The Best (and Worst) of the West! Reviews and Observations on B-Westerns by Boyd Magers Review Archives

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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 ©2000-2007 by Boyd Magers. All rights reserved.

The Ratings

Superior

Good

OK

Poor

A real dud !

 LAW OF THE RANGE (1941 Universal)
In this loose remake of Buck Jones' THE IVORY HANDLED GUN, Johnny Mack Brown learns from his father (Pat O'Malley) about an old feud between their family and the family of rancher Hal Taliaferro and his daughters, Nell O'Day and Elaine Morley, Brown's sweetheart. The Wolverine Kid (Riley Hill) is actually the one stirring up the feud to help invading sheepmen (led by saloon owner Al Bridge) steal the range. Hill's father was involved in the feud (over a woman, natch) as well. When Hill's father was killed, Hill took his Dad's ivory handled six-gun and vowed to kill all others involved. Brown's father has the matching pistol and tells Johnny there will be no peace until both guns are reunited. The Texas Rangers group warble a few quickly forgettable songs; Fuzzy Knight is along as usual for any Universal western (this time trying to stir laughter with a faulty memory) and Nell O'Day looks great as usual ... as does Riley Hill (still billed as Roy Harris) riding a feisty, gorgeous pinto. One wonders if Universal didn't have starring plans for Hill that never materialized.

 FIGHTING BUCKAROO (1943 Columbia)
Unless screenwriter Luci Ward got permission from scripter Jack Natteford, she just plain stole his script for Roy Rogers' SHINE ON HARVEST MOON ('38). Rancher Stanley Brown is confronted by rustler Wheeler Oakman (with whom Brown used to ride in his younger days) who now wants to run his stolen beef through a pass on Brown's ranch. Brown refuses, the two men fight and Brown's girl, Kay Harris, sends for Brown's old pal, Texas Ranger Charles Starrett. Child actress Norma Jane Wooters (as Brown's daughter) is given an opportunity to sing and yodel. Ernest Tubb and Johnny Luther's Ranch Boys provide music --- and as much as I like Tubb, he makes mincemeat of Bob Nolan's "Happy Cowboy". At least he sings his hit, "Walking The Floor Over You".

 STRAIGHT SHOOTER (1940 Victory)
Another in Tim McCoy's Lightnin' Bill Carson series, thankfully not one in which he poses as a Mexican, Oriental, gypsy or transvestite. However, it's still a lame remake of Tom Tyler's PHANTOM OF THE RANGE ('36) which was more interesting. Outlaws Ted Adams, Reed Howes and Forrest Taylor kill their boss who has hidden directions to a half million dollars in stolen government bonds behind a portrait of himself in his cabin. Unsuspecting, Martin's naïve niece, Julie Sheldon, arrives from the East only to find her uncle's place to be sold at auction for back taxes. The outlaws outbid her, but FBI agent McCoy, working undercover with his pal Magpie (Ben Corbett), outbids even the outlaws. But the outlaws will stop at nothing to find the directions and the bonds. Both this and the original Tyler version were Sam Katzman Victory productions written by Basil Dickey (with a little additional wordage by prolific Joseph O'Donnell in the McCoy.) Prior to forming Victory in 1935, Katzman (1901-1973) had worked at Fox (starting in 1914), First National, Cosmopolitan and Supreme. For his first year with Victory, Katzman released strictly action/adventure stuff and a serial, SHADOW OF CHINATOWN, not turning to westerns til he signed Tom Tyler in mid 1936 for a series of eight. After Tyler, Katzman was without a western hero until he signed Tim McCoy (who had just finished a four film series at Monogram) in late 1938 with Tim reviving the Lightnin' Bill Carson character he'd created in one film for Puritan in 1936. After eight for Sam, McCoy signed a deal with fledgling PDC, which quickly became PRC. Katzman closed shop at Victory and moved to Monogram from 1940-1947 where he produced more than three dozen features with Bela Lugosi, the East Side Kids and Teen Agers. In 1947 he joined Columbia producing not only Jungle Jim titles but westerns, rock and roll titles and anything else that came along. Still later he produced cheapies for MGM and American International.

 RIO GRANDE PATROL (1950 RKO)
Smuggled machine guns and the shooting of Mexican Rurales Captain Rick Vallin set border patrolmen Tim Holt and Richard 'Chito' Martin on the trail of gun runners --- saloon owner John Holland and outlaws Douglas Fowley and Tom Tyler. The guns are being secretly brought in via the luggage trunks belonging to the showgirls (Jane Nigh, Cleo Moore; three others) working in Holland's saloon revue. Destination for the automatic weapons is insurrectionists below the Mexican border. Pretty Jane Nigh gets to sing two songs. A good mid-range Holt with plenty of action. Well directed by Les Sealander.

 YOUNG JESSE JAMES (1960 20th Century Fox)
From the tail end of the all-star outlaw film era comes this re-telling of the origin of Jesse James, portrayed here by Ray Stricklyn as a mixed up kid who just wants to settle down and be a farmer but is forced into the life of a hot-headed, murderous killer as he rides with Quantrill (Emile Meyer) during the Civil War. I suppose writer Orville Hampton was trying to draw some parallel between Jesse James and the troubled youths of the '60s. Robert Dix as Frank James and Willard Parker as Cole Younger try to show Jesse the error of his ways-to no avail. Merry Anders appears briefly in a nice turn as a better-looking-than-she-really-was Belle Starr. Well staged action sequences from director William F. Claxton and another terrible theme song (everybody had to have one after HIGH NOON) sung by Johnny O'Neill (who has a bit role as Jim Younger.)

 DEATH VALLEY MANHUNT (1943 Republic)
After a wild bank robbery opening "written in gunsmoke and punctuated with the crashing roar of forty-fives" Marshal Bill Elliott turns in his resignation, vowing to retire to a peaceable life of ranching. But, when he and his pal Gabby Hayes find the independent oil drillers in Death Valley are being oppressed by Weldon Heyburn, tricky manager of the Ross Petroleum Co., they resolve to help them. Their work also involves freeing Judge Herbert Heyes (and his daughter Anne Jeffreys) from the machinations of Heyburn, who finally gets what he deserves from Wild Bill in an extended, exciting battle atop an oil well. Gabby's comedy comes from a running gag about being allergic to a dog, T-Bone. Jeffreys' sings "Carry Me Back to Old Virginy".

 PIRATES ON HORSEBACK (1941 Paramount)
William 'Hopalong Cassidy' Boyd and Russ 'Lucky' Hayden help Andy 'California' Clyde and his cousin Eleanor Stewart find a lost gold mine they've inherited from Clyde's 42nd cousin, Britt Wood, whom saloon owner Morris Ankrum and his boys (Dennis Moore, William Haade) have killed in order to obtain the mine. One of the main plot points involves shadows pointing the way to the mine, however, Hoppy's theory on shadows doesn't hold water, as shadows change throughout the year, therefore might not point out where the mine is located. PIRATES seems more of a light comedy than an action western, overloaded with too much silliness about California's seeds, a perfect English speaking Indian and a gold strike.

 MEN OF THE TIMBERLAND (1941 Universal)
Crooked lumber promoter Willard Robertson plans to overcut the timber on land owned by eastern socialite Linda Hayes by bribing Forest Ranger Hardie Albright to fix up some phony logging permits. Then Robertson hires expert Paul Bunyanish lumberjack Andy Devine as his 'Bull of the Woods' to get the lumber cut. When Forest Rangers Richard Arlen, Steve Pendleton and Riley Hill arrive to check the permits, Robertson has his stooge, French-Canadian Francis McDonald, murder both Pendleton and Hill. Then, when Andy's old poker playing pal, Paul E. Burns, is accidentally knifed in a barfight attempt to get Arlen, Devine realizes he's on the wrong side of things and begins to help Arlen. Any of these northwoods timber films were only westerns in a different setting. Instead of a land grab, it's a timber grab. Instead of a Texas Ranger, it's a Forest Ranger (or Mountie). Arlen and Devine made a whole series of adventure films for Universal --- each with a different setting (boxing arena, oil field, rubber camps, south seas, etc.)

 YOUNG BLOOD (1932 Monogram)
Bob Steele is a youthful wayward, but genial, bandit heading up a gang of toughs (Roy Bucko, Perry Murdock, Art Mix --- even crooked Sheriff Charlie King). After robbing a stage carrying the Countess, Neoma Judge, Bob won't split the highfalutin' French performer's jewels with the gang, planning to return them to her. But then Charlie, smitten with the Countess, takes them from Bob. Later, battling down Charlie, Bob manages to wrest the jewels back again and return them to the Countess. It's only then Bob realizes he's really in love with pretty Helen Foster and decides to reform, taking a Pony Express rider job with Helen's boss, express office agent Henry Roquemore. Spiteful Charlie and the gang are then out to even the score with Steele. Scripter Wellyn Totman was around Hollywood for about ten years ('31-'41), often introducing unusual and unique ideas into otherwise standard B-western fare (GOD'S COUNTRY AND THE MAN, SUNRISE TRAIL, FROM BROADWAY TO CHEYENNE). By '33 he'd left the westerns behind to concentrate on slightly bigger pictures (ONE FRIGHTENED NIGHT, LEATHERNECKS HAVE LANDED, BOY'S REFORMATORY). Some of the themes hinted at in YOUNG BLOOD between Steele and the Countess are quite adult in content for a picture primarily directed at a juvenile B-western audience.

 RIDE, RANGER, RIDE (1936 Republic)
Gene Autry in the real old west, not his usual never-never land that mixed horses, trucks, airplanes, cowboys and nightclubs into his own mythical west. Court martialed out of the Cavalry as a Lieutenant after being framed in a brawl, Gene is reinstated in the Texas Rangers by the Governor. Although Gene and Lt. George J. Lewis vie for the attentions of Kay Hughes, Cavalry Col. Robert Homan's daughter, they work together to prevent Indian trouble which is being stirred up by Monte Blue, leading a double life as an Army interpreter to gain information while, in fact, he's a renegade Indian who wants to re-route a supply train so his Indians can raid it and steal the Cavalry's ammunition. Must have been deja-vu for Blue, his role here is nearly a carbon copy of his nasty traitorous role in Zane Grey's WAGON WHEELS two years earlier with Randolph Scott. The Indians, even though the bad element, are treated pretty rough ("the only good Indian is a dead Indian") but then so is Smiley 'Frog' Burnette in a running gag with Chief Thundercloud constantly seeking Smiley's scalp. A straightforward B-western directed by Joe Kane which is notable for the introduction to the screen of soon to be Mesquiteer/Range Buster Max Terhune as a scout who nearly steals the limelight from Smiley who is a bit painful to watch at times, especially in this western. The Tennessee Ramblers, a popular '30s group, provide music such as "Yellow Rose of Texas" while Gene belts out Tim Spencer's "Ride, Ranger, Ride". (It wouldn't be the last time that song was heard in an Autry film.)

 GIRL FROM SAN LORENZO (1950 United Artists)
The Cisco Kid (Duncan Renaldo) and Pancho (Leo Carrillo) are framed for the murder of Leonard Penn's brother, a murder actually committed by phonies Dave Sharpe and Ed Cobb masquerading as Cisco and Pancho who are pulling stagecoach robberies and blaming them on the duo. Behind Sharpe and Cobb are Fargo agent Byron Foulger and his henchman Don Harvey. Cisco and Pancho must clear their names and help senorita Jane Adams and her stage guard fiancé Bill Lester. Fairly exciting entry, the last of the Cisco Kid movies, but a natural bridge to the color TV series which began later in 1950. GIRL FROM SAN LORENZO begins with a scene of Cisco and Pancho being chased across the desert, a sequence which was reused behind the opening credits for the TV show.

