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

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

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

Individual film reviews - as well as the complete The Best (and Worst) of the West! film review collection - is copyright ©2000-2007 by Boyd Magers. All rights reserved.

The Ratings

Superior

Good

OK

Poor

A real dud !

 TOMAHAWK TRAIL (1957 Bel Air/United Artists)
A grueling overland trek-and-talk Cavalry vs. Apaches western with Chuck (RIFLEMAN) Connors as the veteran Indian fighting sergeant who has to wrest command of a patrol from a complete jerk West Point Lieutenant, George Neise. Also with John (LARAMIE) Smith and Susan Cummings who looks terrific in those tight Cavalry pants. Too much pontificating over hate, war and killing.

 BLACK MARKET RUSTLERS (1943 Monogram)
The Range Busters (Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, Dennis Moore, Max Terhune) are sagebrush commandos treating black marketeers rough and mean in an obvious outing by Monogram to back the War effort. The film opens with a foreword urging Americans not to buy black market beef from 5th columnists. At one point, Abili tosses a gun in a barrel labeled "Blast a Jap with Scrap" and Crash talks directly to the audience about buying from legitimate dealers and not from black marketeers. Supposedly solid-citizen saloon owner Glenn Strange is the brains behind the truck rustlers ring (George Chesebro, Frank Ellis, John Merton, Hal Price) broken up by the Range Busters acting ads investigators for the cattlemen's Association aided by rancher Steve Clark and his daughter, expert horsewoman Evelyn Finley, and Sheriff Carl Sepulveda (in perhaps his biggest role). There's a specialty number by Art Fowler and Little Jean Austin, while Hank Worden performs an amusing little dance to a zesty version of "Wait For the Wagons" that will have you smiling.

 RELENTLESS (1948 Columbia)
Vastly overlooked pursuit story that is absolutely among my ten favorite westerns. Very Hitchcockian in the way an average man (Robert Young) becomes so innocently involved in a murder he had nothing to do with. There's also plenty of warmth and heart in both the love of a man for his horse and the more traditional boy-girl attraction. When Young's prize mare, his only possession of value, who has just foaled, is stolen and ridden to death by killer Frank Fenton, Young kills him in self defense but is blamed for not only Fenton's murder but the murders the night before of two old prospectors (Hank Patterson and Paul Burns) who have just struck it rich. Actually, Fenton and his cohort, Barton MacLane, committed the murders and stole the prospectors' map. With Fenton dead, MacLane lays the blame for all three crimes on Young and strikes off to locate the prospectors' mine. Young and his colt are befriended by traveling wagon peddler Marguerite Chapman as Young learns grim sheriff Willard Parker is searching for him. Realizing MacLane must be the guilty party, Young leaves the colt with Chapman and sets off on his long, relentless search. Throughout his unyielding quest he continually is reunited with Chapman and the ever growing colt --- as well as crossing paths with gold seeking outlaws Akim Tamiroff and Mike Mazurki who have seen the reward posted for Young and assume he knows the location of the map. The dry, scorching finale in the Arizona desert is expertly done by director George Sherman with all the Sedona locales dazzlingly photographed in Technicolor by Eugene B. Rodney. Not to be missed.

 TERROR TRAIL (1946 Columbia)
Fast paced, non-stop, gun blazing thriller as the Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) puts an end to a threatened range war in Wyoming between cattlemen (Zon Murray) and sheepmen (Robert Barron). Naturally, it's all a rustling plot instigated by saloon owner Lane Chandler and his gun-rannies Ted Mapes and George Chesebro. At the same time, chubby Easterner Barbara Pepper and her obnoxious, insolent pup of a brother (Elvin Eric Field) get mixed up with Chandler's gang. Smiley Burnette's traveling trading post features the music of deep voiced Ozie Waters and his Colorado Rangers ("Trail That Has No End", "Louisville Lady"). Smiley's not as involved in the plot machinations for this entry. He's only there to break up the excitement with his goofy songs.

 HILLS OF UTAH (1951 Columbia)
After his father is shot and killed by someone unknown, Gene Autry leaves Coffin Gap only to return years later as a doctor, landing smack in the middle of a bitter feud between Copper miners (Onslow Stevens and daughter Elaine Riley) and the big cattle outfits (rancher Denver Pyle and fiancée Donna Martell with hired gunmen Harry Lauter, Sandy Sanders, Kenne Duncan). Presently, Gene's lawman instincts lead him to why cattle are dying from mining waste water. Two well known child stars, Tommy Ivo and Teddy Infuhr, have small unbilled roles. Gene sings his Easter hit, "Peter Cottontail". Certainly one of Autry's better and more memorable Columbia outings.

 SUSANNA PASS (1949 Republic)
What evil men will do for $2 million. Robert Emmett Keane is an untrustworthy newspaperman in Susanna Pass who craves the lake which is a fish hatchery owned by his brother, Lucien Littlefield. Keane, with escaped convict Douglas Fowley, murders his brother to gain the rich oil deposits underneath the lake. Here's another of Roy Rogers' environmentalist westerns with Roy, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage as game wardens bent on fish conservation. Dale Evans, returning to Roy's films after their marriage, is every bit a modern day woman as a Ph.D. in marine biology as well as a veteran of the Women's Marine Corps. "Doc" Dale ends up inheriting the hatchery when Littlefield is killed --- much to the dismay of Keane, spoiling his plan to take over. But rest assured, he and Fowley's evil deeds aren't over yet. With no recognized sidekick, Martin Garralaga is a Mexican deputy to the sheriff with a fiery daughter, Estelita Rodriguez. Although action ace Bill Witney directed, SUSANNA PASS is not quite in the same category of Roy's best in later years --- SPRINGTIME IN THE SIERRAS, EYES OF TEXAS, GOLDEN STALLION, TRIGGER JR. --- but there is an exciting chase and showdown in the fish hatchery.

