on your hard drive (as an .htm or .html file type).  If you also want Boyd's picture, the red stars and garbage can, put your mouse pointer on each image, click with your right mouse button, and do a "save image or picture as" to the same area on your hard drive where the main page will be saved.  The Search/Find function noted above will work on webpages saved to your hard disk.

Individual film reviews - as well as the complete The Best (and Worst) of the West! film review collection - is copyright ©2000-2009 by Boyd Magers. All rights reserved.

The Ratings

Superior

Good

OK

Poor

A real dud !

 THE RAIDERS (aka RIDERS OF VENGEANCE) (1952 Universal-International)
A hackneyed revenge-B-plot is enhanced by a terrific cast (although many of the "names" have little to do) in this thinly disguised retelling of the Joaquin Murrieta story and early California's fight for statehood. Miscast Richard Conte loses his wife (Margaret Field) and brother (William Reynolds) and sees his ranch burned by the vicious tactics of land-baron/statehood opposing Morris Ankrum and his cold-hearted raiders (John Kellogg, Riley Hill, Lane Bradford and Hugh O'Brian -- who rapes and kills Conte's wife off screen). Conte swears revenge and joins up with Richard Martin and other victims of Ankrum's ruthlessness (Gregg Palmer aka Palmer Lee, Stan Jolley, Clayton Moore, Dennis Weaver, Terry Frost, Neyle Morrow) to exact vengeance on the killers. Also with Viveca Lindfors (Martin's sister/love interest for Conte), Barbara Britton (Ankrum's daughter), Marshal William Bishop (love interest for Britton), lawyer Frank Wilcox, Francis MacDonald, Boyd 'Red' Morgan, George J. Lewis, Ed Cobb, Carlos Rivero.

 OUTLAWS OF THE PANHANDLE (1941 Columbia)
When Rustlers plague cattlemen Steve Clark, Ray Teal and his daughter Frances Robinson they enlist neighboring rancher Charles Starrett from a nearby town for help in building a railroad through a gap in the mountains to guarantee safe passage of their beeves to market by rail. Opposing them on the sly is crooked banker Lee Prather in league with snaky Norman Willis who plot to disrupt the railroad, force the cattlemen to sell their livestock locally thereby driving them into foreclosure allowing the crooks to buy up their ranches. Their evil plans fall apart when Willis frames his own naïve kid brother, Stanley Brown, for a saloon shooting which then gives Starrett the edge to expose their treachery. Representative Starrett for the time, a bit drama heavy. Each of the Sons of the Pioneers get a bit of a showcase on five great songs including "Ridin' Down the Rio Valley".

 SNAKE RIVER DESPERADOES (1951 Columbia)
The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) aided by his two young friends, Indian boy Don Kay Reynolds and his white friend Tommy Ivo, bust up a gun-running operation to Indians led by Ivo's greedy uncle, Monte Blue, and his range rats John Pickard and Boyd "Red" Morgan. If you get only one Durango western, this is a prime choice, filled with truly non-stop action, thrills, stunts and surprises. Smiley Burnette gets in the way of the excitement leading an oom-pah band. Screenplay by Barry Shipman, directed by Fred Sears.

 SPOILERS OF THE RANGE (1939 Columbia)
Area ranchers have built a new dam to fend off future dry spells but $50,000 in the bank as the last payment to the builder is stolen by outlaw Dick Curtis, secretly in league with saloon owner Kenneth MacDonald. The crooked MacDonald then agrees to loan the ranchers money on condition their cattle are driven to market within three weeks to pay back his loan with the dam put up as security. When Curtis blocks the only trail from the Valley, Charles Starrett discovers the scheme and, as the ads for the picture state, it becomes a "Jaw-socking, sagebrush thriller" with "guns barking terror" and "fists dealing destruction". Excellent support from Starrett's usual leading lady Iris Meredith, Sheriff Hank Bell, with three superb upbeat songs and one ballad from Bob Nolan, Lloyd Perryman and the Sons of the Pioneers.

 COLORADO TRAIL (1938 Columbia)
"Stirrups Straining! Bullets Blazing! Rhythms Roaring!" proclaimed publicity for COLORADO TRAIL, a rip-snorter of a Charles Starrett western that begins with a rousing "I'm Bound For the Rio Grande" from the Sons of the Pioneers. Gunfighter Starrett sides with cattle rancher Edward J. Le Saint and his pretty daughter Iris Meredith when big rancher and cattle buyer Al Bridge, his partner Robert Fiske and savage foreman Dick Curtis block off the only pass for small ranchers to drive their beef to market and offer the small cattlemen a ridiculously meager price for their beeves. Starrett is surprised to discover Bridge is his estranged father who murdered a ranger years before. Tensions run high in Charles Francis Royal's above average screenplay, directed as most of these '30s Starretts were by Sam Nelson.

 WEST OF THE SANTA FE (1938 Columbia)
Ruthless, growly Dick Curtis poses as a cattle buyer while he, Ed Cobb and his gang, rustle ranchers' cattle. After the killing of her rancher father (Edward J. Lesaint) Iris Meredith leads other ranchers in rebellion, but she's outlawed and blamed for the murder of Curtis' banker partner Robert Fiske. U.S. Marshal Charles Starrett doesn't show up until 20 minutes into the movie and doesn't speak til the 27 minute mark. Posing as an outlaw, Starrett and fellow lawdog LeRoy Mason get the goods on the vicious Curtis. Always disappointing to hear The Sons of the Pioneers' leader Bob Nolan's voice being "dubbed" by Donald Grayson. Reasoning for this is - Columbia honcho Harry Cohn did not appreciate Nolan's voice - for whatever reason - and had Grayson dub in his voice on all the Pioneers' songs. Eventually, Cohn got the message as to how popular Nolan was and let him sing. Carl Frederick Grayson was born in Canton, OH, in 1908 and made his professional debut at 19 in Henry Busse's band. By 1936 he moved to Hollywood and started his own band. Columbia boss Cohn obviously saw something in Grayson and added him to the Starrett westerns as of DODGE CITY TRAIL ('37), billing him as "The New Singing Sensation". A few months later The Sons of the Pioneers were added to the mix but with Grayson taking Nolan's lead. Even when Grayson failed to click with audiences and was dropped from actually appearing in the Starretts, Cohn continued to replace Nolan's voice with Grayson, at least until wiser heads prevailed. Grayson became a violinist with the Spike Jones aggregation during their formation in the early '40s. Jones also showcased Grayson's comic vocal talents, often referred to as "glugging". A drinking problem led to his dismissal from Jones' band by 1946. Grayson died at 49 in 1958 of cirrhosis of the liver and cancer.

 BADMEN OF TOMBSTONE (1948 Allied Artists)
I've seen reviews of this seldom seen western liken the "badmen" of the title to Black Bart, the McLowery/Clanton gang, even making star Barry Sullivan out to be Marshal Wyatt Earp. None of these are accurate; all must have been written by people who never saw this obscurity. Just as well, actually, as it's not very good. Nothing really happens! Barry Sullivan is an outlaw named Tom Horn ... there any similarity to the real Tom Horn ends. Sullivan joins up with Broderick Crawford and his gang (Fortunio Bonanova, John Kellogg, Big Boy Williams) and they proceed to rob, pillage and murder with no remorse whatsoever. Therefore you never build up any feelings for this scum, other than wanting them captured ... or dead. There's a subplot involving Sullivan and Marjorie Reynolds, who is little better than Sullivan, condoning his murderous ways. After 74 minutes the gang eventually has a falling out with all of them killing one another or being killed. Even the title is misleading as most of the film takes place in Leadville, CO.

 THREE DESPERATE MEN (1951 Lippert)
Although Preston Foster, Jim Davis and Ross Latimer are called the Denton Brothers, this lowbudget Lippert is nothing more than a cloaked retelling of the Dalton Brothers story by screenwriter Orville Hampton who offers nothing new in the rehash. Foster and Davis break brother Latimer free from a hanging for a crime he didn't commit and in the process kill a deputy. Hounded by detective Rory Mallison, the three desperate men are forced into a life of crime. Even though Foster wants to go straight to be with his girl, Virginia Grey, he's drawn into the life of an outlaw. It all culminates with a reworking of the botched two-banks-at-once robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas. Watch for former B-western star Kermit Maynard as a hangman's guard. Sam Newfield's direction is by the mundane. Nothing to recommend here. Question? Why is there always a stupid Sid Melton scene in every Lippert film?

 UTAH KID (1930 Tiffany)
Wholesome schoolmarm Dorothy Sebastian stumbles into the mountaintop robber's roost hideout of a ruthless gang run by former silent star Tom Santschi. Rex Lease, a good-badman in the tradition of William S. Hart, marries Dorothy so Santschi's outlaws, including Boris Karloff (soon to win immortality as FRANKENSTEIN), will leave her alone. Meanwhile, Sheriff Walter Miller, Dorothy's "intended" is determined to smash the gang. That done, Miller realizes Dorothy now truly loves Lease and lets the outlaw go to straighten himself out and someday return to Dorothy. For 1930, extremely good production values (sound, photography, direction by Richard Thorpe). Entering the movie business in 1921, Thorpe directed some 50 silent features, then moved assuredly into talkies with this and a few other good low budget B's - DUDE WRANGLER ('30) with Tom Keene, UNDER MONTANA SKIES ('30) with Kenneth Harlan and WILD HORSE ('31) with Hoot Gibson - before moving up to A's with TARZAN ESCAPES ('36) (which he also helped write), THIN MAN GOES HOME ('44), A DATE WITH JUDY ('48), BLACK HAND ('50), CARBINE WILLIAMS ('52), IVANHOE ('52), JAILHOUSE ROCK ('57) and others. He also helmed four early Mascot serials from '29-'31 but spent most of his career at MGM. Tom Santschi was a major presence in silents beginning in 1909. His epic barroom battle with William Farnum in the 1914 version of "The Spoilers" can never be forgotten. Sadly, he died in 1931 so his sound efforts are few. Take note of Dorothy's Aunt, that's director Tommy Carr's mother, Mary Carr. Tiffany was active under several varying titles from 1922-1932. By whatever name (Tiffany-Stahl, California Tiffany or just Tiffany), it was perhaps the MGM of independents, turning out, usually, high grade independent product. By no means were all their films westerns, they released dramas, romantic comedies and action films more than westerns, especially prior to '31 when they turned more to Bob Steele and Ken Maynard to keep them going. Like its contemporaries, Tiffany just could not withstand the onslaught of the Great Depression and was history by mid-'32.

 COWBOY AND THE BANDIT (1935 Superior)
Neat little Louis Weiss produced, Al Herman directed low budgeter. Saved from hanging by outlaw Dick Alexander, who had sold him a stolen horse, Rex Lease rides on only to encounter young Bobby Nelson and his Mom (Annabelle Driver) who are being put upon by "greasy foreigner" saloon owner Vic Potel. Saloon girl Janet Morgan (aka Blanche Mehaffey) helps Rex get the goods on Potel and his gang. Alexander reappears with Rex returning the favor, allowing Alexander's boys to help Rex in the shoot-out finale. Scripter Jack Jeune actually used the hackneyed line when Rex confronts Janet, "How's come a nice girl like you working in this place?" Wonderful supporting cast of former silent stars: Bill Patton and Art Mix as gunmen, Wally Wales as a lyncher, William Desmond as a Sheriff, Franklyn Farnum as a crooked card dealer. Ben Corbett and Lafe McKee are in this also.

 BORDER PHANTOM (1937 Republic)
A mysterious figure murdered Harley Wood's professor uncle (Frank Ball). Bob Steele and bumbling pal Don Barclay (see OUTLAW EXPRESS) must solve the mystery from an eclectic group of suspects: a German entomologist (Hans Joby), a weird Chinaman (Miki Morita), a loco hog farmer (Karl Hackett) and a lecherous ranch hand (Perry Murdock). Certainly one of Steele's - or anyone's - more unconventional westerns. Cute and talented leading lady Harley (Harlene) Wood only hung around long enough in 1935-'39 to appear in nineteen films, seven of them westerns. She was also in three 3 Stooges shorts, one with Buster Keaton and one with Big Boy Williams, but perhaps her most notorious role is the lead in the road show exploitation film MARIHUANA ('36). Changing her name to Jill Martin in '38, Republic used her in DICK TRACY RETURNS and as the lead in HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS, both '38 serials. Exiting films, she was married twice, once to music writer Sy Miller. Harley/Harlene/Jill died in Hawaii in '95. The Jill Martin that surfaced in the '50s is doubtless another actress.

 BROADWAY TO CHEYENNE (1932 Monogram)
After being shot in a nightclub gangland war, New York copper Rex Bell returns home to near Cheyenne, WY, for a rest, only to find his old nemesis (Robert Ellis) and his hoods trying to pull the old protective association muscle out west. Rex also runs into a former girlfriend (Marceline Day) and her father (Matthew Betz) who's being used by the speakeasy mob. George Hayes, with a walrus mustache, is Rex's old pal. One striking scene has the protective association gangsters mow down a bunch of innocent cattle with a machine gun! This was the first of the Bells that set up the novel precedent for his series of films that would start in the east and wind up out west. NOTE: Some references list this title as FROM BROADWAY TO CHEYENNE, but the on screen title is simply BROADWAY TO CHEYENNE. Certain plot elements were reused in Jack Perrin's GUN GRIT ('36).

 GUN GRIT (1936 Atlantic)
Jack Perrin's last starring B-western. While not a name to rank with Williams S. Hart and Tom Mix, he filled his second-echelon cowboy boots quite well from 1917 on through the '20s, making the transition to sound, although never managing to escape the poverty row producers. He'd hit his stride in Universal two reelers in the early '20s. From '23 to mid '27 Jack, and his beautiful white steed Starlight (who became nearly as famous as Tarzan, Silver and Tony), made dozens of independent westerns (and serials) for Arrow, Aywon, and Rayart. Jack rejoined Universal in '27 for a series of NW Mounted Police two reelers and a few western features. With a good voice, sound came easy to Jack, but he was unable to land a series with one of the major studios. But his charming personality held him in good stead with fans even though the budgets were minimal at Big 4, Syndicate, Cosmos, Reliable and Atlantic. By the time of this final series of four for Atlantic, Jack had already begun to accept character and heavy roles opposite Bob Steele, Ken Maynard, Rex Lease, Tom Tyler and others - which he continued to do on through 1961's FLOWER DRUM SONG. Retiring in '62, he lived on a modest income until his death in 1967 at 71. GUN GRIT applies the Rex Bell approach with Perrin an eastern FBI agent sent to help western ranchers (Ed Cassidy and his brother Earl Dwire) who are besieged by big city racketeers (Roger Williams, Oscar Gahan, Ralph Peters, Phil Dunham) operating their protection racket on cattlemen. Striving to be different, producer William Berke (directing under his Lester Williams alias) creates one of the most bizarre scenes in B-western history as one of the gangsters calmly plays classical music on his violin while another (Peters) violently and gleefully guns down steer after steer with his rifle. Retribution soon follows as Jack's horse Starlight brutally tramples Peters to death. Dave Sharpe has a role as Cassidy's son and Ethel Beck is the daughter Perrin falls for. Williams/Berke's direction and Robert Cline's photography is exceptional at times while bordering on amateurish home-movie-style work at others. Note: The baby in GUN GRIT is Berke's new born son, Lester William Berke, who followed his father into the movie business. Elements of the basic plot were "borrowed" from BROADWAY TO CHEYENNE ('32).

 GUNSMOKE TRAIL (1938 Monogram)
After only five outings as a "singing cowboy", someone at Monogram decided that either Jack Randall's operatic style of singing wasn't conducive to westerns or letters from viewers and comments from exhibitors doomed any further vocalization from Randall. Louise Stanley, now involved with Randall off-screen as well as onscreen, told author Merrill McCord that Jack "was very mad" over his westerns being turned into straight action B's. As directed by Sam Newfield, GUNSMOKE TRAIL offers several entertaining touches and moves at a good clip as Jack and pal Fuzzy St. John help out wrongly outlawed bandido Ted Adams who is searching the west for his brother's killer. Meantime, they also aid beautiful Louise Stanley in saving her father's ranch from the executor of her father's estate, John Merton, who is masquerading as Stanley's uncle. In a thrilling climax and brutal final fight, Merton is also revealed to be the killer Adams is seeking.

 LAW OF THE WEST (1932 SonoArt-World Wide)
Bob Steele loses yet another father - but with a different twist. Seeking vengeance on the lawman (Hank Bell) who branded him, rustler Ed Brady steals the baby (Steele) of Bell and his wife (Rose Plummer) from Bell's own house. Seventeen years later - Brady has raised Steele as his own kid, but Bob rebels against his brutal upbringing by Brady who has whipped him mercilessly over the years. Meanwhile, Charles West, another rustler who was caught by Bell years ago, has now gone legit over the 17 year period and has a daughter, Nancy Drexel, who is in love with Steele. The two plan to escape the tyranny of Brady and marry. However, spiteful Brady has other plans and in an evil, vengeful twist he plots to turn lawman Bell and his son against one another in a gundown. It's a good story with a real edge to it, written and directed by Bob's real life father, Robert N. Bradbury. Cowboy Cancer Alert - at one point Bob smokes a cigarette.

 OKLAHOMA TERROR (1939 Monogram)
Jack Randall (investigating the murder of his father) and his saddlepal, Fuzzy (Al St. John) head up a vigilante band to rout land swindlers headed by Tris Coffin and Davidson Clark. Nothing new with most of the action coming at the end. Leading lady Virginia Carroll virtually twiddles her thumbs with zip to do. Al St. John just about has his "Fuzzy" persona down pat by now with the character elements all in place except for the beard. Filmed in the picturesque Kernville area.. Many of Randall's westerns were adapted into comic book form for "Popular Comics".

 PURPLE VIGILANTES (1938 Republic)
When Trails End becomes a den of iniquity and hoodlums rule the West, the trouble-busting Three Mesquiteers (Bob Livingston, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune) lead the vigilantes into action. But George Chesebro and Jack Perrin take things one step further, wearing the purple robes of the original vigilantes to begin a new reign of terror, leading the citizens to believe Earl Dwire's legit vigilantes have taken to the outlaw trail. This adventure takes on serial overtones when the cold blooded Purple Vigilantes don their hoods and robes and swear allegiance in a dark, torch-lit cave to their masked leader - #1. Good stuff from scripters Betty Burbridge and Oliver Drake directed by little Georgie Sherman. But one Boo-Boo. Twice in the movie, there appears a couple of Johnny Mack Brown Republic one-sheet movie posters on a building wall, but the time period for this western is obviously not contemporary and takes place long before motion pictures.

 TRAIL TO GUNSIGHT (1944 Universal)
Rod Cameron moved up to A features, so former co-star Eddie Dew was elevated this one time to star status for this B with Lyle Talbot taking his place as second banana. Dew had knocked around Tim Holt RKO's in bit parts before Republic starred him in a pair, then promptly let him go due to poor audience reaction. Dew moved over to Universal to co-star with Cameron. When that too failed to gain him any notierity, he became a workmanlike TV director on such fare as SGT. PRESTON OF THE YUKON. Bland best describes his on screen work. Worst thing about this oater is the unfunny antics of Marie Austin! Universal's resident sidekick Fuzzy Knight was hard enuf to take on his own, but teamed up with her, it's a disaster! Includes one of the silliest gags in B-western history: Fuzzy has a large fake eye on a stick with which he hypnotizes others - and himself! Child star Buzz (Buzzy) Henry is in this one. He'd begun in Ken Maynard's WESTERN FRONTIER ('35) at only 3½ years old. He went on to be a top stuntman in films like THE WILD BUNCH, MAJOR DUNDEE and EL DORADO before being killed in a 1971 motorcycle accident at only 40. Also w/Ray Whitley, Glenn Strange, Ray Bennett, Terry Frost.

 TRIGGER PALS (1939 Grand National)
Just before Grand National failed in 1939, they tried to establish several new B-western series - Dorothy Page (The Singing Cowgirl), Tex Fletcher, George Houston (as Wild Bill Hickok) and The Trigger Pals - Art Jarrett (a big band singer with Ted Weems who'd fared well in DANCING LADY ['33] and who comes across as sort of a relaxed George Houston) as Lucky, Lee (LONE RANGER) Powell as Stormy and seemingly sidekick to every cowboy at one time or another, Al St. John as Fuzzy. Although Jarrett didn't seem quite home on the range, we've seen worse but we'll never know how the series might have developed as Grand National went belly up before a second entry could be filmed. In this one title, the Trigger Pals clash with a corrupt land trader (Ted Adams) who heads a gang of rustlers. There's some quite funny stuff with Fuzzy and very cute leading lady Dorothy Fay's friend, Nina Guilbert, riding double. Produced by Phil Krasne (who had later success with the Cisco Kid) and directed by reliable Sam Newfield. The themesong was "Lullabye Trail" by vets Lew Porter and Johnny Lang. Cowboy cancer alert - Fuzzy lights up!

 WANDERERS OF THE WEST (1941 Monogram)
From Montana to Arizona, cattleman Tom Keene searches the west for the rustler/killer of his dad. During his wanderings, he meets Tom Siedel, unaware he is the killer, and becomes friends with him. Siedel learns the truth before Keene and involves Keene with a band of rustlers (Stanley Price, Gene Alsace). Inevitably, the showdown must come. Now get this, Price plans to steal a government buffalo herd, take 'em to Mexico, breed 'em with cattle and come up with cattleo. Gene Alsace turns right to the camera, "I wonder if he's been drinkin'." This film also uses one of the most implausible cliches in westerns (used dozens of times) as little Sugar Dawn rides to round-up all the ranchers from all over the range in a short period of time. A job that would actually take 2-3 days! Cheap Bob Tansey written and produced Monogram, but different enough in plot (and weirdness) with a few really good lines to raise it above the norm.

 WHISTLING BULLETS (1937 Ambassador)
Texas Ranger Kermit Maynard takes a tough assignment as he goes to prison so he can break out hardcase Maston Williams, a lone wolf bandit who got away with a quarter million in stolen bonds before they nabbed him. Williams is in league on the outside with Karl Hackett. There's a coupla minutes at the start of the film displaying Kermit and his horse Rocky's best riding stunts. Cute, blond Harlene (Harley) Wood (aka Jill Martin) only hung around Hollywood for five years, but managed seven westerns - two with Kermit, two with Steele, one with Rex Bell, one with Tom Tyler and one with Tim McCoy as well as the leading lady role in Republic's HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS serial ('38). Born August 25, 1913, she died at 81 April 2, 1995, in Hawaii.

 STAGE TO THUNDER ROCK (1964 Paramount)
In this least interesting of the A. C. Lyles produced westerns, hard as nails Barry Sullivan is a retiring sheriff whose last job brings ghosts from his past. Assigned to bring to justice two thieves, the sons of the man who raised him (Keenan Wynn) when he was orphaned, Sullivan is forced to kill one and take the other (Ralph Taeger) to await the stage at a way station run by the parents (Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Seymour) of his old sweetheart (Marilyn Maxwell) who, over the years, has become a "woman of the world". Scott Brady gets involved as a gunman hired by several town "businessmen" (Robert Strauss, Allan Jones, Robert Lowery) to "remove" Sullivan who has become a thorn in their side to operating the town the way they'd prefer. But Brady is a friend of Sullivan torn between old friendship and the money being offered which he needs to give his blind daughter an operation. There are even more soap-operaish sub-plots and character development not worth going into, all of which give the film a dearth of tension, a lack of action and an overabundance of pulp dialogue. Also in the cast - John Agar as the stage driver in love with Chaney and Seymour's young daughter (Laurel Goodwin); Wanda Hendrix as Brady's wife; Argentina Brunetti as an Indian woman; and Rex Bell Jr. with one brief line as the stage shotgun guard. Director William Claxton is best known for directing TV westerns such as YANCY DERRINGER, LAW OF THE PLAINSMAN, BLACK SADDLE, TALES OF WELLS FARGO, BONANZA, HIGH CHAPARRAL.

 CUSTER'S LAST STAND (1936 Stage and Screen) Slapped together 88 minute edit of a nearly five hour 15 chapter serial eliminates most of the interior chapters and therefore all the inconsequential historical characters - although they are confusingly still identified by picture and name during the opening credits. Basic plot has Chief Thunder Cloud teaming up with crooked saloon owner Reed Howes to recover a lost sacred Medicine Arrow with markings that lead to a cave of gold, as well as star Rex Lease's search for the murderer of his father. The battle of the Little Big Horn is tossed in almost as an aside. (For a more detailed synopsis see our review of the actual serial elsewhere on this website.)

 FORT YUMA (1955 United Artists/Bel-Air)
Lessons in prejudice are buried - not too deeply - in this standard, but brutal, Cavalry Vs. Indians '50s western in which Indian-hater Cavalry Lt. Peter Graves is assigned to take a supply column to Yuma. Accompanying him are missionary Joan Vohs, the love interest for Indian scout John Hudson (terribly miscast), and Joan Taylor, Hudson's sister and the love interest for Graves. Abel Fernandez is the requisite Indian menace, Mangus Colorado. Directed by veteran Lesley Selander and produced by Howard Koch and Aubrey Schenk who turned out a dozen of these medium budget B's from '53-'58, most of them filmed in Kanab, UT, as is FORT YUMA.

 WHEELS OF DESTINY (1934 Universal)
With the glittering promise of gold in California, Buffalo Bill Jr. (Jay Wilsey) organizes a band of settlers in a wagon trek west to be led by Ken Maynard (who wrote the dirge-like title tune and plays it on his harmonica). Some writers have noted this Maynard-produced slightly-longer-than-usual at 63 minutes western has the "epic sweep of his silents". Maybe so, once you get past the rather drab first 40 minutes, the exciting final 20 minutes of Indians, prairie fires, river crossings, storms, etc. make up for the initial boredom. There's also way too many people in the cast to give anyone defining moments other than youngster Fred Sale Jr. and leading lady Dorothy Dix, who is not to be confused with the English actress of the same name or the well known advice to the lovelorn newspaper columnist. Dix's younger brother, Tex Harding (real name John Thye), found fleeting fame as second-lead to Charles Starrett circa '45-'46.

 BLOOD ARROW (1958 20th Century Fox)
There's a smallpox outbreak in the Blackfeet Indian territory and Mormon girl Phyllis Coates vows to transport some medicine across hostile Indian country to save the lives in the sacred valley where she lives. Coates engages Scott Brady, a gunfighter bitter over past injustices done to him, to be her guide. Also along on the trek are gambler Paul Richards who believes there is a Mormon gold mine in Coates' valley and Don Haggerty who is seeking his friend John Dierkes whom he believes has been captured by the Blackfeet. Produced by Robert Stabler (DEATH VALLEY DAYS) and Charles Marquis Warren (GUNSMOKE, RAWHIDE, GUNSLINGER) and scripted by Fred Frieberger (WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, RAWHIDE, CHEYENNE, WILD WILD WEST). With all that talent this adult oriented B should have been better than it is. Cowboy Cancer alert: Brady lights up. Filmed on the Iverson Ranch.

 AMBUSH AT TOMAHAWK GAP (1953 Columbia)
Four ex-convicts (David Brian, John Hodiak, John Derek, Ray Teal) search for a buried cache of stolen loot in a ghost town overrun by scalp-seeking Apaches. Trouble escalates when the partners begin to argue among themselves over the money - and - an Indian girl they picked up along the way (noted Mexican actress Maria Elena Marques). In Technicolor, produced by one-time actor Wallace MacDonald and violently directed by Fred Sears (taking time off from his Durango Kid duties).

 DOOMED AT SUNDOWN (1937 Republic)
Interesting, intriguing title but far less excitement than expected from a Bob Steele Republic as he searches for a left-handed knife thrower who murdered yet another of his screen fathers. The killer, Warner Richmond, and his gang (Earl Dwire, Lew Meehan, Jack Ingram, Sherry Tansey) hang out at a border cantina run by Horace Carpenter who is fearful his wayward son (Harold Daniels) is running with Richmond's outlaw crowd. Bob must not only find Richmond, he must help Carpenter and Daniels and, as well, aid cantina waitress Lorraine Hayes in rescuing her brother (Dave Sharpe) from the outlaws who hold him prisoner. A sequence at the start with Steele being initiated into the Ancient Order of Mavericks bears no relevance to the main story which simply boils down to just another Steele "Dead Dad" western.

 EL DIABLO RIDES (1939 Metropolitan)
Bob Steele lost more fathers! Once again he's after the man who killed his Dad and finds him (Ted Adams) running contraband across the border with his partner Robert Walker. Bob, and his practical-joke-prone sidekick, Kit Guard (1884-1961) help Claire Rochelle and Carleton Young, who turn out to be federal agents, capture the gang. Unknown (and should remain so) cowboy singer Hal Carey performs in the bar, obviously just so the film could fit into the "singing cowboy trend". Sluggish, static direction from Ira Webb (producer Harry Webb's sibling) gives the proceedings a definite lifeless feel. With these eight for '39-'40, Bob Steele was at the absolute nadir of his B-western career. Steele was basically all producers B. B. Ray and Harry S. Webb had to hang Metropolitan on, so when Steele rebounded to make Billy the Kid pictures at PRC and 3 Mesquiteers oaters at Republic, Webb technically moved Metropolitan under the Monogram banner to produce Jack Randall westerns in 1940. Missouri born leading lady Claire Rochelle at 14 won a dance contest and a contract at Warner Bros., subsequently appearing in several Busby Berkeley musicals in '33-'34. Her first of 14 westerns was with Buck Jones (EMPTY SADDLES '36). She co-starred in 4 with Steele. She left films in '46 to go into business with her husband. She died in 1981.

 FRONTIER VENGEANCE (1940 Republic)
A couple of interesting musical castings give this otherwise routine Don "Red" Barry western some interest and historical significance. That's songwriter/singer Cindy Walker who performs a song (and slight dance) midway. Perhaps the finest female composer in country and western music history, Cindy belongs to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Texas Music Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. She had Top 10 hits in each of the past five decades including Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me", Merle Haggard's "Cherokee Maiden", "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again", The Ames Brothers' "China Doll", Gene Autry's "Blue Canadian Rockies", Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby", Jim Reeves' "Distant Drums", Jerry Wallace's "In the Misty Moonlight" and literally hundreds more. She also composed (uncredited) all the songs used by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in the Russell Hayden Columbia series (save the standards Bob reprised himself). Born in 1918, the gracious Texas lady still lives in Mexia, Texas. Obed "Dad" Pickard was the patriarch of one of the first country singing groups to professionalize their music, and one of the first to appear on national network radio, the Pickard Family. Obed (1874-1954) became proficient on nearly all stringed instruments as a boy. He was 52 when he gained fame as a soloist in the Grand Ole Opry in 1926 and started making records for Columbia. By 1928 he brought his family into the act starring on NBC's THE CABIN DOOR, a sort of minstrel show on radio. A second stint on the Opry followed, along with radio station work in New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia and other cities. "Dad" came to California and appeared in only three films, this being his only real acting role as stageline owner Betty Moran's stage driver. He was now 66. He's also in Jimmy Wakely's RIDERS OF THE DAWN and can be briefly glimpsed in SEA OF GRASS ('47). He later had his own TV show in L.A. during the early years of that medium. Underhanded stageline owner Ivan Miller wants to drive Betty Moran and her Pop, Griff Barnette, out of town, claiming all the business for himself. He employs vicious Kenneth MacDonald and his henchmen (including Matty Roubert) to do his dirty work. Miller's wimpish son, George Offerman Jr., brings old friend, and top six-up stage driver Don Barry into the firm. Offerman is unaware of his Dad's underhanded practices. When Don wises up, he quits and goes to work for Moran. It all culminates in a Republic staple - the stagecoach race for the mail contract. Before it's over, there are several unusual turns-of-events that precipitate FRONTIER VENGEANCE.