 NAVAJO TRAIL RAIDERS (1949 Republic)
Raiders plunder and loot slow moving freight wagons, nearly bankrupting the town of Yellow Creek and its prominent citizens (Eddy Waller and his daughter Barbara Bestar, newspaper editor Robert Emmett Keane, businessman Forrest Taylor, sheriff Ted Adams, young Hal Landon engaged to Bestar). Allan 'Rocky' Lane arrives to be best man at the wedding of his old friend, Landon. Also arriving is Landon's outlaw brother, Dennis Moore, who strikes up a partnership with the head of the raiders (Keane --- and his right hand thug, Dick Curtis). Moore reveals Landon used to be an outlaw and frames him for the robbery of Waller the night before. Then the raiders set their sights on $50,000 insurance money being sent from Mesa City. Plenty of the hard hitting action you expect from a Rocky Lane picture.

 TIMBER WAR (1935 Ambassador)
When the lumber mill owned by Lucille Lund and Lawrence Gray in the redwood forests of northern California runs into trouble under the management of Wheeler Oakman, who has been paid by a rival company (owned by Robert Warwick) to sabotage the mill, Lucille contacts her co-owner whom she hasn't seen since childhood. Gray, living well back East by checks forwarded to him, has become pretty much of a drunken playboy. Gray's friend, Kermit Maynard, tries to shape Gray up, accompanying him out West, but when they arrive everyone mistakes Kermit for the lackadaisical partner. Plenty of real logging footage filmed at a lumber camp in Scotia, CA, near the California/Oregon border. Exciting finish as Kermit battles Oakman's man Roger Williams aboard a train as it heads for a burning trestle.

 THE TEXAN MEETS CALAMITY JANE (1950 Screencraft/Columbia)
Stodgy, uneventful and overly long at 70 minutes (except for the last 10 minutes which has some good action). Texas lawyer Jimmy Ellison is called to Deadwood to sort out an ownership of a saloon dispute between Calamity Jane (Evelyn Ankers --- still in mourning over the death of her beloved Wild Bill Hickok) and crooked saloon owner Jack Ingram. The rest of the picture is fleshed out by a truly amateurish group --- Ruth Whitney (God! Where did they find this thespic wonder?), stuntman Hugh Hooker, and a bunch of others you never heard of before or after. Lee 'Lasses' White, who dominates the film, is the only other pro in the cast! Written, produced and directed by former B-western writer Ande Lamb (RIDERS OF THE SANTA FE, RENEGADES OF THE RIO GRANDE, LONE STAR MOONLIGHT, WEST OF THE ALAMO, HOPPY'S HOLIDAY, UNEXPECTED GUEST). Filmed in Trucolor. (aka CALAMITY JANE AND THE TEXAN).

 TOUGHEST MAN IN ARIZONA (1952 Republic)
This was singer Vaughn Monroe's second and last Trucolor western. The only time he seems to display much interest is during his three songs, indicating he'd rather sing than act. U. S. Marshal Monroe leads the survivors (Joan Leslie and her children) of an Indian raid to Tombstone, as well as bringing in vicious outlaw Victor Jory. He and Leslie fall in love, believing her worthless husband (expertly played by Harry Morgan) was killed in the raid. Unfortunately, he was not-the cowardly Morgan fled the scene and has now hooked up with Jory's brothers (Ian MacDonald and Lee MacGregor) who use him and his telegrapher skills to help brother Jory break jail and stage a robbery. When Jory escapes, after nearly killing Monroe, the Marshal and his Sheriff friend, Edgar Buchanan, must track the ruthless brothers down. Well handled by director R. G. Springsteen, but Monroe is just too bland to bring any vitality to the role.

 WILD HORSE PHANTOM (1944 PRC)
Not great filmmaking, just plain ol' PRC fun that incorporates the prop bat from Bela Lugosi's DEVIL BAT ('41). Kermit Maynard and his gang (Frank Ellis, Frank McCarroll, John Cason) are sent to prison before the bank loot they stole is recovered. Buster Crabbe devises a plan, allowing Maynard's gang to escape hoping they will lead them to the $50,000 which appears hidden in the dark, deserted Wild Horse Mine, haunted by huge devil bats, corpses and a crazy old miner (Budd Buster). All this allows our pard Fuzzy St. John to have a barrel of frightful fun. Elaine Morley is the leading lady, as Budd Buster's daughter. This entry has a modern-day setting, unusual for Crabbe's westerns which were always set in the old west. Boo Boo: Although there are only four escaped convicts, director Sam Newfield allows a stock shot of 5 men riding. WILD HORSE PHANTOM was wisely released in October to cash in on Halloween.

 CRIMSON TRAIL (1935 Universal)
One of Buck Jones' most unusual westerns. Ranch owners Charles French and Carl Stockdale are in competition for political office, each believing the other responsible for cattle rustling. French's nephew, Buck Jones, determines to find the real culprits, along the way falling in love with Polly Ann Young (Loretta Young's real life eldest sister), Stockdale's daughter. When Buck discovers Ward Bond, his uncle's foreman (who has impure thoughts about Young), and his men (Bob Kortman, Bud Osborne) are the real rustlers, they capture him in Hell's Basin and imprison him with cackling, weird, half-wit Loco (John Bleifer) as his guard. Bleifer (sort of a western kin to Dracula's Renfield) with his wild grinning and strange chuckling, as he has Buck bound head and foot while the nutcase counts off on his fingers the four men he has pushed over a cliff to their death, is truly terrifying. Good western for Halloween viewing. This and Jones' ROCKY RHODES were director Al Raboch's only westerns and he fills them with constant movement. He moved on to A-features such as WHISTLING IN THE DARK, LASSIE COME HOME, LOST IN A HAREM, LOVE LAUGHS AT ANDY HARDY, THE YEARLING and others. Charles French is the real-life father of actor Ted French and grandfather of actor Victor French.

 DRUM TAPS (1933 World Wide)
Ken Maynard enlists the aid of real life L. A. Boy Scout Troop 107 to thwart Land and Cattle Co. owner Hooper Atchley and his land grabbers (Al Bridge, Charles Stevens, Harry Semels, Slim Whitaker) who are trying to run all the honest settlers out of the valley. When Ken tells leading lady Dorothy Dix his brother is bringing in a troop of Boy Scouts, he's telling the truth --- the role is played by Ken's real life brother, Kermit. Ken's Scout nephew is played by Frank Coghlan Jr. who would achieve immortality as Billy Batson in Republic's ADVENTURES OF CAPT. MARVEL serial. Scout angle is unique, but otherwise it's strictly routine.

 RANGE RENEGADES (1948 Monogram)
Young Riley Hill, the son of old Marshal Frank LaRue, is madly in love with Jennifer Holt (understandable!) but is inadvertently tipping off Jennifer, whom he doesn't suspect is the head of an outlaw gang, to when ore shipments from various mines will be coming through. The outlaws raid the wagons, make 'em go broke, then buy up the mines cheaply. A good plan, but they didn't reckon on Jimmy Wakely and his saddle partner Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor. Jennifer's gang includes John James and Dennis Moore --- both of whom are former Wakely saddle-pals from the 1945 era. Plenty of action and a female bandit give this one an edge over some other Wakelys.

 TROUBLE IN SUNDOWN (1939 RKO)
When the Sundown bank is robbed of $90,000, the night watchman murdered and suspicion pointed at bank president John Dilson, Ward Bond and Monte Montague, secretly working for real crook, real estate agent Cy Kendall, try to incite a lynching. But George O'Brien, sweetheart of Dilson's daughter Rosalind Keith, comes to the rescue with his two pals, Ray Whitley and Chill Wills. O'Brien hides Dilson out until he can prove how Kendall pulled the baffling robbery. The whole thing is a bit constricted, with much of the action taking place inside the bank rather than on the open range. The ending is clever but with little action. Oliver Drake recycled his story for a Cisco Kid TVer in '54, TROUBLE IN TONOPAH. Watch for onetime star Jack Perrin in a small role as one of George's friends.

 RAIDERS OF SAN JOAQUIN (1943 Universal)
This Johnny Mack Brown/Tex Ritter co-starrer (they were now being billed as the west's greatest star team), produced by Oliver Drake and directed by Lewis Collins, gets everything right and comes out a winner. Plenty of action, lots of hard riding, well developed conflict between the two leads, a little well placed comedy from Fuzzy Knight, some music by the Jimmy Wakely Trio --- all in the right amounts and format. Crooked George Eldredge-along with dry-goods store owner Henry Roquemore and dirty work henchie Jack Ingram-are trying to grab up all the ranches in the valley and blame their underhandedess on the A&M Railroad. After Eldredge has the property, he'll sell the land at a profit to an Eastern syndicate for railroad right-of-way. Opposing Eldredge, Tex Ritter's father (Joseph Bernard) is killed by gunman Carl Sepulveda. Tex exacts revenge as he and his boys become fugitives opposing Eldredge's actions, doing their best to help the lone rancher hold-out, Henry Hall and his daughter Jennifer Holt. Enter Johnny Mack Brown, actually the son of railroad owner John Elliott, who aids their fight as a mysterious Black Rider. However, in doing so, to gain Eldredge's trust in order to trap him, he alienates Ritter and Holt. Fuzzy Knight rides along with Brown but is nowhere near as obtrusive as usual. Ritter sings only one song while the Jimmy Wakely Trio get to perform two.

 TRAIL OF THE RUSTLERS (1950 Columbia)
Three Durango Kids for the price of one! Charles Starrett --- the Durango Kid --- captures Big Slim (Ethan Laidlaw) but Slim is killed in a jailbreak. His mother (Mira McKinney) and two brothers (Don Harvey, Myron Healey) are trying to grab up all the land near Rio Perdito by driving off all the ranchers, including Gail Davis and her young brother Tommy Ivo, who emulates Durango by dressing as a junior Durango and riding a horse named Raider Jr. To accomplish their plan and exact revenge on Durango at the same time, Harvey masquerades as Durango while raiding the ranchers, giving Starrett an outlaw image. Smiley Burnette is along but not as overbearing as in some films. The music group is the unknown Eddie Cletro and his Roundup Boys.

 GHOST OF HIDDEN VALLEY (1946 PRC)
Englishman John Meredith is due from Oxford to the wild west where he's inherited his late father's Hidden Valley Ranch which just happens to be where rustlers Charlie King, Zon Murray and John Cason have been hiding their rustled stock, laying the blame on the Hidden Valley Hoo-Doo. Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) and his pal Buster Crabbe are on hand to meet duded-up Meredith who is accompanied by butler Jimmy Aubrey (in one of his best roles) as Tweedle. This one's quite fun with various mix-ups and Fuzzy's fear of ghosts. There's even a twinge of sympathy for Charlie King's character, even though he's an outlaw. King's niece and love interest for Meredith is Jean Carlin. Bit of a wimpy ending after a big gunfight sort of spoils things.

 UNDER TEXAS SKIES (1930 Syndicate)
Although it presents some offbeat aspects, it's still a long dry haul as orphaned Natalie Kingston tries to sell a herd of horses to the Cavalry for remounts. Badman Tom London (and his man Cliff Lyons) capture Army remount buyer Bill Cody and have brutish, drooling, idiot named Dummy (Bob Roper) hold him prisoner in an old shack while London impersonates Cody as an Army remount officer in order to obtain Kingston's horses. Enter mysterious cowboy Bob Custer who seems to know London is an imposter. Later, secret service man Lane Chandler (who sings!) turns up to investigate. Yeah, it's pretty muddled (with even something going on with twin pintos) but sort of watchable --- like a train wreck. Natalie Kingston was leading lady to Frank Merrill as Tarzan in two silent serials, TARZAN THE MIGHTY ('28) and TARZAN THE TIGER ('29). The film is also notable as Ted Adams' first screen appearance (as a loyal ranch hand). Australian born director J. P. McGowan (1880-1952) first came to America in 1904. Starting as a stage actor, by 1909 he was working for Kalem, the pioneer motion picture company. As a director of silent films, he was responsible for over 50 features and serials including two with his serial-queen wife, Helen Holmes. When sound came in, McGowan found his demand in decline with only the minor studios providing work for him. He cranked out lowbudget dreck at an alarming rate, with little concern for quality. A jack-of-all-trades --- he sometimes wrote, directed and took acting parts in his films. The bulk of his western directorial work was for independents such as Syndicate, Big 4, Freuler, Kent, Empire and Ambassador. His one talkie serial was HURRICANE EXPRESS, co-directed with Armand (Mandy) Schaefer. Retiring from directing after Jack Randall's WHERE THE WEST BEGINS ('38), he continued to act sporadically for a few more years.