 WEST OF CARSON CITY (1940 Universal)
Gold is discovered near the ghost town of Ridgeville! That's when the lawless element run by Harry Woods and his gun-rannies (Frank Mitchell, Roy Barcroft, Charlie King, Jack Roper) take over. When even Judge Robert Homans and his daughter Peggy Moran are threatened, in steps Circle X ranch owner Johnny Mack Brown and his hands (Bob Baker, Fuzzy Knight, even Ted Wells in a small role) to strike back at the badmen. Baker, in a very secondary role, sings two songs, both of which, "On the Trail of Tomorrow" and "Let's Go", were reused a year later in ARIZONA CYCLONE by the Notables, who sing here with Baker. Thankfully, Fuzzy does not sing in this one! This is one of the few B-westerns that can claim all three top screen badmen --- Woods, Barcroft and King.

 PURPLE VIGILANTES (1938 Republic)
When Trails End becomes a den of iniquity and hoodlums rule the West, the trouble-busting Three Mesquiteers (Bob Livingston, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune) lead the vigilantes into action. But George Chesebro and Jack Perrin take things one step further, wearing the purple robes of the original vigilantes to begin a new reign of terror, leading the citizens to believe Earl Dwire's legit vigilantes have taken to the outlaw trail. This adventure takes on serial overtones when the cold blooded Purple Vigilantes don their hoods and robes and swear allegiance in a dark, torch-lit cave to their masked leader-#1. Good stuff from scripters Betty Burbridge and Oliver Drake directed by little Georgie Sherman. But one Boo-Boo. At about 45 minutes into the picture, there appears three Republic one-sheet movie posters on a wall, but the time period for this western is obviously not contemporary and takes place long before motion pictures.

 DEATH VALLEY GUNFIGHTER (1949 Republic)
Underhanded milquetoast banker Harry Harvey ("Oh, dear!") is in league with a band of gunmen (Jim Nolan, Lane Bradford, Mauritz Hugo) masterminding a plot to take over the Lucky Brothers Mine, owned by Eddy Waller and his brother Forrest Taylor. Waller's niece, Gail Davis, is in love with Sheriff Bill Henry, in whom Waller has little confidence until he sends for lawman Allan 'Rocky' Lane. Plotwise, as good as others in the series (written as often they are by Bob Williams) but lacking some of the usual tough as nails 'Rocky' Lane action. Interesting sidelight, Waller plays "The William Tell Overture" on his French horn. This was made the same year that classical piece became the theme music for THE LONE RANGER TV series ... of course it had already been established on radio.

 BRANDED (1931 Columbia)
"I crave excitement" says Wallace MacDonald at one point and you get plenty of it when Buck Jones and his pal John Oscar (as Swede Ole) are branded stagecoach bandits. Escaping, Buck heads for a ranch he's inherited from his uncle but runs afoul of neighboring ranch lady Ethel Kenyon. Worse yet, he's framed for rustling by Kenyon's foreman Al Smith and his henchman Bob Kortman. Much is made of Buck's name in this one --- Cuthbert Chauncey Dale --- while he treats pal Ole like a second class citizen, even calling him square head. Granted, John Oscar plays the role in stereotypical El Brendel fashion, but me thinks stalwart hero Buck was a bit hard on his pard.

 TEXAS TERROR (1934 Lone Star)
Slower and tamer than many of John Wayne's Lone Star epics. Sheriff John Wayne, pursuing bandits, believes he's accidentally killed his old friend, John Ince, whose daughter, Lucile Browne, is arriving from the East. In reality, outlaw LeRoy Mason is the real killer, but Wayne, torn with anguish and believing the worst, turns in his badge to new Sheriff George Hayes and retreats to the life of an unkempt desert recluse. When Lucile arrives, she's led to believe Wayne is guilty of killing her Dad. Hayes convinces Wayne he can make up for the past by becoming Lucile's foreman so the ranch will flourish. So he does, but through the conniving Mason, Lucile is convinced Wayne killed her father. Buffalo Bill Jr. (Jay Wilsey) has a role as Mason's henchman. Producer Paul Malvern had Joseph West (aka George WaGGoner) appropriate Robert N. Bradbury's script for Bob Baker's GUILTY TRAIL ('38) which Malvern also produced.

 CANYON RAIDERS (1951 Monogram)
Whip Wilson, while visiting his old pal, rancher Jim Bannon, runs across horse rustlers I. Stanford Jolley, Marshall Reed and Riley Hill. Phyllis Coates is mighty feisty as a buckskin Sheriff. With this film, Whip's original sidekick, Andy Clyde, was gone after 11 films, replaced by former Universal regular Fuzzy Knight and second lead Jim Bannon. This trio lasted for six Wilson entries, then even Bannon was let go in a further economy move. In this one, Knight is not a true 'sidekick', he's a homesteader married to Barbara Woodell. Pretty tame Wilson. Whip use --- once.