 HEROES OF THE ALAMO (1937 Sunset)
Producer Anthony J. Xydias went back to his beloved historical-well one more time for this low budget effort that relies more on characterization than the battle of the Alamo itself. Xydias, head of Sunset Productions and producer of DAVY CROCKETT AT THE FALL OF THE ALAMO ('26), BUFFALO BILL ON THE U.P. TRAIL ('26), DANIEL BOONE THROUGH THE WILDERNESS ('26) and other low budget silent epics, retired from the motion picture business in '31 due to ill health. Recovering by the mid '30s, he announced plans to remake his thrilling epics of the frontier days, the first being HEROES OF THE ALAMO. Due to its shoddy appearance and theatrical failure, it turned out to be Xydias' only remake. Pitifully amateurish, there's only one cheap Alamo set with the battle scenes all salvaged from Xydias' silent DAVY CROCKETT AT THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. Emphasis in the new film is placed on complete Alamo unknowns, Bruce Warren and Ruth Findlay as Almerian and Susannah Dickinson. Historical figures are featured but have less to do than in most major Alamo films - Earle Hodgins is Stephen Austin, Lane Chandler is Davy Crockett, Roger Williams is Jim Bowie, Rex Lease is William Travis, Julian Rivero is Santa Ana, Edward Piel is Sam Houston. Also featured in B-director Harry Fraser's cast - Carl Mathews, Steve Clark, Jim Corey, Snowflake, Frank Ellis, Lafe McKee, Milburn Morante, Slim Whitaker, Francis Walker, Sherry Tansey, Denver Dixon, George Morrell and Ben Corbett. Notable is the song utilized - on the eve of the final assault, the men of the Alamo gather 'round a campfire for a rousing version of "The Yellow Rose of Texas". Never mind that the tune wasn't written til years later. Columbia bought the film and re-released it in '38, then, pared down from its original 75 minutes, HEROES ... was retitled REMEMBER THE ALAMO and released in the '40s as an Eastern educational film intended for viewing in schools - which is where many of us were first exposed to it. Incidentally, Xydias, although finished with films, had the bad fortune to be in Manila when the Japanese arrived during WWII. He was captured and imprisoned until the end of the war. He died October 27, 1952, in L.A.

 MAN FROM HELL'S EDGES, THE (1932 Sono Art-World Wide)
One of the most interesting of Bob Steele's early westerns. At the beginning we're led to believe Bob is a convict at Walla Walla (called Hell's Edges by the inmates) as he stages a successful prison break. Soon we learn he and his pals, George Hayes and Pee Wee Holmes, are undercover agents of some sort who have staged the break in order to gain the confidence of three other cons (Dick Dickinson, Perry Murdock, Buck Carey) who will soon be released after ten years at which time they - and an unknown boss who was not captured and who Bob seeks to uncover - stole and buried $100,000 following a train robbery. Out of prison, Bob happens to save the life of a local sheriff (Robert Homans) and is then made Homan's deputy. Bob promptly falls for the lawman's daughter, Nancy Drexel, who is shocked when she is led to believe Bob is an escaped outlaw. Unfortunately, Steele cannot confide in her or Homans as he weasels his way into ring leader Julian Rivero's gang (Earl Dwire, Blackie Whiteford). Some marvelous stunts including a horseback plunge from a cliff into Lake Elsinore. And yes - Bob loses yet another father. Midway there's a funny, gay cowboy joke and a Boo Boo: A wanted poster offers a reward for Flash Martin but Bob's character name is Flash Manning. The fact Steele starts out in Walla Walla may be an inside joke as that's where director Bradbury was born - the town, not the prison.

 MOONLIGHTER, THE (1953 Warner Bros.)
Excellent together in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, but Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck's talents are squandered in this off-the-wall western lensed in 3-D for no apparent reason long after the 3-D trend was over. Only the large cast of wonderful supporting actors gives THE MOONLIGHTER any resonance whatsoever - Ward Bond, William Ching, John Dierkes, Morris Ankrum, Jack Elam (don't blink), Norman Leavitt, Sam Flint, Tom Keene, Emmett Lynn, Myron Healey, Byron Foulger, Robert Bice, Gregg Barton, Steve Rowland, Gene Roth, Nancy Gilbert, Ben Corbett. MacMurray is a moonlighter (nighttime rustler) incarcerated in a small town jail. A lynch mob wants to string him up but accidentally hangs the wrong guy (Leavitt). Escaping, the down-on-humanity embittered MacMurray begins to exact revenge on the townspeople. In a really weird scene, his former girlfriend (Stanwyck) is deputized as a one-woman posse to bring MacMurray to justice. The ending is pretty unbelievable - but then so is the whole Niven Busch script!

 OUTLAW TRAIL (1944 Monogram)
Through the iron fist of his henchman (Charlie King, Bud Osborne, Al Ferguson), "Honest John" (Cy Kendall) controls Johnstown and the local ranchers by issuing his own "script" then forcing them to comply with his terms or go bankrupt. That intrepid team of Trail Blazers (Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, Chief Thundercloud - "If I no get vacation, I go on warpath!") topple the domination of the oppressors. After six in the series, Ken Maynard left (presumably over a wage dispute. He and Hoot were reportedly drawing only about $600 apiece for these films) and was replaced by Chief Thundercloud, Tonto of Republic's two Lone Ranger serials. Producer/director Bob Tansey and all concerned seemed to know the end of the trail was in sight as everyone just seems to be going through the motions in this one - even though it's filled with plenty of action. The final film (See SONORA STAGECOACH) was a bit better. Rocky Camron (formerly Buck Coburn but usually Gene Alsace) is the titular romantic lead opposite Jennifer Holt (in a nothing part!) for this one. Story credit goes to Alan James who used bits and pieces of his TRAIL DRIVE written for Ken Maynard in '33.

 OUTLAWS OF THE RIO GRANDE (1941 PRC)
Hot on the trail of a gang of counterfeiters, Marshal Kenne Duncan is captured by the gang (Karl Hackett, Charlie King, Rex Lease, Frank Ellis). Duncan's Marshal pals Tim McCoy and Ralph Peters investigate and find leading lady Virginia Carpenter's father (Thornton Edwards) also being held by the counterfeiters to engrave the phony plates for them. Pretty routine stuff somewhat enlivened by the question of who the badmen's "chief" really is and a mysterious knife-throwing Mexican. Unusual for a McCoy B, Tim has two knock-down drag-outs with King. Incidentally, Edwards (1894-1988), who essayed many ethnic roles in his 33 year career from 1916-1949 (winding up with a couple of Whip Wilson entries) was also a motor officer and real life hero in the 1928 St. Francis Dam disaster. He later became police chief in Santa Paula, CA.

 PAL FROM TEXAS (1939 Metropolitan)
Dreary little affair in which Bob Steele, framed for the murder of his partner, old man Josef Swickard, must find the real killers - crooked gambler Ted Adams, gunman Carleton Young and Adams' moll Betty Mack - and prove his innocence to Swickard's fresh-from-the-east niece, Claire Rochelle. The film stops dead cold before it even gets started to allow for awful cowboy singer Hal Carey (trying his best to imitate Gene Autry) and a tap dancing newspaperboy accompanied by Lew Porter on piano. Worse yet - we're treated to an encore by Carey later in the picture. Former star Jack Perrin is wasted as the Sheriff, never getting even one close-up. Dreadful Harry Webb direction. (See EL DIABLO RIDES.)

 ROBBER'S ROOST (1933 Fox)
Benefiting from a classy cast for a B-western and real chemistry between Maureen O'Sullivan (Jane in Tarzan films) and George O'Brien, ROBBER'S ROOST should have been a better film, but it lacks real energy, even under the direction of talented Louis King. It also boasts a script by Dudley Nichols - although it's his first western. Nichols hit his stride by '35 with LOST PATROL and THE INFORMER (for John Ford). He later penned THREE MUSKETEERS, BRINGING UP BABY, GUNGA DIN, Ford's STAGECOACH, FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS and BELLS OF ST. MARY'S among others. Sticking with Zane Grey's original story, O'Brien is an innocent man suspected of being in league with rustlers William Pawley and Walter McGrail who have hired on to protect naïve Englishman Reginald Owen's cattle which they secretly plan to drive across the border. O'Sullivan is Owen's sister who arrives from England and promptly becomes involved with O'Brien - even though she believes him to also be a rustler. Onetime minor silent star Pee Wee Holmes and sometimes Buck Jones sidekick Frank Rice have small roles.

 ROBBER'S ROOST (1955 United Artists)
Inferior George Montgomery remake of Zane Grey's story which was filmed originally by Fox with George O'Brien in '33. Although the first telling of the story lacked energy, director Sidney Salkow's version lacks even more punch, even though it introduces a couple of extra plot twists. Also there's practically no chemistry between Montgomery and leading lady Sylvia Findley. Muddled story has wheelchair bound cattleman Bruce Bennett believing "it takes a thief to catch a thief," thereby hiring two rival rustler bands, one led by Richard Boone and another by (miscast) Peter Graves, to "protect" his vast cattle empire. Enter Montgomery, also perceived to be in league with the rustlers, although we later learn his true motives for joining the rustler band. For whatever reason, William Hopper is tossed into the mix as another suitor of Findley's. Supporting cast of Warren Stevens, Leo Gordon and others is totally negligible. Worse yet are the dreadfully out of place songs by Tony Romano that leave one musing, "Who did he know to get this job?"

 TEXAS TROUBLE SHOOTERS (1942 Monogram)
Opens with a real B-western oddity - Crash Corrigan and John King would rather snooze than stop Riley Hill from being shot by bandits. Only Max Terhune - the 3rd man in the Range Busters - wants to help. But the mention of a beautiful young girl in trouble (Julie Duncan) spurs our two heroes into action against ranch grabbers (Glenn Strange, Kermit Maynard, Frank Ellis, Eddie Phillips, Ted Mapes). Even then, it's sidekick Terhune who ropes up ringleader Strange when Corrigan is shot and King is locked in the shed. Naturally, they're in on the final gunfight, but, all told, the boys aren't at their Range Bustingist. There is one clever scene early on when Crash forces bar room baddie Frank Ellis to drink ... milk! Also, it's another Range Busters where Elmer operates on his own - sans any help from Terhune.

 WEST OF THE BRAZOS (1950 Lippert)
An imposter, pretending to be Jimmy "Shamrock" Ellison to grab the oil rich ranch he's inherited from his late Mom, is really the notorious Cyclone Kid (John Cason) and his gun toters (Tom Tyler, Dennis Moore). Only a girl (Betty - later Julia - Adams) and Ellison's hard of hearing pal, Russ "Lucky" Hayden know his real identity. Fuzzy Knight is the judge, Raymond Hatton is the Sheriff. The novelty of having Hayden be deaf is a clever script twist and quite humorous when he's oblivious to the outlaws' gunfire all around him. Hayden's ability to read lips also comes in handy. Screenwriter/producer Ron Ormond appropriated Forbes Parkill's plot from Bob Steele's ALIAS JOHN LAW ('35) for this one which shows on TV as RANGELAND EMPIRE.

 WIDE OPEN TOWN (1941 Paramount)
One of Hoppy's best, but still does not carry the emotional wallop of the original Cassidy on which it is based, HOPALONG CASSIDY RETURNS ('36). Here director Les Selander drastically tones down the emotionalism of the original that defined it as one of the best B-westerns ever made, and added plenty of action along with buffoonery from Andy "California Carlson" Clyde. In this version, Hoppy, Lucky (Russell Hayden) and California are trailing outlaws who have rustled Bar 20 cattle. Arriving in Gunsight, Hoppy finds the town in the grip of saloon keeper Evelyn Brent (the same role she essayed in the original) and her manager/lover Victor Jory. The controlling pair get miners drunk enough to blab about their gold strikes which the pair (with their strongarm boys - Glenn Strange, Roy Barcroft, Bob Kortman) then jump. Town newspaperman Morris Ankrum (he had the Jory role in the original) convinces Hoppy to become a much needed Sheriff in Gunsight to clean out the corruption. Although a ruthless criminal, Brent goes soft on Hoppy, preventing Jory from killing the new sheriff. She eventually attempts to make Hoppy her new partner, which the stalwart honest cowboy rejects, even though he too feels drawn to Brent. Believing Brent has betrayed him, Jory takes over the gang, holding Brent prisoner in her saloon while he waits to ambush Hoppy. Hoppy rounds up a huge force of men and they assault the saloon in an all-out action-packed windup in which both Hoppy and Brent are nearly killed before Hoppy finishes Jory in a brutal fight. Remade one more time, albeit loosely, as Johnny Mack Brown's LAND OF THE LAWLESS in '47.

 MUSTANG (1955 United Artists)
What an atrocious waste of celluloid! Down-on-his-luck rodeo rider Jack Beutel is forced to become a lowly ranch hand after gambling away all his money. Working on Steve Keyes' Oklahoma ranch, Beutel begins to fall for Keyes' sister Madlyn Trahey. A beautiful wild stallion is upsetting Keyes' mares so he assigns Beutel the task of killing the stallion but instead Beutel captures and tames the horse which infuriates Keyes and wild horse killer Bob Gilbert. Although written and directed by Tom Gries, who later did much better work, MUSTANG features the same stunning production values as a Sunset Carson Yucca western! Both Keyes and Gilbert are known for their bottom-of-the-barrel westerns. (Keyes was in several of Sunset's Yucca westerns as well as Spade Cooley's KID FROM GOWER GULCH. Gilbert was also in KID FROM GOWER GULCH along with RED ROCK OUTLAW, Cooley's SILVER BANDIT and he had a hand in producing PARSON AND THE OUTLAW). In MUSTANG shots are mismatched because of often confusing editing and the sound recording is of the lowest quality. The grainy color photography suggests a 35mm blow-up from 16mm. Saddled with a God-awful opening title tune by Champ Butler, the film is padded with numerous wildlife shots having nothing to do with the story. Worse, a possum is identified as a raccoon and one character spots a stock footage moose, an animal not at all indigenous to Oklahoma! Independently made in '55, it wasn't released until '59. Should have been left in the can!

 RIDE A VIOLENT MILE (1957 20th Century Fox)
With a basic premise that's pretty unbelievable, the plot of RIDE A VIOLENT MILE suffers accordingly. It also needs a jolt of excitement in the action scenes as directed by Charles Marquis Warren. Warren's plot, scripted by Robert Stabler, has pretty Penny Edwards as a Union Spy posing as a dance hall girl sent to infiltrate a group of Confederates (Charles Gray, John Pickard, Richard Shannon, Bing Russell) who are plotting to exchange cattle for help from Mexico. Stranger John Agar stumbles into the plot and becomes involved in her mission when he comes to the aid of the besieged girl. Give it an E for effort.

 ROLLIN' WESTWARD (1939 Monogram)
At last - one of the "lost" Tex Ritter Monograms has surfaced. Guess there's hope for all the other "lost" B-westerns. (See list elsewhere here on the Old Corral.) Tex saves pretty Dorothy Fay (Tex's real life wife) from a runaway stagecoach and learns the county is being swamped with new "homesteaders" who are actually minions hired by crooked lawyer Harry Harvey and his boss Charlie King. The power hungry pair are scheming to obtain all the land with water thereby choking out all the cattlemen in order to steal their ranches. Tex, with the help of Dorothy, her father Herbert Corthell, Tex's sidekick rancher Horace Murphy, rancher Dave O'Brien and sheriff Tom London, defeat the gangsters as well as this threadbare B-western plot with plenty of action and a few forgettable songs by Tex (and one by Rudy Sooter).

 RAWHIDE TRAIL (1958 Allied Artists)
Slow moving and overly talky western under the direction of former child star Robert (Bobby) Gordon who was better known in the '50s for his affair with steamy Allison Hayes. Does that explain how disappointing we find his handling of this Earle Lyon produced "epic"? After another of those dreadful '50s title tunes (written by André Brummer [who also wrote music for Arch Hall Jr. which should tell you how bad the song is] and sung by the Guardsmen) (Why did every movie in the '50s after HIGH NOON feel they had to have a title tune no matter how bad it was) our story falters to a start with two innocent wagon masters (Rex Reason, Richard Erdman) sentenced to hang for guiding their wagon train into a Comanche raid. Remaining in jail or shackled for half the boring first half of the picture, the pair finally are asked to guide the very typical of the '50s westerns diverse group of men and women (Army captain Rusty Lane, hateful corporal Frank Chase, widowed nurse Ann Doran, gunrunner Robert Knapp, Knapp's girlfriend Nancy Gates and Erdman's Indian wife Jana Davi) away from Comanche attackers.

 HANNAH LEE (1953 Broder/Realart)
Loosely based on the later life of Tom Horn (who hired his gun out to Wyoming stockmen to kill rustlers), Macdonald Carey, playing against type as a vicious gunman (his nasty character is established in the first scene when he slaps a young boy, John Ireland's real life son Peter), hires out to three local cattlemen (Stuart Randall, Frank Ferguson, Ralph Dumke) to protect their herds from rustlers and to rid the range by any means - including bushwhacking - of homesteaders. Joanne Dru is the girl who falls in love with Carey despite her suspicions about his evilness. John Ireland is the marshal sent to track down Carey. Directed by Ireland with an assist for 3-D filming by cinematographer Lee Garmes, HANNAH LEE exploits an interesting premise but strangely fails to totally satisfy. The title song, sung over the credits by Ken Curtis and the Pioneers, is also sung throughout the picture by Stan Jones (who wrote the tune), William Loe and Richard Cherney. Oddly, you at first assume the oft-repeated tune has some bearing on the story - but ultimately seems not so. When the film failed to excite boxoffices on its initial July '53 release - possibly due to the bland title - it was re-released in October '53 as OUTLAW TERRITORY - which didn't seem to help. The film does make good use of Iverson Ranch. Pathe color.

  KID FROM BROKEN GUN (1952 Columbia)
Charles Starrett and the Durango Kid left the B-western movie screen in the late Summer of 1952 with a whimper, not a bang. In this last of Starrett's Durango Kid series about half the picture is healthy doses of recycled stock footage from FIGHTING FRONTIERSMAN ('46) - a tricky way for Columbia to cut expenditures in the final days of the B-western. They'd pulled the same trick in several earlier Durangos. Basic plot has Starrett/Durango clearing friend Jack Mahoney, the Kid from Broken Gun, of the trumped up murder charge of Chris Alcaide. The subsequent robbery of Spanish coins from Tris Coffin's safe harkens back to the stock footage which is "related" by Starrett during Mahoney's trial. Film is a real patchwork affair ... even Smiley's one "song" seems more out of place and intrusive than usual. However, we do thank Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for finally showing this film and hope they'll run more "lost Durangos".

  NEW MEXICO (1951 U.A.)
Little known and seldom seen but terrific Cavalry/Indians western made around historic Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico (with fort scenes at Corriganville in California). Wonderfully cast Lew Ayres is the Captain of a Cavalry unit detailed to stop an Indian uprising led by Chief Ted De Corsia. After President Lincoln (Hans Conreid) is assassinated, white men break a long-standing treaty De Corsia had made with Lincoln. Though Ayres is friends with the Chief, and sympathetic to their demands, he still must follow orders. Pursuing De Corsia's Indians, Ayres' troop is surrounded and takes refuge on a mountain top (the real Acoma Pueblo). Director Irving Reis handles the action sequences extremely well and includes a dramatic, unexpected-in-films-of-this-type ending. Commendable support from a large cast, but in the quick 76 minute running time, most are left with too little to do (Andy Devine, Marilyn Maxwell, Verna Felton, Robert Hutton, Raymond Burr, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Corrigan, John Hoyt, Ian MacDonald, William Tannen, Bob Duncan, Jack Kelly, Walter Greaza).

 SNOWFIRE (1958 Allied Artists)
If any horse-story western has built up a cult following over the years, it's SNOWFIRE, a rare, seldom-seen family effort written/produced and directed by Dorrell and Stuart McGowan, former Republic writer/producers instrumental in Gene Autry's career. Youngster Molly McGowan (real life daughter of one of the producers) befriends Snowfire, a wild white beauty of a legendary stallion who is captured by her rancher father (Don Megowan). When Megowan attempts to brand Snowfire, young Molly sets the horse free. Neighboring rancher Claire Kelly and her unscrupulous ranch hand brothers (John Cason, Bill Hale, Rusty Wescoatt) try to get their ropes on the stallion but Molly helps Snowfire stay one step ahead of the villainous brothers, claiming to Megowan that Snowfire "talks" to her. Is she telling the truth, or is she just making it up? Plenty of action and suspense before the answer is revealed. Fast moving direction, expertly photographed in Eastman Color by old pro Brydon Baker with a catchy recurring title tune help this unusual horse story live up to its cult reputation.

 LAST OF THE DUANES (1941 20TH Century Fox)
George Montgomery's first starring western is an early exhibit of all the right western "stuff" George was later to utilize so well in A (or B+) westerns of the '50s. He's a little uneasy in certain scenes, but perfect in others. DUANES is a loose remake of the Zane Grey story Fox had filmed twice before in silent versions with William Farnum and Tom Mix. In this version, the early father-son relationship is skimmed over with Buck Duane's (George) sheriff father being killed in the first scenes. To revenge his father's death at the hands of Harry Woods (he's seen really only once!), George is forced to hit the outlaw trail with old timer Francis Ford (in a shining example of how good an actor he could be, given the part). Once George reaches the outlaw town of Rimrock, the story once again fast forwards through important plot points with only hasty dialogue. Seems George's childhood girlfriend (a wasted Lynne Roberts) has been kidnapped by Don Costello and Joe Sawyer's gang after they killed her father in a ranch raid. George (and pal George E. Stone) rescue her - and that's the last we see of Lynne Roberts (although she received 2nd billing). Saloon owner Eve Arden (acting just like OUR MISS BROOKS even then) falls for George even though she's been siding with Costello and the mystery leader of the gang (won't reveal that plot point here). Noting George's good points and believing he has the stuff to make a Texas Ranger, Ranger Major William Farnum offers George a pardon to work undercover and bring the gang - and its mystery leader - to justice. It's a lot of plot - too much - for a one hour B-western. To director James Tinling's credit he tells the story as expeditiously as possible, although one can see where a 90 min. feature would have given a little breathing room and time for steadier plot development. Montgomery made one more B for Fox, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, before being elevated to non-western A's by Darryl Zanuck. Replacing him in the last two of four planned Zane Grey stories was football star John Kimbrough (SUNDOWN JIM, LONE STAR RANGER). As a matter of fact, LONE STAR RANGER filmed later in '41 is a sequel to LAST OF THE DUANES with Kimbrough as Buck Duane and William Farnum, George E. Stone and Russell Simpson as Duane's grandfather reprising their roles. LAST OF THE DUANES is filled with western stalwarts who have little to work with due to the film's quickened pace - Leroy Mason, Lane Chandler, Tom London, Andrew Tombes, Ethan Laidlaw, Harry Hayden, Robert Winkler, Syd Saylor and Hank Worden. All in all, George's first starrer just misses the top ranks due to its too-fast-on-the-crucial-plot-points pace.

 GAY CABALLERO (1940 20TH Century-Fox)
Bit of an intricate plot for a pretty routine Cisco Kid adventure. Wondering why there is a grave marked with his name, the Cisco Kid (Cesar Romero) and his pal Gordito (Chris-Pin Martin) give aid to Englishman (Montague Shaw) and his daughter (Shelia Ryan) who have come west with the understanding of purchasing a vast section of large land-holder Janet Beecher's ranch. However, Beecher does not truly intend to sell any of her vast holdings. The purchase arrangement was only due to a foul-up at the bank. So - Beecher and her foreman, Edmund MacDonald, tell Shaw the land has been pillaged and destroyed by the Cisco Kid - whom MacDonald has now "killed". But when the real Cisco is revealed to be alive, Beecher and MacDonald hatch a new plot to rob the stage bringing in Shaw's money and throw the blame on Cisco. Cowboy Cancer alert: Cisco lights up. Moves quickly under Otto Brower's direction.

 SHOOT-OUT AT MEDICINE BEND (1957 Warner Bros.)
Actually filmed in 1955 but held up for release until '57, SHOOT-OUT ... completed Randolph Scott's original commitment of 10 pictures to Warner Bros. An odd amendment to his contract left him owing WB another film, and although Warners had given up on Scott's potential as a money-making westerner by then, after seeing the success he had with a couple of Budd Boetticher directed films (SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, '56 and THE TALL T, '57) they called in their markers for one more ride, which was WESTBOUND ('59). Warners spent less money on SHOOT-OUT ... than prior Scott westerns by lensing it in black and white. Following an Indian raid, Scott's brother is killed due to faulty ammunition sold to him by low-life Medicine Bend store owner James Craig and his boys (Myron Healey, John Alderson, sheriff Trevor Bardette, Michael Forest). Just retired Cavalry officer Scott and his pals, Sgt. James Garner and Pvt. Gordon Jones take off to find the snake who sold the no-good ammunition to the settlers. When their clothes are stolen while skinny-dipping, the threesome are forced to pose as "Brothers" (Quakers, Mormons?) when they arrive in Medicine Bend, although that easily allows them to uncover the ruthless Craig and his cohorts. Marvelous who's-who supporting cast: Harry Harvey, Dani Crayne (saloon girl who sings one song and with her role outshines co-star Angie Dickinson), Don Beddoe, Robert Warwick, Ann Doran, Harry Lauter, Ed Hinton, Lane Bradford, Francis Morris, Sam Flint, Phil Van Zandt, Syd Saylor, Guy Wilkerson, Henry Rowland, Marjorie Stapp, Nancy Kulp, Rory Mallinson, Dale Van Sickel and Buddy Roosevelt. An odd western for Scott, but kinda fun for its quirkiness.

 THE OLD HOMESTEAD (1935 Liberty)
You've seen the basic plot a zillion times - unknown singer/band in the sticks discovered, makes good in the big city, then returns to the "good life" in the country. The basic story dates back to James Russell Corvell's novel based on the 1886 play "The Old Homestead" by Denman Thompson. The play was first filmed in 1915, then again in 1922. This version stars Lawrence Gray as the singer discovered on a farm in Missouri, but what's of interest to us is Gray's harmonizing friends, the Sons of the Pioneers (Bob Nolan, Len Slye [Roy Rogers], Tim Spencer and Hugh Farr) along with Fuzzy Knight, who accompany Gray to the big time on the radio in New York City. Plenty of music from everyone, including "Way Out There" and "Happy Rovin' Cowboy" by the Pioneers.

 CARNIVAL BOAT (1932 RKO Pathé)
Even with its misleading title, CARNIVAL BOAT is easily one of the best logging movies made, setting the standard for those to come such as TIMBER WAR ('35), PARK AVENUE LOGGER ('37), ROARING TIMBER ('37), VALLEY OF THE GIANTS ('38), RIDERS OF THE TIMBERLINE ('41), TIMBER ('42), TIMBER QUEEN ('43), LUMBERJACK ('44), RIVER LADY ('48), and others. Pre-Hoppy William Boyd's father, Hobart Bosworth, is being retired as logging boss and hopes his head lumberjack son is next in line for the position. Also vying for the job is Boyd's roughneck pal, Fred Kohler. Problem is, Boyd may lose out on the job because of the lumbercamp's productivity due to his playboy spirit of hanging around the gambling Mecca of the Carnival Boat and his infatuation with the riverboat's girl singer, Ginger Rogers. Kohler pulls many nefarious tricks to see that Boyd doesn't get the job, including trying to kill Boyd during a wild logjam-on-the-river-dam sequence. Earlier, a spectacular runaway logging train sequence is alone worth the price of admission. Harry Joe Brown produced with Albert Rogell directing.

 VALLEY OF THE GIANTS (1938 Warner Bros.)
Strictly by the numbers timber pirates tale with every logging film cliché ever seen. Even with all the Technicolor and bigger budget, it's nothing more than a routine B-logger. Filming around Eureka and Orik, CA, amongst the gorgeous redwood forests, and a spectacular logging train/bridge crash sequence gives this typical-of-the-period Warner Bros. film (some drama, some romance, a big barroom-brawl, a few light moments from WB standbys Alan Hale and Frank McHugh) its only interest. Will Wayne Morris pay off his $50,000 note within the six week period? Can he cut enough timber even with all the roadblocks badguy Charles Bickford throws in his way? Will bad girl Claire Trevor reform for the love of a good man like Morris? Will Trevor's partner, Jack LaRue, who's protected and loved her for years give her up for Morris? Will Warner Bros. ever cast Alan Hale in something other than the brash but loveable hero's friend? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. No.

 RED STALLION IN THE ROCKIES (1949 Eagle-Lion)
Trading on their success with THE RED STALLION in 1947, Eagle-Lion followed-up with this lackluster modern-day horse story. Overall pretty tedious, it does benefit from Cinecolor and Jim Davis' participation as opposition for weak hero Arthur Franz. Filmed around the majestic scenery of Glenwood Springs, CO, saving this film from being an altogether waste is an exciting, unusual clash near the end between the Red Stallion (portrayed by a horse named Dynamite) and a wild Elk, handled by second unit director Yakima Canutt.

 DEATH VALLEY (1946 Screen Guild)
Greed and the scorching sun turn gold prospectors Robert Lowery and Nat Pendleton into deadly enemies as an overlong, harrowing, melodramatic pursuit across the desert ensues. Cinecolor helps, but not enough.

 GUN FEVER (1958 United Artists)
Grim, brutal, sadistic revenge tale directed by star Mark Stevens. When Stevens' parents are slaughtered by a vicious renegade (scenery-chewing Aaron Saxon), Stevens sets out with relentless intent to find the murderer. He is joined by his mining partner John Lupton who, in an interesting Oedipal plot twist, is the son of Saxon who disavowed his crazed father years before because of his savage ways. Learning it is his own father Stevens hunts, Lupton also vows to kill the father who has nearly ruined his life. Due to Stevens' slow, methodical direction - including some why-is-this-even-in-there-scenes - I can't say this is a good film, but it's strangely and rivetingly offbeat.