 TEXAS JACK (1935 Reliable)
Jack Perrin's sister takes a "schoolteacher job" in Escondido but is forced into a cheap dance job across the border by saloon owner Roger Williams and his lowdown pal Lew Meehan. She writes Jack for help, explaining she's taking her own life as there's "no way out". Although unable to save his sister, Jack goes undercover with Nelson McDowell's Medicine Show and is able to save schoolteacher Jayne Regan (1909-2000). Oscar Gahan (Nip) and Jim Oates (Tuck) perform a blackface comedy act. Williams offers up the best line warning Regan, "There may be some promiscuous shooting." The unusual for a B-western adult themes of prostitution and suicide lift the interest in this otherwise dull effort.

 BLUE STEEL (1934 Lone Star)
Quite likely the best of the John Wayne Lone Stars filled with thrilling action and one of the best mystery-angle opening sequences in B-western films. Searching for the notorious Polka-Dot Bandit, Sheriff George Hayes takes refuge from a raging thunderstorm in a half-way house hotel. Just prior to that, John Wayne has also secluded himself in the hotel. During the night, the Polka-Dot (Yakima Canutt) loots the safe of a $4,000 payroll. Hayes, seeing Wayne give chase to Canutt, mistakes him for the Polka-Dot Bandit. Sometime later, Hayes tracks Wayne down but just as he is about to arrest him, Edward Peil Sr.'s outlaw gang raids Eleanor Hunt and the provisions wagon of her father (Lafe McKee --- who else?). Wayne and Hayes help, becoming involved in the rancher's fight to drive off the outlaws. Peil-who now has Polka-Dot Yak working for him-is secretly aware of a gold field in the area and if he can stop all provisions from coming into the Valley, he can buy up the land at a paltry $100 per homestead. There are several humorous double-entendre jokes early on in the hotel sequence when a pair of newlyweds (Harry Langdon seem-a-like George Nash and his bride) check in. Written and directed by Robert North Bradbury who had used this same plot in Bob Custer's SON OF THE PLAINS in '31 at Syndicate. This is far superior to the earlier version in all respects.

 BADMAN'S COUNTRY (1958 Peerless/Warner Bros.)
From the famous outlaw/lawman cycle of westerns comes the most impossible mythical alliance of lawmen and badmen in western screen history as Butch Cassidy (Neville Brand) leads a Wild Bunch into Abilene, KS, hoping to grab a half million dollar payload. Russell Johnson is the Sundance Kid, Richard Devon is Harvey Logan, Fred Graham is Black Jack Ketchum. Luring the Wild Bunch into the trap are Pat Garrett (George Montgomery), Wyatt Earp (Buster Crabbe), Bat Masterson (Gregory Walcott) and Buffalo Bill (Malcolm Atterbury). The townspeople, led by cowardly mayor Morris Ankrum, are against the idea and cause as much trouble for the lawmen as do the outlaws-until the end when they rally to back the star packers. Tight Orville Hampton script, directed by Durango Kid vet Fred Sears. Oh yes --- there's a girl for George --- the doctor's daughter, Karin Booth. Some excellent stunt work from Al Wyatt. Made in the wake of HIGH NOON when every western had to have a theme song. The Mellowmen sing producer Robert Kent's original ditty --- a tune that must be in everyone's collection! Screenwriter Orville H. Hampton (1917-1997) settled in Hollywood after WWII as a contract writer at Lippert and Edward Small Productions. Eventually scripted 100 films and over 500 TV episodes. Much of his work was outlaw themed (like BADMAN'S COUNTRY) --- OUTLAW WOMEN, I SHOT BILLY THE KID, THREE DESPERATE MEN, LAST OF THE DESPERADOES, THREE OUTLAWS and YOUNG JESSE JAMES.

 LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS (1940 Paramount)
Ranch foreman Victor Jory, on the verge of becoming an outlaw, is rescued from booze and a life of crime by pretty Boston socialite-come-west Jo Ann Sayers who maintains faith in him as he opposes crooked lawman Morris Ankrum, Tom Tyler and others who are running guns to the Mexican revolution. Russell Hayden has a minor role as Sayers' brother and newcomer Alan Ladd is nearly unrecognizable as a young man also at odds with Sheriff Ankrum. Jory's pals are Eddie Dean, Rad Robinson and Noah Beery Jr. (with an awful over-the-top Mexican accent). Producer Harry "Pop" Sherman's version of Zane Grey's 1913 story was the fourth try at the property and certainly no more faithful to the original Grey story than the previous three. A 1918 version starred Dustin Farnum, a 1925 take headlined Jack Holt and a 1930 talkie starred Richard Arlen. This film was the last of Paramount's Zane Grey series.

 YOUNGER BROTHERS (1949 Warner Bros.)
Strictly revisionist outlaw history that whitewashes the Younger Brothers, here played by Wayne Morris as Cole (he'd been Bob Younger in BAD MEN OF MISSOURI back in '41), Bruce Bennett as Jim, James Brown as Bob and Robert Hutton as Johnny. Awaiting a pardon, the harmless fun-loving boys are forced back on the run by vicious ex-Pinkerton man Fred Clark who carries a grudge against them. Trying to stay out of trouble for two weeks to keep their freedom is tough for these boys who are also put upon to return to their outlaw ways by Janis Paige (and her right hand man Tom Tyler in a meaty role), outlaw leader of her dead brother's gang. Edwin L. Marin's direction is exactly what the actionful script calls for-solid and direct. Keep you eyes open for a host of familiar B-western faces: Monte Blue, William Forrest, Syd Saylor, Emmett Lynn, Kermit Maynard, Gene Roth, Lee Morgan, Ben Corbett, Artie Ortego and Philo McCullough.

 COYOTE TRAILS (1935 Reliable)
Cowboys Tom Tyler and Ben Corbett go to work for horse rancher Lafe McKee and his daughter Alice Dahl who are losing brood mares to rustlers Dick Alexander, Slim Whitaker and George Chesebro who are blaming their thievery on the Phantom, a wild white stallion. Old Lafe gives horse lover Tom 24 hours to catch the stallion before he issues an order to kill the horse on sight. Certainly, Tom captures the Phantom-and the two-legged horse thieves as well. Good use of the Bronson Cave area. Typical Tyler.

 ARIZONA TERRITORY (1950 Monogram)
Adele Buffington, aka Jess Bowers, reworked her RAIDERS OF THE BORDER ('44) Johnny Mack Brown plot to come up with this mild Whip Wilson entry about counterfeiters (John Merton, Dennis Moore) smuggling their "queer" in Indian pottery from an Indian trading post owned by pretty (but naïve) Nancy Saunders, Merton's niece. Henchman Carl Mathews, who'd been in B-westerns forever, probably has more to say (and does it better) than in any previous film. Andy Clyde is the U.S. Marshal on the trail of the counterfeiters who enlists the aid of old pal, Wilson --- who lashes out his snakehide three distinct times.

 TWILIGHT IN THE SIERRAS (1950 Republic)
Roy Rogers, deputy Sheriff Dale Evans and veterinarian Pat Brady are mixed up with ruthless counterfeiters (George Meeker and his boys Fred Kohler Jr., Pierce Lyden, James McGill) who hatch an elaborate scheme of reproducing U.S. Treasury Gold Certificates (worthless here) for sale to a European concern (through William Lester) that still recognizes the notes as legal-tender. Parole officer Rogers (working with Edward Keane's ranch who hires parolees for rehabilitation) encounters the gang when they kidnap parolee (and former counterfeiter) Russ Vincent and force him to "clean up" their counterfeit plates by threatening his sister, Estelita Rodriguez, who has just arrived here from Cuba (remember when it was an open country?) to visit her brother. There's some suspenseful moments in the form of a subplot involving a mountain lion. The songs in this one are truly forgettable, even the title tune. Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage help out. Directed by William Witney.

 SALT LAKE RAIDERS (1950 Republic)
Lovely Martha Hyer believes escaped convict Myron Healey killed her father, for which he was sentenced to life, and stole $100,000 from Pop's bank. In reality, Healey is innocent. He's escaped in hopes of clearing himself, recovering and returning the stolen loot, now hidden in the ghost town of Silver City. U.S. Deputy Marshal Allan 'Rocky' Lane, hot on Healey's trail, along with relay station agent Eddy 'Nugget Clark' Waller (who believes Healey innocent) and his ward --- Hyer --- all converge on Silver City --- as does Roy Barcroft's ruthless gang of raiders including Barcroft's brother Clifton Young and Barcroft's partner, shady lawyer Byron Foulger. Everyone's looking for the hidden money during an unusually suspenseful Lane western that ends with another tough, terrific Lane/Barcroft brawl.

 FAST ON THE DRAW (1950 Lippert)
After youngster James 'Shamrock' Ellison sees his parents brutally murdered by bandits led by The Cat, he develops a phobia about shooting someone. Nevertheless, when grown, his pal Russ 'Lucky' Hayden brags to the citizens of Rimrock how brave Shamrock is, forcing Shamrock to accept the post of Marshal after he saves (without gunplay) pretty Betty (Julia) Adams from a stage holdup. Coincidentally, Shamrock's lawman father once killed the brother of Betty's father, Raymond Hatton. Unbeknownst to anyone, The Cat and his gang (John Cason, Tom Tyler, George J. Lewis, Dennis Moore) are now at work in the Rimrock area. Eventually, Shamrock conquers his fear of firing and rounds up the gang, including The Cat who turns out to be (surprise, surprise) "honest citizen" Fuzzy Knight. Rewritten by producer Ron Ormond and Maurice Tombragel from BRANDED A COWARD ('35) which starred Johnny Mack Brown.

 FRONTIER FUGITIVES (1945 PRC)
Leading lady Lorraine Miller's fur trapper father is killed by fur thieves I. Stanford Jolley and Frank Ellis but not before the old man scribbles a note as to the location of his fur cache and sticks it in one of his wildcat furs. Texas Rangers Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien and Guy Wilkerson (who masquerades as Indian Chief Tall Wolf and engages midway in a stupid peace-pipe "comedy" routine with Stan Jolley also "disguised" as an Indian) have been sent to the settlement to investigate the fur robberies and help Miller. Jolley and Ellis' bosses are crooked Indian agent Jack Ingram and trading post owner Jack Hendricks. Tex sings two Al Dexter songs including "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue To Cry". Routine.

 FORT OSAGE (1952 Monogram)
Rod Cameron is a scout hired to lead a wagon train through Osage Indian Territory. Greedy, unscrupulous Morris Ankrum and Douglas Kennedy have been charging emigrants outrageous prices to go on the wagon train to California and all the while have broken a food and supplies treaty with the Osages, stirring them to the warpath. Rod becomes fond of pretty Jane Nigh, daughter of Ankrum who eventually reforms and agrees to obey the treaty, but Kennedy and his boys (Lane Bradford, Marshall Reed) kill him. Tough saloon brawl between Cameron and Fred Graham is well staged by old pro director Lesley Selander (1900-1979), a master of the sound western. Breaking into film in 1919 as a lab tech, he later became a cameraman for Triangle (who made many William S. Hart silents). He also worked as a director of photography for Fox and other studios and was an assistant director on many movies before directing his first, Buck Jones' RIDE 'EM COWBOY at Universal in '36. After several more with Buck, Les landed at Paramount helming many Hopalong Cassidy and Zane Grey adventures for Pop Sherman. He moved to RKO in '41 to head up several Tim Holt pre-war westerns but by '42 was back with Hoppy as he relocated to United Artists. By '44 Selander was ensconced at Republic where his astute fluid camera work enhanced many a Sunset Carson, Allan Lane, Bill Elliott and Monte Hale western. With Tim Holt back from the war, Selander trouped back to RKO in '48. Meanwhile, he helmed several excellent minor A's --- STAMPEDE and SHORT GRASS with Rod Cameron, COW COUNTRY with Edmond O'Brien, WAR PAINT with Robert Stack, SHOTGUN with Sterling Hayden and LONE RANGER AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD with Clayton Moore. Like his friend R. G. Springsteen, Selander wound down his career with several A. C. Lyles produced ensemble cast western in the '60s.