 NORTHWEST RANGERS (1942 MGM)
Two orphaned boys are raised in the northwest by Mountie Jack Holt. One (William Lundigan) grows up to be a Mountie, the other (James Craig) grows up to be a gambler with the inevitable results. Both vie for the affections of Patricia Dane. Basically, a northwest remake of MANHATTAN MELODRAMA ('34), but enjoyable. Carefree, nonchalant Craig is especially fun to watch opposing staid gambler John Carradine and the mundane Lundigan. Craig as a boy is played by Darryl Hickman. For the most part, prestigious MGM never saw fit to indulge in B-westerns. As close as they came is this minor entry along with OMAHA TRAIL, APACHE TRAIL and APACHE WAR SMOKE.

 RIDERS OF THE RANGE (1950 RKO)
Delightful opening with Richard 'Chito' Martin casually riding along, with his out of work again pal Tim Holt, cheerfully singing his own version of "The Girl I Left Behind Me". From there it segues into one of he best barroom brawls of the Holt series and a comedy of errors plot over $3,000 that nearly rivals WINCHESTER 73 in following the money trail. Ranch owner Jacqueline White is superb as the tomboy ranch owner protecting her kid brother, Robert Clarke, who is into gambler Reed Hadley for three large in gambling debts. Hadley forces Clarke to rustle his own cattle to pay off. Tom Tyler is calm, cool and collected as Hadley's rustler henchie. One of his best roles. In his book on Tim Holt, author David Rothel notes Tim uses a bosal (a halter-like bridle that doesn't utilize a bit in the horse's mouth) on his horse Lightning in this film --- and only this film. David can't recall ever seeing any other movie cowboy use a bosal in a film --- nor can I. Everyone is at the top of their game under director Lesley Selander for RIDERS OF THE RANGE, one of the most enjoyable of the series.

 DOOMED CARAVAN (1941 Paramount)
Routine Hopalong Cassidy as Hoppy (William Boyd), California (Andy Clyde) and Lucky (Russell Hayden) help lady freight line owner Minna Gombell get her bullion through despite the plots and raids of marauders (Morris Ankrum, Trevor Bardette, Pat J. O'Brien, Ray Bennett) who want to establish a freighting monopoly for themselves. Neat wrap-up scene has Hoppy letting boss-lady Gombell get in the final punch on low-down Ankrum. Written by J. Benton Cheney and directed by Les Selander. Filming was suspended midway for four months to allow time for William Boyd to heal from a leg injury.

 PHANTOM THUNDERBOLT (1933 World Wide)
A western perfectly suited to Ken Maynard's blend of light comedic and high action bravura talents as wildman Ken, the Thunderbolt Kid, consents to rid Coyote Gulch of William Gould's bandits in exchange for three kisses from pretty restaurant owner Frances Lee. Ken's pal is Frank Rice who worked so well in the '30s with both Ken and Buck Jones. Alan James directs with a tongue in cheek approach written by Betty Burbridge and Forrest Sheldon. Excellent photography by Jackson Rose --- especially evident in Ken's fight with Bob Kortman. It's also fun to watch Nelson McDowell do his standard undertaker act that he'd honed to a T.

 BIG BOY RIDES AGAIN (1935 Beacon)
A title misnomer to be sure, as Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams is never addressed by anything other than Tom. The title is simply intended by producers to let the juvenile audience plainly know that one of their favorite stars, hopefully, is back in another western. It's also worthy of noting, Big Boy wasn't relying on these Beacon B-westerns for his sole income. Also in 1935 he played two highly praised dramatic roles at Paramount as a sadistic thug in THE GLASS KEY and a dangerous madman in PRIVATE WORLDS. In William Nolte's story, infirm, grouchy old man Charles French is murdered one dark and rainy night. In a note, French, who is Big Boy's Dad, leaves $50,000 in cash hidden in the house "if you will follow ..." and he is murdered by a masked intruder before he can complete the sentence. Big and his pal, Bud Osborne (in his only sidekick role?), have several suspects to contend with: lawyer William Gould, foreman Victor Potel, Chinese cook Louis Vin Cenet and neighboring rancher Lafe McKee who has quarreled with French over Big's affection for his daughter Connie Bergen. The answer is pretty obvious to loyal B-western watchers, and besides, several of the suspects are eliminated way too prematurely to give the story much suspense or surprise. A trail of crudely scratched X's all over the house eventually leads to a hidden trap door and a tunnel underneath the house. The ambiguous ending leaves unanswered why the Chinese cook poisoned the poor little dog and what he was looking for --- even at the end? Cowboy Cancer Alert: Big smokes a pipe in one scene then later states, "I'd give anything for a cigarette!" William Nolte let Earl Snell and John Vlahos take credit for his story on SADDLE MOUNTAIN ROUNDUP ('41) with the Range Busters. Nolte was production manager on that series. The remake did a better job of keeping the cloaked killer's identity secret a bit longer.

 ROCK RIVER RENEGADES (1942 Monogram)
Plenty of action when the Range Busters (Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, John 'Dusty' King, Max 'Alibi' Terhune) roundup phantom bandits (Weldon Heyburn and his gun-rannies Frank Ellis, Carl Mathews, Tex Palmer) and plenty of fun as they play cupid to old friend and federal marshal Kermit Maynard who is in love with newspaper editor John Elliott's headstrong daughter Christine McIntyre. The phantom riders story falls down, however, with the implausible explanation of reversed horseshoes apparently leading to (but in reality) from a line shack. Richard Cramer essays another one of his grouchy bartender roles that he did so well. You'd never meet this guy at CHEERS! Even old time producer/director Denver Dixon (Victor Adamson) shows up as one of the heavies.