 FLAMING FEATHER (1951 Paramount)
Rustling and raiding, infamous, mysterious outlaw The Sidewinder, terrorizes Arizona and eludes capture until small rancher Sterling Hayden, burned out by The Sidewinder, takes up the task of ferreting out the outlaw chief. He's aided by Cavalry officer Forrest Tucker and his sergeant Edgar Buchanan as well as saloon singer Arleen Whelan trying to exact revenge on The Sidewinder for (never disclosed) old wrongs done to her. Pretty Barbara Rush aims to marry supposedly respectable Victor Jory (excellent as always) out of gratitude for his having saved her from The Sidewinder's Indian-led raids - that is until Sterling unmasks Jory as the mysterious Sidewinder. Showing the evil promise he delivered in HIGH NOON, Ian MacDonald is cold and calculating as a gunslinger set up by Jory to kill Hayden and take the fall as The Sidewinder. Richard Arlen is totally wasted as Whelan's gunman-protector, ala Richard Barthelmess to Marlene Dietrich in THE SPOILERS. At a fast 78 minutes, there's a certain feeling that key plot points were overlooked (edited out?) by director Ray Enright and/or producer Nat Holt to speed up the slam-bang action which FLAMING FEATHER does deliver, including a spectacular mountaintop all-out action windup filmed at Montezuma Castle National Monument (cliff dwellings) near Sedona, AZ. Other gorgeous Technicolor Sedona locations beautifully lensed by Ray Rennahan. Cowboy cancer alert: Hayden smokes.

 THE TALL TEXAN (1953 Lippert)
First directorial effort for Elmo Williams, co-film editor on such pictures as HIGH NOON, leaves a lot to be desired, but then Samuel Roeca's talky, character-driven screenplay didn't afford Williams much to work with. Lensed in New Mexico, Lloyd Bridges leads a motley, greedy group of gold seekers (including Marie Windsor, Lee J. Cobb, Luther Adler, Syd Saylor) who obtain permission from Indians to mine on their sacred land, but someone violates a confidence and the Indians attack. Only Bridges and Windsor survive ... the picture ends there with no logical conclusion. Poor man's retread of TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

 THIRTEEN FIGHTING MEN (1960 Associated/20th Century Fox)
Over scripted, tired little B-feature that quickly becomes quite loquacious under Harry Gerstad's static direction. Gerstad was an editor on such A films as TILL THE END OF TIME, CROSSFIRE, UNKNOWN ISLAND, CHAMPION, HIGH NOON, HOME OF THE BRAVE and ROCKETSHIP X-M. This is the only picture he directed and he fails to inject any enthusiasm into the performances. Gerstad was soon back to the cutting room with WAR WAGON, BATMAN, BIG JAKE, WALKING TALL, etc. In this psychological post-Civil War drama, Captain Grant Williams and his troop are transporting a gold shipment that a band of ex-Confederate renegades, led by Major Brad Dexter, want so they can start new lives. Williams' Union group takes refuge in the waystation of weak Richard Garland and his traitorous wife Carole Mathews. Cast includes Robert Dix, Rex Holman, Richard Crane, Rayford Barnes, I. Stanford Jolley, Mauritz Hugo, Walter Reed, Fred Kohler Jr.

 TWO GUN LADY (1956 American Releasing Company)
In a plot swiped from Wayne Morris' SIERRA PASSAGE (written by Warren Wandberg, Sam Roeca and Tom Blackburn), TWO GUN LADY stars gorgeous Peggie Castle as a fancy trick shot artist searching the west for her parents' killers. William Talman is a U.S. Marshal who lends a hand and comic Joe Besser is Castle's mentor. The film's executive producer (Earle Lyon), associate producer (Ian MacDonald) and writer (Norman Jolley) do double-duty as the men for whom Castle is searching. Robert Lowery and Marie Windsor are along for the ride, but their roles are inconsequential to the main plot.

 RED CANYON (1949 Universal-International)
Pretty routine wild horse story in Technicolor directed by B-vet George Sherman. Wandering cowboy Howard Duff wants to catch and ride Black Velvet, leader of a wild horse herd. Duff, using an alias to disguise his relationship to his outlaw father (John McIntire) and brother (Lloyd Bridges), falls in love with Ann Blyth, daughter of rancher George Brent. Making the situation difficult is the fact McIntire killed Blyth's mother (Brent's wife) years earlier while stealing horses. As Duff and Blyth capture and train Black Velvet to ride in the "big race", suddenly McIntire and Bridges reappear. Edgar Buchanan as Duff's partner and Chill Wills as the Sheriff add a little levity to a pretty forgettable yarn based (loosely) on Zane Grey's WILDFIRE.

 COPPER SKY (1957 Regal/20th Century Fox)
Saddled with a weary title tune, hampered by a stiff unrealistic script (a take-off on THE AFRICAN QUEEN) and hobbled by bad overacting on star Jeff Morrow's part as he escorts Boston schoolteacher Coleen Gray across the dry, barren, Indian-infested desert, the deadly dull COPPER SKY meanders along until it's thankfully over. Produced and bedraggledly directed by Charles Marquis Warren (probably his worst) with a "story" from DEATH VALLEY DAYS' Robert Stabler. Warren includes three of his stock company in the cast - John Pickard, Paul Brinegar (later Wishbone on Warren's RAWHIDE TV series) and Rocky Shahan (Joe Scarlett on RAWHIDE).

 LAST POSSE (1953 Columbia)
Compelling western complicated by a strange flashback construction. Produced by Harry Joe Brown, the story is essentially about a posse of respectable citizens led by over-the-hill, rum-soaked sheriff Broderick Crawford chasing down three down-and-out small ranchers (James Bell, Skip Homier, Guy Wilkerson) who robbed the town bank to get back at cruel and unsympathetic big rancher Charles Bickford and his "adopted" son John Derek after Bickford broke them in a cattle deal. Bickford is out for murderous revenge to hide a long-buried secret in his past, but Crawford wants only to see justice. There are many twists and turns before this unusual western reaches its climax. The Lone Pine Alabams stand in for New Mexico deserts. Stocked with a terrific supporting cast - Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Wanda Hendrix, Henry Hull, Will Wright, Eddy Waller, Frank Hagney, Mira McKinney, Monte Blue, Reed Howes, Frank Ellis.

 SANTEE (1973 American Video Cinema/Crown International)
A late-in-the-game Glenn Ford western whose script (even by talented Tom Blackburn) is saddled with stiff, boring dialog and unrealistic sequences. Director Gary Nelson does absolutely nothing to help with camera setups and scenes that often linger way too long, poor choppy photography and amateurish shots where microphone booms are seen. The cheap Dan Randi music and an inappropriate themesong, "Jody" sung by rockers Paul Revere and the Raiders, doom this production from the get-go. Filmed around Santa Fe, New Mexico, Ford is a one-time lawman whose son was killed by an outlaw gang, causing him to resign. Now a horse breeder, he's killed an outlaw and adopted the man's son (Michael Burns) despite the boy's vows of revenge. Gradually, the two become close but are torn apart when the local sheriff is shot and the boy blames Ford. It turns out the real killers (Bob Wilke and his gang) are the same gang that killed Ford's son. Ford and Burns track down the outlaws and wipe them out, but at the cost of Burns' life, leaving Ford alone and psychologically tormented. A bummer ending and certainly not worth investing 93 minutes of your time. Supporting cast is made up of old pros - Jay Silverheels, Harry Townes, John Larch, Robert Donner, Taylor Lacher (a regular on Ford's CADE'S COUNTY TV series), Chuck Courtney, X Brands, John Hart, Russ McCubbin, Red Morgan - with Dana Wynter as Ford's wife.

 GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ (1954 20th Century Fox)
Bob Steele plot #101 expanded to 88 overly verbose Technicolor minutes with Dale Robertson the son of an honest riverboat gambler who was accused of cheating then killed in a nefarious plot by New Orleans hoi-polloi Kevin McCarthy, his sister Lisa Daniels, partner Douglas Dick and saloon owner John Wengraf. With the aid of old timer Thomas Mitchell and his daughter Debra Paget, Robertson proves his Dad was framed. It all ends with a duel, a brief catfight, a card game and some swordplay.

 GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS (1961 Warner Bros.)
Prospector partners - strong, silent hero Clint Walker and Irish rascal Roger Moore are pursued across the desert by marauder Gene Evans and his gang who are trying to steal their gold. Along the trail the partners encounter scalawag doctor Chill Wills and unscrupulous Mexican Robert Middleton. Wonderfully photographed with terrific Utah locations by Joseph Biroc, but at 88 minutes vastly overscripted.

 GUILTY TRAILS (1938 Universal)
Sheriff Bob Baker quits cold when he thinks he's killed his old friend Forrest Taylor following a bank robbery actually committed by banker Jack Rockwell and his accomplice Carleton Young. The robbery is only a cover allowing Rockwell to steal gorgeous Marjorie Reynolds' proof of inheritance of Taylor's ranch. Reynolds found fame on TV as Peg Riley, William Bendix's wife, on LIFE OF RILEY from '53-'58. Bob's partner is Hal Taliaferro, former silent and early talkie star Wally Wales, who had a much longer and lucrative career as a character player. The three Fleming Allan songs aren't as noteworthy as in other Baker features. A good enough plot, written as most of Baker's B's were by Joseph West (a writing pseudonym of the film's director, George WaGGner), but also as many of Baker's films were, it's lacking in the hard riding excitement factor, especially after a pretty good first quarter.

 PRAIRIE JUSTICE (1938 Universal)
Bob Baker's Sheriff father (Forrest Taylor) is killed when U. S. Marshal Bob helps him investigate the rash of stagecoach holdups and rustlings. Bob falls for Dorothy Fay (who never looked prettier) whose uncle, Jack Rockwell, is unfortunately implicated with bandits Carleton Young and Jack Kirk. (Ever notice the unwritten B-western rule? Girls' uncles could be crooked, fathers could not.) Bob's pal, Alfalfa, is played by one time minor star Wally Wales, now character actor Hal Taliaferro (1895-1980). Bob's other "sidekick" in this one is his dog, Smokey (likely a Blue Heeler), who plays a large part in the story - especially in the final fadeout scene. Baker's best westerns were the ones that contained the bouncy ditties and plaintive love songs written by the under appreciated and highly talented tunesmith Fleming Allan. Listen here to "Trailin' My Way To You" Well handled by director George WaGGner (he always spelled his name with two capital G's) but lacks a bit in the action department.

 GHOST TOWN RIDERS (1938 Universal)
The perfect New Year's Eve B-western. Forrest Taylor and his gang (Glenn Strange, Jack Kirk, Merrill McCormick, Reed Howes) hide out in a ghost town (best use ever of the Brandeis Ranch) and plot to promote a fake gold rush, bring the town back to life, then clip the suckers who rush in. All they need to do is pay up the back taxes by New Year's Eve and they own the town. Only resident seems to be kindly but half-coo-coo Mayor George Cleveland who talks to residents who aren't there. When the legal owner of the town, Fay McKenzie (billed Fay Shannon for whatever reason), arrives, it throws a crimp in Taylor's plans. When Taylor tries to get rid of Fay, she's rescued by wild horse wrangler Bob Baker and pal Hank Worden. All the action takes place on New Year's Eve, so it's a good one to watch during the Holidays. As usual, love those upbeat Fleming Allen tunes. Remade as GOLD STRIKE in 1950 with Tex Williams and liberal use of stock footage from this film.

 BAD MEN OF THE HILLS (1942 Columbia)
Corrupt Sheriff Al Bridge and his gunhand Dick Botiller rule the county with an iron hand, but when they brutally murder Marshal John Shay, his partner Charles Starrett arrives to settle matters with his fightin' fists and blazing six-guns. Bridge leads Starrett into believing Chimney Rock is infested with rustlers, but Starrett instead finds a community virtually imprisoned by Bridge's authority. Living in Chimney Rock, under leadership of Russell Hayden, is spirited Luana Walters, her kid sister Norma Jean Wooters, and comic Cliff Edwards. Hayden is content to live away from society until Starrett convinces him there is a better life for his people and together they overthrow Bridge's reign. Wooters was the sister of Gene Autry co-star Mary Lee. Although blessed with a beautiful signing voice as was Mary, Norma Jean simply wasn't as cute. Her film career consisted of this and one other Starrett, FIGHTING BUCKAROO ('43). Born in Missouri, Cliff Edwards (1895-1971) began by singing in St. Louis saloons where he acquired the nickname Ukulele Ike. After making a national hit with "Ja Da" he replaced Rudy Vallee in '36 as the star of "George White's Scandals" on Broadway. Making his way to Hollywood he assured his immortality as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's PINOCCHIO ('40) singing the Academy Award winner "When You Wish Upon a Star". Possessed of a finer singing voice than many of the B-western leads, unfortunately Ike's gorgeous pure voice just didn't match his looks, relegating Cliff to character roles and sidekick to Charles Starrett and Tim Holt from '41-'43. He worked often for Disney (DUMBO in '41, FUN AND FANCY FREE in '47, MICKEY MOUSE CLUB and DISNEYLAND in the '50s, and THE LITTLEST OUTLAW in '55. When Edwards died, nearly broke and alone, Walt Disney Productions paid for his funeral. In 2000, he was named a Disney Legend and inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame.

 DRUMS IN THE DEEP SOUTH (1951 King Bros./RKO)
Striving for another epic Civil War drama, Oscar winning art director/production manager turned director William Cameron Menzies adds a few nice touches to the plot, but ultimately this is just an expanded B-film. Two West Point graduates find themselves on opposite sides at the outbreak of the Civil War. James Craig is a Confederate Major while Guy Madison is a Yankee officer. Three years into the war they oppose each other when General Sherman makes his advance toward Atlanta through bloodied Georgia. The advance of Major Madison's Union troops are blocked by Craig and 20 Rebel soldiers who have mounted three cannon on top of Devil's Mountain where they can pound away at Sherman's supply trains down below, bombarding the only route through the plantation country. Craig's old sweetheart, Barbara Payton, whose manor has been seized by Union forces, manages to spy on Madison and deliver information to Craig. The film attracted unusual response when originally released following Payton's sordid, highly publicized affairs with actors Franchot Tone and Tom Neal who got in a fight over her affections. Payton's promising career plummeted and she later was arrested for prostitution and check forgery. Filmed in SuperCineColor, the large supporting cast includes Barton MacLane, Robert Easton, Taylor Holmes (as Payton's uncle), Craig Stevens (as Payton's husband), Robert Osterloh (as a sympathetic Union soldier), Dan White, Tom Monroe, Mickey Simpson, Tom Fadden, Myron Healey, James Griffith, Kenne Duncan, Guy Wilkerson and Louis Jean Heydt.

 MISSISSIPPI RHYTHM (1949 Monogram)
Title makes this sound like some sort of Southern musical, but actually it's pretty much a routine B-western that serves as a starring vehicle for the former Governor of Louisiana ('44-'48), Jimmie Davis, who before becoming governor had a string of hit records including "You are my Sunshine", "It Makes No Different Now", etc. - eight of them which enliven this film. Southerner Davis comes west to Montana to claim his murdered uncle's inheritance, a half ownership in land and development crook James Flavin's business, who with Paul Maxey are keeping the town under their control. Jimmie finds a friend in Lee "Lasses" White and saloon gal Veda Ann Borg and instigates a special free election to overthrow Flavin's corrupt city government. Davis rallies the farmers and ranchers to election polls through the use of his songs, something he did in real life during his campaigns. Eventually, however, it takes a little gunplay to thwart Flavin's gang. Midway, there's an extended 10 minute minstrel show complete with Lasses in blackface.

 NEVADA (1944 RKO)
After playing badguys opposite William Boyd, Johnny Mack Brown and Eddie Dew for a couple of years, this was Robert Mitchum's first of two starring B-westerns (see also WEST OF PECOS). It finds him (as Nevada) and his pals, Big Boy Williams and Richard "Chito" Martin, heading for the reportedly gold-rich Comstock Lode. Once there, they find miners having a tough time finding gold in the tons of supposedly worthless clay. Thing is, devious saloon owner Craig Reynolds has discovered not gold, but rich silver deposits in the clay and is acquiring land claims by fair means or foul. When homesteader Larry Wheat, and his daughter Nancy Gates, decide to have the clay analyzed, Reynolds has henchman Harry Woods kill Wheat, then throw blame on Mitchum. Expertly made by director Edward Killy and cinematographer Harry Wild, amongst the backdrop of Lone Pine's Alabama Hills, this B nears A proportions. Watch closely for a glimpse of a young Ben Johnson in the barroom background.

 STAGECOACH TO DANCER'S ROCK (1962 Universal-International)
The only movie Kenneth Darling ever wrote (unless it's a pseudonym?) - and it's easy to see why. Independently produced and directed by Earl Bellamy and released by U-I, this combination LIFEBOAT/STAGECOACH is a morose, unpleasant, talkative, basically actionless, psychological character driven western with a wrong-headed folk-group-sung title tune. Titular star is Warren Stevens with Martin Landau as a crazed gambler-turned-murderer. Also with stage driver Bob Anderson, shotgun guard Rand Brooks, Chinese girl Judy Dan, hypocritical politician Del Moore, Cavalry major Don Wilbanks, and just-out-of-med-school doctor Jody Lawrence. Also featured are Holly Bane, Gene Roth, Charles Tannen and Mauritz Hugo. Bellamy tries his best but the material is undernourished and simply unworthy of your time.

 YOUNG GUNS OF TEXAS (1963 20th Century Fox)
Ouch! Doomed from the get-go with a dreadful title tune sung by Kenny Miller, a trio of second-generation actors (James Mitchum - channeling his father Robert, but very badly; Alanna Ladd - Alan's daughter in her only "real" movie role, and it's plain to see why; and Jody McCrea - son of Joel) along with Gary Conway (how'd he get in there, he's related to nobody) prove that talent isn't necessarily transmitted through one's genes! Even CinemaScope color and old pros like Chill Wills and Robert Lowery can't overcome the ludicrous plot, banal script and horrid acting. A total waste!

 TOUGH ASSIGNMENT (1949 Lippert)
Slow moving modern day western as newspaper reporter Don Barry and his new wife (Marjorie Steele) go undercover as migrant ranch-hand workers to capture a vicious gang of truck rustlers who deal in bootleg beef (Steve Brodie, Marc Lawrence, Fred Kohler Jr., Frank Richards, John Cason, and Lippert regular Sid Melton). Filmed at Agoura Ranch, directed by one-shot Bill Beaudine (1892-1970).

 ARKANSAS JUDGE (1941 Republic)
Republic, getting Roy Rogers to branch out a bit from his B-western series (unlike Gene Autry ever did), casts him in one of the Weaver Brothers and Elviry's homespun rural comedies as a young lawyer (still riding Trigger though) returning after 5 years to his sleepy hometown of Peaceful Valley where nothing much ever happens. But now on the village's 40th anniversary celebration $50 is stolen from the widow Smithers' flour barrel and kindly scrubwoman Spring Byington is blamed. After the Weavers (Abner - Leon Weaver, Cicero - Frank Weaver, Elviry - June Weaver) stoutly defend Byington, the theft becomes a gossipy concern to the townsfolk when a rumor is inadvertently spread (by Violey - Loretta Weaver) accusing Veda Ann Borg, daughter of local banker Frank M. Thomas of the theft. Roy, believing he is in love with the flashy Borg, defends her against the gossip. As tensions heighten, even kindly Abner Weaver is put on trial by Thomas for slandering his daughter's reputation, and the innocent Byington is nearly killed when the rabble-rousing townsfolk decide to burn her house and run her out of town. Roy saves the day as he fights the mob violence thereby exposing the real thief. Based on Irving Stone's novel FALSE WITNESS, this is an excellent morality play about the terrible damage unfounded, vicious gossip can do to people who don't follow the 9th commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." The Weavers sing two songs and Roy sings "Peaceful Valley" to girlfriend Pauline Moore.

 ARKANSAS SWING (1948 Columbia)
Even more cornball than some of the other Hoosier Hot Shots "westerns" is this tale of a the guys trying to help youngster Mary Eleanor Donahue (later Elinor Donahue on TV's FATHER KNOWS BEST) and big sister Gloria Henry pay their overdue feed bills for their trotting horse, Senator Preachy. In the ensuing big harness race, vindictive socialite June Vincent tries to get back at horse trainer Stuart Hart over spurned affections by fixing the race, but the Hot Shots save the day with, of all things, a washboard. With the departure from the series of Ken Curtis, Columbia was "trying out" various leading men, but singer (and obviously non-actor) Stuart Hart (who sings one song and of whom no information seems to exist) is way too calm and laid back. Supporting cast includes Eddy Waller, Syd Saylor, Douglas Fowley, Dick Elliott, Fred Sears, Pierre Watkin, singer Dorothy Porter and the Texas Rangers (who previously sang in several Johnny Mack B-westerns at Universal). Working title of this one was TEXAS SANDMAN, the song sung by Hart.

 SMOKY RIVER SERENADE (1947 Columbia)
When Ken Curtis left the Hoosier Hot Shots series, Columbia was left to fill the void, trying out several different romantic leads, including non-singer Paul Campbell here, until settling on Kirby Grant for the final few outings in '48. Campbell (1923-1999) is best known for playing bland second leads in ten Charles Starrett Durango Kids between 1947-1951. He's also in Rocky Lane's VIGILANTE HIDEOUT ('50) and a few TV episodes (GENE AUTRY, LONE RANGER, MY FRIEND FLICKA) but his career is simply undistinguished. In the '60s he relocated to New York with his wife. Without Curtis, the Hot Shots (Hezzie, Ken, Gil, Gabe) series stumbled along, and this one is also missing other series regulars like Big Boy Williams, Jeff Donnell and Andy Clyde, thus leaving us with very mild rural western musical comedy hi-jinx. Besides the Hot Shots, music is supplied by leading lady Ruth Terry, the Sunshine Boys, Carolina Cotton (once again doing "I Love to Yodel"!), the Boyd Triplets (a poor replacement for the Dinning Sisters) and the beautiful voice of former Sammy Kaye band singer Billy Williams. His only other film seems to be Starrett's LIGHTNING GUNS - in which he doesn't sing! Cattle Records offers two LP's on Williams. Also inserted into this romp is "Hollywood Barn Dance" announcer Cottonseed Clark, trick rider Sandy Sanders and (very briefly, unbilled) Utah born professional trick roper (Texas) Rose Bascom (1922-1993) who was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in '81. Rose also appeared in Johnny Carpenter's LAWLESS RIDER. For what it's worth, the benign plot has ruthless businessman Russell Hicks determined to control all the land around Split Rock Junction but is thwarted by old timer Paul E. Burns who founded his ranch as a monument to his late son. To help Burns with his finances, the Hot Shots decide to hold a talent contest to select Miss Golden West.

 FEUDIN' RHYTHM (1949 Columbia)
Attempting to revive their musical western-comedy format after the departure of Ken Curtis, then the Hoosier Hot Shots, Columbia settled on Kirby Grant as a replacement for Curtis and recruited hot new singer Eddy Arnold for two outings - this one and HOEDOWN - but, although a terrific singer, Arnold's on-screen charisma was pure bland and the series came to a screeching halt. Country/western singer Grant plans to make the move from radio to TV, but a major fire forces him to accept financial backing from snooty upper-crust bluenose Isabel Randolph who, as part of the deal, compels Grant to let her be producer of the show, instigating into the program more "cultured" aspects. Also in the deal is Randolph's obnoxious practical-joke-playing nephew, Tommy Ivo, a real Dennis the Menace. Ivo finally wises up to what a stinker he is when he nearly kills Arnold during a fake bandit raid on Grant's ranch. Inside joke: At one point, Ivo, who co-starred in several Charles Starrett Durango Kids for Columbia, urges his runaway horse, "Faster, Raider, faster!" Arnold sings his big "Cattle Call" hit (and three others), Fuzzy Knight is along as comedy relief to Grant (just as he was at Universal) and other music is supplied by Carolina Cotton, the Oklahoma Wranglers and Mustard and Gravy (with a politically today incorrect black face act).

 BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958 Columbia)
Based on the Jonas Ward novel, THE NAME'S BUCHANAN, this is another excellent in the Ranown (Randolph Scott/producer Harry Joe Brown) productions directed by Budd Boetticher and written by ... if you go by the credits, Charles Lang, who had previously only scripted low budget Kirby Grant Mountie flicks. In actuality, the first 60-65 minutes of the 78 minute movie are taken from Ward's novel, and according to Boetticher, writer Burt Kennedy and co-stars Craig Stevens and L. Q. Jones, much of Lang's original script was rewritten/improvised/adlibbed during the shoot in Old Tucson by Boetticher and Kennedy. Story has Scott riding innocently into Agrytown, a place where nearly everybody is related, with each one double crossing everybody else to get hold of $50,000 in ransom money for Mexican rancher's son Manuel Rojas who is accused of shooting down Tol Avery's son after the son raped Rojas' sister. Scott winds up an ally of Rojas and opposing the double-crossing Agry Brothers (Avery, Peter Whitney and Barry Kelley). Scott is at his best in this darkly comic script that holds its own with the best of the Boetticher/Kennedy/Scott westerns.

 OKLAHOMA ANNIE (1952 Republic)
Judy Canova aspired to a serious career in music but got waylaid along the trail, becoming typed as a hillbilly comedienne. She became a regular on Rudy Vallee's "Fleischmann Hour" on radio in '33, Paul Whiteman's "Musical Varieties" of '36-'37 and Edgar Bergen's "Chase and Sanborn Hour" in '38. Her own CBS radio show in '43-'44 created a pigtails-and-calico fad which made her big movie screen boxoffice. Actually, Republic had spotted her worth in '40 and starred her in seven lowbrow rural comedies from '40-'43 (SCATTERBRAIN, PUDDIN' HEAD, SIS HOPKINS, JOAN OF OZARK, SLEEPYTIME GAL, CHATTERBOX, and SLEEPY LAGOON - plus a loan out to Paramount for TRUE TO THE ARMY). Judy jumped over to Columbia for three cornball comedies - one per year - from '44-'46 (LOUISIANA HAYRIDE, HIT THE HAY, SINGIN' IN THE CORN). Judy moved to NBC radio for her own show from '45-'53 but took a movie-break until Republic re-signed her in '52 for a series of six. The first two (OKLAHOMA ANNIE, HONEYCHILE) were in Trucolor, a 90 minute running time and good budgets, but the final four (through '55) were pretty dismal b/w affairs (WAC FROM WALLA WALLA, UNTAMED HEIRESS, CAROLINA CANNONBALL, LAY THAT RIFLE DOWN). While a few of her films had some western elements (ghost town, making movies, gold prospectors) only OKLAHOMA ANNIE could be termed a true western comedy - and only that if you appreciate Judy's unique talents, truly an acquired taste. Here storekeeper Canova is made new town sheriff John Russell's deputy after she captures bank robber Roy Barcroft. Through a series of mishaps Judy and John clean up the county of all its corrupt citizens (county supervisor Frank Ferguson, gambling house owner Grant Withers). Unfortunately, most of the wannabe comedic scenes simply fall flat under B-western vet director R. G. Springsteen's clapboard. Peopled by western regulars House Peters Jr., Denver Pyle, Si Jenks, Emmett Lynn, William Fawcett, Fuzzy Knight, Hal Price, Almira Sessions and Minerva Urecal. Judy sings four forgettable songs.

 RIDE 'EM COWBOY (1942 Universal)
Hilarious Abbott and Costello hi-jinks as the boys go west in their sixth Universal comedy. This time A&C are inept peanut and hotdog vendors at a Long Island rodeo where singing best-selling western novelist Dick Foran is the feature attraction. Trouble is, he's never been west of the Hudson River as is discovered when trick rodeo rider Anne Gwynne must save Foran's life when he's thrown from his horse by a runaway steer. Gwynne heads home to Arizona (the Gower Gulch Dude Ranch) with Foran hot on her heels to make amends. Naturally, A&C are along for the fun. Once in Arizona, Lou unwittingly becomes engaged to an Indian maiden and is angrily pursued by her father (Douglas Dumbrille). Meanwhile, in order to hedge and cover his gambling bets, gambler Morris Ankrum kidnaps dude ranch foreman Alabam (Johnny Mack Brown) and Foran before the big 4th of July rodeo. Foran sings three songs including the beautiful "I'll Remember April" while the Merry Macs harmonize on three and Ella Fitzgerald chimes in with "A-Tisket, A-Tasket". Watch for former Universal B-western star Bob Baker slumming in a non-speaking role as a bus driver. A good western spoof that landed RIDE 'EM COWBOY as the 8th biggest grossing film of '42.

 HELLGATE (1952 Lippert)
Producer John C. Champion's HELLGATE, directed by Charles Marquis Warren, is a stern, brutal adult western for 1952, definitely in the foreground of the changing western landscape away from Hoppy, Gene and Roy to a more realistic form. Sterling Hayden is a veterinarian wrongly accused of being part of Kyle James' (aka James Anderson) southern guerrilla marauders in the wake of the Civil War. Sent to New Mexico's devilish Hellgate prison Hayden clashes with stern warden Ward Bond who holds a grudge against guerrillas because his family was wiped out by them. Wanting to kill the alleged guerrilla legitimately, Bond and sadistic guard Bob Wilke put Hayden through numerous cruelties to force him and his fellow prisoners (Peter Coe, John Pickard, James Arness, House Peters Jr., Richard Emory) to escape. Eventually, Hayden's medical training helps stop an epidemic from spreading through the desert prison causing Bond to rethink his ideas.

 THE OUTCAST (1954 Republic)
A very macho John Derek returns west to claim a vast ranch his late father left to him, but Derek's uncle, hard-bitten "Major" Jim Davis has cheated him out of the land with a phony will rigged up by corrupt lawyer Taylor Holmes. Derek, determined to get back what is rightfully his, hires killer Bob Steele to stir up a war with Davis while Derek himself tries to make inroads with Davis' betrothed, Catherine McLeod. Davis fights back with his own gunslingers, Ben Cooper and Harry Carey Jr., and crooked sheriff James Millican. During all this, Joan Evans, daughter of put-upon small rancher Frank Ferguson, who knew Derek as a youngster, falls in love with the grown man. Novelist Todhunter Ballard's story fleshes out and gives character depth to even lesser players such as Nana Bryant, Slim Pickens, Buzz Henry, Nacho Galindo and Bill Walker. Perfectly directed by William Witney.

 FIVE GUNS WEST (1955 American Releasing)
Dismal first directorial effort by Roger Corman promises much and delivers little. Corman was lucky to enlist two "fallen stars", John Lund and Dorothy Malone, for marquee value. He also lensed in Pathé color which helps, but not enough. Lund and four other outlaws (Touch [Mike] Connors, Paul Birch, scripter Bob Campbell pulling double duty and Jonathan Haze) are pardoned and hired by the Confederate Army to head off and capture a Union stagecoach full of gold manned by traitor Jack Ingram. Primarily lensed at Ingram's western town, most of the running time is spent in constant dissention and bickering over the affections of Dorothy Malone who operates the stage stop with her Pop (James Stone).

 FURY AT SHOWDOWN (1957 United Artists)
Released from jail, John Derek is an ex-gunslinger returning home trying to overcome his past reputation with the help of his exuberant kid brother Nick Adams (of TV's THE REBEL). Derek and Adams, with some other small ranchers, hope to sign a contract with the railroad and pay off the loan on their ranches, but vicious lawyer Gage Clarke seeks revenge on Derek for the justified killing of Clarke's brother years earlier. Clarke enlists hired gun John Smith to goad Derek into a gunfight and meanwhile plots to swindle Derek and the ranchers out of their railroad deal. Moody and atmospheric, FURY ... is extremely well directed by Gerd Oswald (including a terrific brawl between Derek and Smith), especially considering it was filmed in only a week. Well worth a look. Oswald directed several other B-films before heading up THE LONGEST DAY in '62.