 SNOW DOG (1950 Monogram)
The first Kirby Grant/Chinook-dog Mountie film lensed (although TRAIL OF THE YUKON was released a month or so earlier) is one of the best of the series, dwelling on Chinook who is mistaken as a killer phantom wolf of the White Woods. There's more thrills than usual as Chinook goes into action against stuntman Duke York ... meanwhile Kirby gets the rough end, losing a fight against Richard Karlan, getting smacked on the head more than once and being shot as he tries to help Elena Verdugo and brother Rick Vallin locate a pitchblende mine left to them by their uncle. Milburn Stone is a supposedly friendly doctor. Cowboy cancer alert: Kirby lights up his pipe.

 MAN'S COUNTRY (1938 Monogram)
When Dave Sharpe, son of rancher Walter Long, is murdered after being taken into custody by Texas Rangers led by Colonel Forrest Taylor, undercover agent Jack Randall is called in to work with the Rangers to find out who committed the killing of Sharpe-as well as the friend Sharpe was accused of killing. Randall blends in with the outlaws, learning Long has a brother (also played by Walter Long in a dual role) who was displeased at his brother's inheritance of the family ranch which is oil rich. Marjorie Reynolds is Sharpe's sister smitten with Randall. Ralph Peters is Jack's pal. Dave O'Brien (looking really roughshod), Charlie King and Budd Buster are Long's outlaw gang. Bit different. Worthwhile.

 KID FROM GOWER GULCH (1949 Friedgen)
Produced in color in 1947 but didn't escape until late '49. Phony movie-cowboy Spade Cooley can't really sing or ride (or act) but gets himself into a situation trying to help rancher Jack Baxley and his niece, red headed Wanda Cantlon, where he's required to win at an upcoming rodeo. Spade's pal, Bob Gilbert, double crosses him and helps Baxley's rival rancher, Stephen Keyes. Cute enough story idea by Bob Gilbert (fully scripted by old pro Elmer Clifton) but the substandard acting and production values combined with even worse singing (Little Joe Hiser) undermines it. Spade never fiddles or sings a note! Produced and directed (aka slapped together for no money) by Oliver Drake with scenes shot at his ramshackle ranch near Pearblossom, CA. Rodeo footage was shot at Ridgecrest, CA. Richard Farnsworth doubled Cooley in riding scenes. Bob Woodward and Boyd Stockman performed other stunts.

 LAW OF THE VALLEY (1944 Monogram)
When Luke, the old friend of Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton), is murdered in a railroad-is-coming land grab plot, Sandy and Nevada Jack McKenzie (Johnny Mack Brown) arrive to help Luke's niece, Lynne Carver, and her boyfriend, lawyer Kirk Barron (where did Monogram dig up this sleazy bad actor?) It's an edgier script than usual by Joseph O'Donnell as Sandy and Nevada close in on the land pirates --- Charles King, Tom Quinn, Ed Cobb and their hired guns, Marshall Reed, Steve Clark and George DeNormand. Kirk Barron is so bad his only other role in films was as a train passenger this same year in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY --- and we're glad he did.

 BATTLING MARSHAL (1950 Yucca)
Mindless, you've-seen-it-all-done-much-better-a-hundred-times-before Sunset Carson cheapie. $1.98 production values with low rent do-anything-to-be-in-a-movie actors. Grandpop A. J. Baxley and his daughter (with nothing to do) Pat Starling are put upon by attorney Pat Gleason, Dr. Richard Bartell and their gunnies, Steve Keyes and Bob Curtis, until U.S. Marshal Sunset Carson and his stubby-bearded saddlepal, Lee Roberts, come to their rescue. There's a lost vein of gold underneath Grandpop's ranch. The crooked Doc tries to scare Grandpop off with a smallpox scare-to no avail-so then he and the other rannies try harsher methods. Oliver Drake, in the twilight of his career, directed these Yucca independents for producer Walt Maddox but, by 1950, cheapies like this offered too little too late. For the record, possibly the most talentless music aggregation in B-westerns, Little Jimmy Hiser's group, makes us suffer (or fast-forward) through three songs.

 FRONTIER DAYS (1934 Spectrum)
Although Spectrum was around for 5 years in the '30s, they only managed 22 features, all but one of these (a French made pick-up) starred, first Bill Cody, then Fred Scott. All of these were produced by independent units and released on a State's rights basis under the Spectrum banner. Although he'd been a mid-range western star during silent days, Bill Cody's career had hit the skids with talkies (possibly due to his fondness for booze). He hit bottom in the early '30s with a pitiful trio for Robert J. Horner. Surprisingly, the 8 he did for producer Ray Kirkwood, released by Spectrum, improved his status in the field. Oddly, the first Cody film released by Spectrum, FRONTIER DAYS, is not produced by Kirkwood (unless Al Alt is a pseudonym of his). The Cody westerns were made on the cheap and just couldn't compare to the fare being offered by Ken Maynard, Buck Jones, even Hoot Gibson. Cody appeared either tired (or hung over) half the time, his clothes hung on his body two sizes too large and he wore a terribly oversized Stetson. His fisticuffs were often laughable and he certainly was no ladies' man. Oliver Drake, who worked on some of the Spectrums, once told me Cody was so hung over they had to hold him upright off camera at times. He often fluffed his lines-but cameras kept rolling. Spectrum finally had enough and replaced him with singing cowboy Fred Scott to compete with Autry. In FRONTIER DAYS, Wells Fargo agent Bill Cody poses as the Pinto Kid to investigate a series of stagecoach robberies and killings, eventually discovering banker Wheeler Oakman is the culprit. Cody's son, Bill Cody Jr., is featured as the young brother of romantic interest Ada Ince. Onetime silent lead Franklyn Farnum is their father. Too many plot points are glossed over, eliciting various "why did" and "how did" questions.

 NORTHERN FRONTIER (1935 Ambassador)
Hard riding Mountie Kermit Maynard goes undercover to ferret out counterfeiters LeRoy Mason (with Artie Ortego, Jack Chisholm, Ben Hendricks Jr.) who are holding Eleanor Hunt's engraver father Lloyd Ingraham prisoner to work on their phony plates. Kermit thrills us with some of his fancy horse tricks at the start, otherwise it's a bit ponderous in getting where it's going with the bulk of the action saved til the final reel. Features a young Walter Brennan as a stuttering cook. Nelson McDowell contributes a funny barroom cameo and it's odd to see usual heavy Charlie King as a Mountie battling fur thief Dick Curtis. One of the heavies, Russell Hopton, later directed Kermit's SONG OF THE TRAIL.

 I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949 Lippert)
Notable as Sam Fuller's directorial debut (he'd previously scripted a few films) and he elicits excellent performances from a notable cast using his own script about conscience-ridden Bob Ford (John Ireland) --- the "dirty little coward" who murdered Jesse James (Reed Hadley). Here Bob Ford's fictionalized reason is that he desires amnesty and the reward for Jesse so he can marry his sweetheart, showgirl Barbara Britton. Preston Foster, a sometime lawman, is also in love with Britton. Good photography from reliable Ernest Miller helps this interesting if uneven psychological story of Ford's guilt-ridden life. Tom Tyler has a minor role as Frank James. (In reality, Ford was not killed in the street, he owned a saloon in Colorado where he was shot in 1892, 10 years after he assassinated Jesse James.)

 RETURN OF JESSE JAMES (1950 Lippert)
Lippert hit pay dirt with John Ireland in I SHOT JESSE JAMES in '49, so a year later they cast Ireland as a Jesse look-alike who takes on the guise of the dead outlaw to rob banks but is destroyed by his ambition. This sort-of-a-sequel lost out in that it didn't employ Sam Fuller as director as did the first film. As in most outlaw westerns, historical inaccuracies abound. Set in 1883, shortly after Jesse's murder, we have Hank 'Pop' Younger (Henry Hull) and Lem Younger (Hugh O'Brian) --- neither of which were real Younger brother names. Also, in actuality, the real Youngers met their demise in 1876 after the Northfield, MN raid. In this film, Bob and Charlie Ford (Clifton Young and Tommy Noonan) are running a saloon in Colorado after Jesse's back-shooting, which is accurate, however, the real Bob Ford died in 1892 in Colorado, not 1883 in Missouri as depicted here. Charlie killed himself in 1886. There are some interesting cast comparisons between the two films. In I SHOT ... Reed Hadley was Jesse James, here he's Frank James. Barbara Woodell is married to Frank in this film, but was Jesse's wife in I SHOT... Clifton Young is Bob Ford here, in I SHOT... he was brother Charlie. This is the film debut of Peter Marshall, who, with Tommy Noonan, were a popular nightclub stand-up comedy team in the late '50s before Marshall hit it big on HOLLYWOOD SQUARES in '66. Is this film where they met?

 WEST OF WYOMING (1950 Monogram)
Veteran heavy Myron Healey (with his gun-totin' skunks Dennis Moore, Holly Bane, Carl Mathews, Frank McCarroll) connive and scheme to drive the homesteaders out of the valley so they can grab some gold rich land for themselves. Johnny Mack Brown rides in to save Gail Davis, Milburn Morante and the rest. Routine plot by Adele Buffington is a bit slow at times, peppered with pockets of good action elements by director Wallace Fox.

 SINGING ON THE TRAIL (1946 Columbia)
Swindled out of $50,000 by eastern slickers Ian Keith and Matt Willis, crusty old Guy Kibbee vows revenge and heads for the dude ranch they own. Getting wind of Kibbee's arrival, the city slickers pull another fast one, making entertainers The Hoosier Hot Shots believe they've bought the ranch. Kibbee, of course, believes the Hot Shots are in league with the swindlers. The Hot Shots, looking for a bodyguard, hire cowboy Ken Curtis (and his pal Big Boy Williams) whom they believe is a two-gun man but is actually only a singer looking for a job on the dude ranch. Typical mix-ups and music. Also with Jeff Donnell, Deuce Spriggins' band and Carolina Cotton.

 FRONTIER FURY (1943 Columbia)
From Charles Starrett's "constant action" period. So what if there are a few continuity or plot lapses, a plot is just something to mention between thrilling western derring-do as Starrett vows to avenge his Indian friend Stanley Brown's death and bring in outlaws masquerading as Indians (Clancy Cooper, I. Stanford Jolley, Ed Cobb, Bruce Bennett). Governor Jimmie Davis' music has a universal appeal as he sings Wiley Walker and Gene Sullivan's melodious "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" as well as "A Sinner's Prayer", "End of the World" and "I Hang My Head and Cry". He's backed-up musically by Johnny Bond, Wesley Tuttle and Cal Shrum. Throw in a little comedy from Arthur Hunnicutt and you got a good B-western picture. Watch for Elmo 'Tarzan' Lincoln and Franklyn Farnum in bit parts. Oh yeah --- that Indians-crossing-the-Wind-River footage is used once again.

 ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL (1947 Republic)
Monte Hale's 5th starrer took him in a much more action oriented direction than had his previous films under the production set-up of Louis Gray. Under new producer Melville Tucker (who would stay til the end of the series), the fights are tougher (one with Wade Crosby in a storeroom is a doozy) and the songs are lesser. Set in the 1840s, Monte is under orders from Kit Carson (Forrest Taylor) and Capt. Fremont (LeRoy Mason) to hook up with scout Jim Bridger (Will Wright) in Oregon and blaze a trail to the new territory. Outlaw Roy Barcroft, who is a sworn enemy of Monte, hooks up with crooked empire-builder Clayton Moore in Moore's scheme to set up his own government in Oregon. Coincidentally, Moore and Hale are old friends that must now oppose one another. Additionally, Hale is smitten by lovely Adrian Booth who plans to marry Moore, until she learns of his nefarious schemes. Max Terhune and his dummy Elmer provide some comedy relief for Hale in this one film only before saddling up with Johnny Mack Brown at Monogram. By Monte's next film, UNDER COLORADO SKIES, producer Tucker had permanently settled on Paul Hurst as Monte's sidekick. Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage sing three songs, Monte contributes two. Onetime star Kermit Maynard has a nice cameo as a marshal in the first action sequence of ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL. Filmed in Trucolor, but only b/w prints seem to have survived.