 WILDCAT SAUNDERS (1935 Atlantic)
Operating in the last half of the '30s, Atlantic Pictures Corp. was primarily a re-releasing outfit for bigger films made earlier in the '30s such as FRONT PAGE, SCARFACE etc. They also distributed four slightly different William Berke produced Jack Perrin westerns, all of which, while still done on the cheap, nonetheless looked and played better than much of the other independent westerns being released at that time. This was the first of the four and overall, these were the best sound westerns Perrin (1896-1967), who had been a pretty fair name in silents, made. Perrin, already 40, looks younger, and does a good job as the slightly out of shape prizefighter who comes to the wide open spaces with his manager (William Gould-in a surprisingly offbeat comedic role for the usual heavy) and assistant, Fred 'Snowflake' Toones, to get back in shape. Arriving at Ed Cassidy's ranch to train, they're immediately embroiled in a $100,000 Wells Fargo robbery and a case of who's got the jewels. Naturally, Perrin falls for cute Blanche Mehaffey (who never looked better) while he rounds up thieves Tom London, Roger Williams and Earl Dwire. Snowflake always played a stereotyped (for the times) black man --- but it seems even more pronounced here, especially with the hateful way Tom London calls him "black boy", "Rastus" and "Crow's meat". Even Snowflake demeans himself saying he's named that "'Cause I'm so lily white!" That's the main reason you'll never see this western on TV ever again! After this quartet of Berke-Perrin 'Blue Ribbon' westerns, Perrin drifted into character roles on through the '60s. Berke (1903-1958) was a writer and cameraman before entering production. He later produced at Republic, then directed at Columbia and continued to work at several major studios until the time of his death.

 ARIZONA TERRORS (1942 Republic)
In this remake of the 3 Mesquiteers NIGHT RIDERS ('39), Don 'Red' Barry and his pal Al 'Fuzzy' St. John expose a phony Spanish land grant swindle perpetrated by gambler Reed Hadley and John Maxwell (aided by their gunmen --- John Merton, Rex Lease, Bud Osborne, Chuck Morrison) thereby saving the ranches of leading lady Lynn Merrick, Tom London and others. The assassination attempt on President McKinley (played well by Del Anderson) in 1901 is neatly woven into the storyline. NIGHT RIDERS was scripted by Betty Burbridge and Stanley Roberts with ARIZONA TERRORS being strictly a rewrite job by Doris Schroeder and Taylor Craven. Whitney Stanton and Bennett Cohen over at RKO must have seen one or the other as they incorporated much of the storyline into Tim Holt's RED RIVER ROBIN HOOD in 1943.

 MICHIGAN KID (1947 Universal)
This lighthearted, fun loving western based on a Rex Beach story proves Jon Hall should have been cast in more of this type fare. He looks good and the film is well mounted by director Ray Taylor who, unfortunately, this same year found himself out at Universal, as many others did when the studio reorganized to become Universal-International and dropped all their B-pictures. MICHIGAN KID is neither B nor A, just a solid little western --- of which we'd no doubt have seen Hall in more had not the transition at Universal come about at this time. As it is, this one and VIGILANTES RETURN, both in Cinecolor, were all we got. In this one, Hall runs afoul of Victor McLaglen's outlaw gang and is himself blamed for a bank robbery by bank teller Byron Foulger who is in league with McLaglen. But someone else, a solid-citizen, is the real brains behind the evil doings. Is it banker Charles Trowbridge, stage driver Andy Devine or Sheriff Stanley Andrews? To help clear himself and eastern girl-come-west Rita Johnson, Hall sends for his old Civil War buddies --- Milburn Stone, William Brooks (later William Ching) and Leonard East.

 MAN OF CONQUEST (1939 Republic)
For Republic's biggest picture to date, producer Sol Siegel selected the one actor identifiable with epic westerns --- Richard Dix --- -to star in the biopic of Sam Houston, 'founder' of Texas. Poorly constructed, episodic in nature for the first half, the horribly written screenplay begins in 1814 with Andrew Jackson, quickly jumps to 1829 when Jackson is President and Houston is governor of Tennessee, breezes by Houston's ill-fated marriage to Joan Fontaine, leaves him a drunkard for 10 minutes or so, then a supporter of the Cherokees (who have sobered him up with old friend Gabby Hayes' help), he deserts them and finally heads off to Texas where the battle for the Alamo is reduced to two minutes of screen time. The entire mess reduces history to quick, episodic, cliched, comic book coincidence and presents Houston as a self serving, egotistical opportunist-(maybe he was). A complete waste! Producer Siegel found out he'd better stick with Autry and the Mesquiteers. Actors come and go --- often in a blink ---watch for Victor Jory, Robert Barrat (as Davy Crockett), Max Terhune, Edward Ellis (as Jackson, who comes off historically far better than Houston), Gail Patrick (as Houston's second wife), Ralph Morgan (as Stephen Austin), Robert Armstrong (as Jim Bowie), C. Henry Gordon (as Santa Ana), Lane Chandler, Ed Cobb, Hal Taliaferro, Ernie Adams, Billy Benedict, Charles Stevens, Cy Kendall and even George Montgomery.