 SHUT MY BIG MOUTH (1942 Columbia)
Horticulturist Joe E. Brown, out to beautify the west, accidentally bests outlaw Victor Jory and unwittingly is made sheriff of Big Bluff. Jory and his henchies (barely noticeable Forrest Tucker and Lloyd Bridges) kidnap lovely Adele Mara, daughter of wealthy Pedro de Cordoba, holding her ransom for $50,000. Brown, mostly in drag, and his man Friday, Fritz Feld, come to the rescue in this amusing but not overly funny western spoof written by Oliver Drake and helmed by comedy vet Charles Barton. Fun to watch for B-vets Ed Cobb, Al Ferguson, Hank Bell, Earle Hodgins, Ralph Peters, Frank McCarroll, Eddy Waller, Joan Woodbury, Russell Simpson, Fern Emmett, Don Beddoe, Art Dillard, Joe McGuinn, Noble Johnson, Chief Thunder Cloud, Art Mix, Blackjack Ward and Dick Curtis.

 SONS OF ADVENTURE (1948 Republic)
A movie about stuntmen and making B-western movies, directed by ace stuntman Yakima Canutt. Disliked by everyone on the set, western star John Holland (read between the lines, "Rocky" Lane) is killed during a scene by a real bullet from a rifle shot from new stuntman Gordon Jones who has been hired by old friend Russell Hayden. Trying to clear his friend, Hayden starts snooping around to find the killer, putting him in danger time and time again until the real killer is revealed. Suspects are: director Roy Barcroft, assistant director George Chandler, studio head Grant Withers, scriptwriter John Newland, Holland's love interest Stephanie Bachelor, special effects man Gilbert Frye, cameraman John Crawford. Being about stuntmen and movies allowed Canutt to incorporate much western and serial stock footage.

 LAND OF MISSING MEN (1930 Tiffany)
Bob Steele and sidekick Al St. John happen upon a saloon where a gunfight has just occurred. A wounded man (C. R. Dufau) tells them of a plan by the Black Coyote's gang to hold up the stage carrying his daughter (Caryl Lincoln). Steele robs the coach before the bandits arrive and takes Lincoln with him. That night, she escapes Steele's camp and goes to round up a posse, not knowing the truth about Bob. Meanwhile, Bob and St. John head for the Black Coyote's camp, exposing him as local Sheriff Edward Dunn and his Mexican accomplice Emilo Fernandez just as Lincoln arrives with the posse. Interesting early talkie for several reasons. Real life "outlaw" Al Jennings has a minor role. A failure as a real bandit in the late 1880s, Jennings served seven years in prison for his part in a train robbery that netted all of $60 for Jennings and his three brothers. When he was released he turned up in Hollywood telling far-fetched tales about his days as one of the Old West's most feared desperadoes. Not much better as an actor than he was as a robber, Jennings managed to hang on in the film community for quite a few years, spinning his increasingly ludicrous yarns. In 1951 Columbia immortalized the legend-in-his-own-mind bandit in AL JENNINGS OF OKLAHOMA with Dan Duryea, taking the lies even further from reality. Jennings died in 1961 at 98. This is the third of nine Steele made for Tiffany and, again as in others, he sings. The song is "Prairie's End" which he warbles twice, a full five years before Gene Autry became "The" singing cowboy in Mascot's PHANTOM EMPIRE serial. Badman Emilio Fernandez later became one of Mexico's best known film directors on major features. He remade his ENAMORADOA ('46) in Hollywood four years later as THE TORCH. Fernandez acted in both Mexican and Hollywood features. As late as 1966 he was assistant director on NIGHT OF THE IGUANA. He also worked in Spain, Cuba and Argentina in the '50s.

QUEEN OF THE YUKON (1940 Monogram)
Reportedly based on a Jack London story, this northwoods melodrama is pretty mild stuff. Riverboat Queen of Yukon, Irene Rich, a gambling lady with a heart of gold opposes selling out to crooked big-time mining company owner Melvin Lang until her eastern educated daughter, June Carlson, arrives in the Yukon with boyfriend Dave O'Brien. When Carlson learns the truth about her riverboat gambler Mom, and wants to emulate her, Rich and partner Charles Bickford eventually sell to Lang to protect Carlson from leading the tawdry life of a Yukon gambling queen. Jealous of Carlson's affections for the virile Bickford, O'Brien is duped by Lang and henchman Tris Coffin into serving phony mining claims to swindle area prospectors. Rich and Bickford rally the small miners as O'Brien learns he's been duped and forces a slam-bang showdown with Lang. Filmed at Cedar Lake near Big Bear, CA. Rich's career stretched back to 1918 when she appeared in A DESERT WOOING with Tom Mix. Her last film was John Wayne's FORT APACHE in '48.

 THE SILVER WHIP (1953 20th Century Fox)
Slightly offbeat but excellent often overlooked western that poses some interesting questions. Speedily directed by screen editor (YELLOW SKY) turned director Harmon Jones (PRIDE OF ST. LOUIS, CITY OF BAD MEN, A DAY OF FURY) based on a short novel by Jack Schaefer, author of SHANE. Young, inexperienced stagecoach driver Robert Wagner is fired from his job after he's held up by bandits and fails to obey orders given to him by stage guard Dale Robertson. As a result the gold is lost and old-timer Burt Mustin and stage passenger Lola Albright are killed. Vengeance on his mind, Robertson tracks down the leader of the gang, John Kellogg. Kellogg and another outlaw, Ian MacDonald, are jailed by Sheriff Rory Calhoun who has given Wagner a second chance and made him his deputy. Calhoun believes in trial by jury for the killers but Robertson lives by the law in his holster and leads a mob of townsmen in forming a lynching party. With Calhoun tied up. Wagner must face some deep moral issues. Does he give in to Robertson, a man he's always looked up to and succumb to mob justice or does he protect the legal rights of the accused? Watch for Whip Wilson as one of the two argumentative bullwhackers in a scuffle with Robertson and Wagner near the start of the film. Also, young Bobby Diamond, later star of TV's FURY, appears early on.

 BAD MEN OF MISSOURI (1941 Warner Bros.)
Highly distorted tale of the Younger Brothers (Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris, Arthur Kennedy) who return home after the Civil War to find northern carpetbaggers have pillaged their land, killed their father (Russell Simpson) and taken charge of everything. With Jesse James (Alan Baxter) in tow, the three likeable brothers take up the outlaw trail, stymieing carpetbagger Victor Jory, his comic clerk Walter Catlett (whose antics are overplayed) and strong arm man Howard de Silva. Even a little romance is thrown in with Jane Wyman as Kennedy's girl. It's the usual western glorified-whitewash-of-facts, even to having Irish tenor Morgan sing "Nellie Gray", but so what, it all adds up to exciting entertainment under Ray Enright's direction. The Civil War battle scenes at the start were excerpted from D. W. Griffith's silent classic, THE BIRTH OF A NATION, scenes that were reused in many another Civil War sound epic. Fabulous supporting cast includes Roscoe Ates, Eddy Waller, Trevor Bardette, Ben Corbett, Bud Osborne, Tom Tyler, Duncan Renaldo, Ray Teal, Wade Boteler, Arthur Loft, Charles Middleton, Blackie Whiteford, Sonny Bupp and others.

 BLACK BART (1948 Universal-International)
Dan Duryea as "Black Bart", directed by B-pro George Sherman, offers everything necessary for an enjoyable late '40s B-plus Technicolor western - plenty of thrilling action, romance with a beautiful woman (Yvonne DeCarlo), feuding friends (Duryea and fellow bandit Jeffrey Lynn), a rousing score - much of it recycled from Universal serials and westerns, gorgeous Kanab, UT, scenery, a masked bandit ... but the ending is downbeat and a bit incomplete in De Carlo's case. (The ending leaves one wondering if the makers of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" saw this film?) As usual with these outlaw epics, the screenwriters (Luci Ward, Jack Natteford) took all the factual liberties in the west to concoct a story. The only thing they got right here was Black Bart's real name - Charles E. Boles. Nothing is even mentioned in this pic about Bart leaving poetry after his Wells Fargo stage robberies. In actuality, Black Bart worked alone and had no ulterior motive as he does here - working with crooked John McIntire to drive Wells Fargo out of business in Sacramento so they can set up their own line. More important, Bart/Boles was not killed as he is in the film, but captured circa 1882 and sent to jail. Released in 1888, he vanished from history.

 RETURN OF THE BADMEN (1948 RKO)
Throwing historical accuracy to the wind, producer Nat Holt's sequel-of-sorts to BADMAN'S TERRITORY ('46) takes the same premise of putting a whole slew of famous outlaws up against ex-lawman Randolph Scott who is forced to pin on a badge one more time after Robert Ryan (as The Sundance Kid) guns down one of Scott's friends, Charles Stevens, and strangles a young girl outlaw (Anne Jeffreys) Scott has recently reformed. As 1889 Oklahoma readies for the huge land run and establishes the town of Guthrie, Ryan assembles a "who's who" of outlawry including Steve Brodie, Tom Keene and Robert Bray as Cole, Jim and John Younger; Robert Armstrong as Wild Bill Doolin; Dean White as Billy the Kid; Walter Reed, Lex Barker and Michael Harvey as Bob, Emmett and Grat Dalton; Tom Tyler as Wild Bill Yeager and Lew Harvey as The Arkansas Kid, to run roughshod over the territory. Considering this large contingent of outlaws, this easily could have degenerated into a convoluted mess. However, director Ray Enright has orchestrated the constant action while never losing sight of the central conflict between Ryan and Scott. The two first rate actors play well off one another, creating realistic tension that carries through til the finale, one of the all-time great screen fights. Gabby Hayes is along for the ride to provide a little comic relief. Now - for a look at reality, none of these outlaws ever rode together except for The Daltons and Doolin. Remember this film is set in 1889. Billy the Kid was killed in 1881. Sundance (killed here by Scott) escaped with Butch Cassidy to South America around 1901 and was killed there. The end for the Younger Brothers came in 1876 when they and the James brothers tried to rob a Northfield, MN, bank. The Dalton gang was broken up in a failed two-bank stickup in Coffeyville, KS, in 1892. Yeager and The Arkansas Kid seem to be totally fictitious, although there was an Arkansas Tom who rode with Doolin.

 CALAMITY JANE AND SAM BASS (1949 Universal-International)
Absolute fictional movie hooey as there is no indication the real Calamity Jane ever even met outlaw Sam Bass. Maurice Geraghty (who scripted dozens of serials - including Tom Mix's MIRACLE RIDER - and B-westerns for Hopalong Cassidy, 3 Mesquiteers, Charles Starrett, etc.) and Melvin Levy (ROBIN HOOD OF EL DORADO, RENEGADES) co-scripted this outlaw-combo (based on a story idea from director George Sherman) at the height of the famous-outlaw cycle of westerns. Beautifully filmed in Kanab, UT; Red Rock Canyon, CA; and the Iverson Ranch, this combination outlaw/horse story with a downbeat ending glosses over the real Sam Bass' outlawry, as most of these-type films do. The movie has Bass as a happy-go-lucky cowboy who buys a beautiful race horse, The Denton (TX) mare. The horse, which Bass (Howard Duff) races, is too fast for crooked bettor (Marc Lawrence) who poisons the horse and swindles Bass and some other cowpunchers (Lloyd Bridges, Milburn Stone, Clifton Young, Houseley Stevenson, John Rodney) out of $16,000 in bets. Bass and the boys steal back their losings and are forced to turn outlaw, aided by Mae West in britches, glamorous Yvonne De Carlo, looking not a whit like the real Calamity. In the end, pursuing sheriff Willard Parker guns all the men including Bass who is tricked into believing the Denton Mare is still alive. In reality, the real Bass was a no account cowpoke who worked odd jobs, owned a race horse for a couple of years (who was not poisoned by anyone), drove a herd of cattle to Dodge City and absconded with the $8,000 profits (not cheated as in the film), then turned (willingly) to bank and train robbery in Nebraska and Texas for a year or so until Texas Rangers gunned him down in a Round Rock, TX, bank robbery. He died on his 27th birthday, July 21, 1878. Besides director Sherman and scripter Geraghty, the B-movie connections in this Technicolor big-bugeter continue with the supporting cast: Jack Ingram, Frank McCarroll, Roy Roberts, Ann Doran, Walter Baldwin, Pierce Lyden, Stanley Blystone, I. Stanford Jolley, Harry Harvey, Russ Conway, Francis McDonald.

 THE DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA (1949 Columbia)
Amongst spectacular Lone Pine locations and that stirring Morris Stoloff Columbia music, the thrill-packed story of the last outlaw gang of the 1800's is one of the best in the outlaw-cycle of westerns, even managing to get "most" of the history correct, although several incidents in the Doolin gang timeline are grouped together due to time restrictions. When the Dalton gang is virtually wiped out in the daring two-bank Coffeyville, KS, raid, Bill Doolin (Randolph Scott) is the only survivor. After exacting revenge on squealer Robert Osterloh, Doolin forms his own gang: Arkansas (Charles Kemper), Bitter Creek (John Ireland), Red Buck (Frank Fenton), Tulsa Jack (Jock Mahoney) and Little Bill (Noah Beery Jr.). For once in an outlaw-western, all these guys were actual members of the Doolin gang (although in reality there were four more, including Bill Dalton). From there, as someone says, "The chase is on." On the run from Marshal George Macready, Doolin tries to quit the outlaw trail, changes his name, buys a farm, settles down and marries church going Louise Albritton. But, exposed as an outlaw to Albritton by Ireland and Fenton, Doolin is lured back into the gang, although Albritton sticks by her man til the end which comes at the church where they'd met years prior. Splendid direction from Gordon Douglas (1907-1993) who started out directing B films (Gildersleeve series, Falcon, Dick Tracy, all at RKO) and later helmed several above average westerns besides DOOLINS (which was his first) - THE NEVADAN w/Scott; GREAT MISSOURI RAID, another in the outlaw cycle; IRON MISTRESS w/Alan Ladd; CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER w/Guy Madison in 3-D; FORT DOBBS and YELLOWSTONE KELLY w/Clint Walker, and BARQUERO w/Lee Van Cleef. Excellent second unit action here from Yakima Canutt. Cowboy cancer alert: Scott drags on a cigarette.

 BEST OF THE BADMEN (1951 RKO)
The Technicolor BEST OF THE BADMEN follows the late '40s-early '50s trend of "outlaw" westerns as RKO tries to score a triple-header sans Randolph Scott who'd starred in their BADMAN'S TERRITORY in '46 and RETURN OF THE BADMEN in '48. BEST OF THE BADMEN lifts Robert Ryan to top spot as a Union Cavalry major who brings in a band of Confederate guerrillas (including John Archer as Curley Ringo and Walter Brennan as Doc Butcher) at the end of the Civil War with a promise of amnesty if they take an oath of allegiance to the Union. They are double-crossed by glory-hunting, protection agency operator Robert Preston and carpetbagger Barton MacLane who try to grab the prisoners for reward money, framing a murder charge against Ryan. This drives Ryan (w/Archer and Brennan) into outlawry as they join up with Frank and Jesse James (Tom Tyler, Lawrence Tierney), the Younger Brothers - Cole (Bruce Cabot), Jim (Bob Wilke), John (John Cliff) and Bob (Jack Beutel). When the double-dealing Archer is ousted by the gang for being a rat, he switches sides and joins Preston to ambush the gang. Claire Trevor's role in the film is minimal as Preston's wife who ends up with Ryan. Jack Beutel, protégé of Howard Hughes, had not been seen on the screen since Hughes starred him opposed Jane Russell in the dismal THE OUTLAW. Legal entanglements with Hughes kept Beutel off the screen for years. Not a very forceful actor, he gained some modicum of fame co-starring on TV with Edgar Buchanan in JUDGE ROY BEAN ('55-'56) for Russell Hayden's production company in Pioneertown, CA.

 AL JENNINGS OF OKLAHOMA (1951 Columbia)
Total film malarkey makes Al Jennings look more like Jesse James (he even has a brother Frank in the film) when Jennings was in reality nothing more than a blowhard minor outlaw. Playing fast and loose with the facts, director Ray Nazarro's film has Al (Dan Duryea) trying to be a lawyer but he and his brother (Dick Foran) are driven into a life of robbing trains and banks. Fleeing to New Orleans, Duryea meets lovely Gale Storm and plans to marry and settle down, but a vindictive detective exposes him, forcing him back into a life of robbing trains and banks until he is captured, sentenced to five years, then released to become a successful lawyer and bit movie actor. The real Jennings sold Columbia his "memoirs" and acted as advisor on this whitewash job which bears no resemblance to the truth. In actuality, Jennings was the most inept bandit in the Southwest with his robberies never netting more than a few dollars. Jennings was successful at one robbery - this film. Terrific supporting cast: Louis Jean Heydt, James Griffith, Big Boy Williams, Stanley Andrews, Gloria Henry, John Ridgely, James Millican, Robert Bice, George J. Lewis, Jimmie Dodd, John Dehner, Harry Cording, Myron Healey, Eddie Parker, John Hamilton, George Chesebro, Tommy Ivo, Hank Patterson, Earle Hodgins.

 HIAWATHA (1952 Allied Artists)
Vince Edwards is terribly miscast in this dull melodrama loosely based on the Longfellow poem, allowing a lot of latitude for Indian platitudes. Searching peace, Edwards as Hiawatha goes to explore the Dakota territory where he meets and falls in love with Minnehaha (Yvette Dugay). Meanwhile, his treacherous Ojibway rival, Keith Larsen, seeks war among the tribes. If you can suffer through this 80 min. of Cinecolor hokey boredom, you're a better man than I.

 JACK SLADE (1953 Allied Artists)
There's never been a more sweaty, grimy, brooding western anti-hero than Mark Stevens' portrayal of Jack Slade. Basing his grim, downbeat story on historical events, scripter Warren Douglas forms a compelling portrait of Slade who killed his first man at 13, is tortured by killing in the Civil War, then becomes a trouble-shooter for an overland stage outfit plagued by outlaws where he slowly, over time, becomes too good at his job and, turns into the one thing he hates most - a hard-drinking feared killer. Together, Douglas and Stevens offer an excellent portrayal of the alcoholic depression into which a man can sink when there's too much bloodshed. Eventually, the hunter becomes the hunted. Superior support from Dorothy Malone, Barton MacLane, Harry Shannon, Jim Bannon, Lee Van Cleef, John Litel, Paul Langton, John Harmon, Sammy Ogg (as the young Jack), Richard Reeves and Duane Thorson/Gray. Directed by former editor Harold Schuster who began directing in '38 (MY FRIEND FLICKA, MARINE RAIDERS, SO DEAR TO MY HEART). Schuster also helmed the inferior RETURN OF JACK SLADE in '55.

 CITY OF BADMEN (1953 20TH Century-Fox)
The Jim Corbett (John Day)/Bob Fitzsimmons (Gil Perkins) heavyweight championship fight of 1897 in Carson City, Nevada, is recreated in this offbeat western which finds three outlaw gangs riding into town to see the fight. A very stoic Dale Robertson, his brother (Lloyd Bridges) and their men (John Doucette, Leo Gordon, Rodolfo Acosta, Pasquel Garcia) are returning home after several years fighting in the Mexican Revolution. Robertson, finding he's lost his girl (Jeanne Crain) to another man, plots to steal the prizefight gate receipts. To "protect" the boxoffice and keep the peace among all the bad, rowdy element in town for the fight, Sheriff Hugh Sanders elects to swear Robertson and the other outlaw leaders (Richard Boone as Johnny Ringo, Don Haggerty) in as deputies, but the bandits still plan to rob the fight receipts. When Robertson realizes Crain still loves him, he goes straight, foiling the robbery attempt of the other outlaws. Meanders a mite, but always interesting.

 SITTING BULL (1954 United Artists)
Sitting Bullpucky would be more like it. Inaccurate (as usual) retelling of events leading up to Custer's massacre at the Little Big Horn and the subsequent aftermath. For one thing, Sitting Bull (here terribly miscast as J. Carroll Naish) was not at the actual battle as he is here, but remained in camp as was befitting his position as Chief. At 105 minutes, this film is as over-stuffed as Jackie Gleason on Thanksgiving, suffering dramatically from a trite, unnecessary love triangle (Dale Robertson, Mary Murphy, William Hopper) that forces its way to the forefront and only serves to slow down the telling of the historical events. Somehow director Sidney Salkow thought this love-plot was more important than Custer (Douglas Kennedy - with virtually nothing to do but die) and the Indians. The ending is pure hokum with Sitting Bull riding right into the fort to save Robertson from a firing squad. (Don't even bother to ask!) And who did Iron Eyes Cody have to stroke to acquire the billing "Famous TV star" after his name?? As boring and bad as they get!

 WAR ARROW (1954 Universal-International)
Jeff Chandler and Maureen O'Hara star in this better-than-average Cavalry and Indians saga due mainly to the slightly unusual plot. On special assignment, Major Jeff Chandler, along with Sergeants Charles Drake and (for comic relief) Noah Beery Jr., come west to recruit Seminole Indians (led by Henry Brandon and Dennis Weaver) to fight marauding Kiowas led by Chief Jay Silverheels. Chandler finds time to romance Maureen O'Hara whose husband was reportedly killed on a scouting expedition until they discover Silverheels' Indians are led by a renegade white man, O'Hara's very much alive husband, former B-western Red Ryder Jim Bannon. Good action sequences directed by B-vet George Sherman. In Technicolor.

 WYOMING RENEGADES (1955 Columbia)
Former badman Phil Carey tries to go straight, shake off the prison stigma and make a new life with Martha Hyer. Taking drifter Douglas Kennedy in as a partner in a blacksmith shop, Carey tries to warn Sheriff Roy Roberts and banker Don Beddoe when the bank is being robbed by Butch Cassidy (Gene Evans), the Sundance Kid (William Bishop), Blackjack Ketchum (Guy Teague) and the Wild Bunch (George Keymas, John Cason, Aaron Spelling, Henry Rowland, Bob Woodward, Mel Welles, Don Harvey, Don Carlos) but, due to his past, Carey is himself blamed for being in with the gang. Kennedy sees a chance to make some money and does join the gang, but Carey only pretends to join up in order to prove his innocence by laying an ambush for the cutthroats. There are a few surprises along the way and Mischa Bakaleinikoff's typical Columbia score is always worthy. Former actor Wallace MacDonald produced with Fred Sears directing. The pair knew how to turn out entertaining B+ '50s westerns. Technicolor. (And yes, that's the same Aaron Spelling who became one of TV's top producers.)

 RETURN OF JACK SLADE (1955 Allied Artists)
In this sequel, of sorts, to JACK SLADE w/Mark Stevens ('53 Allied Artists), trying to live down his outlaw father's reputation, Jack Slade Jr. (John Ericson) becomes an undercover Pinkerton Detective to chase down the Wild Bunch (Neville Brand, Casey Adams [aka Max Showalter], Alan Wells, John Dennis) and their women (Mari Blanchard, Angie Dickinson, Donna Drew, Lyla Graham). (There's a doozy of a cat fight between Angie and Lyla.) He infiltrates the gang, eventually knocking them off, and rehabilitates Blanchard. Both JACK SLADE pictures were written by Warren Douglas, produced by Lindsley Parsons, directed by Harold Schuster and photographed by William Sickner.

 BLACKJACK KETCHUM, DESPERADO (1956 Columbia)
Big, vicious cattle baron Victor Jory bullies his way into the peaceful valley where ex-gunfighter Blackjack Ketchum (Howard Duff) is trying to settle down. Duff is forced to strap on his guns to outwit and outgun Jory and his gunslingers - William Tannen, Holly Bane, Wes Hudman, Jack Littlefield and even Jory's rational brother, Robert Roark. Based on a Louis L'Amour story, the film has no relationship to the real Ketchum who was hanged in 1901 as a member of Butch Cassidy's Hole In the Wall gang. Still, the oft-used plotline is made fresh by Luci Ward and Jack Natteford's bright script, Earl Bellamy's straightforward direction and some good acting, especially from Jory.

 THE MAVERICK QUEEN (1956 Republic)
Bob Steele B-western plot #2-B: Hero infiltrates outlaw gang to get the goods on them. In THE MAVERICK QUEEN that basic plot (based on an unfinished story by Zane Grey) simply gets A-list actors attached to it as Pinkerton detective Barry Sullivan (seeming rather bored) goes undercover masquerading as a member of the Younger Brothers to bring to justice the Hole in the Wall gang - Sundance (Scott Brady) and Butch Cassidy (Howard Petrie). Sullivan ends up falling in love with ambitious saloon keeper and notorious go-between for the Wild Bunch, Barbara Stanwyck, The Maverick Queen. Stanwyck falls for Sullivan as well and both must contend with a zealous, jealous Brady. Stanwyck ends up sacrificing herself for Sullivan in the final shootout after Sullivan is exposed by a real Younger (Jim Davis). Beautifully photographed on location in Colorado, it was Republic's first film shot in Naturama, the studio's own wide screen process. Its B+ status is increase with a handful of B vets in the supporting cast - George Keymas, John Doucette, Emile Meyer, Pierre Watkin, Tris Coffin, Tex Terry and Cactus Mack.

 THE YOUNG GUNS (1956 Allied Artists)
'50s juvenile delinquent film in a western setting stirs very little interest except for I. Stanford Jolley's superb cameo performance as a blind gambler. Son of a famous outlaw, Russ Tamblyn, wrestles with his conscience on whether to join an outlaw bunch of teenage renegades (Perry Lopez, Wright King, Scott Marlowe, James Goodwin, Kenny Miller) or follow the straight and narrow persuasion of Sheriff Walter Coy. The acting of the old pro adults (Myron Healey, Dabbs Greer, Rayford Barnes, Ray Teal, Tom London, Chubby Johnson) far outshines that of the young-buck principals. Pathetic title tune sung by Guy Mitchell. This was producer/director Albert Band's (1924-2002) first and only American-made western - for which we are thankful. Band had much more success in Italy with Euro-westerns and sword and sandal epics and later in the U.S. with cheapo horror flicks such as TROLL, GHOULIES II, TRANCERS II, etc. Filmed at Corriganville.

 COLE YOUNGER, GUNFIGHTER (1958 Allied Artists)
Color remake of Wayne Morris' THE DESPERADO ('54). After protesting the dishonesty of local "blue bellies" (Ainslee Pryor, George Keymas), cowpoke James Best is forced out of town, leaving his sweetheart, Abby Dalton, open to the advances of the lying, cheating Jan Merlin who murders Ainslee and Keymas and lays the blame on Best. Meanwhile, on the owlhoot trail, Best is befriended by outlaw Cole Younger (Frank Lovejoy). On the run they encounter another gunfighter (Myron Healey) whom Best kills when Healey is trying to steal his horse. Eventually, the pair encounter Healey's twin brother, then Best is captured. Forced to stand trial for the murders he didn't commit, Cole Younger bursts into the courtroom, guns drawn, to expose the sniveling Merlin. This was the last film for Lovejoy, whose career was in decline. He turned to TV work for the last four years of his life and died in 1962 of a heart attack at 48. Color elevates this slightly above the Morris version.

 JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1965 Embassy)
Wanna have some fun on a stormy, lightning-filled night? Pop-a-top or two and insert your cassette of JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (or actually granddaughter as it turns out, but that would have sounded even sillier on the theatre marquee). John Lupton (of TV's BROKEN ARROW) and hulking pal Cal Bolder escape from Sheriff Jim Davis' posse after they're double-crossed in a stage robbery attempt by reward-hungry gang member Rayford Barnes. Bolder is wounded but he and Jesse are aided by a Mexican girl, Republic B-western vet Estelita, who takes them for medical treatment to creepy Narda Onyx, the half-crazed granddaughter of Dr. Frankenstein who is conducting brain-transfer experiments on helpless Mexican boys. Her eyes light up when she sees the huge physical specimen of Bolder, turning him into a crazed mindless killer. Filmed in color at Corriganville and made strictly for drive-in fare as a co-feature to BILLY THE KID VS DRACULA, both were directed by Bill Beaudine who, according to his son, "Pappy enjoyed every minute of it. This was not serious stuff." You got that right. Just pop another top, sit back and enjoy the unbelievably wild histrionics.

 THE OUTLAWS IS COMING (1965 Columbia)
The Three Stooges ended their Columbia two-reelers in '59 but continued to churn out feature films - which was really not their fortè. At any rate, this was their last, written (in part)/produced/directed by Moe's son-in-law, Norman Maurer. Originally conceived as THE THREE STOOGES MEET THE GUNSLINGERS, the three wacky eastern newspapermen (along with Adam West) head west to prevent the slaughter of the buffalo, only to run afoul of saloon owner Dan Lamond and his hired gunslinger Mort Mills. With the help of Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack) the Stooges encounter a mythic variety of western figures - Chief Crazy Horse, Wyatt Earp, Johnny Ringo, Jesse James, Bat Masterson, Cole Younger, Wild Bill Hickok, Belle Starr, Bob Dalton (all portrayed by hosts of Stooges TV reruns across the country). The Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe De Rita) were over the hill and past their prime, but there are moments of lunacy. Certain individuals will appreciate the all-out catfight between Kovack and Sally Starr (as Belle Starr).

The Guy Madison WILD BILL HICKOK movies:
Sixteen Wild Bill Hickok "features" were released by Monogram between Fall '52 and Spring '55. Each "feature" was comprised of two WILD BILL HICKOK TV episodes edited together. The Hickok 30 min. TV series, with Guy Madison as Wild Bill and Andy Devine as his deputy Jingles P. Jones, began airing in April 1951 and continued for 113 episodes through 1958. The edited "features" were shown at theatres as distinct B-westerns with no advertising to imply they were culled from the TV series. For identification, here are the theatrical titles along with the TV episodes from which they were compiled.