 DESERT PATROL (1938 Supreme/Republic)
Vicious half-breed and loco, insane, savage killer Ted Adams leads a murderous gang of cut-throats. Adams' smuggler boss is insurance/loan agent Forrest Taylor. In Adams' gang is Rex Lease who is about fed up with the half-breed's brutal way, especially when Adams ruthlessly and cold-bloodedly murders Texas Ranger Julian Madison. Ranger Bob Steele, on his way to see Madison, encounters Lease's sister, a spunky, uppity New York gal, Marion Weldon (a pretty and talented actress we saw too little of in her brief Hollywood career). Learning of his friend's murder, and with the aid of Budd Buster, Lease's ranch hand and token comedy relief, Steele insinuates his way into Adams' band to bring him to justice. Not action packed, but filled with constant movement under Sam Newfield's better-than-usual direction. Fred Myton's script is a cut above average as is Robert Cline's camera work. Myton started as early as 1917 and continued on til 1951, churning out westerns for Buck Jones, Johnny Mack Brown, Herb Jeffries, Fred Scott, Tim McCoy, Bill Elliott, Charles Starrett, Don Barry, Buster Crabbe and others. Cline added his expertise to dozens of oaters with Rex Bell, Harry Carey, Jack Perrin, Fred Scott, Jack Randall, Range Busters, Buster Crabbe, Bob Livingston --- even Lash LaRue and Eddie Dean. His work was fast --- but always efficient and well composed. Watch for onetime silent kid star Buzz Barton as one of Taylor's henchies.

 SONG OF THE SIERRAS (1946 Monogram)
Jimmy Wakely in the type of B-western Gene Autry was making in the mid to late '30s. Lotsa good music from Jimmy, Wesley Tuttle and His Texas Stars, some action, fabulous Kernville scenery, a little comedy from Lee 'Lasses' White and a big horse race finale --- all put together by Oliver Drake (producer, director, original story) who had basically been writing the same type of stuff for Autry a decade earlier. Horsetraders Wakely and Tuttle try to help rancher Budd Buster and his daughter Iris Clive who are beset by Jean Carlin (and her roughnecks Zon Murray, Bob Duncan) who wants to grab up more grazing ground for her Army remounts. Wes, Jimmy and the group sing Wes' new Capitol hit "Detour" (written by Paul Westmoreland). The tune has been Wes' signature song ever since --- he even later reworked it into the gospel phase of his music career. Quite entertaining.

 UNDER NEVADA SKIES (1946 Republic)
Possibly the first B-western to mention the atom bomb. Stalwart Douglas Dumbrille leads a bunch of nasty foreign power types (Rudolph Anders, George Lynn, LeRoy Mason) who are pursuing a jeweled crest containing a map of a rich deposit of pitchblende (used in the making of the A-bomb). They track the current holder (Leyland Hodgson) to a small Nevada town where Gabby Hayes is the Sheriff and local watch repairman, Roy Rogers the local celebrity, and Dale Evans an entertainer with an interest in the crest as well-it was stolen from her father, Hodgson's partner. Plot and music envelop most of the running time with the bulk of the action saved for the windup in which Roy enlists the aid of George J. Lewis' friendly Indian tribe. Always catering to their south of the border audience, Roy and Dale sing "Anytime That I'm With You" in Spanish. "Ne-Hah-Nee (Clear Water)" by Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers is fine but a production number ("Sea Goin' Cowboy") is really out of place! This was director Frank McDonald's last of nine with Rogers. McDonald (1899-1980) was born in Baltimore, first worked as a railroad man, then spent 17 years as an actor, stage manager and playwright. He landed in Hollywood as a dialogue director at Warner Bros. and was directing films for them by '35. McDonald became a house director for Republic in '39, helming Gene Autry, Weaver Brothers and Elviry, Roy Acuff and Rogers films through '47 when he moved over to Columbia, reuniting with Autry on several at that studio. He also directed several of Kirby Grant's northwest Mountie films at Monogram in the '50s before becoming heavily involved in TV (WILD BILL HICKOK, WYATT EARP, CHAMPION, ANNIE OAKLEY, BUFFALO BILL JR., GENE AUTRY SHOW, BROKEN ARROW, PONY EXPRESS etc.).

 BEAUTY AND THE BANDIT (1946 Monogram)
The third of Gilbert Roland's Cisco Kid adventures and, at 77 minutes, the longest. And you feel every minute of it in this dry, slow, lethargic, strange movie in which Cisco and Baby (Frank Yaconelli) come to the rescue of beautiful Ramsey Ames (the primary reason to watch this title) who is in danger of losing her ranch to former medicine showman William Gould and his partner, disgraced doctor Martin Garralaga. Ames "disguises" herself as a boy, but how anyone could not tell she is all woman is beyond me. After a lot of double entendre verbal sparring between Ames and Roland, he eventually drops her over his knee for a zealous spanking. From then on, she kowtows to him, calling him Master. Not recommended for feminists in the audience. Oddly, although Glenn Strange can sing quite well, his voice is dubbed when he "sings" "Blow the Man Down". Cowboy cancer alert: Roland smokes constantly. Frank Yaconelli's nephew, Steve Yaconelli, is now a director of photography with a close relationship to James Garner.

 SPOILERS OF THE FOREST (1957 Republic)
Good lumberjack drama, set in Montana, starring Vera Ralston (and her thick Czech accent --- no explanation given) as owner of 64,000 acres of rich timberland (along with her foster Dad, Carl Benton Reid) who battles the efforts of unscrupulous big lumber company operator Ray Collins and his foreman Rod Cameron to cut down the trees. Cameron romances Ralston in hopes of getting her name on a contract to cut all the trees rather than investing in reforestation, but true love develops, Cameron sees where he was wrong, and opposes Collins. Hairy, no-brakes-wild-ride finish! Good support from Hank Worden, Hillary Brooke, Edgar Buchanan, John Alderson. Watch for three former B-western leading ladies --- Sheila Bromley as Carl Benton Reed's wife, Virginia Carroll as Collins' maid and Pauline Moore in a bit as a hysterical woman in the fire.

 DYNAMITE RANCH (1932 World Wide)
Rancher George Pearce's foreman Alan Roscoe and his gang stage a train holdup in order to replace money Roscoe has stolen from Pearce's safe. But then, none of his gang will admit to having the loot. Roscoe tries to throw blame on cowboy Ken Maynard who is smitten with Pearce's daughter, Ruth Hall. Actually, the money has been found and cached away by Pearce's bookkeeper, timid Arthur Hoyt. In order to entrap the gang, Ken sets Roscoe and his henchman, Al Smith, against one another. Early on there's a splendid rooftop fight sequence between Ken, stuntman Cliff Lyons and others. Watch for former (and would be again by '35) star Jack Perrin finding work where he could as one of Roscoe's gang. Sonoart-World Wide was formed at the beginning of the sound era, concentrating on documentaries and foreign language films. But by '30-'31 they'd released a couple of one-off westerns with Rex Lease, Tom Keene and John Bowers. In 1932 Tiffany ceased operations and Sonoart-World Wide picked up their remaining product, including the Ken Maynard and Bob Steele westerns, both of which proved good boxoffice for the struggling company. By the summer of '32, with E. W. Hammonds, president of Educational Pictures, taking over as chief, the studio dropped the Sonoart part of their corporate name, simply calling itself World Wide until their demise in '33.

 OKLAHOMA RAIDERS (1944 Universal)
During the Civil War, Cavalry Lieutenant Tex Ritter and Corporal Fuzzy Knight are assigned to the Oklahoma Territory to stop the theft of Union Cavalry wild horse remounts by a masked bandit known as El Vengador (The Avenger). Wounded and falsely accused of robbing an express office, Tex is helped by El Vengador herself (Jennifer Holt) and her right hand man (Dennis Moore) and learns Jennifer and other ranchers had their lands taken away from them at the outbreak of the Civil War, so they formed this outlaw band in an act of protest. Tex has to straddle a fine line in order to obtain the remounts and still help Jennifer and Dennis bring land commissioner George Eldredge and his cohorts (Jack Ingram, I. Stanford Jolley, Dick Alexander) to justice. Former Universal star Bob Baker has a non-speaking role as a vigilante member. Johnny Bond and his Red River Valley Boys play no roles but sing two songs. This is one of three "solo" starrers Tex made for Universal after his Brown/Ritter series ended. It's a typical slick Universal B-western, produced by Oliver Drake and directed by Lewis Collins with a screenplay by Betty Burbridge that smells distinctly like a viewing of Buck Jones' TREASON (Columbia '33) written by Gordon Battle was running while she scripted OKLAHOMA RAIDERS.

 STRANGER FROM ARIZONA (1938 Columbia)
After three years of westerns and serials for Universal, Buck Jones returned to Columbia where he'd made his first --- and best-westerns. It was not a triumphant return. Actually, the films were independently produced by Coronet Pictures and released by Columbia. The first two of the six-pack (HOLLYWOOD ROUNDUP and HEADIN' EAST) tried for something different. The final four were strictly run-of-the-mill action westerns, not up to Buck's abilities. In this one, railroad inspectors Buck and pal Hank Worden investigate cattle cars full of prime beef missing from the train station. Buck spars with leading lady Dorothy Fay (real life wife of Tex Ritter) who has had her cattle stolen. Her foreman is silent comedian Hank Mann (famous Mack Sennett comic and original Keystone Kop) who adds many comic touches. There's also a comic-tinged barroom brawl, but these broad, near slapstick routines were not Buck's forte. Eventually, Buck rounds up rustlers Roy Barcroft and Bob Terry who are in cahoots with banker Stanley Blystone and train station agent Budd Buster. Director Elmer Clifton claimed credit for the discovery of the 'IT' girl, Clara Bow.

 DEATH VALLEY RANGERS (1943 Monogram)
Here we go again! No pretense to art, just Saturday afternoon B-western action in its purest form as the Trail Blazers (Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele) break up crooked mine owner Weldon Heyburn's plot with chemist Karl Hackett who has discovered a formula for reheating gold and pouring it back into the rock where it cannot be distinguished from virgin ore where Heyburn then runs the stolen gold through his mine. Heyburn's gang consists of Charlie King, George Chesebro, Lee Roberts, Al Ferguson and John Bridges. Bob Steele makes his initial Trail Blazers appearance here and tries to romance Linda Brent --- and that's all she has to do. Director Bob Tansey recycled his plot from GUN PACKER ('39) with Jack Randall for this one. Adele Buffington purloined it for her own in 1949 as RANGELAND with Whip Wilson.

 LONG, LONG TRAIL (1929 Universal)
An engaging lighthearted western that relies strictly on the boyish charm of Hoot Gibson and the cuteness of his soon-to-be real-life wife Sally Eilers for its watchability. A remake of Hooter's own 1923 RAMBLIN' KID, both films based on a 1920 novel by Earl Wayland Bowman. Fun-loving Hoot captures wild horse Lightnin', then ends up riding in a big-stakes horse race for Sally and her father, Howard Truesdale, against saloon owner James Mason (not the English actor) who drugs Hoot so he'll lose the race. Watch for some early product placement as Hoot's pal, Walter Brennan (in one of his earliest character roles), mentions Coca-Cola-twice! This was Hoot's first talking film for Universal, after a string of well received starring silents. Unlike many silent cowboys, Hoot's voice worked well in sound films, seemed to match his physical persona, and he was able to deliver bantering dialogue quite naturally. Overall, Hoot's transition to sound was smooth, allowing his pictures to change little from the light comedic, leisurely fashion his fans had grown accustomed to. However, with Jones, Maynard, Steele and others instilling high energy action into their films and the soon-oncoming glut of singing cowboys, old Hooter had only a few more years to ride tall in the saddle.