 MAN FROM OKLAHOMA (1945 Republic)
This film title came as close as any to the 'Oklahoma' Broadway play Republic prexy Herbert J. Yates first envisioned when he began to add lavish musical numbers to Roy Rogers pictures. Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers are cheated out of $900 by fast talking scam artist Arthur Loft over an impending contract in New York City. Returning to Oklahoma, they become involved in a feud between Dale Evans' grandmother, Maude Eburne, and rival rancher Gabby Hayes. Perhaps the wildest wagon race/land rush ever put on film (with stock from IN OLD OKLAHOMA with John Wayne) helps sort out the schemes of plotters Roger Pryor and his boys, Ed Cobb and George Sherwood. Apart from the land rush, action gets short shift with light songs, comedy and romance holding the spotlight for director Frank MacDonald.

 GAMBLING TERROR (1937 Supreme)
A town is besieged by Charlie King's ruthless desperadoes (Dick Curtis, Frank Ellis, Sherry Tansey) demanding protection money. Despite the efforts of courageous newspaper editor Frank Ball and his daughter, gorgeous Iris Meredith, it seems as if the gang, with a mystery man leader, cannot be stopped. Enter Johnny Mack Brown, a tough, no-nonsense gambler, who will not be intimidated by the ruffians. Eventually, the gang holds Bobby Nelson (Iris' young brother) prisoner, which brings about their downfall. The mystery boss angle is better handled here than in any B-western I've ever seen. Your choices are stableman Budd Buster, lawyer Earl Dwire, Sheriff Ted Adams, bartender Steve Clark and goofy, drunkard printer Horace Murphy. This one's of more than passing interest with a solid script by George Plympton and Fred Myton; directed by Sam Newfield.

 OUTLAWS OF SONORA (1938 Republic)
Every cowboy lead had the chance to play his evil carbon copy, this was Bob Livingston's and he plays it for all it's worth with a vicious cackle, evil sneer and drooping cigarette. Detailed to take $22,000 in cash from the bank to the Cattlemen's Association headquarters, Stony Brooke (Livingston) of the 3 Mesquiteers is waylaid in the desert by his evil lookalike who, noticing the similarities between them, holds Stony hostage while he poses as Stony to collect the money, in the process committing a murder for which Stony is blamed. Even the other two Mesquiteers (Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, Max 'Lullaby' Terhune) are confused for a while but it's all sorted out in a rip-roaring saloon brawl finale. This is the B-western at the top of its form!

 WYOMING (1947 Republic)
One of William Elliott's best prestige westerns as Bill rises from pioneer to cattle baron until intruder Albert Dekker publicizes the Homestead Act encouraging nesters on the range which ferments a cattlemen vs. farmers range war allowing Dekker to rustle Elliott's cattle. Elliott's foreman, John Carroll, previously always loyal to Elliott, finally quits when he realizes (and Elliott doesn't) that the homestead act is law which will forever change the old ways. Bill also finds his college educated daughter, Vera Ralston (flatteringly lit as required by husband and Republic honcho Herbert J. Yates), deserting his cause as well. Virginia Grey is the saloon girl in love with Elliott but desired by Dekker --- over whom they come to blows in a terrific battle darn near equaling that of THE SPOILERS. Incidentally, this was Gabby Hayes' last film at Republic after co-starring with Roy Rogers, Bill Elliott, Gene Autry, John Wayne and others in over 65 films since 1935. An empire building western in the tradition of CIMARRON and the Richard Dix/Pop Sherman productions solidly scripted by Gerald Geraghty and Lawrence Hazard with direction by Joe Kane, whose daughter, Louise, incidentally, plays Ralston as a child. Watch for Ben Johnson in a bit part. Also interesting to see the seven top badmen of B-westerns in a film together --- Charles King, Dick Curtis, Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft, Tom London, George Chesebro and Glenn Strange.

 GALLOPING ROMEO (1933 Monogram)
Evil Ernie Adams and Ed Brady are forcing Brady's daughter, smallish Doris Hill, to hide in a trunk on the stagecoach and snatch the money from the express box when no one is looking enroute to the coaches' destination. Two cowboys, Bob Steele and his pal George Hayes, sign up as stage drivers to catch the thieves. Remade as PHANTOM STAGE with Bob Baker in '39. The common thread here is Ernie Adams, who is in both versions, and Paul Malvern who was involved in production on both titles. Malvern or Adams obviously saved their script as many of the scenes and much of the dialogue is exactly the same. Even sidekicks George Hayes and George Cleveland (from the Baker version) are both named Grizzly. A third version came along in 1950 with Tex Williams, FARGO PHANTOM.

 RED RIVER ROBIN HOOD (1943 RKO)
Through a phony Spanish land grant and the help of a crooked judge (Bob McKenzie), swindler Eddie Dew has proven ownership to all the land in the Red River territory with he and his henchmen (Kenne Duncan, Bud McTaggart, Reed Howes) evicting all the ranchers (led by Russell Wade) who pay rent for their ranches. After gaining the confidence of crusading newspaper publisher Otto Hoffman and his daughter, Barbara Moffett, Tim Holt and his partner, Cliff 'Ukulele Ike' Edwards, don black robes and masks to risk their lives helping the ranchers under the Robin Hoodish name of Mr. Justice. Lookout-Earle Hodgins steals every scene he's in as a slow-witted deputy. This was the last picture Tim made before he went into the service for WWII.