BEHIND SOUTHERN LINES (1952 Monogram)
"Behind Southern Lines" (TV episode 1)/"Silver Mine Protection Story" (TV episode 5)

TRAIL OF THE ARROW (1952 Monogram)
"Indian Bureau Story" (TV episode 6)/"Indian Pony Express" (TV episode 7)

GHOST OF CROSSBONES CANYON (1952 Monogram)
"Widow Muldane" (TV episode 9)/"Ghost Town Story" (TV episode 10)

YELLOW HAIRED KID (1952 Monogram)
"Yellow Haired Kid" (TV episode 11/"Johnny Deuce" (TV episode 12)

SIX GUN DECISION (1953 Monogram)
"Boulder City Election" (TV episode 14)/"Pony Express vs. Telegraph" (TV episode 15)

SECRET OF OUTLAW FLATS (1953 Monogram)
"Outlaw Flats" (TV episode 17)/"Silver Stage Holdup" (TV episode 18)

BORDER CITY RUSTLERS (1953 Monogram)
"Border City" (TV episode 22)/"Ex Convict Story" (TV episode 23)

TWO GUN MARSHAL (1953 Monogram)
"Papa Antelli" (TV episode 24)/"Slocum Family" (TV episode 25)

MARSHALS IN DISGUISE (1954 Monogram)
"Lost Indian Mine" (TV episode 26)/"Civilian Clothes Story" (TV episode 27)

TROUBLE ON THE TRAIL (1954 Monogram)
"Medicine Show" (TV episode 28)/"Blacksmith Story" (TV episode 29)

TWO GUN TEACHER (1954 Monogram)
"Mexican Gun Running Story" (TV episode 30)/"School Teacher Story" (TV episode 31)

OUTLAW'S SON (1954 Monogram)
"Outlaw's Son" (TV episode 35)/"Savvy, the Smart Little Dog" (TV episode 36)

TIMBER COUNTRY TROUBLE (1955 Monogram)
"Wild White Horse" (TV episode 38)/"Lumber Camp Story" (TV episode 39)

THE TITLED TENDERFOOT (1955 Monogram)
"Trapper's Story" (TV episode 40)/"A Joke on Sir Anthony" (TV episode 42)

MATCH-MAKING MARSHAL (1955 Monogram)
"Marriage Feud of Ponca City" (TV episode 48)/"Wrestling Story" (TV episode 43)

PHANTOM TRAILS (1955 Monogram)
"A Close Shave for the Marshal" (TV episode 46)/"Ghost Rider" (TV episode 37)


 FORT DOBBS (1958 Warner Bros.)
From the moment Clint Walker's oversized name and image astride his horse on a dusty street backed by Max Steiner's score fill the screen, you realize you're in for a BIG picture! Believed murderer Walker escapes sheriff Russ Conway by trading coats with a man he finds killed with an Indian arrow in his back. Walker comes upon a wilderness ranch owned by Virginia Mayo and her son, Richard Eyer. Saving them from raiding Comanche, Walker plans to take the pair to safety at Fort Dobbs. On the way, Mayo recognizes Walker's coat as that of her husband. Mistaking the arrow hole for a bullet hole, she and Eyer conclude Walker killed their husband/father. Also along the way, the threesome meet up with unscrupulous Brian Keith and a load of repeating rifles. Upon arriving at Fort Dobbs, they are under siege by marauding Comanche. Their only chance is Keith's repeaters - and he ain't about to give 'em up! Tightly scripted by Burt Kennedy with a paucity for dialogue, as in his later Scott/Boetticher westerns. Kennedy lets Walker and the other actors often say more by their actions than their words. Perfectly directed with an eye on suspense and action by Gordon Douglas (See DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA).

 DAKOTA INCIDENT (1956 Republic)
If you want to watch a group of five people stranded in a desert gully surrounded by warring Indians discuss their predicament endlessly, this one's for you. Bank robber Dale Robertson is double crossed by his partners in crime (John Doucette, Skip Homeier) and left in the desert to die. He doesn't. After exacting revenge on the pair, Robertson boards a stagecoach with four other misfits - lovely Linda Darnell, a loose lady of the west; Ward Bond, a blowhard senator; John Lund, a bank cashier blamed for the robbery Robertson committed; Regis Toomey, a drunken minstrel man; and Whit Bissell, an easterner who thinks he's found gold. Their stage attacked and overturned in the desert by Indians, the misfits talk their way through the rest of the film until one by one they are killed off by Indians or thirst, leaving only Robertson and Darnell alive at the end. It's ponderous 88 minute running time would have played better as a one hour TV episode.

 SANTA FE (1951 Columbia)
Led by elder brother Randolph Scott, four brothers (Scott, John Archer, Jerome Courtland, Peter Thompson) who fought for the Confederacy try to find jobs in the wake of the Civil War. The quartet breaks up when Scott accepts a job with the new Santa Fe railroad being built by the Union. The other brothers, too bitter to accept Yankee pay, tie in with crooked gambler Roy Roberts and his henchman Jock Mahoney who don't want to see the railroad come west. Problem with SANTA FE is, we've seen it all done better in other railroad sagas ... the building of the railroad despite all obstacles, the North/South conflict, the problems between good and bad brothers. Actor turned director Irving Pichel (who gives himself a small acting role also) and Kenneth Gamet's screenplay is quite weak when it comes to character development of the brothers and Roberts' motives for stifling progress of the railroad. John Archer's acting makes one think he'd much rather be somewhere else. Frank Ferguson has a small role as a way-too-old Sheriff Bat Masterson. The "comedy relief" from railroaders Olin Howlin and Billy House seems strained and unnecessary. Warner Anderson is okay as railroad chief, but again, lacking in character development especially related to his affections for leading lady Janis Carter who (eventually) prefers Scott. In Technicolor, SANTA FE doesn't match up to other Scott/Harry Joe Brown productions of the '50s.

 MAN IN THE SADDLE (1951 Columbia)
From a Ernest Haycox story and a complex but well devised script from Kenneth Gamet, MAN IN THE SADDLE emerges as one of Randolph Scott's best '50s westerns. Tightly directed by Andre De Toth, Scott is slow to provoke, but look out when he is. Scott's rival Alexander Knox marries Scott's true love (Joan Leslie) and begins to crowd Scott in an effort to take over Scott's ranch as well. The tension builds slowly until Knox's hired gunhand (Richard Rober) kills two of Scott's drovers (Cameron Mitchell and Richard Crane). Then Scott becomes like the more modern-day Hulk, "You're not gonna like me when I'm angry." There are several other relationships involved in the scheme of things - Ellen Drew and John Russell, Ellen Drew and Randolph Scott, Scott and John Russell, Joan Leslie and father James Kirkwood - that keep things always interesting. Good support from Big Boy Williams (as Scott's friend), Frank Sully (in a squealer role Ernie Adams would approve of), Clem Bevans, George Wallace, Reed Howes and Tennessee Ernie Ford who sings the title tune behind the credits and again around a campfire. Always-enjoyable-to-watch Alfonso Bedoya gets the final laugh. Cowboy cancer alert: Scott smokes. Filmed around Lone Pine, CA, including an important scene at the "Hoppy cabin".

 A LAWLESS STREET (1955 Columbia)
A LAWLESS STREET presents Randolph Scott as an aging lawman who realizes the frontier west is passing by. He's lost his wife, Angela Lansbury, unless he hangs up his guns and foregoes trying to tame the raging lion that lurks in the lawless streets. All Scott hopes to do is "outlive the times" as he is, at first, forced to gun down tough Frank Hagney, then best his enormous brother, Don Megowan, in an all-out saloon brawl. Marshal Scott is the force standing between a peaceful community and a wide-open town desired by corrupt theatre owner Warner Anderson and saloon owner John Emery, so the pair bring in Scott's old enemy, gunman Michael Pate (in an excellent portrayal) to gun down the Marshal - which he does in a nice plot twist. Believing Scott dead, the town is now wide open. Unbeknownst to everyone, Doc Wallace Ford has nursed Scott back to health. But the potentially dramatic/suspenseful "rebirth" of the lawman to set things right is poorly handled by director Joseph H. Lewis, leaving the last third of the film a routine disappointment. Although scripter Kenneth Gamet's Marshal Scott is not unlike Gary Cooper's Marshal in HIGH NOON, A LAWLESS STREET offers an "answer" to, or the reverse of, HIGH NOON'S bleak ending. Watch early on for old-timers Jack Perrin, Kermit Maynard and Reed Howes among the town's citizens.

 7TH CAVALRY (1956 Columbia)
A boring, basically actionless Cavalry story with the first 30 minutes given over to an inquiry and examination about the right and wrong of Custer's actions at the Little Big Horn massacre. Seems Capt. Randolph Scott, who was in Custer's troop and would have been killed, was away escorting his frontier fiancée (Barbara Hale) back to the post. When the President orders a burial detail to the massacre site, Scott volunteers for the mission taking along a ragtag bunch of misfits. Captain Scott encounters more trouble from these men (Sgt. Jay C. Flippen, Leo Gordon and Denver Pyle) than he does the Indians, at least until the Sioux surround the burial detail at Little Big Horn. A whole-lotta unbelievable Indian spirituality about Custer's ghost prevents any action whatsoever from taking place. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis and filmed in Mexico, the picture is as dead as Custer himself.

 DECISION AT SUNDOWN (1957 Columbia)
"None of us will ever forget the day Bart Allison spent in Sundown," intones John Archer, the doctor who acts as the conscience of a town in the grip of local cad John Carroll and his strongarm boys, Sheriff Andrew Duggan and deputies H. M. Wynant and Bob Steele. And you're not likely to forget Bart Allison either, as played by Randolph Scott in his most unusual down-beat western performance, the most unsympathetic character Scott ever played. Directed by Budd Boetticher, it's a revenge story with a dark twist as Scott comes to Sundown seeking vengeance for his wife's seduction and death at the hands of Carroll who is now about to marry Karen Steele but still keeps company with his mistress, Valerie French. Scott's mission, although a flawed one as it turns out, forces Sundown's citizens to take a long, hard look at themselves for letting Carroll run roughshod over them. The script by Charles Lang (with an unbilled rewrite from Burt Kennedy) offers up no heroes and no revenge, just a bitter, bleak sometimes complicated look at justice and its motives, and standing up for what one believes is right.

 LUCK OF ROARING CAMP (1937 Monogram)
In 1868 Bret Harte published his most famous stories, "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "Outcasts of Poker Flats". "Luck ..." was quite daring for its day, concerning as it did a lady camp follower in a remote mining camp who dies in childbirth. With the Biblical theme, "A little child shall lead them," the miners christen the child Thomas Luck. The miners are regenerated and find prosperity through raising the infant and promise to set aside money for him from their diggings but when greed overcomes them, gold and gambling is all they think about, no longer concerning themselves with Luck's welfare. As if in return, the camp is hit by a flash flood. Both the baby, the miners and their promises are washed away and drowned. Unfortunately, producer Scotty Dunlap didn't see fit to translate Harte's bleak parable to the screen, instead injecting an excess of corn-pone humor and, worst of all, a totally different more upbeat ending. Featured are non-actor Owen Davis Jr. (son of a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright), Broadway actor Charles Brokaw, Charlie King, Bob Kortman, Byron Foulger, Bob McKenzie, Ferris Taylor and Ray Bennett.

 BARRICADE (1950 Warner Bros.)
Western remake of Warner Bros.' THE SEA WOLF ('41). An excellent Raymond Massey (in the Edward G. Robinson role) commands the screen as a cruel, mean desert gold mine owner who uses criminals on the run to dig for ore. Dane Clark (in the John Garfield role) and Ruth Roman are both fugitives on the run caught up in Massey's isolated "prison". In blazing color, the ending features a terrific knock-down-drag-out brawl between Massey and Clark.

 HURRICANE SMITH (1942 Republic)
Absorbing little human interest modern day western. About to marry Jane Wyatt, rodeo rider Ray Middleton is mistaken for train robber Henry Brandon and sentenced to jail. On his way to prison, Middleton escapes, encounters Brandon in a fight in which Brandon is run over by a train. Horrifyingly mutilated, Brandon is now mistaken for the escaped Middleton who, during the fight, has recovered the stolen $200,000 bank loot. He and Wyatt invest the money to revive, restore and bring life back to a deserted desert community, turning it into a prosperous farming and cattle town. Established over the years as pillars of the community, Middleton is slowly paying back the bank with interest, but Brandon's old partner, J. Edward Bromberg, learns of Middleton's whereabouts and shows up with blackmail on his mind.

 FIGHTING CODE (1933 Columbia)
Buck Jones impersonates the murdered brother she's never met of rancher Diane Sinclair to smoke out the culprits, Erville Anderson and Ward Bond. Nothing new, Lambert Hillyer's basic story is as old as the western film, but his direction takes the edge off the triteness. Remade loosely by Hillyer as a TV episode of the CISCO KID: PANCHO'S NIECE.

 HOPALONG CASSIDY RETURNS (1936 Paramount)
A true classic! A superior 74 minute film that I hesitate to even term a "B-western" as it stands head and shoulders over the "bigger" westerns released that year - SUTTER'S GOLD, THE PLAINSMAN, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, TEXAS RANGERS - and certainly all of the B-product. Here is a tough, grim Hopalong Cassidy, with hard and violent action, yet the implied romance between he and Evelyn Brent is a complete departure from the norm with a gentle tenderness and understanding unequaled in any series western ever made. At the finale, after Hoppy grimly guns down Morris Ankrum (still billed Stephen Morris), he turns to take the dying Evelyn Brent in his arms. Before she dies, she asks Hoppy to kiss her, which he does. The scene would not have carried the emotional power that it does in the hands of a lesser actress. Then, as Hoppy and Windy (George Hayes) ride slowly over the hill, Cassidy muses, "Sometimes a woman can change a man's mind without him even knowing it." Not a dry eye in the house. As the story begins, wheelchair-bound newspaperman John Beck, almost single-handedly fighting the corrupt forces in town, is ruthlessly killed in the street as Morris Ankrum lassoes Beck's wheelchair, drags him down the main street and crashes him into a wagon. Ankrum's cruelty rivals that of Richard Widmark in KISS OF DEATH ('47). Hoppy has been summoned by his old pal (Hayes) to help clean up the town and is surprised to find saloon owner Brent behind the corruption. Both are attracted to one another, yet knowing they are on opposite sides of the law. Jimmy Ellison (probably on leave making THE PLAINSMAN for DeMille) is replaced for this entry by William Janney as Hoppy's headstrong young brother, Buddy, who falls for Gail Sheridan, the editor's daughter. Hayes proves how superior he was to the "buffoon sidekicks" appearing in other westerns - he was a flesh and blood character. Ankrum is the embodiment of pure evil. Brent is both glamorous and touching in a superior performance. Boyd, at this point, was still playing a realistic Hoppy, before the role turned into a two-gun saint in black. Scripted by Harrison Jacobs and directed by Nate Watt. Remade as Hoppy's WIDE OPEN TOWN ('41) and again, loosely as Johnny Mack Brown's LAND OF THE LAWLESS ('47). Belongs at the top of everyone's list!

 LAND OF THE LAWLESS (1947 Monogram)
It's a battle of wits and six guns as Johnny Mack Brown turns the tables on claim-jumping owlhoots in one of his better Monogramers. J. Benton Cheney's script (a loose remake of HOPALONG CASSIDY RETURNS ['36] and WIDE OPEN TOWN ['41]) has a few twists and surprises as Golden Spur Saloon owner Kansas City Kate (Christine McIntyre) and her cutthroats (gambler partner Tris Coffin, Marshall Reed, Gary Garrett) try to cheat local ranchers and miners like Raymond Hatton, Steve Clark and Cactus Mack out of their profits. When Kate's local gunnies can't deal with Johnny Mack, the vicious lady imports slick gunman I. Stanford Jolley to egg Brown into gunplay. Film contains one of the best brawls of Brown's series as he smashes Tris Coffin. Saloon girl June Harrison gets to sing a spotlight song, "A Gal A Man Loves to Kiss" ala "A Bird In A Gilded Cage". Harrison was a regular in Monogram's Jiggs and Maggie series as their daughter Nora but was heard from no more. Brown is afforded a brief scene to do a couple of his fancy gun tricks.

 AMBUSH TRAIL (1946 PRC)
"Renegades of the range overplay their hand when they attack the west's scrappiest lawman, Bob Steele and laugh-loaded Syd Saylor on the AMBUSH TRAIL. Matching a lawman's brains against gun hands' bullets. Action every second! A thrill every minute when Bob Steele offers himself as bait along the AMBUSH TRAIL." That's the way the prevue trailer for this film promoted it in 1946. Cattle rancher Bob Steele, his pal Syd Saylor (of the bobbing Adam's Apple) and Sheriff Kermit Maynard (in love with leading lady Alice Rhodes) lead other ranchers against power-mad I. Stanford Jolley and his gang (Charlie King, John Cason, Frank Ellis) who are raiding supply wagons of tools and grain forcing the ranchers to sell out so they can take over for a Chicago combine. The secret to the ranchers' missing money lies in "horns over a bar". You'll figure it out quicker than Bob and Syd do. Steele wore a mustache in this and THUNDER TOWN, a sight seldom seen on a B-western hero. Bob once explained the lip hair was for a role in another bigger budget film and he wasn't about to shave it off for a PRC B-western.

 ARIZONA STAGECOACH (1942 Monogram)
When young Riley Hill (still using his earlier Roy Harris name) is accused of stage robberies and the murder of Stanley Price (one of the real bandits), the Range Busters (Ray "Crash" Corrigan, John "Dusty" King, Max "Alibi" Terhune) come to the aid of he and his sister, Nell O'Day. The rest of the candidates for a jail cell in this fast-action entry are Charles King, Kermit Maynard, Slim Whitaker, Carl Mathews, Steve Clark and Frank Ellis. As in a couple of other Range Busters adventures, Alibi's dummy, Elmer, bizarrely operates independent of Terhune. One of the songs is by unheralded Rudy Sooter, formerly with Tex Ritter's aggregation, who wrote quite a few songs for western films. He can be seen in musical groups in RIDERS OF PASCO BASIN ('40), SANTA FE RIDES ('37), MOONLIGHT ON THE RANGE ('37) and several others. Little else is known about him. The climatic chase scene is lifted from SADDLE MOUNTAIN ROUNDUP with the rest compiled mostly of stock from TONTO BASIN OUTLAWS, WRANGLER'S ROOST and WEST OF PINTO BASIN.

 BOSS OF BOOMTOWN (1944 Universal)
Rod Cameron and Tom Tyler make a terrific team as friendly but brawling Cavalry Sergeants. One wishes Universal had continued to team them in future B-westerns but because Tyler's health was deteriorating - he had difficulty learning his lines and had a problem with blinking his eyes - Universal opted instead for Eddie Dew, recently dropped by Republic. Cameron had been around Hollywood for several years at Paramount and Universal and had starred in two action-packed serials at Republic when Universal tapped him for their series western lead after Tex Ritter rode over to PRC. Matter of fact, Universal apparently originally intended to star Ritter in BOSS OF BOOMTOWN according to Hollywood tradepaper reports at the time. After six B-westerns in '44-'45 Universal elevated Cameron to bigger budget pictures such as FRONTIER GAL. Here, associate producer Oliver Drake employs his tried and true "battling buddies" formula with Cameron and Tyler breaking up a band of Army payroll bandits (mine owner Robert Barron, saloon owner Jack Ingram and ruffian Dick Alexander). Fuzzy Knight, customary sidekick to everybody at Universal (what sort of spell did he hold over Universal execs?), is along for "laffs" pursued with wedlock on her mind by diminutive Brooklynese Marie Austin. Austin performs a specialty number in BOSS OF BOOMTOWN and Universal used her in much the same role opposite Fuzzy Knight in TRAIL TO GUNSIGHT (which starred Eddie Dew), then, wisely, summarily dismissed her from any future shenanigans. Ray Whitley's Bar-6 Cowboys contribute a few songs as Cavalry troopers. Vivian Austin, aka Vivian Coe in Republic's ADVENTURES OF RED RYDER serial, is the leading lady in this and the next (TRIGGER TRAIL) Cameron.

 COME ON, DANGER (1932 RKO)
One of Tom Keene's best. This one has it all. Bennett Cohen's story is so good it was remade twice by RKO, as RENEGADE RANGER with George O'Brien in '38 and as COME ON, DANGER ('42) with Tim Holt, another time at Universal as OKLAHOMA RAIDERS with Tex Ritter ('44) and more or less once again as ALIAS BILLY THE KID produced by Cohen at Republic in '46. Keene's brother (Texas Ranger William Scott) is killed after being sent on assignment to capture bandit queen Julie Haydon who is wanted for rustling and other crimes. Believing Haydon guilty of his brother's death, Keene swears revenge. He infiltrates Haydon's gang, eventually learning - almost too late - that Haydon is only exacting revenge on crooked rancher Robert Ellis for the murder of her father. Ellis and his snakes (including Frank Lackteen) are laying blame for all their own rustling on Haydon's head. Jack Kirk's group sings several traditional cowboy songs, silent star Roy Stewart has a nice bit as head of the Texas Rangers and stuttering Roscoe Ates is Keene's sidekick. Cowboy cancer alert: Ates smokes. One of Robert Hill's best directorial outings, packed with rousing action and thrilling stunts, helped immensely by some terrific camera set-ups from Nick Mousuraca, an RKO staple who later worked on such classics as CAT PEOPLE, MAGNIFICIENT AMBERSONS, BOMBARDIER, BACK TO BATAAN, THE LOCKET, OUT OF THE PAST and BLOOD ON THE MOON.

 COME ON, DANGER (1942 RKO)
Remake of Tom Keene's COME ON, DANGER ('32 RKO) is told with a lighter, tamer touch without the sense of urgency the Keene displayed. Bennet Cohen's story was remade one other time by RKO in '38 as RENEGADE RANGER with George O'Brien and again as OKLAHOMA RAIDERS in '44 with Tex Ritter. Even Tim's later MASKED RAIDERS ('49 RKO) bears a resemblance to the storyline, as does the Cohen produced ALIAS BILLY THE KID ('46) at Republic with Sunset Carson. So, by this time, the tale was wearing a bit thin. Ranger Tim Holt and his pals Ray Whitley and Lee "Lasses" White are assigned to bring to justice Frances Neal, a supposed bandit queen of a rustling gang. Along the way, they discover the real culprit to be crooked tax collector Karl Hackett (and his boys Glenn Strange, Frank Ellis). Neal and her friends (led by Bud McTaggert) are only fighting to regain what is rightfully theirs. Watch for former and to-be cowboy stars Buzz Barton and Jimmy Wakely in bit roles.

 COURAGEOUS AVENGER (1935 Supreme)
The third film in Johnny Mack Brown's Supreme series is anything but a typical B-western, casting Brown as a special agent sent to capture a vicious band of renegades who raid ore shipments from mines. The ominous Giant Strike mine is co-owned by Frank Bell and Ed Cassidy, who are tipping off the raiders (Warner Richmond, Eddie Parker) with carrier pigeon notes. The brutal Cassidy is abusive to his stepdaughter, Helen Ericson, who is Brown's girl. (This is Ericson's first film, she soon became a contract player at Fox.) Cassidy's stepson, Helen's brother Wally West, is killed by the outlaws who use silver bullets which they make in a hidden desert silver mine operated with slave labor. E. L. McManigal incorporates some gorgeous desert and Lone Pine mountain photography into the picture which startles with a very different and thrilling finale in the desert. Another Robert N. Bradbury directed gem.

 DESERT TRAIL (1935 Lone Star/Monogram)
Nervy rodeo rider John Wayne and his pal, gambler Eddy Chandler, are falsely accused in the robbery of the rodeo prize money and murder of the clerk, a crime really committed by stick-up men Al Ferguson and Paul Fix. Wayne and Chandler trail Ferguson to Poker City where Fix lives with his sister, Mary Kornman. Fix wants to go straight but Ferguson blackmails him into committing a stagecoach robbery - for which Wayne and Chandler are also blamed! Mary Kornman (1917-1973) was the very first "little" leading lady in "Our Gang" comedy shorts in 1923. From 1930-1932 Hal Roach co-starred her in 15 "Boy Friends" comedy shorts with Mickey Daniels, Dave Sharpe and others. Her third and final marriage was to western stable owner and trainer Ralph McCutcheon who died in '75. Not Wayne's finest Lone Star hour with a weaker than usual supporting cast. Director Cullin (or Cullen) Lewis was better known as Lewis Collins (1897-1954). He worked steadily from 1930 til his death, at first freelancing, then finding homes at Columbia from '37-'41 and Universal from '42-'46. The post war years found him at Eagle Lion and Monogram helming the Jim Bannon Red Ryders along with many Whip Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown and Bill Elliott programmers. He's notable for directing what some consider the last series B-western, TWO GUNS AND A BADGE w/Wayne Morris just before his death.

 HAUNTED GOLD (1932 Warner Bros.)
Who is the Phantom of the Mine? There's plenty of sliding panels, howling wind, spooky shadows, cobwebs, hooded figures, blinking lights, graveyards and secret passages to delight any horror fan as well as the requisite amount (and more) of B-western action from director Mack V. Wright, as the daughter (Sheila Terry) and son (John Wayne) of two old mining partners receive mysterious messages to come to a ghost town loaded with money hungry outlaws (led by Harry Woods) and spooky shenanigans. One remarkable, thrilling action sequence high in a cable car above the mine is worth the price of admission alone. However, much of it is stock footage from Ken Maynard's PHANTOM CITY ('28) of which this is a remake. The original was filmed in the California ghost town of Hornitos. Notice how henchman Ben Corbett comes and goes. Apparently Corbett was injured on the 2nd day of shooting and Tom Bay took over and finished the picture. Wayne's sidekick is Blue Washington, one of only two "true" black sidekicks ever in B-westerns. (The other is Fred "Snowflake" Toones.) HAUNTED GOLD is far from "politically correct" today with racist slurs such as "watermelon accent", but it's nevertheless one of the most entertaining B-westerns ever made.

 OUTLAW COUNTRY (1949 Western Adventure/Screen Guild)
Lash LaRue had "attitude" before it was popularly termed attitude. OUTLAW COUNTRY stood out in Lash LaRue's mind as one of his favorite films because he got to play a dual role - as Lash and as his long-lost twin outlaw brother, the Frontier Phantom, an idea producer Ron Ormond recycled in THE FRONTIER PHANTOM ('52) as well as being picked up in Lash's Fawcett comic books. Screenwriters Ormond and Ira Webb obviously saw Sunset Carson's SANTA FE SADDLEMATES at some point, because the opening of OUTLAW COUNTRY duplicates the idea of the Carson film, having Lash fight three deputies to prove himself worthy to Marshal John Merton before being sent to clean out Robber's Roost. In the outlaw stronghold, counterfeiter Dan White and his boys (Lee Roberts, Steve Dunhill, House Peters Jr.) are holding engraver Ted Adams and his daughter Nancy Saunders prisoner, forcing Adams to work for them. Another member of White's gang is the Frontier Phantom, who turns out to be Lash's twin brother, eventually acquitting himself on the right side of the law, and being nearly killed for the effort. Due to the dual role, a slightly more interesting script and an extended 71 minute running time, this is one of Lash's best westerns. Whip use: 4.

 PHANTOM PLAINSMEN (1942 Republic)
On the home front in 1937, the 3 Mesquiteers (Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis) battle Nazis who hold horse rancher Charles Miller's son (Richard Crane) prisoner in Germany forcing Miller to sell the Nazis horses for their Army rather than to farmers here. The head Nazi is Robert O. Davis, best remembered for his equally evil foreign power serial roles in KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS and SPY SMASHER. At this period in the Mesquiteers film canon, settings would bounce from contemporary (as witnessed here) back to the Civil War era. This was noted actor Henry Rowland's first western. Rowland (1914-1984) had already been typecast in several previous films as a Nazi or saboteur (A YANK IN THE R.A.F., BERLIN CORRESPONDENT, REUNION IN FRANCE, SPY SHIP) and went on to essay more of those parts throughout his career (CASABLANCA, BATTLEGROUND, SAHARA) along with scores of westerns, especially on TV. Although Bob Steele didn't usually require a stunt double, Dave Sharpe is obviously doubling for Bob Steele here as Steele had turned his ankle and was "hobbling about," he said.

 RETURN OF THE DURANGO KID (1945 Columbia)
THE DURANGO KID in 1940 was a surprise hit for Columbia, but was only planned as a one-timer, not a series. Charles Starrett went on to make a short series of "Medico" films as Dr. Monroe, a series of six with Russell Hayden and several other straight-action B-westerns before Columbia production head Harry Decker come up with the idea to revive the Durango Kid character as a continuing series four and a half years after the first one-shot was made. The series was so profitable they kept on making Durango Bs til the end of the B-western cycle in 1952. In this initial entry of the series, tinhorn gambler John Calvert desires to take over the profitable stageline owned by Betty Roadman, so he has his gun-throwers (Ray Bennett, Paul Conrad, Herman Hack, Elmo Lincoln, Carl Sepulveda), aided and abetted by his Crystal Palace show girl, saucy Paradise Flo (Jean Stevens), rob the incoming stages hoping to drive Roadman into selling out to the real estate agent in his employ, Hal Price. Newcomer to town Charles Starrett, as the black clad Durango Kid, begins a reign of terror against the outlaws. He's befriended by singer Tex Harding and comic Britt Wood. Veteran heavy Dick Botiller is the sheriff. In this "first" (or second depending on how you view it) Durango entry, Starrett reveals himself at the end to be Durango, something he seldom did as the series wore on.

 RIVER LADY (1948 Universal International)
Domineering Yvonne DeCarlo's logging syndicate, with her front man, Dan Duryea, is trying to squeeze all the small loggers out of business and monopolize the industry. Lumberjack Rod Cameron and Duryea are rivals for the affections of DeCarlo, who prefers Cameron. To help Cameron, DeCarlo lets small logger John McIntire continue to operate on the condition McIntire hire Rod to run his business. When Cameron becomes successful, he decides to marry DeCarlo but McIntire's daughter, Helena Carter, also in love with Cameron, tells Rod DeCarlo "bought" the job for Cameron. In retaliation, Cameron marries Carter. Her pride injured, DeCarlo tries to get even by ruining Cameron's career. When Duryea hires all Cameron's loggers, Rod thinks he's defeated until his friend Lloyd Gough and Carter convince him to fight back. When Duryea creates a log jam to stop Cameron from shipping his logs down river, Cameron employs dynamite to break up the log jam. Duryea is killed in the explosion; DeCarlo realizes her ambitions have defeated her as Cameron realizes he truly loves Carter. This was Cameron's last film on his Universal contract; therefore they gave the star of the picture third billing behind DeCarlo and even Duryea to whom they were giving the buildup.

 ROLL WAGONS ROLL (1939 Monogram)
Unscrupulous white men (Reed Howes, Tom London, Steve Clark) incite Indians to ambush wagon trains on the Oregon Trail so they alone can monopolize the fur trade. Army scout Tex Ritter and his sidekick Rawhide (Nelson McDowell) intervene. This was prolific leading lady Muriel Evans' last B-western in a string of 13 over 5 years, but she could have phoned this one in. Although Tex adds new lyrics to a rousing rendition of "Oh Susanna", this low budget effort is not worthy in comparison to some of his others at Monogram or earlier work at Grand National. It's betrayed by loads of silent stock footage (including oft used Indians crossing the Little Wind River at the Wind River Indian Reservation north of Lander, WY, first seen in Tim McCoy's WAR PAINT ['26] as well as THE DESERTER ['15]) which gives it a cheap look even though some location filming was done in Kanab, Utah.