 UNDER MEXICALI STARS (1950 Republic) This one goes at the top of everyone's Rex Allen wantlist. Scripter Bob Williams penned a dandy, replete with a terrific wagon race (stock footage from Roy Rogers' SONG OF TEXAS) and a thrilling segment in which Rex snatches a ride over the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine, CA, aboard counterfeiter Roy Barcroft's helicopter. Undercover Treasury agent Rex Allen works with the Mexican Secret Service to discover smugglers Walter Coy, Barcroft and Frank Ferguson who are counterfeiting valuable Mexican coins and bringing them across the border by helicopter over the ranch of pipsqueak Percy Helton and his daughter, pretty Dorothy Patrick. Beginning with this, Rex's fourth, he was joined by Buddy Ebsen who would play his sidekick for five films. Credit goes to director George Blair who keeps the action moving at breakneck speed, still managing to let Rex warble three songs, including Eddie Cherkose's "Born to the Saddle".

 TRAIL OF TERROR (1935 Supreme)
Hard to believe there's not a gunfight or fistfight until the wild round-up at the end, but the story, although routine, is so well handled by director Robert Bradbury, you don't notice the lack of hard action. Trying to get evidence to convict an outlaw gang (Forrest Taylor, Charlie King), Bob Steele pretends to be an escaped convict which eventually trips him up when he romances Beth Marion, Sheriff Charles French's daughter. And wait til you meet Beth's brother, Frank Lyman Jr., ... now there's a gay buckaroo! Bradbury's story borrows elements from RANDY RIDES ALONE ('34) and other John Wayne Lone Stars. To demonstrate Steele's athletic abilities and wrestling prowess, there's a full five minute wrestling match midway between Bob and wrestler Dr. Barney Cosnack (his only film).

 DOWN TEXAS WAY (1942 Monogram)
The trail blazes with action as the Rough Riders, Buck Jones and Tim McCoy, head down Texas way to clear their pal Raymond Hatton of a phony murder charge. Citizens suspect Hatton because he's disappeared. Actually, he's being held captive by Harry Woods' gang (Reed Howes, Tom London, John Merton, Frank Ellis) in an effort to divert suspicion to him. When Hatton unsuspectingly returns to town, he's thrown in jail. Luana Walters, Hatton's niece, appeals for help to Dave O'Brien, the murdered man's son, to whom she is engaged. Screenplay by Jess Bowers who used her real name of Adele Buffington when she revived the story for Johnny Mack Brown's WESTERN RENEGADES ('49).

 FRONTIER UPRISING (1961 Zenith/United Artists)
Early California epic has frontier scout Jim Davis (and his pals Ken Mayer and David Renard) battling an evil allegiance between Mexican Colonel John Marshall and Indian Chief Herman Rudin. Davis and Cavalry Lieut. Don O'Kelly aid a wagon train headed for California bearing Mexican beauty Nancy Hadley (with not the slightest hint of an accent) --- and vie for her affections. Some good action sequences (with liberal doses of stock footage swiped from KIT CARSON) spice up an otherwise weak narrative. Produced by Robert E. Kent and directed by Edward L. Cahn.

 SILVER RAIDERS (1950 Monogram)
Arizona ranger Whip Wilson (and his two pals Riley Hill and Reed Howes) break up a gang of silver bandits (Dennis Moore, Marshall Reed, Kermit Maynard, George De Normand) when the gang's town boss (Leonard Penn) goes too far by kidnapping and holding for ransom a Mexican senorita (Patricia Rios). The Rangers are helped by sheriff/postmaster Andy Clyde and his daughter, Virginia Herrick. Better than usual latter-day Monogram stuff scripted by Daniel Ullman, directed by Wallace Fox (1895-1958), a routine program director who is principally remembered for his East Side Kids and Bela Lugosi pictures at Monogram in the '40s. Fox began directing westerns in the final days of silent films. His most noted western credit is definitely POWDERSMOKE RANGE, the all-star RKO 3 Mesquiteers 1935 film. After one here and there for Jack Randall, Elliott/Ritter and Johnny Mack Brown, Fox landed at Universal cranking out the Kirby Grant series. He followed those with a few lackluster Duncan Renaldo Cisco Kids at United Artists before moving back to Monogram in '50-'51 on their Wilson and Johnny Mack Brown series. He went into TV work in the '50s. Wilson whip-pops it to the baddies twice in this one.

 BAD MAN OF DEADWOOD (1941 Republic)
Solid, fast moving, involved Roy Rogers B-western from director Joe Kane. Theatre owner Rolf Harolde and his desperadoes (Hal Taliaferro, Jay Novello) establish a crooked Citizen's League to run out all honest businessmen in Deadwood, forcing them to become outlaws in a hideaway called Laramie Gap. Harolde (guided by a mystery boss) even has Sheriff Monte Blue under his thumb. Roy Rogers is a fugitive who has changed his name and become a minstrel and sharpshooter with medicine show owner Gabby Hayes and his "Indian Princess" daughter, Sally Payne. As they run afoul of Harolde, they meet newspaperwoman Carol Adams and her publisher boss, Henry Brandon, supposedly an outspoken opponent of Harolde's Citizen's League. Eventually the "outlawed citizens" of Laramie Gap persuade a local judge they are not guilty of Harolde's false charges and the boss behind Harolde turns out to be Brandon. Some old familiar faces as Deadwood citizens --- Jack Kirk, Horace Murphy, Fred Burns --- with an especially nice role for Kirk. Brandon is both genial when he's being good and mean when he's uncovered as the Boss.

 LAWLESS PLAINSMEN (1942 Columbia)
Bar fights. Gunfights. Fistfights. Indian fights. Action erupts from the screen as Charles Starrett and his saddlepals, headstrong Russell Hayden and melodic Cliff Edwards, guide a wagon train west as it's besieged by Apaches and renegade gun runners (Ray Bennett, Carl Mathews, Francis Walker). Director William Berke's pell-mell action is greatly enhanced by lots of rampaging Indian stock footage, including the oft used Wind River Indians crossing the river shot --- and even Tim Holt and the Cavalry from STAGECOACH. Luana Walters is interesting to watch as saloon owner Baltimore Bonnie, ex-wife of the thieving Bennett. Watch for Forrest Taylor in a cameo as Kit Carson.

 HOPALONG RIDES AGAIN (1937 Paramount)
Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and his pals, Russell 'Lucky' Hayden and Gabby 'Windy' Hayes are ordered by Bar 20 owner Buck Peters (former silent star William Duncan) to drive 1,000 head of cattle through Black Butte rustler country to the railhead. Thanks to a spy (Ernie Adams) at the Bar 20, rustler John Rutherford's gang knows about the coming drive. Paleontologist Harry Worth, the brother of neighboring rancher Nora Lane, of whom Hoppy is fond, turns out to be the rustler boss. As he did in BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN, Worth plays his role slightly limp-wristed. Youngster Billy King enters the series as Buck Peters' nephew, Artie, who is trapped with Windy after a rustler-caused avalanche. The film finishes with the most amazing gunshot ever made in B-westerns. This was director Les Selander's first Hoppy film, with many more to follow. Screenplay is by Norman Houston who, although garnering over 20 credits in late silents and early talkies, had only penned a couple of westerns (for Hoot Gibson) prior to HOPALONG RIDES AGAIN. They would not be his last. He wrote several more Hoppys, Zane Grey titles, several for Roy Rogers and a host of Tim Holt titles at RKO.

 MAN FROM THE BLACK HILLS (1952 Monogram)
Joseph O'Donnell's screenplay tries valiantly to bring something different to the waning days of the Johnny Mack Brown B-western era, but it's undermined by producer Vincent Fennelly's cost-cutting measures. Imposter Rand Brooks, under the criminal tutelage of his father (storekeeper I. Stanford Jolley), leads blind Stanley Andrews (and his companion Florence Lake) into believing he is Andrews' true long-lost son. Jolley and Brooks are waiting for Andrews to croak so they can grab his rich gold mine. Andrews' real son, Jimmy Ellison, arrives, throwing a monkey wrench into their plans. Johnny Mack Brown is there to sort things out. Also aware of Jolley's plot is Jimmy's real uncle, Ray Bennett and his men (Robert Bray, Stanley Price) who are robbing Andrews' mine gold shipments to protect Andrews and his real son, Jimmy, from losing the ore.

 PRAIRIE OUTLAWS (1948 PRC)
If you've seen Eddie Dean's WILD WEST, you've seen PRAIRIE OUTLAWS which is made up primarily of footage from WILD WEST now edited down (all of Louise Currie and Jean Carlin's dialogue is cut) and shown in b/w (the original was in Cinecolor). Producers added a written prologue, a set-up scene with George Chesebro and Steve Clark, added some silent stock footage action, then lifted an action scene with I. Stanford Jolley from Eddie's WILD COUNTRY --- all of which gobbles up about 13 minutes. The remainder is Eddie, Al (Lash) LaRue and Roscoe Ates from WILD WEST stringing telegraph wire, singing to young Buzz Henry and fighting off outlaws.

 WOLF RIDERS (1935 Reliable)
Reliable relied on past-their-prime stars to sell much of their product during their four year existence from December '33 to February '37 --- Rex Lease, Bob Custer, Fred Humes, Richard Talmadge, Wally Wales, Ben Corbett and Jack Perrin. (Tom Tyler was their biggest more "current" attraction, coming to Reliable just after completing CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED serial at Universal, but even he too had been an established silent star at FBO). Perrin (1896-1967) began starring in silents in 1917 and starred in westerns for two decades, usually teaming with his beautiful white stallion Starlight. Following his final starring series with Atlantic in '36 he continued to essay character roles into the early '60s. In WOLF RIDERS, a government agent (Perrin) raised by Indians (Earl Dwire) goes after a fur thief (William Gould) who has framed him for the murder of another fur thief (a delightfully over-the-top George Chesebro) when Chesebro and Gould clash over the cheap flirt (Nancy DeShon) who sings in Gould's saloon. Lackluster B. B. Ray/Harry Webb production.

 BLUE MONTANA SKIES (1939 Republic)
Except for the final confrontation in the snow, this is a rather bland Gene Autry picture with below average songs. Fur smuggling is the plot ploy here. Cattlemen Gene and Smiley Burnette try to discover the murderer of their partner (Tully Marshall) who stumbles across the smugglers (Harry Woods, Glenn Strange, Ed Cobb, Jack Ingram, Augie Gomez) one night and is killed. The smugglers are using pert June Storey's guest ranch as a front for their illegalities. Walt Shrum and His Colorado Hillbillies are the music group. A running gag has obnoxious young Robert Winkler bedeviling poor Smiley. Incidentally, Smiley himself bedeviled the cast and crew by constantly (on purpose) saying "smur fugglers" instead of "fur smugglers" causing several retakes. Closer to a traditional western than usual for Gene with fewer songs. Director B. Reeves 'Breezy' Eason (1886-1956) was a "hard drinking, hard driving man who worked his crews mercilessly to get the effects he desired" according to director/friend Harry Fraser. He broke into directing circa 1915, directing features, serials and shorts for Universal. His first talkies were a group of Hoot Gibson westerns at Universal which he also scripted. He also co-directed several Mascot and early Republic serials with Ford Beebe, Otto Brower, Joe Kane and Mandy Schaefer, including Gene Autry's PHANTOM EMPIRE. One of the best chase and fight specialists in the business over the years, Eason also worked as a second unit action director on such A-films as GONE WITH THE WIND, DALLAS and DUEL IN THE SUN, as well as TV's early LONE RANGER episodes, contributing terrific action to many a film. His nickname, 'Breezy', emanates from the way he breezed through action scenes with incredible speed, after averaging 50-60 setups per day. He wound down his career in the late '40s with several Columbia serials.