 WESTERN CODE (1932 Columbia)
Sudden and tough Tim McCoy that begins with an exciting night-time running gun battle atop a speeding freight train immediately followed by a barroom slugfest with Wheeler Oakman. Texas Ranger Tim helps Nora Lane and her hotheaded brother (Dwight Frye of DRACULA fame) prove Oakman married Lane and Frye's mother then, when she died, forged her will in his favor, cutting the two children out entirely. When Oakman is murdered, both Lane and Frye confess, each believing the other is guilty. Based on a William Colt MacDonald story as most of McCoy's Columbias of this period were. And yes, they really said it again in a movie, "This town ain't big enough ..." Cowboy Cancer alert: Tim bites off a chaw of Bull Durham! Ugh.

 THUNDERING GUNSLINGER (1944 PRC)
Routine Buster Crabbe programmer has Billy Carson out to avenge the mistaken hanging by night riding vigilantes of his uncle, George Chesebro. Charles King and his henchmen, Kermit Maynard and Jack Ingram, are the real culprits who frame rancher Karl Hackett for the hanging, then frame Buster (in the eyes of Hackett's daughter Frances Gladwin) for the bushwhacking of Hackett. Fuzzy St. John, a little tamer than usual, is the town veterinarian in this one. Wally West (seen as one of the bar patrons) is the obvious double for Crabbe in a wreck-the-joint saloon brawl with King.

 SINGING SHERIFF (1944 Universal)
It's Gene Autry plot 3-C-kind of in reverse --- as Universal tries its best to spoof the singing cowboy craze. Wild west Sheriff of Elbow Bend, Samuel S. Hinds, is mortally wounded by Joe Sawyer's gang so he sends for his long lost son, whom he believes to be a tough lawman, to "stand eye to eye and toe to toe with the varmints" and finish the clean-up-the-town job he started. It's a merry mixup from there on. You see, long lost son, Walter Sande, substituted a picture of his night club singer boss, Bob Crosby, to send to his Pop years ago to present a better impression. So Crosby becomes the singing sheriff and falls in love with his 'sister', Fay McKenzie, who is also being courted by crooked lawyer Edward Norris. It's a tame affair and Crosby simply doesn't have the comedic timing or charisma of his more famous brother to bring this farce off in proper fashion. Nor is director Leslie Goodwins and the script up to par with a lot of rehashed old jokes. Resident Universal sidekick Fuzzy Knight is even here. For music fans, the film momentarily comes alive with the toe-tapping music of Spade Cooley, Deuce Spriggens, Tex Williams and Carolina Cotton.

 PHANTOM PINTO (1941 Ellkay)
Boring, static direction by Richard C. Kahn with the worst sounding, most inappropriate canned classical music background I've ever heard (sounding like it's coming out of a record player out on the desert) serve to make this Buzz Henry juveniler a real dud. E. G. Robertson's script is lousy; unfunny, obnoxious Jewish comedian Phil Arnold (who later offended us all on TV's COWBOY G-MEN) is in the cast and midway we're forced to suffer a song by an unknown Sons of the Pioneers wannabee group. The lame plot has Buzzy's grandpop murdered by spies (Sven Hugo Borg and Frank Marlo-on a pinto) seeking strontium, used in making munitions, on grandpop's land. Dave O'Brien has to handle the action stuff for pint sized Buzzy. Dorothy Short (in reality Mrs. Dave O'Brien) is the leading lady.

 WAGON WHEELS (1934 Paramount)
In 1840 a wagon train of settlers leaves from Independence, MO, for Oregon led by scouts Randolph Scott, Raymond Hatton and Olin Howlin. Figuring the white settler will destroy his prosperous fur trade, half-breed Monte Blue plots to stop the train from reaching Powder River. Meanwhile, Scott romances Gail Patrick and befriends her son, cute Billy Lee. The fabulous title tune was first used in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1934 and again later in Eddie Dean's CARAVAN TRAIL. Even Randy Scott becomes a momentary singing cowboy during the chorus, but you can fast forward through Jan Duggan's "Under the Daisies"! Uneven and episodic under Charles Barton's direction, a man who was better suited to lighthearted fare with the Marx Brothers, Five Little Peppers and Abbott and Costello. Based on Zane Grey's 1929 story which had been filmed before in 1931 as FIGHTING CARAVANS with Gary Cooper.

 THE SHOWDOWN (1940 Paramount)
Gabby Hayes' departure from the Hopalong Cassidy features left a large gaping hole. His replacement in mid-1939 until mid-1940 was Britt Wood who only served to make even more obvious how important Hayes was to the success of the series which didn't get back on track until Andy Clyde came aboard as California Carlson in THREE MEN FROM TEXAS ('40). THE SHOWDOWN also suffers from the replacement of regular Cassidy director Les Selander by mediocre work from Howard Bretherton. The film rambles, goes in several directions and, although Hoppy calls the Baron (Morris Ankrum) a "vile human being ... you're the worst", Cassidy has certainly crossed trails with far worse heavies than a horsethief like the Baron and his men Roy Barcroft, Kermit Maynard and Walt Shumway --- a trio who aren't given enough to do. Then there's another plot involving eastern girl Jan(e) Clayton who's come west to be with her rancher Uncle (Wright Kramer) who turns out to be a swindler. Naturally, Hoppy sidekick Russell Hayden as Lucky (behaving in this script more like the hotheaded, rambunctious Jimmy Ellison's Johnny Nelson) falls for Clayton. In reality, Clayton and Hayden were husband and wife having already been married for a couple of years. Future star Eddie Dean has a nice role as the Marshal and the King's Men sing a song prettily but they're not very western. No wonder Boyd didn't appreciate music in his films. He refers to it here as "howlin'". The best scene in the movie comes midway --- a tense poker game with the Baron in which Hoppy realizes the cards are stacked against him but outwits the Baron nevertheless. Jan Clayton (1917-1983) is best remembered as Tommy Rettig's Mom, Ellen Miller, on LASSIE ('54-'57).