 ROMANCE RIDES THE RANGE (1936 Spectrum)
Grand Opera singer Fred Scott heads for his ranch after a successful season only to find swindlers Ted Lorch and Bob Kortman have "sold" his ranch to eastern girl Marion Shilling and her wimpy brother, former silent kid star Buzz Barton. But after a series of mishaps, Fred out-swindles the swindlers. Inept beginning to former opera singer turned singing cowboy Fred Scott's Spectrum series of thirteen. Unfortunately, Scott's accentless voice has the effect of distancing him from the cowboy audience, the complete opposite of down-to-earth singers like Gene Autry who, instead, connected with his listeners on a humble level. There are several out of focus shots and the sound is so primitive you can hear the cameras whirring. In an economy move, shooting from different angles, the famous Jauregui location ranch is used as both Fred Scott's ranch and badman Ted Lorch's place. Credit "grind-'em-out-quick" Harry Fraser for this "who-cares-get-it-in-the-can" job. Former vaudevillian and double-talk artist Cliff Nazarro (1904-1961) is the comedy relief. According to Scott, Carl Mathews, who always played heavies, was Fred's double in this series. For more on Carl check the "Henchies" page of the Old Corral.

 SANDFLOW (1937 Universal)
Buck Jones rides to clear brother Bob Terry of a false murder charge. Terry is also sought for the reward by a greedy, sneering Bob Kortman. Odd and offbeat script that doesn't accomplish whatever it was trying to achieve. The convoluted storyline is too much for 58 minutes. This was a "Buck Jones Production", a remake of Jones' silent BRANDED SOMBRERO ('28 Fox), and speaks volumes for the result when cowboy actors are allowed control over their own movies as Buck and Ken Maynard were for awhile. Several songs are included, an obvious concession to the oncoming singing westerns.

 SIOUX CITY SUE (1946 Republic)
Gene Autry's back in the saddle in the first of his postwar westerns, a picture he didn't figure he should be making. Gene assumed service in WWII automatically voided his contract in '42, but Republic prexy "Pappy" Yates figured otherwise and took Gene through a series of court battles into 1946, winning a studio-favored decision stating Gene still owed Republic 20 additional pictures. Gene made a compromise with Yates to make 5 features while a higher court settled the matter. If the decision went against him, he'd fulfill his '38 contract. However, a final ruling in Gene's favor came by '47 as he finished his 5th picture. These last five Republics show evidence of minimal production values, an area over which Gene had battled Yates continuously. Also, by the time Gene returned from WWII, Smiley Burnette had exited Republic and was now riding the Columbia range with the Durango Kid. Replacing Smiley - an impossible chore whether you appreciate him or not - were the musical group Gene found in Texas, the Cass County Boys, and odd-duck comic Sterling Holloway, who really performed character roles in these five features rather than true sidekick roles. SIOUX CITY SUE doesn't blaze any new trails for Gene, and is actually a bit of a muted return, almost a comedy with its cartoon donkey and over zealous hamming from Richard Lane as head of Paragon Pictures who hires Gene's singing voice for, unbeknownst to him, a cartoon, Ding Dong Donkey. Embarrassed, when he learns of the deception by Lynne Roberts, whom he trusted, Gene heads back to his ranch. Roberts has by now fallen in love with Gene and wants only to make amends for the studio trickery forced on her by Lane. Comedy or not, it's a delightful departure for Gene who looks terrific for his comeback, sings better than ever and is surrounded by some great songs. Actually, it's a remake of Phil Regan's SHE MARRIED A COP ('39 Republic).

 SONG OF OLD WYOMING (1945 PRC)
Eddie Dean worked hard, laboring as a singer, outlaw or posse member in some 30 films for over 10 years before getting a break to star in his own PRC western series - only to have Al LaRue steal his thunder from him in his first picture. Eddie certainly gets to sing (beautifully as always), fight and shoot, but the focus of the picture is all on Al (not yet named Lash), bedecked all in black spotting a flashy silver-studded gun belt. The resulting fan mail was overwhelming for Al. "Who is this guy?" "We want to see more of him." PRC obliged. Even though Al's character of The Cheyenne Kid had been killed off in this picture, PRC resurrected him in two more Cinecolor Eddie Dean starrers, first as Cherokee in CARAVAN TRAIL ('46), then as Stormy Day in WILD WEST ('46), before awarding Lash his own series in early '47. For SONG OF OLD WYOMING, Eddie and "Ma", newspaper woman Sarah Padden, are pushing statehood for Wyoming territory in hopes of cleaning up the outlaw element headed up by banker Robert Barron, tax assessor Ian Keith and their gunman, Rocky Camron. Needing assistance, the crooks send for an outlaw named The Cheyenne Kid (LaRue). Worming his way into the good graces of Ma, and her friend Jennifer Holt, Cheyenne does all he can to break Ma's bid for statehood. He eventually has a change of heart when he inadvertently learns he is Ma's long lost son, only to stop an outlaw's bullet in the final showdown. LaRue's poignant death in the film only served to solidify his popularity. How could Eddie overcome such odds? Incidentally, LaRue (and producer/director Bob Tansey) initiated the use of the whip in this film, although he only uses it twice. Cowboy cancer alert as well - LaRue rolls his own. Eddie's sidekick in his first two films, was the grizzle-bearded, taffy-jointed, fumble-footed Emmett Lynn (1897-1958), replaced by stuttering Roscoe "Soapy" Ates by the third. It's been said Lynn suffered from epilepsy and producer Tansey was afraid he might be stricken and unable to finish a picture. Others have suggested Lynn drank a wee too much and often didn't show up on time. Whatever the reason, Emmett always brought an extra measure of fun to the westerns he was in with Tim Holt, Don Barry, Bill Elliott, Allan Lane, Jim Bannon and Eddie Dean. Incidentally, blonde radio singer Joan Barton is the girl in this one, her first movie. She later co-starred with Ken Curtis in LONE STAR MOONLIGHT ('46) and was in John Wayne's ANGEL AND THE BADMAN ('47) and Hoppy's STRANGE GAMBLE ('48).

 WALL STREET COWBOY (1939 Republic)
Except for his first role, Roy Rogers had been cast by Republic in true 1880 period westerns. Now, for the first time since his debut movie, the studio put him in Gene Autry-land with a mixture of cars and cattle, desert and city, cowboys and gangsters. It's a strange sight indeed to see Roy riding in a steeplechase, singing in a nightclub with a coat and tie and doing business on Wall Street. Perhaps even stranger is to see Gabby Hayes doing an old soft shoe! Roy's also back in the tall hat after wearing a flat-brimmed frontier Stetson for several films. Instead of one gun, there's now two - as well as two sidekicks, Hayes and Raymond Hatton. The story involves Roy, Hayes and Hatton trying to save their Circle R ranch from crooked banker and mortgagor Ivan Miller (and henchman Jack Ingram) by enlisting the aid of rich cattle rancher Pierre Watkin and his daughter Ann Baldwin. The running time at 66 minutes makes this the longest Rogers film to date. For his next film, ARIZONA KID, Roy was back in true-west action. This is another of many B-westerns made throughout the Depression years featuring a banker as a crook. Clearly, concerns over our economic situation prompted widespread distrust of bankers throughout the '30s when many financial institutions were forced to foreclose on farmers, ranchers and small businessmen. The biggest audience for B-westerns were these "common people" who were most concerned about crooked bankers out to make money any way they could, therefore the B-western filmmakers picked up on this theme and translated it quite well into westerns such as WALL STREET COWBOY, hitting a responsive nerve with moviegoers of the period. Guest singer is Louisiana Lou (aka Marian Temple), WHO radio Des Moines, Iowa, performer who recorded for Decca and Victor.

 WEST OF CHEYENNE (1938 Columbia)
Charles Starrett and the Sons of the Pioneers buy the abandoned Bar-W ranch which upsets rustler Dick Curtis as he and his boys (Ed Cobb, Art Mix, Ernie Adams, George Chesebro) have been using the deserted ranch as a hideout for stolen beef. The romance between Starrett and realtor Edward Le Saint's daughter Iris Meredith seems much more sincere than usual. Jack Rockwell has one of his best ever Sheriff roles. Starrett and Curtis' "never ending fight", as Starrett called it in later years, is one of the best of their lengthy association; and Ernie Adams pleads through another of his confessionals. Three unmemorable songs by the Sons of the Pioneers.

 WILD WEST (1946 PRC)
Thoroughly entertaining B-western in Cinecolor. Easily Eddie Dean's best from the rousing opening song, "Ride On the Tide of a Song", to the conclusion - the wildest, free-wheeling action ending in B-westerndom. Arizona Rangers Eddie, Stormy Day (Lash LaRue) and Soapy (Roscoe Ates) are assigned to guard Lee Bennett's stringing of Western Telegraph Company's transcontinental wire. Town boss Terry Frost opposes the coming of the telegraph, fearing it will bring an end to his lawless activities. His gun-rannies (Bob Duncan, Bud Osborne, Al Ferguson, Matty Roubert) and corrupt Judge Warner Richmond wantonly slaughter buffalo belonging to Indian Chief Yowlachie in order to bring about an uprising against the telegraph company. Eddie and Lash romance Sarah Padden's two daughters, Louise Currie and Jean Carlin, and Eddie sings the plaintive "Journey's End" to young Buzz Henry after Buzzy is wounded by outlaws. Even the musical Sunshine Boys are on hand (unbilled) as ranch hands. Cowboy Cancer Alert: Lash rolls his own and tries to steal scenes while doing so. Ol' Al snakes out his black lash in what I believe is a record six times! This was the final evil-doings for snarling Warner Richmond (1/11/1896-1/19/48). From 1916's BETTY OF GREYSTONE with Dorothy Gish, Richmond had romantic leads (or second leads) in many silents. His talkies were certainly not confined to westerns - he appeared in many other genres, but usually as a nasty heavy. In westerns he worked with John Wayne, Bob Steele, Tex Ritter, Johnny Mack Brown, Tom Keene, Dorothy Page, Jack Randall and others. A black and white edited reissue of WILD WEST, with some extra footage at the start from WILD COUNTRY, was released in 1948. By then, Dean was riding his final cost-cutting trails. Incidentally, Lee Bennett was in several of Dean's westerns not by chance, but because his father, William J. Crespinel, was vice-president of Cinecolor, Inc.

  THE BOUNTY KILLER (1965 Embassy)
Mild mannered Eastern tenderfoot Dan Duryea comes west, joins up with old-timer Fuzzy Knight and accidentally wipes out an outlaw gang led by Boyd "Red" Morgan. Impressed by the bounty he collects on Morgan's head, and thinking it easy, Duryea foolishly elects to become a bounty hunter in order to carve out a future for the saloon girl, Audrey Dalton, he's fallen for. Attempting to take in notorious outlaw Buster Crabbe, Knight is killed and Duryea brutally wounded. Found and nursed back to health by Dalton and her father, Richard Arlen, and mourning Knight's useless death, Duryea changes into a bloodthirsty bounty killer with a mare's laig sawed-off shotgun. Drinking heavily, Duryea uses the law to satisfy his craving for revenge killing. He eventually tracks down Crabbe and his gang, cold bloodedly murdering them all, including the kid brother of Rod Cameron, a gunfighter who once saved Duryea's life when he first came west. Gunning for Duryea, Cameron is killed by the now soul-tortured Duryea. Obnoxious and drunk, Duryea kills bartender Emory Parnell when Sheriff Johnny Mack Brown attempts to arrest him. Now on the run himself, Duryea is killed by youngster Peter Duryea (Dan's real life son) trying to make a name for himself. Strong stuff, with much to say about killing; well done by all concerned. Also in the cast - Grady Sutton as a preacher, Norman Willis as a mean miner, Bob Steele and Bill Foster as members of Crabbe's gang, Eddie Quillan as a piano player, Dan White as a territorial marshal, I. Stanford Jolley as a sheriff, Frank Lackteen as a bartender, Ed Cobb as a townsman - and - 85 year old Broncho Billy Anderson with one line as a barfly in a Mexican cantina. This and REQUIEM FOR A GUNFIGHTER were producer Alex Gordon's star-packed tributes to the westerns we all revere, and were the forerunner to producer A. C. Lyles' '60s series of similar star-studded westerns. BOUNTY KILLER was scripted by badman Leo Gordon and Alex's wife Ruth and directed by B-vet Spencer Gordon Bennet.

  REQUIEM FOR A GUNFIGHTER (1965 Embassy)
Hired gun Rod Cameron, befriended by circuit riding judge Tim McCoy, takes McCoy's place when the judge is gunned from ambush by outlaw Bob Steele. Riding into a town controlled by Stephen McNally and his boys (Mike Mazurki, Dale Van Sickel), only a local couple (Chet Douglas, Olive Sturgess) learn Cameron's true identity and convince him to stage a trial for McNally's man Lane Chandler who has "accidentally" killed bartender Rand Brooks. Just as young orphan boy Chris Hughes reveals he witnessed McNally and his men murder Brooks, hotheaded gunslinger Dick Jones interrupts the trial and exposes Cameron as a phony judge, challenging Cameron to a gunfight. In the duel Cameron shoots the gun out of Jones' hand and having learned the difference between gun law and law book justice, throws his weapons in the street and rides out of town. After McNally's gang is arrested by the citizens, led by storekeeper Johnny Mack Brown, young Hughes rides after Cameron, convincing him to return to the thankful town. Also in the cast are Frank Lackteen as a gambler, Zon Murray as a gunman, Raymond Hatton, Ed Cobb and Dick Alexander as townsmen. Boyd "Red" Morgan and Tom Steele provided the stuntwork for producer Alex Gordon and director Spencer Gordon Bennet. Worthy, but the story and script (from Alex's wife Ruth) aren't quite up to the excellence of Gordon's BOUNTY KILLER.

  TOWN TAMER (1965 Paramount)
One of producer A. C. Lyles better B-plus westerns with a full cast of talented, familiar old timers; directed by B-vet Lesley Selander. Primary drawback is a really dumb title tune sung by the Three Ds. Town boss Bruce Cabot hires gunman Lyle Bettger to gun Marshal Dana Andrews. Unfortunately, Bettger misses and kills Andrews' wife, Coleen Gray. Two years later, hired as a town tamer by railroader Barton MacLane, Andrews tracks Cabot to a new town where Cabot again lords it over local citizens with - now town sheriff Lyle Bettger (whom Andrews is unaware gunned his wife), hotheaded deputy Richard Jaeckel and obnoxious wife-beater DeForest Kelly - a dealer in Cabot's saloon headquarters. Subplot involves a budding romance between Andrews and Kelly's abused wife, Terry Moore. Vet cast includes Phil Carey and Roger Torrey as Cabot's hired gunmen; Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mayor; Richard Arlen as the doctor; Sonny Tufts as another saloon owner working with Cabot; Bob Steele, a townsman working with Cabot; Don Barry, town roughneck; Pat O'Brien with one scene as a judge under Cabot's influence; James Brown, railroad paymaster; Richard Webb, outspoken railroad worker and Dale Van Sickel as a bartender and obvious double for Andrews.

  MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH (1977 Rancho Films)
Not to be missed honest all-in-fun 84 minute tribute to the B-western heroes we all revere. Clips from dozens of B-westerns are superbly edited together to form a typical "cohesive" B-western story with humorous narration from Pat Buttram and a wonderful themesong sung by Eddie Dean. Produced by Richard Stewart, Mike Marx, Michael Leone, Patrick Curtis and Packy Smith. Written/directed and edited by Richard Patterson. Sit back and relive the black and white glory days of the Saturday afternoon matinee. One of the greatest joys is figuring out from what film each clip originates ... a masterpiece of editing. For the record, clips include Rex Allen, Gene Autry, Don Barry, Bobby Blake, William Boyd, Johnny Mack Brown, Smiley Burnette, Buster Crabbe, Eddie Dean, Bill Elliott, Hoot Gibson, Monte Hale, Raymond Hatton, Gabby Hayes, Tim Holt, Buck Jones, Tom Keene, Allan "Rocky" Lane, Lash LaRue, Ken Maynard, Tim McCoy, George O'Brien, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Fuzzy St. John, Fred Scott, Sons of the Pioneers, Charles Starrett, Bob Steele, Dub Taylor, the Three Mesquiteers, Tom Tyler and John Wayne, plus the villainy of Charlie King and The Rattler - and a host of supporting character players. (Obviously, several lesser B-western stars were omitted - as well as one major star!) Shown at the Cannes Film Festival in '77, legalities prevented an actual theatrical release.

  TOMBSTONE, THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE (1942 Paramount)
Produced for entertainment rather than accuracy, this is an exciting but historically inaccurate retelling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral incidents, although the actual gunfight is fairly accurate according to historian Michael Blake. It's the other facts and aspects of the Tombstone events and Wyatt Earp (Richard Dix) that are glossed over or totally omitted. As well, the film is saddled with, and too much screen time is devoted to, a fictional secondary story about the reformation of young outlaw Don Castle to whom Dix plays cupid with eastern-girl-come-west Frances Gifford. Dix admirably plays it hard and tough with the competence of the marshal he portrays. He and his brothers, Harvey Stephens as Morgan and Rex Bell as Virgil, ride into Tombstone and are quickly at odds with local outlaw Curley Bill Brocius, played way too comically broad by Edgar Buchanan to be taken as a serious badman. Second billed Kent Taylor has so little to do as Doc Halliday (not Holliday), he's barely in the film. As tensions mount, the historic shootout at the O.K. Corral with Dix, Stephens, Bell and Taylor facing of against Victor Jory (as Ike Clanton), Paul Sutton (as Tom McLowery), James Ferrara (as Billy Clanton) and Dick Curtis (as Frank McLowery) is anti-climatic with producer Harry "Pop" Sherman electing to wind the film with a Hopalong Cassidy-style roundup in the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine which has no basis in authenticity. As well, a standard B-western "wave goodbye" ending is tacked on as Wyatt departs Tombstone, leaving Don Castle as sheriff of the tamed town.

  SIN TOWN (1942 Universal)
In a frontier oil-boomtown of 1910, Broderick Crawford and Constance Bennett are a pair of bunco-artists who save saloon owner Ward Bond from hanging after a newspaper editor is killed. Crawford and Bennett take over the saloon/gambling hall and aren't above a little dishonesty now and then while Bond stews in jail. Taking over her father's newspaper to oppose the opportunists is lovely Anne Gwynne and her boyfriend Patric Knowles, although romance gets in the way when Crawford falls for Gwynne. Filled with crosses and double-crosses and populated with cameo roles by Universal regulars like Leo Carrillo, Andy Devine and others, Ray Enright's direction is vigorous and fast paced - with a terrific screen brawl between Crawford and Bond!

  GUN THE MAN DOWN (1956 United Artists)
A Batjac production, this starring vehicle for John Wayne protégé James Arness was withheld from release after its initial run until just recently when Gretchen Wayne (widow of Michael Wayne, son of The Duke) saw fit to reissue it - and we applaud her. We've been waiting 50 years to see it, and weren't disappointed. A 'Wayne Family' affair, John's brother Robert E. Morrison produced, Andrew J. McLaglen directed (his feature film debut), Burt Kennedy scripted, William Clothier photographed it, Arness starred. Arness, along with partners Robert Wilke and Don Megowan, stage a bank robbery but when Arness is wounded his cohorts run out on him, along with his girl, Angie Dickinson. After a year in prison, Arness is released and, bent on revenge, tracks the threesome to a small border town. They hire gunslinger Michael Emmett to get rid of Arness, but when that backfires they are on the run. With Emile Meyer as a straight-thinking sheriff and Harry Carey Jr. as his green deputy, GUN THE MAN DOWN sports an intelligent script (with overtones of Burt Kennedy scripts to come for Randolph Scott) that never stoops to cliché or easy-outs.

  FURY AT FURNACE CREEK (1948 20TH Century Fox)
Fast paced and neatly plotted, director H. Bruce Humberstone's direction, Harry Jackson's photography and David Raskin's memorable score are all above average for this medium budget B. Victor Mature and Lieut. Glenn Langan are the sons of Army General Robert Warwick, the commanding officer of an outpost who is cashiered out of the service after being charged of conspiring with renegade Indians led by Jay Silverheels. The brothers, no love lost between them, go about clearing their father's name, but using divergent methods. Mature, a rugged adventurer, takes a wily approach of secretly mixing in with the real culprits (land grabber Albert Dekker, spineless army officer Reginald Gardiner in Dekker's grip, Fred Clark and Charles Stevens) while Langan takes a more methodical approach. Both alienate each other in their search for the truth, but reconcile by the finish to usurp Dekker. The background is stocked with B-western players - Al Bridge, Kermit Maynard, Ed Cobb, George Chesebro, Ted Mapes, Guy Wilkerson, Mauritz Hugo, George Cleveland, Roy Roberts, J. Farrell MacDonald, Si Jenks.

  DING DONG WILLIAMS (1946 RKO)
A movie about making movies. Sunrise Studios musical director Felix Bressart is out of touch with the current vogue in music, so he hires Dixieland clarinetist and bandleader Glenn Vernon to compose some hot tunes for a new musical. Western movie fan Vernon is at first reluctant until he realizes he'll get to meet cowboy star James Warren. Problem is, Bressart learns Vernon can't write music, so he hires musical arrangers Tommy Noonan and Cliff Nazarro to write what Vernon plays. One "on location scene" also involves Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers singing a beautiful rendition of "Cool Water". Anne Jeffreys, popular at Republic as one of Bill Elliott's leading ladies, is Warren's romantic interest. (She sings one song.) Watch for a silent unbilled bit in a nightclub with Myrna Dell. Produced by Herman Schlom and directed by William Berke who both know their way around westerns as well as light musical comedies like this.

  SADDLE TRAMP (1950 Universal-International)
Footloose cowboy Joel McCrea elects to care for his friend John Ridgely's four young sons after Ridgely is accidentally killed. McCrea secures a job with rancher John McIntire who dislikes children, so McCrea hides out the children. Joining McCrea's "family" is 19 year old runaway Wanda Hendrix. Muddling the situation, McIntire and neighboring rancher Antonio Moreno are both missing cattle; each rancher suspects the other of rustling. When McCrea is suspected of being a rustler as well, he and the kids find the stolen cattle and the men responsible - McIntire's foreman John Russell, Moreno's foreman Peter Leeds and a third man, Paul Picerni, a McIntire cowhand. Showing his versatility as a westerner, each of McCrea's six U-I westerns were all different, this was his first, taking on a charming Disney-like family oriented feel. For the action fans, the payoff comes in the last reel slugfest between McCrea and Russell, "creepin' creepers," a real doozy.

  LONE HAND (1953 Universal-International)
Nothing more than an old Bob Steele plot padded out with some family values and shot in Technicolor. Directed by B-vet George Sherman, widower Joel McCrea, with a young son - Jimmy Hunt, tries to make a go of it as a farmer. Falling in love, McCrea marries local girl Barbara Hale, but when things go wrong on the farm he turns to banditry with outlaws Alex Nicol and James Arness. C'mon now - we all know how it's gonna turn out - McCrea is really an undercover Pinkerton Agent hoping to flush out the "big boss" who turns out to be - surprise, surprise - respected local horse rancher Charles Drake. There's a few good action sequences including the under-the-stagecoach-stunt, but overall the film is hampered by a strained, at times unrealistic, alienation between McCrea and his son, Hunt, who does unnecessary voice-over narration. And little is mentioned about the deaths and destruction caused by McCrea when he's on the bandit raids with Nicol and Arness.

  BLACK HORSE CANYON (1954 Universal-International)
Joel McCrea's group of six U-I westerns were all different, showing his versatility on the range. One of the best horsemen in Hollywood, this horse story was a perfect vehicle for McCrea who is an amiable horse wrangler who sets his sights on capturing a wild black stallion, Outlaw, in order to win the affection of rancher Mari Blanchard, who actually owns the stallion. Seems Outlaw has the ability to open corral gates, consequently adding to "his" herd by stealing rancher's horses. Nearby rancher Murvyn Vye wants Outlaw hunted down and killed, but McCrea and his young partner Race Gentry (a handsome but poor Rock Hudson-type U-I contractee whose career was over almost before it started) eventually capture Outlaw for Blanchard. Over time the impressionable young Gentry has fallen in love, but Mari prefers McCrea, causing a brief rift between the two partners, but all is made right when they join forces to overcome troublemaker Vye and his foreman, John Pickard. Screenwriter Geoffrey Homes was actually a pseudonym for Daniel Mainwaring who wrote such crime classics as THE BIG STEAL ('49), OUT OF THE PAST ('47) as well as the memorable sci-fi INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS ('56). Here he offers up a charming but mild horse story, nothing less, nothing more.

  BORDER RIVER (1954 Universal-International)
Wounded Confederate officer Joel McCrea makes it across the river from the U.S. to Zona Libre, a free zone in Mexico for any man outside the law under control of renegade General Pedro Armendariz and his second in command, sleazy as usual Alfonso Bedoya. McCrea tries to make a deal with Armendariz to supply arms to the South in exchange for $2 million in gold stolen from the Union. Complicating the situation for McCrea is Yvonne DeCarlo, a saloon hostess in partnership with Armendariz. When The General discovers DeCarlo aiding McCrea, he begins calculating how much he can make from the deal on his own. Top drawer McCrea U-I western, more in the action-vein Randolph Scott was providing theatre patrons, thanks to B-vet director George Sherman. Filmed in and around Moab, Utah. Stuntman Bobby Hoy doubled both Armendariz and Bedoya as well as playing a Union Cavalry Sergeant. Al Wyatt doubled McCrea. Also, Lane Chandler and Charles Horvath have meaty roles as two outlaw gold-seekers.

  TALL STRANGER (1957 Allied Artists)
Directed by Republic vet Tommy Carr, TALL STRANGER is the fourth of six Walter Mirisch produced '50s westerns with Joel McCrea, and it's not the best ... that honor goes to WICHITA, nor the worst, OKLAHOMAN receives that dubious honor. Based on a Louis L'Amour tale, McCrea reluctantly guides a group of squatters into a valley run with an iron grip by McCrea's estranged half-brother, Barry Kelley, who holds McCrea to blame for the death of Kelley's son during the Civil War. Besides finding common ground with Kelley, Joel has to deal with landgrabbers George Neise, Michael Ansara and Mauritz Hugo who, for their own plans, are egging on the settlers to take over Kelley's land. The girl is Virginia Mayo (who looks pretty bored with it all), but director Carr peopled the film with B-western vets like Leo Gordon, Pierce Lyden, Tom London, George J. Lewis, Robert Foulk, William Haade, Ralph Reed, Ray Teal, Bill Foster. Excellent actor Michael Pate is in here with barely anything to do. Adam Kennedy has his only western movie role as one of Kelley's ranch hands. This same year he was cast as the lead in TV's short-lived CALIFORNIANS ('57-'58). Former Bomba the Jungle Boy producer Mirisch went on to produce classic A-westerns like MAN OF THE WEST with Gary Cooper and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.

  GUNSIGHT RIDGE (1957 United Artists)
Joel McCrea is an undercover express agent on the trail of concert pianist turned bandit Mark Stevens. Simplistic, routine story but along the way there's some clever writing by Talbot and Elizabeth Jennings, stark b/w film noirish photography from Ernest Laszlo and adequate direction by Francis D. Lyon as McCrea and Stevens act out a cat and mouse game of catch-me-if-you-can. Filmed around Old Tucson with good support from Joan Weldon, Addison Richards (as the Sheriff), Slim Pickens (stage driver), Steve Mitchell, L. Q. Jones, Morgan Woodward (a trio of Lazy Heart Ranch toughs), Olive Carey, Hank Patterson, Tom Monroe, Joel's son Jody (whom he teamed with for TV's WICHITA TOWN, '59-'60), Dale Van Sickel, I. Stanford Jolley, Martin Garralaga and a pre-"Bonanza" Dan Blocker as the bartender.

  HARD ON THE TRAIL (1971 Brentwood International)
Lash LaRue gets top billing in this x-rated (for its time, very tame by today's unfortunate standards) no budget, color western written and directed by Greg Corarito. Sporting a full Fuzzy St. John-style beard, Lash plays Slade, crooked owner of a mining company, in a nothing plot about maps and mines. Lash is first seen at the Bell Ranch watching two henchmen in a street whip fight. Lash gives them a few pointers, then in the film's only interesting segment, says, "A few years ago I used to mess with (a whip) a little bit," followed by a quick series of still shots from KING OF THE BULLWHIP. As to the x-rating, there is some nudity in two rape scenes, none of which involve Lash who, in later years, claimed he didn't know the nude footage would be added later. I believe him because all the "raw" footage is totally isolated from the primary story and never involves LaRue. Actually filmed in '69, but not released til '71, it's such a soft X that a year later ('72) the distributor did a slight bit of editing and reissued the film as HARD TRAIL. Either way it's just barebones, amateurishly made, low budget talk and nonsense, a total curio, with the only reason to suffer this 80 minute ineptitude to see an older Lash in a Fuzzy beard, but for fans, that's enough. Incidentally, besides the Bell Ranch, Corarito filmed a few scenes at Corriganville and the notorious Spahn Ranch (the ramshackle town set seen in later parts of the picture) which holds the dubious distinction of being home briefly to Charlie Manson and his murderous family.

  WHITE SQUAW (1956 Columbia)
Everyone concerned looks pretty bored with this brutal western and shows it through their terrible acting. Produced by Wallace MacDonald and directed by Ray Nazarro, May Wynn is a half-white woman who's grown up with the Sioux (Frank DeKova, George Keymas). In rides brutish sourpuss David Brian with a Swedish accent that comes and goes with great regularity. The immigrant Brian is trying to start a ranch in the area by driving the Indians from their land. This starts a fight in which rancher Paul Birch, in reality Wynn's white father, is killed. He dies revealing to his other daughter, Nancy Hale, and Brian, whom he believes to be a friend, that years ago he wed an Indian girl and bore a daughter, Wynn. Birch leaves a will, leaving half his ranch to Wynn, but because of Brian's ambition, and Hale's resentment of an Indian "sister", they keep the will a secret. Enter cattle-driving William Bishop (and sidekick Wally Vernon - unchanged from his Don Barry saddle-pal days) who helps make everything right. In a horrific ending, Brian dies screaming in a burning teepee. Also with Myron Healey, Bill Hale, Emil Sitka, Dennis Moore, Blackie Whiteford, Roy Roberts, Grant Withers, Neyle Morrow, Robert Bice, Henry Rowland.

  SIERRA STRANGER (1957 Columbia)
On his way to file a gold claim, Howard Duff rescues Ed Kemmer from a beating by Barton MacLane and Robert Foulk. Kemmer appears to befriend Duff, but when Duff hits town he finds he should have left well enough alone when Kemmer holds up a stage and reveals himself to be the punk everyone else knew he was all along. Former singing cowboy Dick Foran has a good role as Kemmer's brother who tries to help his outlaw sibling until he too must face up to the fact Kemmer is just no good. Minor effort directed by Lee "Roll 'em" Sholem that would have been better served as a one hour TV episode. Cowboy cancer alert: Duff lights up.