 SHERIFF OF SUNDOWN (1944 Republic)
Republic burned off two Allan Lane pictures that co-starred sidekick Wally Vernon, a holdover from the Don Barry series that Lane inherited, then, in the 3rd outing, introduced a new Republic trio, sort-of, with Lane, Max Terhune (as Third Grade Simms) and Duncan Renaldo (as Chihuahua Ramirez). Although loaded with action, the new trio was never heard from again. Lane was also still saddled with dreadful little Twinkle Watts for the run of the series. (Either Republic prexy Herbert J. Yates really liked this kid or she had an iron-clad contract.) Saloon owner and cattle broker Roy Barcroft with his gunmen (Bud Geary, Bob Wilke) ride rough-shod over small ranchers, paying below market prices for beef until large Texas cattleman Lane becomes a special investigator reporting only to Governor Herbert Rawlinson and establishes a Cattlemen's Co-Operative League opposing Barcroft's under-handed ways. Small cattle rancher Jack Kirk is killed by Barcroft, so Lane, Terhune and Renaldo care for his daughter, Twinkle Watts, whom stern director Les Selander manages to keep from being obnoxious as usual. Lane and his pals are helped by Sheriff Tom London and his daughter Linda Stirling. Lapsed minor silent name Neal Hart can be spotted.

 LION'S DEN (1936 Puritan)
Sluggish affair in which New York vaudeville performer (!?) Tim McCoy comes west to help rancher Arthur Millett and his pretty daughter Joan Woodbury who are under siege from rustler Frank Glendon and his gang, led by Dick Curtis. A case of mistaken identity leads Glendon into believing Tim is notorious badman Single Shot Smith whom Glendon has sent for. All is going well until the real Single Shot (John Merton) arrives. Tedious and slow with a completely flat, actionless ending!

 MASKED RAIDERS (1949 RKO)
Texas Rangers Tim Holt and Richard 'Chito' Martin are sent to stop the masked Diablo Kid's gang who have repeatedly robbed the Willcox, Texas, bank. They discover Diablo (actually a lady-Marjorie Lord) and her gang (Houseley Stevenson, Tom Tyler, Clayton Moore, Bill George [aka Jay Kirby] and Lord's kid brother, Gary Gray) are western Robin Hoods robbing from the bank and giving it to the ranchers in the area who have bank foreclosures facing them. The real bad guys are bank owner Frank Wilcox and Sheriff Harry Woods working in cahoots to take over area ranch lands. Clayton Moore made this film just before becoming TV's LONE RANGER. Marjorie Lord became Danny Thomas' wife on DANNY THOMAS SHOW. Although released after MYSTERIOUS DESPERADO, MASKED RAIDERS was filmed first. A sign in MYSTERIOUS DESPERADO reads "Willcox Saloon", although that film takes place in Santo Domingo, indicating MASKED RAIDERS was filmed first and the property manager was lax in taking down the sign.

 GUNFIGHTERS OF ABILENE (1959 Vogue/United Artists)
Evil, tough landowner Barton MacLane has lynched gunfighter Buster Crabbe's nester brother for siding against him in his feud with small ranchers. MacLane and his son, Lee Farr, have accused Crabbe's sibling of stealing nester's money and ruining them. This is how they justify the hanging. To complicate matters, Judith Ames as MacLane's daughter was the fiancée of the lynched man. Crabbe arrives to avenge his brother's "murder" and eventually takes up with Ames where his brother left off. The team of screenwriter Orville Hampton, director Edward Cahn and producer Robert E. Kent collaborated on several adult themed B-westerns in the late '50s-early '60s.

 BORDER FENCE (aka CACTUS BARRIER) (1951 Astor)
Wanna make it seem like you've prolonged your life? Watch this one hour western ... it feels like 5-6 hours! The absolute, hands down worst piece of cowboy celluloid ever lensed! Watching a TV test pattern for an hour would be more exciting! The titles are literally hand written cards! Texas producer H. W. Kier's only other credits are several all black films with Spencer Williams for Alfred N. Sack (out of San Antonio, Texas) and a not-too-bad aviation film from 1932, CLIPPED WINGS with Lloyd Hughes and William Janney, which Kier co-produced with someone named Phillips (first name unknown) under the name Kier Phillips (the film was shot at Randolph Field in San Antonio). According to historian Les Adams, the pair operated in Texas and Florida for several years as Gulf Coast Prod. and/or National Prod. They produced a film (which is now lost) about the Alamo in conjunction with the '36 Texas Centennial. Norman Sheldon is the culprit who directed (along with Kier) and wrote this mess. Interestingly, Sheldon also wrote TWO GUN LAW ('37) with Charles Starrett and two Sunset Carson titles, ALIAS BILLY THE KID and EL PASO KID (both '46). Not bad, but he slipped-up when he reunited with Sunset away from Republic to write and direct RIO GRANDE in '49, another piece of garbage. BORDER FENCE contains the most amateurish, fake looking screen fist fight ever staged. Looks like kids playing cowboy in the backyard. His work makes low budget impresario Robert J. Horner look like John Ford. Boring, static camera work (by Jack Specht out of Wichita Falls, Texas) --- if you can justify his point-and-aim technique as camera work. Inappropriate canned classical music for the background of "action" sequences --- again if you dare to call them that. Editing that appears to have been done in the local butcher shop. Inane script peopled with fifth-rate local Texas actors for the most part with the only "pros" involved being Lee Morgan (he's also in RIO GRANDE!) and a young Steve Raines (later of RAWHIDE) --- probably his initial work. The lead, Walt Wayne, is a young, scrawny kid who delivers lines in a totally flat, monotoned, amateurish manner. He was never heard from again --- Thank God! Totally and completely inept in all departments.

 APACHE CHIEF (1949 Lippert)
Peace loving Indian Alan Curtis opposes his tribe's treatment of settlers and clashes with renegade Indian Russell Hayden to see who will lead the tribe. Tom Neal and Fuzzy Knight are Cavalry soldiers. Interesting off-beat pro-Indian story that predates BROKEN ARROW by a year. Promoted as "photographed with the Garutso Balanced Lens, a new optical principle which creates a three dimensional effect." It did not.

 LAST OF THE DUANES (1930 Fox)
A good George O'Brien western based on a Zane Grey novel that was amongst the Fox group of mostly remakes of Tom Mix silents from the '20s. O'Brien becomes an outlaw after he guns down James Mason, the man who got his Dad in the back. He enters outlaw Walter McGrail's hideout where he rescues Lucile Browne from McGrail's clutches, all the while being romantically pursued himself by McGrail's wife, Myrna Loy. By the mid '30s Loy had become Hollywood's number one female box-office star, the epitome of sophistication. A Spanish language version, starring George J. Lewis, was made simultaneously. The story was remade once more by Fox in '41 starring George Montgomery.

 VANISHING OUTPOST (1951 Western Adventure)
Another of producer/director Ron Ormond's "new" Lash LaRue films comprised of about 15 minutes of fresh footage designed to connect long segments robbed from previous Lash westerns thereby creating an all "new" film for very little money. If you haven't seen the earlier films, the action footage will be novel. If you have seen it, it'll be deja vu. But its always intriguing to see how Ormond ingeniously incorporated old footage with new. Here's how VANISHING OUTPOST breaks down: Starts with 10 minutes of new material. Stock segment one at the shack comes from SON OF BILLY THE KID ('49) followed by a couple of minutes of new stuff with Lee Morgan and Bud Osborne. Stock segment two is a chase from SON OF A BADMAN ('49). Then there's a couple of minutes of new footage in the line shack with Riley Hill. Stock segment three is the street fight with Bob Duncan and Sandy Sanders from OUTLAW COUNTRY ('49). Clarke Stevens and Ted Adams are in a few minutes of new footage followed by stock segment four, the town shootout lifted from MARK OF THE LASH ('48). Then comes a brief new scene with Lash and Fuzzy. Stock segment #5 is Lash capturing Marshall Reed from MARK OF THE LASH. The whole thing concludes with another few minutes of new film. Stir, boil, let simmer --- voila! An all "new" Lash LaRue feature! There's even a reference by Riley Hill as to seeing Lash in Rhyolite --- the town Lash cleaned up in FRONTIER REVENGE ('48). Western Boo Boo: As Lash slugs Archie Twitchell in the initial new footage set in a barroom, the badman's hat falls off. But as we cut to Twitchell reeling from the punch against the wall, his hat is back on. Whip use (all stock): 3.

 LONE RIDER RIDES ON (1941 PRC)
Joseph O'Donnell "borrowed" his screenplay of two young boys separated as youngsters following a wagon raid in which their parents are murdered (by Karl Hackett's gang) from Zane Grey's novel ARIZONA AMES which was filmed as THUNDER TRAIL in '37. Prior to that, the plot was appropriated by Lindsley Parsons, Robert Emmett Tansey and Harry Friedman for John Wayne's WESTWARD HO ('35). Tansey used it again for Jack Randall's ACROSS THE PLAINS ('39). Even Roy Rogers' SAGA OF DEATH VALLEY ('39) used the two-brothers-one raised good, the other as an outlaw-theme. So, by the time O'Donnell wrote it here for director Sam Newfield, the outcome was getting to be pretty well known by B-western watchers. The plot serves to introduce PRC's new singing cowboy George Houston to the screen as he returns 20 years after the wagon massacre to find the killers of his parents and brother, only to discover his brother (Lee Powell) isn't dead, but brought up by Hackett (now a crooked judge) and his outlaws (Frank Hagney, Buffalo Bill Jr., Bob Kortman, Frank Ellis, Curley Dresden) to be one of them. When Powell discovers what has happened just in time to save his brother's life --- well, you figure it out. There's a delightful "duet" between George and sidekick Al 'Fuzzy' St. John on "Nobody's Fault But My Own" (written by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter). Hillary Brooke, a dignified blonde a bit out of place on the range, got her start in two Houston B's and soon moved on to bigger films (MINISTRY OF FEAR, several Sherlock Holmes titles, JANE EYRE --- even Abbott and Costello's TV series). Houston made 11 warbling cowboy pics in '41-'42 for PRC before both realized opera singers do not make singing cowboys. Houston gave up films, went back to New York and died a few years later (1944) of a heart attack.

 RAW EDGE (1956 Universal-International)
Women are a rare commodity in frontier Oregon where the only two seem to be Yvonne DeCarlo and Mara Corday. Both are hot-bloodedly desired and fought over like animals by every man in the country-DeCarlo's husband Herbert Rudley, his foreman Bob Wilke, gambler Rex Reason, scheming Emile Meyer and his loutish son, Neville Brand. Unusually bold for its time, filled with sex, lust, greed, hatred and revenge, gunfighter Rory Calhoun seeks the murderer of his younger brother (John Gilmore), the husband of Corday, who was mistakenly hung for the attempted rape of DeCarlo. Poor Yvonne, she's nearly raped, thrown over a waterfall, manhandled by nearly everyone, shot, beaten and verbally abused. Bad title tune sung by Terry Gilkyson. Watch for a bare-chested Ed Fury as Whitey. Muscleman Fury later starred in a host of sword and sandal epics in Europe (MIGHTY URSUS etc.)

 DEAD MAN'S GULCH (1943 Republic)
It's friend against friend when Deputy Marshal Don 'Red' Barry's ex-pony express pal, Bud McTaggart, goes wrong and sides with bad company, outlaw Clancy Cooper, who is working for freight line operator John Vosper to maintain freight line control in the territory and oppose statehood which would crush Vosper's monopoly. McTaggart's sister is Lynn Merrick with some comedy relief provided by Emmett 'Fiddlefoot' Lynn. John English's no-nonsense direction keeps things moving. Barry's Republic series is one of the most overlooked group of westerns made.