 BLACK HILLS EXPRESS (1943 Republic)
Although Don Barry is an outlaw with a price on his head, general manager Charles Miller of Wells Fargo is sure Don's the only man tough enough to stop the holdups. At first Don refuses the job, but when he and comedy-character deputy sheriff Wally Vernon learn Ariel Heath (an odd looking chick apparently on loan from RKO where she made most of her films) has been orphaned by a particularly brutal holdup of a Wells Fargo stage, Don agrees to take the job and ferrets out banker Hooper Atchley, Marshal William Halligan and gunmen George J. Lewis and LeRoy Mason in their scheme to force Miller out of his business. Watch for the two X'd out wanted posters as dead 'outlaws' --- Roy Barcroft and Yakima Canutt. Good script by Norman Hall and Fred Myton under John English's adept direction.

 SINGING OUTLAW (1938 Universal)
One of the most entertaining Bob Baker B-westerns is his second outing with careful direction from 'Wagon Wheel' Joseph H. Lewis. Rodeo rider Bob Baker stumbles into a showdown between Marshal Jack Montgomery and notorious outlaw Harry Woods. When they're both killed, a posse mistakes Bob for the outlaw and townspeople later assume he's the Marshal. Before he can re-assert his own identity, Bob has to round-up a band of rustlers led by LeRoy Mason and justify his mysterious actions with his sweetheart, Joan Barclay. Some wonderful cowboy songs by Fleming Allen, but, as usual, Bob's voice sounds better blended with a group.

 DUDE RANGER (1934 Fox)
Pure entertainment in a western that builds its mystery angles suspensefully to a stirring climax amidst the gorgeous grandeur of Zion National Park in Utah. Easterner George O'Brien inherits a ranch and moves west only to discover rustlers working his land. At first he suspects Henry Hall, father of the girl he's fallen for, Irene Hervey --- a spoiled thing who has a habit of having her own way. But she's never met anyone like O'Brien! Eventually, foreman LeRoy Mason is discovered to be the true 'brains' behind the rustling. Not a lot of hard riding action, it's O'Brien's bright, sassy charm and the clever, witty, suspenseful script by Barry Barringer (based on Zane Grey's story) that carries this one though. Supposedly remade as ROLL ALONG, COWBOY in '37 with Smith Ballew, but that film bears no resemblance to this superior title. Although still being released by Fox, O'Brien's films, as of this one, were now being made independently by Sol Lesser's Atherton Productions, doubtless an economic move on Fox's part, freeing up their own facilities and cash while still giving them a series of westerns for release.

 SILVER BULLET (1934 Reliable)
One of lowbudget producer/director B. B. Ray's better films with some nice photography touches by J. Henry Kruse. After prospector Tom Tyler stops a gang of outlaws from intimidating general store owner Jayne Regan, her father, Mayor Lafe McKee, appoints Tom Sheriff to curb gang leader George Chesebro and his boys' (Charles Whitaker, Lew Meehan) violence. Tom later discovers 'good citizen' banker Charlie King is the brains behind recent robberies. Watch for former stars Walt Williams (Wally Wales) as a townsman, Franklyn Farnum as the county marshal and Bill Patton as a townsman. Jayne Regan, a better than average leading lady --- especially for Reliable --- made five with Tyler and Jack Perrin before moving on to roles in bigger films, STOWAWAY, SECOND HONEYMOON, a couple of Mr. Moto pictures, and then, like many others, seemed to disappear after 1938.

 PRAIRIE GUNSMOKE (1942 Columbia)
Frantic, full bore western excitement! Advertised as a "hair raising saga of the old West" with "two famous stars who keep the range hummin' with bullets and songs", it is all that and more. Big and greedy rancher Tris Coffin and his hirelings (Joe McGuinn, Frosty Royce) ride roughshod over the small outfits forcing them to sell out. But they go too far when they cold-bloodedly murder popular rancher Rick Anderson before he can pay off his mortgage, then foreclose on his place. This spurs Tex Ritter, his accident prone pal Frank 'Cannonball' Mitchell, rancher Hal Price and his daughter Virginia Carroll (Tex's sweetheart) and the others to take action. As well, Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott), Anderson's nephew, arrives in town to administer his own brand of justice. Right off the bat, Tex has a doozy of a scrap with Coffin and, later, Elliott has a dandy with Francis Walker. The eight Elliott/Ritter titles in '41-'42 are some of the best series B-westerns ever filmed.

 GHOST TOWN LAW (1942 Monogram)
Shadows, gravestones, spiderwebs, hidden tunnels, masked figures, secret passageways in a well, and mysterious threatening notes all held together by sinister Edward Kay music make this Rough Riders entry more of an old dark house mystery than a western adventure. Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton suspect Judge Murdock MacQuarrie of plotting nefarious deeds in his scheme to gain control of an estate owned by Virginia Carpenter and her brother Howard Masters. MacQuarrie and his gang (Tom London, Charles King, Ben Corbett) have learned of a lost vein of gold running underneath the spooky old mansion. Okay, but probably the last Rough Riders title I'd select as representative of the series. Jones doesn't utter a word til about the 25 minute mark.