  QUIET GUN (1957 Regal/20th Century Fox)
Strong adult-themed western with Sheriff Forrest Tucker (never better or more authoritative) sent out by town busybodies to investigate the morality of Tuck's friend Jim Davis openly living with Indian girl Mara Corday while Davis' wife Kathleen Crowley is back east. When obnoxious local attorney Lewis Martin tries to serve a trumped up morals ordinance, an argument ensues and an enraged Davis kills the lawyer. Subsequently, a lynch mob overpowers Sheriff Tucker and hangs Davis in revenge. Against the city council's wishes, Tucker jails all the lynchers, then settles down to investigating just why this whole incident came about, eventually learning saloon owner Tom Brown and gunman Lee Van Cleef started the rumors and incited the lynch mob in order to get Davis out of the way and obtain his ranch land. Well directed by former film editor William Claxton (KIT CARSON '40, FIGHTING BUCKAROO '43, other non westerns). Claxton also directed Tucker in STAGECOACH TO FURY ('56) as well as some of the A. C. Lyles produced westerns. Producer Earle Lyon (also producer for STAGECOACH TO FURY) also helped develop the novel "Lawman" into this screenplay. Hank Worden has one of his better non-Wayne film roles as the town blacksmith turned deputy for Tucker. Filmed at Corriganville.

  TERROR AT BLACK FALLS (1962 Meridian)
Extremely low budget dialogue-laden drama written/produced and directed by Richard Sarafian that would have been better served as a one hour TV episode, of which Sarafian handled many, but stretched to 70 minutes it becomes quite tedious. Mexican Peter Mamakos tries to save his young son from a lynching but ends up causing the boy's death when Sheriff House Peters Jr. tires to stop the lynching. As a result Mamakos is shot in the hand, which is later amputated. Sent to jail for four years, the embittered Mamakos returns to the small town (the whole movie was lensed in rural Scotland, Arkansas) to exact revenge on Sheriff Peters by holding a group of townspeople in the grip of fear in a barroom until Peters will face him. Peters' son Gary Gray tries to help, but only serves to become a hostage himself. The ending has Mamakos trying to go for his gun with his amputated hand and being gunned down as a result. An ending so bad it's almost brilliant.

 WAR PAINT (1953 United Artists)
Grim B-plus western effectively filmed in Pathé Color entirely in California's Death Valley. The Death Valley locale gives the Howard Koch/Aubrey Schenck production, ably directed by B-vet Les Selander, a merciless, harsh feeling of reality. Cavalry Lieut. Robert Stack is in command of a motley troop of misfit soldiers with only nine days to deliver a peace treaty to an Indian leader before a deadline passes and fighting begins anew. Lurking in the blistering, stark desert hoping to prevent the treaty from being delivered are the Chief's son, Keith Larsen, and his sister, Joan Taylor. Ambushes, attacks and lack of water all lead to a loss of men including Douglas Kennedy and Paul Richards. Slowly the surly, disgruntled troopers turn against Stack, with only Stack's Sergeant, Charles McGraw, remaining loyal. A chance encounter with a lost gold mine causes the remaining troopers (Peter Graves, Robert Wilke, Walter Reed, John Doucette) to forcefully and greedily rebel against Stack and McGraw, even to the point of killing one another. Well done on all counts; the first western from the producing team of Aubrey Schenck (1908-1999) and Howard W. Koch (1916-2001) whose Bel-Air production company helped keep the medium budget western alive in the '50s with about a dozen films such as FORT YUMA ('55), GHOST TOWN ('56), REBEL IN TOWN ('56), WAR DRUMS ('57), FORT BOWIE ('58) and others. Schenck practiced law in NYC for seven years in the legal department of 20th Century Fox before submitting the story for and producing SHOCK with Vincent Price. He later teamed with Howard W. Koch to form Bel-Air in '53. Koch got his start in Universal's contract department in New York, moved to Fox as a film librarian and entered production as a second assistant director in '44 and first assistant in '47. He teamed with Schenck in '53. Breaking up the team in '58, Koch was VP in charge of production for Sinatra Enterprises from '61-'64. He became production head at Paramount in '64, then shifted gears two years later to form his own production unit supplying pictures to Paramount.

 (QUINCANNON) FRONTIER SCOUT (1956 Bel-Air/United Artists)
Producers Aubrey Schenck and Howard Koch helped keep the B-grade western alive in the mid to late '50s with a series of medium budget westerns, but they totally misfired when they hired nightclub crooner Tony Martin to put on buckskins for this stilted epic. Martin is hopelessly out of his element, and since he doesn't even croon the title song (a bad Disney-like tune anyway from Sammy Kahn and Hal Borne, performed by an unnamed choral group), there's not even any marketing value attached to his name. Overlong at 83 minutes, script is one of those frontier affairs that requires every bit of action to be accompanied by atrocious explanatory dialogue. To its credit, the plot drivel is backed up by some scenically gorgeous DeLuxe color photography lensed in Kanab, UT (as well as the Jack Ingram ranch) that has a visual attraction far surpassing the plot worth. Even old pro Les Selander couldn't do much with Martin's bland histrionics as ex-cavalry officer is persuaded to undertake a mission to discover what happened to 800 Henry repeaters sent to a post on the Bozeman Trail. Accompanying Martin are greenhorn Lieut. John Bromfield, wise-in-Indian-ways Sergeant John Doucette, and we-gotta-have-a-girl-along-for-romance Peggie Castle. After a few spirited action sequences, post Commander Ron Randall, Lieut. John Smith and renegade Peter Mamakos are uncovered as the gun-dealing traitors.

 THE DALTON GIRLS (1957 Bel-Air/United Artists)
Pure movie fiction as four daughters of the infamous Dalton Brothers (Merry Anders, Penny Edwards, Lisa Davis, Sue George) turn to banditry after their outlaw father is killed. Somehow gambler John Russell keeps getting in the middle of all their stick-ups and robberies. Film ends tragically as two of the girls are killed and Edwards reforms in the arms of Russell. Pure nonsense but kinda fun in a guilty pleasure sort of way. Singer Johnny Western has a small role. Filmed in Kanab, UT, produced by Aubrey Schenck and Howard W. Koch.

 SADDLEMATES (1941 Republic) Lesser entry in the Three Mesquiteers (Bob Livingston, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis) canon of westerns is a direct remake of Gene Autry's RIDE RANGER RIDE ('36). The Mesquiteers join the Cavalry when the Rangers are disbanded and discover half-breed Peter George Lynn is only pretending to help the Army as an interpreter but is secretly leading the Indians on the warpath as the dreaded Chief Wanechee. Gale Storm is barely noticeable as post Commander Forbes Murray's daughter for whom both Livingston and Steele have eyes. Rufe Davis sings a "tune" with a musical group that includes Spade Cooley on fiddle. Iron Eyes Cody has a hefty role as Wanechee's right-hand Indian. Of course the movie "Indian" whose career stretched back to 1919 was not truly Native American, but of Italian descent. Iron Eyes was born Oscar DeCorti in Louisiana on April 3, 1904. When Oscar came to California circa 1924, he changed his name to Iron Eyes Cody and began acting in silent movies. At 94 he died in 1999 in Los Feliz, CA.

 ROCK ISLAND TRAIL (1950 Republic)
Producer Paul Malvern's ROCK ISLAND TRAIL offers nothing new in the genre of empire building/railroading classics such as UNION PACIFIC, CANADIAN PACIFIC, CARSON CITY, DENVER AND RIO GRANDE etc. For this one, Republic moved a bit east to Illinois/Iowa but James Edward Grant's thinly plotted, episodic-in-nature, you've-seen-it-all-before tale stretches the usual railroad movie setbacks over a rather tedious 90 minutes - Indians, labor disputes, building bridges, arson, monetary setbacks, even an out-of-left-field courtroom trial with Jeff Corey as young lawyer Abe Lincoln. (Incidentally, the finer points of this movie, including the Lincoln episode, were "recycled" by writer Raphael Hayes for the RIVERBOAT episode NO BRIDGE ON THE RIVER in '60). Screenwriter Grant began writing B-films in 1935, moved into the big time with BOOM TOWN in '40 and went on to become John Wayne's favorite writer, developing such titles as ANGEL AND THE BADMAN, SANDS OF IWO JIMA, FLYING LEATHERNECKS, HONDO, THE ALAMO, McLINTOCK! and others. Along the way he stopped off at Republic for a few westerns (THE PLUNDERERS, CALIFORNIA PASSAGE) but he definitely was coasting when he penned ROCK ISLAND TRAIL. Director Joe Kane tries his Trucolor best to dress up the trite yarn but he's saddled with some corny dialogue and too much reliance on green-sets and rear screen projection which often spoils the what-should-be epic sweep of an empire building story. Basic plot has steamboat owner Bruce Cabot opposing railroader Forrest Tucker (and his engineer Chill Wills) because the railroad will take business away from Cabot's steamboat trade. The pair also clash over the affections of lovely blonde Adele Mara, daughter of banker Grant Withers (who shines in a gruff, no-nonsense role). Monetarily strapped, Tucker is eventually helped by terribly miscast Adrian Booth as an educated-in-France Indian Princess with a yen for Tuck. Adele gets to sing one song with a barbershop quartet. Stuntman Harvey Parry gets screen billing as "consultant to producer Paul Malvern." (?) It is fun to watch the passing parade of bit players - Roy Barcroft, Marshall Reed, Trevor Bardette, Barbra Fuller, Dick Elliott, Jack Pennick, Jimmy Hunt, Olin Howlin, William Haade, Dick Alexander, Dick Curtis, Tex Terry, Jack Perrin, Emmett Lynn, Stanley Andrews, Victor Cox, John Holland - Whew!

 SAN FRANCISCO STORY (1952 Warner Bros.)
Joel McCrea bought the rights to Richard Summers' story VIGILANTE, and took it to Fidelity/Vogue Films, a fledgling company under the auspices of Warner Bros. Yvonne DeCarlo was borrowed from Universal for star power. It's a witty script with McCrea a mine owner caught up in a battle for political power in 1850s San Francisco. Old friend and newspaper editor Onslow Stevens wants McCrea to rejoin the vigilantes to oppose town boss, grifter Sidney Blackmer. McCrea would rather sit this one out, joining neither the vigilantes nor Blackmer's unscrupulous politicos. Of course, he does get involved - with everyone, especially when he falls for Blackmer's girl, DeCarlo. It's a decent script and the acting is fine, but Robert Parrish's direction does little to enliven the few and far between action scenes, including the wasted original idea of an on-horseback shotgun duel which is poorly done, lacking any suspense whatsoever. All in all, there's too much yakkin' and not enough horsebackin'.

 TRAIL STREET (1947 RKO)
Producer Nat Holt's follow-up to the highly successful BADMAN'S TERRITORY with Randolph Scott this time as frontier marshal Bat Masterson brought in to clean up lawless elements wrecking Liberal, Kansas, and the honest farmer trying to make the land fruitful. On Scott's side are young land agent Robert Ryan who visions vast wheat fortunes for the farmers (and eventually solves the problem with the discovery of heat resistant winter wheat) and tall-tale-telling Gabby Hayes for comic relief. Together they defeat the forces of cattle commissioner Steve Brodie and saloon owner Billy House who are scheming through their outlawry to keep Liberal a cattle town. Madge Meredith is Ryan's love interest while Anne Jeffreys is a singer (two songs) in House's saloon but owes an allegiance to Ryan whom she's known since childhood. William Corcoran's GOLDEN HORIZONS novel was serialized in COSMOPOLITAN and Norman Houston (scripter of so many fine Tim Holt B's) developed the screenplay. As usual in westerns, Houston's script takes liberties with the truth as there is no record of Masterson ever "taming" Liberal. Bat was deputy sheriff in Dodge City from 1877-1879, then went to Tombstone for a time with Wyatt Earp, returning to Dodge along with Earp, Doc Holliday and Luke Short for the so-called Dodge City War. From then til the end of the century Masterson was a professional gambler in Colorado. To its credit, TRAIL STREET alludes to Bat's journalistic aspirations. Later in his life he became a drama critic and sports reporter in New York City. A huge success at the boxoffice, TRAIL STREET had its premiere in Liberal with a four mile parade of 12 bands, Indians from the Annadarko reservation, soldiers from Fort Riley, cowboys, stagecoaches and more. Incidentally, the RKO production files indicate Gabby suffered a heart attack during filming. Around 62 at the time, he retired from films within three years - except for a very tame tall-tale TV series in '50. He died of a heart attack in '69.

 THUNDERING FRONTIER (1940 Columbia)
A rather tame Charles Starrett western with a dramatic ending even though ads proclaimed "a landslide of lightning action" in "a fast-riding dashing battle against a hidden foe". Gentle Carl Stockdale and his daughter gorgeous Iris Meredith (Columbia's favorite leading lady) are stringing telegraph wire against the wishes of saloon highbinder Alex Callam who wants control of the telegraph himself, even to the extent of twisting Starrett's brother, Ray Bennett, into double-crossing Charlie. Songs from the Sons of the Pioneers are uninspired and unmemorable this go-round.

 CARSON CITY (1952 Warner Bros.) Errol Flynn had already tamed DODGE CITY in '39, VIRGINIA CITY in '40 and SAN ANTONIO in '45 and Warner Bros. fully intended for him to do the same for CARSON CITY in '52, but Flynn refused and his contract with WB ended that same year. Michael Curtiz, who had intended to direct, dropped out with Flynn. Replacing them - and probably just as well - were Randolph Scott and Andre DeToth helming the first of four Warner Bros. Scotts. Together, they brought a bit of charm, a touch of humor, some romance, brotherly conflict and plenty of action to what could have been a routine railroad building western. CARSON CITY begins with an unusual and somewhat comic stagecoach robbery in which the Champagne Bandits hold a picnic for the passengers while they rob them. Raymond Massey quite obviously enjoyed his role as head of the notorious Champagne Bandits, reveling in every little script nuance. When the town decides to build a railroad from Virginia City to Carson City in order to transport mining gold by rail and circumvent the stage robberies, Massey does all he can to disrupt their plans. Hired to build the railroad over rough mountain terrain is no-nonsense, adventurous engineer Randolph Scott. Opposing the railroad is newspaper editor Don Beddoe, who is killed by Massey when Beddoe learns he is the outlaw leader. Beddoe's quickly replaced by his savvy daughter, Lucille Norman (an opera singer who flirted with a Hollywood career for about a year). In love with Norman is Scott's headstrong and misguided kid brother Richard Webb, jealous over Norman's obvious affections for Scott. The action-packed script, including a suspenseful tunnel cave-in (filmed at Bronson Cave), is from Republic alumnus Sloan Nibley. William Haade and Mickey Simpson both acquit themselves nicely in meaty roles as two of Scott's railroaders. Also on hand are James Millican (Massey's not-too-bright right hand flunky), Jack Woody (in perhaps his best role of many at Warners) and George Cleveland, ably abetted by Zon Murray, Stanley Andrews, House Peters Jr., Reed Howes, Rory Mallinson, Tom Monroe, Pierce Lyden, Frosty Royce, Mikel Conrad, Vince Barnett, Thurston Hall, George Eldredge, Ray Bennett and Kenneth MacDonald. Cowboy cancer alert: Scott lights up.

 ROSE OF CIMARRON (1952 20th Century Fox)
Mixed in with the '50s "famous outlaws" cycle of westerns comes this better than average, albeit totally fictionalized, western about Rose of Cimarron (Mala Powers). In the movie, directed by old Republic hand Harry Keller, as a child Rose is hidden out before her mother is killed in a deadly Indian raid. Baby Rose is found and raised by friendly Indians. Full grown, Rose and her friend Willie Whitefeather (Jim Davis) set out after the bank robbers (Bill Williams, Tom Monroe, Dick Curtis) who stole the horses of and murdered her adopted Indian mother and father. Gunning down two of the killers, Rose is jailed by Marshal Jack Beutel. Williams and the rest of his gang (William Phipps, Bob Steele, Art Smith) take advantage of Rose, breaking her out of jail and making her part of their gang. Beutel, however, rides out in defense of Rose, bringing the outlaws to justice and winning Rose's devotion. In truth, Rose of Cimarron came to be outlaw Bitter Creek Newcomb's lover after the infamous Dalton Brothers Coffeyville Raid. The gang had reorganized with Bill Doolin, Tulsa Jack, Red Buck and Newcomb. Rose was involved with the gang in a saloon shootout in Ingles, Oklahoma Territory. She, Bill Dalton and Bill Doolin helped a wounded Bitter Creek to escape under a hail of gunfire. She is only referred to in history as Rose of the Cimarron to protect her privacy and youthful indiscretions as she later became the wife of a very influential Oklahoma politician and was a respected wife and mother. Rose was also portrayed by Louise Albritton in THE DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA ('49) with Randolph Scott and by Yvette Dugay in CIMARRON KID ('51) with Audie Murphy. This Edward L. Alperson produced (originally in Natural-Color) western features a terrific supporting cast with Argentina Brunetti, Irving Bacon, Lillian Bronson, Monte Blue, Tommy Cook, Charles Stevens, Hank Patterson, Kenneth MacDonald, William Fawcett, John Doucette, Byron Foulger, Wade Crosby, William Schallert, Polly Burson and George Chandler.

 OKLAHOMA BADLANDS (1948 Republic)
When rustlers hit hard and fast, rancher Jay Kirby and foreman Eddy Waller send for Jay's best friend, Allan "Rocky" Lane. Before Rocky arrives, Jay is killed by rustlers Roy Barcroft, the lazy-lout employee of crooked newspaperman Gene (Stuten)Roth who presumes Jay to be the last of his family. However, a cousin of Jay's, Leslie Rawlins (Mildred Coles) is headed west. Learning of this, to protect her safety, Rocky lets the outlaws believe he is Leslie Rawlins and lets everyone believe the real Leslie Rawlins is Waller's new housekeeper. The ensuing game of who's-who, even involving "stage actor" Earle Hodgins in a delightful turn, is another of Bob Williams' excellent Republic scripts. This was the 3rd "Rocky" Lane western, and the first of two directed by premier stuntman/action ace Yakima Canutt. "Lane was a man who could have been one of the big stars if he had just behaved himself," Yak explained. "He had a good personality on the screen, he was a good actor, but he wanted to run the whole show. I made a picture with him at Republic (this one) and it was nothing but fight and trouble all the way through, so I told Herbert Yates I didn't want to work any more with Lane. Yates persuaded me to continue (with CARSON CITY RAIDERS). Everything was fine for a couple of days then Lane was back to his old self. That was the last time I worked with him." Republic then assigned less-conflicting-in-personality, easier going directors to the Lane series from there on - R. G. Springsteen, Phillip Ford, Fred Brannon, Harry Keller.

 MAN FROM COLORADO (1948 Columbia)
An excellent film on both a psychological and action content level - the forerunner to all the adult westerns that populated TV (and the screen) in the late '50s and early '60s. Stars Glenn Ford and William Holden had been big box office nearly a decade earlier at Columbia in TEXAS. Here they are paired again in a totally different and riveting Technicolor western drama that obviously draws a parallel between the problems of the returning Civil War men in the film and the real veterans who were coming home from WWII, carrying both physical and mental scars. Glenn Ford is superb as a sadistic Civil War Colonel who ends the war killing for the sheer joy of it - not understanding why he is "sick" as he writes in his daily journal. Unbalanced, yet acclaimed a war hero, he is appointed a federal judge in Colorado. His former Army Captain, William Holden, accepts the job of federal marshal, hoping to keep his friend from going over the brink of insanity. Both men are in love with the same girl, lovely Ellen Drew, who chooses to marry Ford. As Ford slips deeper and deeper into a power-rage and a bloodlust for killing, the local miners rebel when one of Ford's court decisions strips them of their pre-war mining claims through a legal technicality. Led by one of Ford's former Civil War vets, James Millican, the miners fight back the only way they know how - with violence. Driven ever deeper into hatred and a false jealousy over Holden and his wife, Ford hangs Millican's kid brother, Jerome Courtland, on a trumped up charge. This forces Holden to resign as Marshal and join Millican to fight Ford - on his own violent terms. The subject matter was extremely relevant in 1948 and remains even more so today. It's offbeat, intriguing and spellbinding to watch Ford play his twisted, ever-maddening role with expert relish. King Vidor was the original director, but he only lensed a few scenes before Columbia head Harry Cohn took him off the picture because Vidor was feuding with Ford - the actor had taken Cohn's side in a lawsuit contradicting Vidor's testimony. Vidor was replaced by Henry Levin (better known for his B-mysteries, this was his first western, but his work is top-drawer). Good support all around from Edgar Buchanan (playing it low-key ultra straight as he should for this film), Jim Bannon, Ray Collins, William "Bill" Phillips, Mikel Conrad, Denver Pyle, Ian MacDonald, Myron Healey.

 MAN WITH THE GUN (1955 United Artists)
B-westerns had essentially bitten the dust in '53-'54. Bigger budgets, longer running times, color and bigger box office stars were taking over the western which were now examining more serious themes. However, even though many of the plots were now more adult in nature, many still employed age-old formulas, simply adding a few serious touches. Such is the case of MAN WITH THE GUN, the maiden production of Samuel Goldwyn Jr. - a typical town-tamer B-plot dressed up with psychological overtones. Weary of his career, professional gunman Robert Mitchum is hired to clean up Sheridan City only to have the town complain he's being excessive. It also so happens his estranged wife, Jan Sterling, runs the saloon in Sheridan City, guarding the secret of what happened to their son. Eventually, Mitchum goes on a rampage, disposing of the lawless element (Ted DeCorsia, Claude Akins, James Westerfield and Joe Barry) and nearly losing his own life but winning back the love of Sterling.

 GUNSMOKE IN TUCSON (1958 Allied Artists)
Two young boys see their father (Terry Frost) hung for horse stealing by vigilante I. Stanford Jolley and others. Cut to many years later, one brother (Mark Stevens) has become the leader of the notorious Blue Chip gang in Arizona territory while the other (Forrest Tucker) has become a U.S. Marshal. Fresh out of jail, Stevens, trying to go straight, is snookered out of a land deal by powerful rancher Vaughn Taylor and his gun-throwers John Cliff, George Keymas, Richard Reeves and Zon Murray. Stevens does his level-best to stay out of the fray between Taylor and the small ranchers led by Kevin Hagen, but when Taylor makes time with Steven's saloon-gal Mary Castle (looking way older than her real years) and has Stevens' Sheriff pal Bill Henry gunned down, Stevens is forced to revive his Blue Chip persona. Stevens guns Keymas when the gunman threatens Hagen, forcing Marshal Tucker to intercede in the range war. In Cinemascope and DeLuxe Color, it looks impressive, but many of the motivations, personal entanglements and secondary plotlines are confusing and ill-explained, leaving one definitely feeling like time or budgetary restrictions caused director Tommy Carr to tear some pages from the script and never film them.

 MEN OF TEXAS (1942 Universal)
Yankee newspaperman Robert Stack (along with his photographer Leo Carrillo - seems Universal used him in everything at this time) venture to reconstruction Civil War torn Texas hoping to capture the feelings of the Confederate soldiers returning home to land now occupied by Union militia. Charismatic Broderick Crawford starts out as a patriot but slowly gathers a wild gang of guerrillas to his cause. Along the way there's time for both Stack and Crawford to vie for the affections of lovely Anne Gwynne. Old timer William Farnum makes a likeable General Sam Houston in this patriotic western produced, not unintentionally, during the height of WWII.

 THE LAWLESS RIDER (1954/Royal West/United Artists)
Typical low-budget written, produced (with Alex Gordon's help) and acted Johnny Carpenter B full of bad continuity (with scenes that don't fit and lend nothing to the story) and amateurish acting. Marshal Carpenter's old flame, first time actress Texas Rose Bascom (whose accent you could cut with a saw and whose claim to fame down Texas way was fancy trick rope-spinning), is being robbed and rustled blind by town boss Kenne Duncan and his gang (Lou Roberson, Bud Osborne, Bill Coontz). Even Rose's kid brother, Frankie Darro, is in league with Duncan who sends for more help from hired gunman Rod Tatum (also played by Carpenter). When Johnny takes Tatum's place all is going well until the real Tatum shows up. Although the screenplay is credited to Carpenter, notorious Ed Wood (PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE) had some input, which accounts for the conglomeration of loose, isolated scenes, varied storylines, thoughts, ideas and plot points that go nowhere. Then from left field - a "Let's put on a music show to raise mortgage money" that consists of a trained dog, bear and crow plus two minutes of Rose's rope twirling. Best - and oddest line: "You never know what a monkey's chewin' til he spits."(?) Nepotism also enters in - Rose's real life husband Weldon plays the role of the sheriff as well as doubling Carpenter on a bucking bronc. Weldon's older brother, Earl Bascom, is also in the mix as one of the outlaws. Both were champion rodeo riders. Weldon, earlier doubled Bing Crosby riding a bucking horse in RHYTHM ON THE RANGE ('36). Earl later became a noted western artist/sculptor. There's also some pretty barbaric western music from Hank Caldwell and his Saddle Kings. Main interest here stems from the fact energetic producer Alex Gordon was able to land actors Douglas Dumbrille and Noel Neill for a day's work as well as coaxing legendary stuntman/action director Yakima Canutt into ramrodding this mess. It didn't help much.

 STORM RIDER (1957 Regalscope/20th Century-Fox)
Nothing much original here as gunfighter Scott Brady is hired by a small group of ranchers (William Fawcett, Hank Patterson, James Dobson, hotheaded, overacting John Goddard and Mala Powers - affecting a way-too-thick accent) to protect them from the evils of powerful big rancher Roy Engel and his gunmen (George Keymas, Rick Vallin, Frank Richards, Rocky Shahan). Brady slowly falls in love with Powers, neither realizing, coincidentally, he had killed Powers' drunken, loud-mouthed, four flusher husband in a straight-up-gunfight. Trying to keep the peace is Sheriff Bill Williams. Directed and co-scripted by frequent 3 Stooges director Edward Bernds, a fact barely revealed in his biography MR. BERNDS GOES TO HOLLYWOOD. Photographed, but not well, by an aging Brydon Baker who'd done much better work in his younger days on no-budget B's. Cast also includes Lane Chandler, Bud Osborne, Tom London, Ron Foster, Britt Wood, Olin Howlin, John Cason. Brady later starred as TV's SHOTGUN SLADE ('59-'61), Williams had previously starred on THE ADVENTURES OF KIT CARSON ('51-'55) and Shahan was drover Joe Scarlett on RAWHIDE from '59-'65.

 MAN FROM SUNDOWN, THE (1939 Columbia)
They may not be making any new B-westerns these days, but the next best thing is when a pair of rare ones, unseen in over 65 years are unearthed. So it is with MAN FROM SUNDOWN and THUNDERING FRONTIER ('40). In this one, when young rancher Richard Fiske, brother of lovely Iris Meredith, is murdered just as he's about to testify against a gang of bank-robbing outlaws (Al Bridge, Dick Botiller, Ernie Adams, Ed Cobb), Texas Ranger Charles Starrett swings into action. Starrett (with a roughed up beard and old clothes) and pal Jack Rockwell (in an unusual sidekick role) masquerade as owlhoots on the lam and trace Bridge and his gang to their outlaw-town lair. With the aid of Meredith and the Sons of the Pioneers, Starrett devises an elaborate plan to lead the outlaws across the border into a Ranger trap. Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers contribute five songs including "Rhythm Range", "Springtime on the Range" and "When Round-Up Time is Over".

 JOE DAKOTA (1957 Universal)
A poor man's BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK with striking plot similarities, though not nearly as well done as the Spencer Tracy film. Slow moving, Richard Bartlett's direction never catches fire, receiving no help from the trite script from actor William Talman. Jock Mahoney arrives in a small town in search of an Indian who once served him in the Army as a scout. Discovering his old friend missing and the man's land now being used for the discovery of oil, Mahoney starts asking questions, eventually learning unscrupulous oil speculator Charles McGraw framed the dead man for the rape of a local girl (Luana Patten) in order to get the oil deposits on his land. McGraw then goaded the townsfolk (Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins, Anthony Caruso, Barbara Lawrence, Paul Birch, Gregg Barton and others) into hanging the Indian (Francis McDonald). Too long, even at 79 min and just not worth the effort.

 MY PAL TRIGGER (1946 Republic)
Roy Rogers' best western without a doubt, truly a class A horse story, every bit as good as MY FRIEND FLICKA, NATIONAL VELVET, RED STALLION, RELENTLESS and others. Wandering horse trader Roy Rogers approaches palomino breeder Gabby Hayes about the possibility of having Hayes' Golden Sovereign (Trigger) sire a colt by Roy's mare, Lady, but Gabby absolutely refuses. To serve his own interest, casino owner and devious horse rancher Jack Holt sends his thugs (Roy Barcroft, LeRoy Mason) to steal Sovereign, but the stallion escapes his captors and runs off to mate in the night with Lady. When Gabby and his daughter Dale Evans discover Sovereign missing, they enlist the aid of Holt, not realizing it is he who is responsible. Holt and his men track Sovereign to a small corral where a wild black stallion is trying to steal Lady from Sovereign who fights to protect his mate. Holt attempts to shoot the wild horse but misses, accidentally killing Sovereign. Roy, hearing the shots, goes to investigate but is blamed for Sovereign's death when Gabby and Dale arrive. Jailed, Roy escapes with Lady, fleeing to a wintry Wyoming where Lady foals a Colt, whom Roy names Trigger. When the young colt is caught in a trap, Lady comes to the rescue but is killed by a cougar. Roy kills the cat, rescues Trigger and returns to Gabby's ranch to set things right. Offering Trigger to Gabby, the old man stubbornly refuses. Roy turns himself in. While jailed, Trigger is sold at auction to a confederate of Holt's. Eventually released from jail (with a forgiving Dale's help) Roy is secretly hired by Holt to train Trigger as a race horse. A despondent Gabby, now owing Holt thousands of dollars in gambling debts, puts his ranch up against Holt in a horse race, unaware Holt is entering Trigger in the all-important race. This was Roy's own personal favorite western and remains top flight entertainment. Songs are at a minimum pushing the strong plot to the forefront as the screenplay (by John K. Butler, Jack Townsley, Paul Gangelin) takes MY PAL TRIGGER out of the normal realm of B-western fare and places it in an A-film category. Roy is given a real opportunity to act, not just fall back on his usual charming personality. MY PAL TRIGGER was a huge hit with audiences, so much so that John K. Butler revamped many of its ideas later for Rex Allen's RODEO KING AND THE SENORITA.

 BLOOD ON THE ARROW (1964 Allied Artists)
Outlaw Dale Robertson is saved from death after an Indian raid by prospector Wendell Corey, his wife Martha Hyer and their young son Dandy Curran. When Apaches raid their house, the weak Corey lies and agrees to trade the Indians guns within seven days in exchange for their lives. To insure Corey keeps his word, the Apaches hold Curran hostage. Outlaw Robertson tells Corey he'll get the guns in exchange for Corey's gold. When Robertson's gang (Ted De Corsia, Tom Reese, Elisha Cook) arrive they have ideas of their own about the gold. And there's still the young boy to be rescued. Poorly developed by screenwriter Robert Kent and director Sidney Salkow. Even in color, with a few well staged action sequences from Al Wyatt, this is a very tedious 91 minutes.

 RIVER'S END (1931 Warner Bros.)
Michael Curtiz directed this James Oliver Curwood Mountie story which had previously been made in 1920 by First National starring Lewis Stone. Charles Bickford takes on a dual role as a Mountie and the convict he is bringing in. When the Mountie dies of a frosted lung in a snowstorm, his captive assumes his identity. He then meets and falls in love with the Mountie's girl (Evalyn Knapp). When the truth comes out that the captive was innocent, he is by now trapped by circumstances, afraid Knapp and the boy who admired the Mountie (Junior Coghlan) will believe him guilty of killing the Mountie. More of a drama in Northwoods clothing than something for the action audience.