 LONE STAR RAIDERS (1940 Republic)
The Three Mesquiteers (Robert Livingston, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis) are in their good Samaritan guise once again as they help impoverished, elderly Sarah Padden (a real showcase for this old trouper) who has inherited the Circle-H horse ranch where the Mesquiteers work. Granny Padden believes the spread to be a huge money-maker when in actuality drought and dust storms have decreased the wild horse herds the ranch depends on to round-up for an Army Cavalry contract which would defray the back pay of disgruntled ranch hands. Also back of the disappearance of horses and other crooked work is George Douglas (and his gun toters John Merton, Rex Lease) who wants the Army contract himself. Nothing special and it all ends, naturally, with a wild horse race for the Army remount contract (a ploy that became a Republic staple over the years).

 PIONEERS OF THE FRONTIER (1940 Columbia)
Gun-totin' fist-flying action all the way! After four features produced independently by Larry Darmour and released through Columbia, the studio took over the series, assigned it to Leon Barsha to produce and introduced Bill Elliott as Wild Bill Saunders for four features before turning him (for the most part) into Wild Bill Hickok, no doubt capitalizing on the success of Elliott's '38 Columbia serial, GREAT ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOCK. Joining Elliott for comedy relief was good ol' Georgia boy Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor whose appeal was a matter of taste, but worked well in the southern tier of the country where B-westerns played strongly. In this, the second of the Wild Bill Saunders foursome, cruel, ambitious ranch foreman Dick Curtis kills his employer (Lafe McKee) and rules the other landowners like a tyrant. When Linda Winters' rancher father (Carl Stockdale) opposes Curtis and is also murdered, Winters sends for Elliott, McKee's nephew and real heir to McKee's estate. Even though Elliott is framed for murder by Curtis, the "peaceable man" smashes the gang (Stanley Brown, Richard Fiske, Al Bridge) in a blazing hurricane of action. Leading lady Linda Winters reverted to her birth name, Dorothy Comingore, for Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE the following year. Western Boo Boo: Outlaw Stanley Brown has a sling on his arm in a scene before he's wounded in a gunfight by Elliott.

 HOPPY'S HOLIDAY (1947 United Artists)
Way too little action in a plot about a phony irrigation swindle perpetrated by Leonard Penn along with some misplaced stolen bank dough involving comic situations with Hopalong Cassidy's pal California that plays more like one of Andy Clyde's two-reeler comedies, especially when he's embroiled with pompous Mayor Andrew Tombes who plays his role way too broadley. Hoppy's other pal, Rand Brooks, might as well not even be in this one except to bounce exposition off of. Interestingly, the original story is by character actress Ellen Corby. Take a 'holiday' yourself from this one.

 CANYON AMBUSH (1952 Monogram)
Badmen are gunning for undercover government agent Johnny Mack Brown who poses as ineffectual Sheriff Lee Roberts' deputy to stop a series of Wells Fargo robberies by a black clad mystery rider with a Winchester. Your suspects are the Sheriff himself, newspaperwoman Phyllis Coates, attorney Dennis Moore, rancher Russ Whiteman, townsman Pierce Lyden and Wells Fargo agent Hugh Prosser. Later Monogram tight budget shows but still one of the more interesting of Brown's latter-day westerns with plenty of gunplay and a well handled mystery villain angle. Director Lewis Collins (1897-1954) began with a few bottom-of-the-barrel westerns for Kent and Majestic (Lane Chandler, Reb Russell) graduated to Columbia by '37 for many non-westerns, segued to Universal for several of their Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter, Rod Cameron titles in the early-mid '40s and wound up a 25 year career directing Jim Bannon, Whip Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown, Bill Elliott and Wayne Morris westerns at Eagle Lion and Monogram, many of which are quite good.

 DEAD OR ALIVE (1944 PRC)
Pretty Marjorie Clements and her ranch are being threatened by saloon owner Ray Bennett and his gun-jackals: Charlie King, Ted Mapes along with Bennett's mole, Rebel Randall. Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien and Guy Wilkerson (the Texas Rangers) swing into action against their wickedness. Contains a comic saloon fight between O'Brien and King.

 LARAMIE (1949 Columbia)
The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) battles gun-runners Bob Wilke (in the most outlandish get-up you've ever seen) and Jim Diehl as well as Indians (led by Jay Silverheels) in a huge chunk of stock footage lifted from STAGECOACH with Starrett dressed to match John Wayne. Tim Holt can also be spotted in the extensive stock. Smiley Burnette is a bootmaker. Country singer Elton Britt (as a Cavalry trooper) sings two songs including his hit "Chime Bells" and an absolutely beautiful rendition of "Molly Darlin' ". Young Tommy Ivo is the disobedient son of Cavalry Colonel Fred Sears. The rough edges of cheapness in the Durango series were really starting to show although the films struggled on til 1952.

 EYES OF TEXAS (1948 Republic)
Sloan Nibley wrote a grim, somber tale of legal tampering with an estate by villainess lady lawyer Nana Bryant using a pack of trained killer dogs which, under Bill Witney's usual impressive direction, became one of Roy Rogers' best westerns. It's hard to beat for action, suspense and story, unless you dislike Witney's hard-edged approach and prefer the softer-gentler Rogers era. Bryant and tough henchman Roy Barcroft murder wealthy rancher Francis Ford, owner of a camp for orphaned boys, using a pack of killer dogs that look like wolves, then introduce their own man as the dead man's long lost "son" (Danny Morton) to collect the inheritance. Ford's real son had supposedly been killed in the war, but Bryant explains his disappearance as amnesia. It's veterinarian Andy Devine who examines the bite marks on the body and determines it was dogs not wolves who killed Ford. Lynne Roberts (who used to be Mary Hart in early Rogers films) returns as Devine's assistant and Roy's love interest. After Roy captures one of the dogs and it reacts violently to Bryant, Roy begins to suspect the scheming lawyer. Songs by Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers, under Witney, are never allowed to intrude, but are blended into the plot. By today's standards the film may appear mild, but put yourself back into 1948 when, even after a World War, a certain innocence still prevailed. This unusually harsh Rogers film left quite a memory-mark on all who saw it in theatres at the time. Lensed in Trucolor but sadly, only b/w prints seem to remain.

 LUCKY TEXAN (1934 Lone Star)
John Wayne and his blacksmith partner, George Hayes, make a rich gold strike in a creek outside town. Assayer Lloyd Whitlock and his henchman, Yakima Canutt, bamboozle Hayes into signing away his ranch, then, in debt to Whitlock, Eddie Parker, the son of Sheriff Earl Dwire, robs the banker and kills him laying blame on Hayes just as Hayes' granddaughter (Barbara Sheldon) is arriving from back east. When Hayes is freed of that charge, the nefarious Whitlock attempts to murder him and blame it on Wayne. Worth the price of admission is one marvelous stunt midway --- as Wayne (doubled by Yak) chases Eddie Parker, he wildly rides a stick down a log flume into the river. Nothing like it ever before, or since, on screen. Good chance to see Hayes honing the 'Gabby' sidekick characteristics that served him well for 20 years with Roy Rogers, Bill Elliott, Randolph Scott and others.

 IT HAPPENED OUT WEST (1937 20TH Century Fox)
Gibraltar Trust representative Paul Kelly comes west to Arizona to persuade their client, Judith Allen, to sell her late father's valuable spread which she is losing money on trying to run it as a dairy ranch. Meanwhile, Allen's foreman, LeRoy Mason, has discovered a fortune in silver on the property and is doing everything he can to keep it a secret and convince Ames to sell the property to his cohort, Reginald Barlow. Originally set to star Richard Arlen and Virginia Grey who had teamed so well for producer Sol Lesser earlier in the year in SECRET VALLEY. Mild, very little excitement. Mild-mannered egghead Johnny Arthur even beats hero Kelly to the solution. Based on a Harold Bell Wright story, as was the far superior MINE WITH THE IRON DOOR.

 LAW OF THE RANGER (1937 Columbia)
Crafty John Merton is driving all the homesteaders off their rightful property so he can build a reservoir and control the valley then charge the ranchers whatever he pleases for water rights. He's strongly opposed by crusading newspaperman Lafe McKee and his daughter, pretty blonde Elaine Shepard. The State Rangers (led by Buffalo Bill Jr.) get wind of Merton's outrages and send in ranger Bob Allen and pal Hal Taliaferro (aka Wally Wales) posing as settlers. Ernie Adams has a nice turn as a newspaper typesetter who likes his liquor and has a big mouth. Merton's men are Tom London, Bud Osborne, Slim Whitaker and Francis Walker. Old pro director Spencer Gordon Bennet didn't have much to work with in this routine, predictable story, made to seem even duller by the noticeable lack of any musical score at all --- not even in the final roundup. Lane Chandler has a bit as a surveyor. Western Boo Boo: Two-gun ranger Allen has both his six-irons trained on John Merton and his men. Cut briefly to riders, back to Bob who now pulls his right gun from its holster.

 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.

 RIDERS OF THE WHISTLING PINES (1949 Columbia)
One of Gene Autry's finest, full of drama and action. And certainly another in his environmentalist look at the west. Oddly, even though a case is made for the safe use of DDT to kill the tusset moth ravaging the forests, DDT turned out, in the long run, to be unsafe to fish and wildlife and was finally banned in 1972. In this film, even though logging company owner Douglas Dumbrille (and his cohorts Damian O'Flynn and Clayton Moore) are aware of the presence of the moth, they don't report it as they have an exclusive contract with the state for all the timber. If the trees die, Dumbrille can strip the forest clean. The heavies even go so far as to murder forestry official Jason Robards to keep their secret. Gene, mistakenly thinking he killed Robards in a hunting accident, is ready to leave the area but when he discovers the moth infestation decides to stay on and supervise aerial DDT spraying of all the forest and find the real killer. Gene's forestry co-workers are the singing Cass County Boys and Jimmy Lloyd. Be sure to take notice of the photo of Lloyd's late wife-it's Marilyn Monroe who was then under contract to Columbia. Of her, Gene sings "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue". Another of Gene's tunes is his old pal Smiley Burnette's "It's My Lazy Day". The Pinafores from Gene's Melody Ranch radio program also sing a song. Wasted in a nothing part is Leon Weaver of the Weaver Brothers and Elviry. Also watch for former B-western star Lane Chandler as a forestry official.

 FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS (1949 20TH Century Fox)
Producer Nat Holt gives us a taut, suspenseful western thriller enlivened by Cinecolor and a few vague historical references about Quantrell (James Griffith) and Jesse James (Dale Robertson). Ex-Quantrell (misspelled this way in the film) bandit Randolph Scott goes straight after he's mistaken for a dead Pleasonton Detective Agency man assigned to bring him in (James Millican-killed in a freak accident). Scott becomes Marshal of a Kansas town run by a man he hates (Barry Kelley) and his eager young gunslick (Bill Williams). The only ones who know Scott is an ex-Quantrell man are saloon owner Victor Jory and his partner, Jane Nigh, who's in love with Randy. The friendship and loyalty Jory displays is finely done by this often overlooked excellent actor. All hell breaks loose when another ex-Quantrell man (Paul Fix) arrives and recognizes Scott. Although given great billing, Douglas Kennedy is barely noticeable as the town lawyer. Underrated, seldom seen Scott western --- one of his best.

 WESTERN MAIL (1942 Monogram)
Smiling, carefree Tom Keene rides the danger trail to protect Uncle Sam's mail! I love it when Keene swings into action, gunning down do-badders with that wide "Got him" grin. Banker Le Roy Mason ships his bank money by train then has his gun-talent (Karl Hackett, James Sheridan, Gene Alsace) rob the train. Mason gets his money back and collects the insurance as well. Undercover government agents Tom Keene and his pal Frank Yaconelli break up their conspiracy. Yaconelli (an acquired taste in sidekicks) sings some silly songs, has a pet monkey in his saddlebag, rides a mule and has another mule following him --- for whatever reason! After 5 outings, with this film producer/director Robert Emmett Tansey unwisely replaced popular leading lady/stunt rider Betty Miles and dynamite waif Sugar Dawn with "comic relief" Yaconelli for the last three Keene releases.