 RIVER'S END (1940 Warner Bros.)
Director Ray Enright puts a bit more excitement and movement into this third version about a Canadian Mountie tracking down a wanted criminal, both played by Dennis Morgan. There's still the romance angle, but the kid-subplot is replaced by unwanted "humor" from George Tobias as he and Morgan attempt to prove Victor Jory guilty of the crime for which Morgan was accused. There's a terrific chase and mountain top fight, but yet, there are far better Mountie yarns.

 SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956 Warner Bros.)
The first of the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher directed westerns that revitalized Randy's career and showed how good an actor he was, how excellent a screenwriter Burt Kennedy was and how talented Boetticher could be when surrounded by such talent; to say nothing of the stunning Lone Pine locations marvelously captured by William Clothier. The tale itself is a typical revenge theme, it's the brilliant, grim, subtle nuances brought to the script by less-is-more screenwriter Kennedy expertly understood and interpreted by Boetticher and Scott. All the characters are consummately fleshed out. The integrity of Scott, a demandingly quiet ex-sheriff bent on killing the men responsible for his wife's death. The swaggering confidence of Lee Marvin. The quiet loneliness of Gail Russell. The new to the west weak bravado of Walter Reed. The fearful desperation of John Larch. The film is a minor classic, one which Scott quickly recognized as something unique. He immediately contracted with Boetticher and Kennedy to make more of these superior westerns under his own production company partnered with producer Harry Joe Brown; the rest for release by Columbia. THE TALL T, DECISION AT SUNDOWN, BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE, RIDE LONESOME and COMANCHE STATION followed over the next four years - all of which stand proudly head and shoulders above other westerns of the period. These films completed, Randolph Scott - already a successfully wealthy man - had nothing more to prove. He retired (save for the noteworthy RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY in '62) at the top of his game.

 SILVER RANGE (1946 Monogram)
Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton rescue Jan Bryant's father who is being held by silver smugglers Ted Adams, Eddie Parker and their gang (Lane Bradford, Dee Cooper, Billy Dix) when he learns of their plans. And that's about all there is to it. Terry Frost is wasted as Jan's fiancé. Contains somewhat of an inside joke when Brown starts to play a harmonica and his horse Rebel, disliking the music, throws him. Startlingly disappointing and lame "stick 'em up" ending.

 DOMINO KID (1957 Columbia)
The first of Rory Calhoun and partner Vic Orsatti's independent productions (they also produced Rory's TV series THE TEXAN '58-'60) is an excellent revenge story. Gunhawk Calhoun is tracking down and killing the five renegades who murdered his father and stole his cattle while he was away fighting in the Civil War. He rapidly works his way through four (including James Griffith, Roy Barcroft and Fred Graham) but doesn't know who the fifth man is. While wrestling with his conscience over the killings and about who the fifth man could be, he re-establishes a romance with Kristine Miller and encounters a conflict with money lender Andrew Duggan who is trying to steal away his ranch. Tight, suspenseful with a few surprises from director Ray Nazzaro. Competent support from Peter Whitney, Ray Corrigan, Eugene Iglesias, Yvetty Dugay, Denver Pyle, Robert Burton.

 SONG OF IDAHO (1948 Columbia)
The renewal of a new radio show contract for western singing star Kirby Grant and his pals The Hoosier Hot Shots is complicated and sabotaged time and time again by sponsor Emory Parnell's constantly incorrigible brat son Tommy Ivo in the role of his career. After fake stagecoach holdups, a brief taming of the shrew plotline with radio program analyst (June Vincent), a musical barbeque, a wild camping trip, a supposed kidnapping and plenty of Hot Shots hijinks, some good old-fashioned "child phychology" takes hold. There's just as much music (9 songs in all) in this entry as in the earlier Hot Shots outings, but the performers - Sunshine Boys, Sunshine Girls, Starlighters - aren't on a par with Merle Travis, The Dinning Sisters, Carolina Cotton, Curt Barrett and The Trailsmen, Deuce Spriggins, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, The Plainsmen and Bob Wills' Texas Playboys. (Also missing is the "usual" supporting cast of Big Boy Williams, Thurston Hall or Guy Kibbee, Andy Clyde and Jeff Donnell. Even Kirby Grant's singing style is of the "affected" variety rather than his more natural sound at Universal, and that of his predecessor in this series, Ken Curtis. Thankfully, only one more true entry in the series was made later in '48 with Grant and the Hot Shots, SINGIN' SPURS, before Columbia called it quits. One cute inside joke here though - after a stage holdup, Ivo is asked who he is. "I'm the Durango Kid!" he joyfully exclaims. (Ivo went on to co-star in six later Charles Starrett/Durango Kid westerns at Columbia.)

 FRENCHIE (1950 Universal-International)
A clumsy imitation of DESTRY RIDES AGAIN with Shelley Winters in the Marlene Dietrich role and Joel McCrea filling in for James Stewart. The result is a flat, uneventful picture that sees Winters as a New Orleans gambling house Madame returning to her home town of Bottleneck to avenge the murder of her father when she was a child. She opens a saloon and after a lot of talk and falderal she eventually uncovers banker John Emery and gambler Paul Kelly are the killers. Highlight of the picture is a knockdown, drag out catfight between Winters and Marie Windsor (Emery's wife) ripped-off from the DESTRY RIDES AGAIN brawl between Dietrich and Una Merkel. John Russell is just plain wasted as Winters' lovesick "protector". Only saving grace here is the always excellent McCrea as a laid back, violence-abhorring sheriff who uses homespun stories to illustrate his points.

 WHEN A MAN'S A MAN (1935 Fox)
After squandering his inheritance, looking to change his life, playboy George O'Brien heads west, landing at Dorothy Wilson's troubled ranch where Paul Kelly is foreman. Nasty neighbor Harry Woods is withholding all the water in an attempt to buy off Dorothy's ranch dirt cheap. George and Paul vie for Dorothy's affections as the shy-on-excitement but superior-in-story film builds to a climax. Based on a Harold Bell Wright story, this was previously filmed as a silent in 1924 starring John Bowers. Both were directed by Edward F. Cline (1892-1961) who began work as an actor in 1914, adding directing and writing to his talents as he went along. He helmed over 100 silents and some 63 sound films, primarily comedies which obviously gives his only three westerns their lighthearted overtones. (The other two were DUDE RANGER and COWBOY MILLIONAIRE, also with O'Brien who definitely could handle Cline's comedic touches. Cline wound his career writing and directing the five Jiggs and Maggie Monogram comedies from '46-'50, including JIGGS AND MAGGIE OUT WEST ('50).

 AMBUSH AT CIMARRON PASS (1958 Regal/Fox)
Clint Eastwood's first major feature film role. Within less than a year he was starring with Eric Fleming on TV's RAWHIDE (Jan. '59-December '65). Two years after the Civil War, hard-as-nails Union Cavalry Sgt. Scott Brady and his troopers (Ken Mayer, Keith Richards, William Vaughn, John Manier, John Merrick), transporting a prisoner (Baynes Barron) and some repeating rifles across the desert, are pursued by renegade Apaches after the guns. The group encounters a band of ex-Rebels (Frank Gerstle, Clint Eastwood, Dirk London), ex-circuit judge Irving Bacon and, as well, pick up a Mexican girl left by Indians (Margia Dean). Naturally, there's tension and antagonism between the groups as they skirmish with the Apaches, but the gist of this trudge across the wastelands is summed up by Gerstle, "Let's calm down and talk this thing out." This was the first - and only - picture film editor Jodie Copelan ever directed.

 DEADLINE (1931 Columbia)
DEADLINE reunites Buck Jones and Lambert Hillyer who had directed several of Buck's silent westerns at Fox as well as helming some of the better films of William S. Hart and Tom Mix. The Jones-Hillyer combo proved successful in sound for 11 Columbia titles. DEADLINE has Buck being released from a prison term for manslaughter - a killing he didn't commit. It was Buck's quick temper and fighting disposition that got him in trouble, but now out on parole he's forced to walk a non-violent deadline trying to prove his innocence and vindicate himself in the eyes of the girl he loves, Loretta Sayers. It's a solid story, but lacking in overall excitement til the windup with the guilty Robert Ellis.

 LONESOME TRAIL, THE (1955 Lippert)
John Agar returns from the Civil War to find land grabbers bossed by Earle Lyon taking over all the small ranchers in the valley by one means or another. His arm wounded, Agar learns to defeat the heavies with a bow and arrow giving this otherwise static film its only shot of interest. Oddly, Wayne Morris is top billed (no doubt for name value) but is wasted with nothing to do but polish glasses as the bartender. Adele Jergens is likewise barely noticeable as Lyon's blonde floozy. Edgar Buchanan (a pal of producer Earle Lyon) is a crippled rancher forced to barter his daughter (Margia Dean) to Lyon in order to keep his ranch. Douglas Fowley hams it up to the max as Agar's old timer friend, and co-producer/co-writer Ian MacDonald (of HIGH NOON fame) is miscast as a wise old Indian who saves Agar's life when he's shot by Lyon's deputy/henchman Richard Bartlett (who also directed and co-scripted). I think you begin to see how low-budget LONESOME TRAIL is, with nearly everyone pulling double harness.

 COW TOWN (1950 Columbia)
By 1950 Gene Autry's Columbia westerns had settled into a routine-ish, comfortable niche - same director, producer, director of photography and crew on nearly every picture with a standard 70 minute running time. Gone were the fancy clothes, big musical production numbers and fantasy world that gave the Republic features their originality. Gene had now settled in to rather serious B-westerns full of fisticuffs, gunplay and wild chases. No doubt the sobering effect of world events post WWII - and the ever increasing tension in Korea - was changing America and those changes were reflected in the movies being made. Soon the "adult" TV western would totally leave all the B-western heroes riding in the dust of a bygone era. Singing cowboy heroes like Gene and Roy Rogers adapted to the new mentality in their films as best they could - harder edged stories, rougher action, more conventional cowboy clothing and less music. Certainly serious issues are at work in "Cow Town" as Gene Autry introduces barbed wire to the range to end cattle rustling and straying cattle, thereby incurring the ire of pretty rancher Gail Davis and her kid brother Clark "Buddy" Burroughs (a former member of the singing Hi-Los). A murderous range war breaks out instigated by crafty livery stable owner Harry Shannon who wants the wide-open-unfenced-range for his sheep, planning to buy up rangeland for the taxes the cattlemen can't pay.

 BLACK WHIP (1956 Regal/20th Century-Fox)
The Civil War has ended but peace comes hard, leaving behind mad derelicts, plunderers, looters and blood-crazed killers haunting the frontier in violent vengeance. Four saloon girls (Coleen Gray, Angie Dickinson, Adele Mara, Dorothy Schuyler) are kicked out of town by Sheriff John Pickard for helping a hated "Black Leg" outlaw (Charles Gray) break jail. When their wagon breaks down, the girls are forced to seek refuge in a way station run by anti-war believer Hugh Marlowe. An outlaw gang, run by depraved whip-wielding Black Leg Paul Richards and his snakes (Sheb Wooley, Harry Landers) awaits at the station for the arrival of the stage carrying the Governor whom they plan to hold for ransom. After taking much abuse from the gang, Marlowe eventually defeats the renegades as the Governor arrives. Overly talky. With a screenplay by Orville Hampton and directed by Charles Marquis Warren, this is a loose remake of RAWHIDE ('51) in which, oddly, Marlowe was the outlaw leader.

 MOUNTAIN JUSTICE (1930 Universal)
Semi-western stars Ken Maynard heading for the backwoods of Kentucky looking for his father's killer among the hillbillies by pretending to be deaf in order to collect handwriting that will connect the killer to a warning note written to his Dad. When Ken's ruse is discovered he's put before the mountain court. At 73 minutes this is an overly drawn-out and talkative early sound "rural" with a slim story built around some of Ken's fiddle playing and other mountain music from Lee Nash and the Country Boys. A politically incorrect - offensive - scene has heavies Paul Hurst and Les Bates ridiculing a black man, forcing him to dance for their amusement.

 YELLOWSTONE KELLY (1959 Warner Bros.)
Surveyor, Indian-scout, and the first man to cross Yellowstone Valley is rugged but peaceful fur trapper Clint Walker who survives by staying on good terms with the Sioux led by Chief John Russell and rebellious brave Ray Danton. Seems Walker once saved the life of Chief Russell therefore is allowed to set his traps in Sioux territory. Reluctantly, Clint takes on tenderfoot assistant Edd Byrnes. Tensions mount when, together they give shelter to a runaway Arapaho woman (Andra Martin) who Danton feels belongs to him. Magnificent Coconino National Forest and Sedona, Arizona, locations beautifully photographed. Well scripted and directed by Burt Kennedy and Gordon Douglas.

 OUTLAWS OF THE ROCKIES (1945 Columbia)
This one slams across one action scene after another as the Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) and old friend Tex Harding fight to clear their names after being falsely accused of being in league with bank robbers I. Stanford Jolley, George Chesebro and their boss, peddler Phil Van Zandt. Add in a little beauty - Carole Mathews - plenty of western swing music from Spade Cooley, Tex Williams, Deuce Spriggins, Smokey Rogers, Carolina Cotton, and a few Dub "Cannonball" Taylor pratfalls and you have all the ingredients for a better than average Durango. Ted Mapes doubles Starrett. Kermit Maynard can be seen in one scene as a deputy sheriff and there's a quick in-a-montage stock shot of Starrett in his pre-Durango outfit of white Stetson, black shirt and flowing scarf.

 GAMBLER WORE A GUN (1961 Zenith/United Artists)
Remake of George Montgomery's LONE GUN ('54) makes the gambler role primary with star Jim Davis rather than secondary as it was with Frank Faylen in the earlier film. Husky Mark Allen receives the Marshal role here. Otherwise, same basic plot as gambler Davis comes to town to take charge of the Diamond D ranch he bought through the mail. He finds the seller murdered and his children, Don Dorrell (later star of TV's short-lived PONY EXPRESS) and pretty Merry Anders unaware of the sale. Worse than that, they're unaware three rustler brothers (Robert Anderson, Keith Richards, John Craig), in cahoots with saloon owner Charles Cane, are hiding their stolen cattle on the Diamond D. The owner was killed when the rustlers learned he was trying to sell the ranch. When Dorrell discovers their dirty tricks, and threatens to expose the rustlers, Cane kills him, throwing the blame on Davis. Perhaps a step down from Montgomery's LONE GUN, but still well done and Davis is always an engaging westerner to watch. Another of those producer Robert Kent/director Edward Kahn remakes.

 MEN OF AMERICA (1932 RKO)
'30s era western has gangster Ralph Ince (who also directed) and his boys hiding out in the valley and stealing food from the farmers. When beloved Italian immigrant Henry Armetta is murdered, the locals mistakenly blame local rancher William Boyd. Escaping, the gangsters waylay Boyd's girl, Dorothy Wilson, for the gas in her car but the pre-Hoppy Boyd finally rounds up the eastern outlaws with western methods. Some action at the start and windup, but overall a very forced affair stymied by constant yak by oldtimer Chic Sales' tales of the "old west". Incidentally, Boyd directed the scenes in which director Ince acted.

 GUN DUEL IN DURANGO (1957 United Artists)
George Montgomery breaks off with the outlaw gang he's headed up in order to reform and settle down with old girlfriend Ann Robinson. Finding young Bobby Clark (star of TV's CASEY JONES with Alan Hale Jr.) orphaned on the trail, he takes the boy under his wing and "buries" his outlaw past. But his former comrades (Steve Brodie, Don Barry, Al Wyatt, Henry Rowland, Boyd "Red" Morgan, Joe Yrigoyen) figure "Either you're with us or you're dead." No real surprises in Louis Stevens' script, but under Sidney Salkow's direction the clichés become quite watchable. Roy Barcroft has a small role as a rancher.

 TRIGGER FINGERS (1946 Monogram)
Frank H. Young penned a slightly above average story for this Johnny Mack Brown, but Lambert Hillyer's meandering direction doesn't allow it to raise above another so-so Brown Monogram. Plot has supposed town drunk Sloppy (Steve Clark) framing hotheaded young Riley Hill for the poker game gunning of card cheat Eddie Parker. Riley's dad, blacksmith Raymond Hatton, sends for ol' pal Johnny Mack to set things right. Brown discovers Parker's not dead and Clark wants the Hatton/Hill ranch because he learned while in prison there is outlaw gold buried on the property.

 BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA (1965 Circle/Embassy)
This mix of western and horror makes terrific rainy-night-stay-at-home hokey fun. Vampire John Carradine, sporting a goatee, silk-tophat, and red satin lined cape over his black suit with a red satin bowtie at his throat, poses as the uncle of pretty ranch owner Melinda Plowman, but he's opposed by Plowman's foreman-fiancé Billy the Kid (stuntman/actor Chuck Courtney - TV's Dan Reid, nephew of the Lone Ranger) and a family of "old country" wolfbane-bearing settlers headed up by superstitious Virginia Christine. Sure, it's silly, but never boring with action enlivened at times by good use of stock footage and familiar Raoul Kraushaar music. Biggest drawback for horror fans will be - what's Dracula, a vampire, doing wandering around in broad daylight? Olive Carey heads the supporting cast as a no-nonsense lady doctor, with son Harry Carey Jr. getting only one scene. Roy Barcroft has a nice role as the puzzled sheriff and Bing Russell as a tough-guy enemy of the Kid. Filmed in color at Corriganville by B-vet William Beaudine. Jack Lewis (KING OF THE BULLWHIP etc.) actually wrote the original script but during a needy period, sold off all rights to Carl Hittleman for $250.

 CISCO KID AND THE LADY (1939 20TH Century Fox)
Warner Baxter was getting a little mite long-in-the-tooth to play the dashing Cisco Kid, so roughly six months after Fox released Baxter's THE RETURN OF THE CISCO KID, they dumped him in favor of the 'Latin From Manhattan', Cesar Romero, who took over the role and quickly made it his own with this first of six outings. William Everson nailed the series in The Hollywood Western, "Strong in casts and elaborate production values, but by their very nature mind in action content." Story has cunning Robert Barrat shoot from ambush a lone traveler whom he knows carries a map to a rich gold mine. As he rides down to recover the map, he finds Cisco (Romero) and Gordito (Chris-Pin Martin) tending the only-wounded man. Not knowing it was Barrat who ambushed him, the dying man bequeaths a map of his mine - torn into three pieces - to Barrat, Cisco and Gordito. He also puts Cisco in charge of his one year old baby boy (actually cutely played by a girl, Gloria Ann White). In town, as Barrat and Cisco form an uneasy alliance, they play-out a continuing game of one-upsmanship. The film's interesting beginning sags in the middle as Cisco dances and romances both Marjorie Weaver and Barrat's dancehall gal, Virginia Field, eventually playing matchmaker to Weaver and (a young, untrained-in-acting skills) George Montgomery. After all this falderal, the film has to play plot catch-up in the final minutes and - amazingly - lets Gordito and a posse (not Cisco) dish out final retribution to Barrat and his gang.

 RIDING SHOTGUN (1954 Warner Bros.)
A Randolph Scott western in which he's either tied up or holed up - trapped in a Mexican cantina for 75% of the picture - doesn't serve the star - or the audience - well. Andre De Toth's direction of this Tom Blackburn script seems lazy, moved along by too much narration and is even satiric at times. It's a revenge story with shotgun guard Scott searching the west for outlaws James Millican and Charles Buchinsky (later Bronson) and their gang. The outlaws frame Scott for a stage holdup, tricking the local sheriff out of town so they can loot the rich town saloon. Scott rides into town to warn of the impending raid unaware the cowardly, hypocritical, narrow-minded citizens now believe he has turned outlaw. An overweight Wayne Morris gives the film some "heft" as an understanding deputy sheriff. De Toth, unfortunately or on purpose, but certainly mistakenly, lets comedic actor Fritz Feld run wild at times as the owner of the cantina where Scott is holed up. Early-on, outdoor scenes are beautifully photographed by Bert Glennon, but after that his camera is town-bound. Watch for old-timers Buddy Roosevelt, Jack Perrin, Bud Osborne and Budd Buster. Stuntman Jack Woody has his best-ever speaking role as one of the outlaws. Remade in '59 as RIDING SOLO, an episode of Ty Hardin's BRONCO TV series.

 MINE WITH THE IRON DOOR (1936 Principal/Columbia)
Eastern swindler Charles Wilson palms off a faltering Arizona stock investment company on bill collector Richard Arlen. Supposedly, the lost mine with the iron door said to contain the buried treasure of San Capello, is somewhere on the vast holdings of the company. When bumbling police officer Stanley Fields comes to arrest Wilson for fraud, he finds instead Arlen who convinces Fields to join him in a search for the lost mine. In Arizona, the pair find prospector Spencer Charters, his pretty daughter Cecilia Parker and their friend Henry B. Walthall living peacefully on the property. As romance develops between Arlen and Parker while they search for the mine, old man Walthall goes off the deep end, fearing Arlen will steal away the young girl he wickedly desires. Seems he's actually found the lost mine 15 years ago but has said nothing, insanely fearful all that gold would be "harmful" to the world. Walthall is properly menacing as he goes insane, holding Parker prisoner in the mine hidden beneath his hill-house, but it's too little to save the tedious 54 minutes we've already endured. Shame. The title, based on a 1923 Harold Bell Wright story, promises much more than David Howard's direction delivers.

 TAGGART (1964 Universal)
Based on a Louis L'Amour story, Tony Young (star of TV's short lived but popular GUNSLINGER) is the son of Ray Teal, a cattleman who is killed, along with Tony's mother, as vicious big rancher Emile Meyer and his snot-nosed son Peter Duryea (real-life son of Dan) stampede Teal's cattle to increase their own property lines. In revenge, Young guns Meyer and Duryea, but before dying Meyer sends for three killers (Dan Duryea, Tom Reese, David Carradine) to track down and kill Young. On the run, Young manages to gun down Reese and Carradine before escaping to Indian country where he's befriended at a mission by aging gold miner Dick Foran, his daughter Jean Hale, and his dissatisfied Mexican wife Elsa Cardenas. Duryea tracks Young to the mission but is captured. The unsatiated Cardenas, yearning to escape her elderly husband and the lonely mission life, makes a play for Young. When she's rejected, she turns her attentions to Duryea, frees him and makes off with her husband's gold. You'll probably cheer when the contemptible Cardenas is killed by Indians just as Young, Foran and Hale catch up with Duryea at an old fort to stave off an Indian attack. Foran is also killed before Young metes out justice to low-life Duryea and rides off to start a new life with Hale. Former Allan "Rocky" Lane Republic producer Gordon Kay produced this (and one other Tony Young B+ - would that there had been more) and hired former Republic director R. G. Springsteen to direct and former Republic scripter Bob Williams to adapt the Louis L'Amour story. Watch for vets Bob Steele, Claudia Barrett, Bill Henry, Harry Carey Jr., Stuart Randall and Arthur Space in small roles.

 HEART OF THE NORTH (1938 Warner Bros.)
Gorgeous in Technicolor Northwest Mountie pic that fully utilizes the red coats of the RCMP and the stunning Cedar Lake/Big Bear, California, locations, highlighted by an array of chase scenes in canoes, boats, airplanes and on foot - as well as a clifftop battle between Mountie Dick Foran and river pirate Joe Sawyer. PRAIRIE THUNDER in the fall of '37 had marked the end of Foran's series westerns at Warners, though he remained under contract with them performing in non-western roles, that is until they cast him in this B+ Technicolor special. When the Arctic Queen freighter is robbed of its valuable furs and Mountie Patric Knowles killed, Foran and his Mountie pals (Allen Jenkins, Arthur Gardner) pursue the rogues. There's conflict when Foran clashes with his superior (Inspector James Stephenson) who wants to arrest trapper Russell Simpson, the father of a girl, Gloria Dickson, of whom Foran is quite fond and believes her father innocent ... which he is, but it takes Foran and his pals to overtake Sawyer's gang in the Canadian wilderness and prevent Simpson's hanging by an angry mob. I'd rate this Foran even higher if Warners hadn't elected to use this film to promote their cloying, annoying wannabe Shirley Temple, five year old Janet Chapman. (Every studio had one.)

 INCIDENT AT PHANTOM HILL (1966 Universal)
At the close of the Civil War, a Rebel raid led by vicious Dan Duryea on a Union supply train yields the Rebs a million dollars in gold. Duryea, after hiding the gold in a cave near Phantom Hill, is captured and, in exchange for amnesty, agrees to lead a party of Union soldiers led by Capt. Robert Fuller to the loot in the staked plains of Comanche territory. As usual in any western of this type, Fuller's patrol is made up of a diverse group: Claude Akins (whose odd character has something to do with a music box, but that aspect is either poorly developed or was left on the cutting room floor), likeable Noah Beery Jr., and young Tom Simcox and Linden Chiles. The group is also forced by Sheriff Don Collier to take along dancehall gal Jocelyn Lane, just as director Earl Bellamy told me he was (unfortunately) forced by Universal hierarchy to take on Lane for this film. ("Somebody's girlfriend!") After run-ins with Comanche and scalawag renegades led by Denver Pyle, Duryea escapes with the gold, but is, naturally, killed in the end with the gold recovered by Fuller. There are some terrific action sequences staged by director Bellamy with fine Technicolor camerawork from William Margulies, but Frank Nugent and Ken Pettus' script is all too familiar. The possibilities for a really good western exist, but somehow it never quite makes the cut. However, Robert Fuller, fresh from rewarding Universal-TV runs on LARAMIE ('59-'63) and WAGON TRAIN ('63-'65) is superb, making us wish he'd starred in more of these B+ Universal westerns as did Audie Murphy, Jeff Chandler, Rory Calhoun and Joel McCrea. Unfortunately, by 1966, the traditional western was in "final jeopardy".

 CAPTIVE OF BILLY THE KID (1952 Republic)
A search for Billy the Kid's treasure map leads range detective Allan "Rocky" Lane into a strange journey fraught with danger and death. Seems Billy's map was torn in fifths years ago and is now in the hands of a disparate group of five people - old timer Skeeter Davis (played this one time by Clem Bevans), the daughter of a murdered rancher (Penny Edwards), two other men (Clayton Moore, Mauritz Hugo) and crooked businessman Grant Withers. Withers relentlessly sends hired thug Roy Barcroft out to kill the other map holders, but Rocky defeats them at every turn. The badmen captured and the map assembled, Billy the Kid's loot is unearthed. M. Coates Webster and Richard Wormser turned in an engagingly different Lane story, but, of course, it's all hooey, as there's no record of Billy the Kid ever burying any loot and leaving a treasure map.

 TALL IN THE SADDLE (1944 RKO)
The highly entertaining TALL IN THE SADDLE is a pivotal western in John Wayne's career. The film was a labor of love for The Duke who liked the script, co-written by pal Paul Fix, enough so that Wayne tired to persuade John Ford to direct. That wasn't to be, but with the help of producer Robert Fellows, the excessively complicated western murder mystery went into production at RKO. Grossing some $4 million, Wayne's instincts were rewarded, lifting his career several more steps up the ladder to super-stardom which he was to achieve in 1948 with FORT APACHE and RED RIVER. TALL IN THE SADDLE is actually more interesting for the characterizations than for the overly plotted story. Wayne enters the picture a devout hater of women ("I never feel sorry for anything that happens to a woman.") but reluctantly agrees to help under-legal-age-well-bred-eastern-girl-rancher Audrey Long when she is concerned about having her affairs turned over, by her tough Aunt Elisabeth Risdon, to untrustworthy Judge Ward Bond. Risdon and Bond are working together to dupe Long out of her ranch. Meanwhile, a total western woman of spitfire independence, beautiful Ella Raines, is so angered by the rugged Wayne's misogynist attitude that she has her rancher father (Don Douglas) hire Wayne just so she can eventually have the pleasure of firing him. Raines and Wayne make on-screen sparks fly as she eventually softens the callous Wayne into respecting women as equals. It's a fine performance by Raines who makes TALL IN THE SADDLE totally believable. Another highlight is the splendid fight scene that erupts between Wayne and Bond with Wayne smashing Bond clear through a door. The outstanding supporting cast includes Gabby Hayes in one of his first big-budget westerns as he switched from Bill Elliott to Roy Rogers in Republic B's; scripter Paul Fix; Russell Wade as Raines' kid brother; Harry Woods; Raymond Hatton; Emory Parnell; Cy Kendall; Robert McKenzie; Russell Simpson; William Desmond; George Chandler; Eddy Waller and Clem Bevans.

 THE PRAIRIE (1948 Screen Guild)
Buffalo stampedes, Indians, heat, thirst, starvation, murder - nothing deters this hearty band of pioneers led by Alan Baxter and John Mitchum ... nothing except a boring script, stiff as a board acting and an obvious tall grass prairie about as wide as a green-set soundstage. Producer Ed Finney's attempt to produce something above a Tex Ritter B-western turns out worse than anything he ever made.

 LAST OF THE PONY RIDERS (1953 Columbia)
After 18 years and 89 starring feature pictures, the aptly titled LAST OF THE PONY RIDERS ended an era for Gene Autry. It was a better than average Columbia entry for the Singing Cowboy. Gene is division superintendent for a section of the Pony Express run soon to be put out of business with the transcontinental telegraph nearing completion. When his boss learns Gene intends to set up a stage line to carry the mail, he fires Gene for being disloyal, even though Gene fully intended to offer his boss a partnership. With Gene no longer employed to protect the pony riders, local schemers try to muscle in and get the government assignment for their own stageline, formulating a plan to discredit the Pony Express through a series of "accidents" and mail robberies. Dick Jones (soon to star on TV in "Range Rider" and "Buffalo Bill Jr." for Gene's Flying A Productions) has the technically prominent title role of a pony rider in love with attractive Kathleen Case. Dick comes close to physically breaking down after several raids and ambushes before he and Gene finally round up the heavies. Interestingly, LAST OF THE PONY RIDERS features a slightly different opening, with a pony rider scene coming before the actual title comes on the screen. Dick Jones recalled, "We knew beforehand this was Gene's last picture. Gene said, 'It's been a good run, I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead.'" "No one planned it that way, certainly not me," Gene Autry wrote in his Back In The Saddle Again '78 biography", but (LAST OF THE PONY RIDERS) pretty well closed the pages on the B-western chapter of Hollywood history. Allied Artists did make a few along into '54, starring Wild Bill Elliott or Wayne Morris, but those were on a more adult scale and were sold as such. It is fair to say, I suppose, that the true Saturday afternoon matinee, the 'western pitcher', ended with LAST OF THE PONY RIDERS. Hollywood started turning out a new type of western and half of the B-theaters that carried my films and others like them, closed down. Meanwhile, television swallowed up the rest - the old Autry, Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy movies - and swamped our homes with the made-for-TV series. It may not stretch a point to say we lost a little more of our innocence with the passing of the B-western."