 SONGS AND BULLETS (1938 Spectrum)
Singer Fred Scott and his guitar player Fuzzy St. John are hired to sing in Frank LaRue's saloon as a cover for their real investigation into the death of Fred's uncle who was killed by rustlers using dum-dum .45s. The rustlers are 'leading citizen' Karl Hackett and crooked Sheriff Charlie King aided and abetted by Sherry Tansey, Jimmy Aubrey, Carl Mathews and Richard Cramer. Meanwhile, French-accented schoolteacher Alice Ardell is secretly seeking the killer of her father. Ardell is an 'actress' who must have been one of producer Jed Buell's girlfriends, it's the only way she could have gotten the job. Songwriter Lew Porter is the piano player in the film --- responsible for such inane song fare as "Arkansaw" and "My 10 Gallon Hat" that severely cramped Scott's abilities as a singing cowboy. This is one of several Scott films billed as "A Stan Laurel Production". To what extent the skinny one participated is unknown. Story editor credit goes to feminist Helen Gurly --- later of Cosmopolitan.

 LAWLESS CODE (1949 Monogram)
Crooked ex-judge Tris Coffin and his associates (Myron Healey, Kenne Duncan, Terry Frost) trick rancher Steve Clark out of his land through their land development corporation then kill Clark and frame his wild and reckless nephew, Riley Hill. Singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely and his bumpkin saddlekick, Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor straighten things out. The late Ellen Hall (1924-1999) is the girl. During a break in the story, Jimmy puts his horse Sunny through his trick paces. This average Wakely, with only one song, closed out his starring days at Monogram after 28 films over a five year period.

 BROTHERS IN THE SADDLE (1949 RKO)
Far more adult in approach than the usual B-western, approaching an A-western in content, this is a strong contender for Tim Holt's best western. It's brother against brother as Tim struggles to keep conniving reckless Steve Brodie from falling into a life of gambling and crime --- to no avail as Steve kills card dealer Francis McDonald in a gambling argument. Even though this shooting was in self defense, Steve's surly, cantankerous attitude and desire for cash to get away sucks him deeper and deeper until, while nervously waiting for Tim's help, he holds up a stage and cold-bloodedly murders gambling hall owner Richard Powers (formerly Tom Keene). Attempting escape, he brutally even tries to kill both his brother and Tim's partner, Richard 'Chito' Martin. So detestable is Brodie, he even steals from his fiancée, ranch owner Virginia Cox. Although the remainder of Tim's westerns for the next three years were far above the product being turned out in this period by Monogram, PRC, even Republic and Columbia for the most part, they unfortunately never again approached the A status of BROTHERS IN THE SADDLE. Cowboy cancer alert --- Tim puffs on his pipe while Martin, Brodie and Cox harmonize during a lighter moment.

 IRON SHERIFF (1957 U.A.)
Suspenseful, extremely well written (by Seelig Lester), overlooked western with lawman Sterling Hayden tracking down the clues to clear his son (Darryl Hickman) accused of robbery and murder after it was Hayden himself who gave the evidence that convicted Hickman and sentenced him to hang. Good roles for John Dehner as a silver-tongued lawyer who pleads for Hickman, bounty hunter Mort Mills, express agent King Donovan and saloon owner Kent Taylor. Leading lady Constance Ford's histrionics are a bit overdone at times, but it's a small price to pay to enjoy a strongly written 73 minute film that should have received more attention over the years than it has. Well directed by Sidney Salkow who'd been at it since 1936, mostly with crime and adventure dramas, but was turning to westerns at this period in his career.

 BRONZE BUCKAROO (1938 Hollywood/Sack Amusement)
Typical B-western plot as Herb Jeffries (as Bob Blake) and his sidekick Lucius 'Dusty' Brooks save the ranch (with a gold ore vein) for leading lady Artie Young from land grabbers Spencer Williams Jr. and Clarence Brooks. The twist here is, the cast is all black. Jeffries' greatest fame came when he joined Duke Ellington's band in 1939 and was featured vocalist on "Flamingo" ('41). But prior to that, Jeffries wanted to created a singing cowboy hero in the mold of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers for the black kids of America. "I could see in my mind those beaming little children raising their faces to movie screens with the same joy and hero worship white kids experienced watching Hoppy, Gene and Roy." His four films exist due to his perserverance. Problem is, they were filmed on a half-a-shoestring budget by Richard C. Kahn so production values are nil. Herb's title song, "I'm a Happy Cowboy", is terrific. (You can hear it in freshened up fashion on Herb's 1995 ten-tune CD, "The Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again"). There's way too much 'comedy relief' from Herb's sidekick Lucius 'Dusty' Brooks about $12 and a talking mule. Spencer Williams Jr. (1893-1969) later found lasting fame as Andy Brown on TV's ground breaking AMOS 'N' ANDY (1951-1953).

 BANDITS OF EL DORADO (1949 Columbia)
When outlaws are mysteriously disappearing, Texas Ranger Charles Starrett stages the phony murder of Ranger Captain Fred Sears to establish himself as a wanted outlaw and rout out kingpin John Dehner who, with his boys Clayton Moore and John Doucette, are making a business of hiding outlaws south of the border. One of scripter Barry Shipman's best, serial-like in tone with secret passageways and trap-doors that lead off into underground rivers. Both Starrett 'doubles' are on hand for this Durango Kid --- Ted Mapes and Jock Mahoney with Ranger Jocko chasing himself doubling Starrett down an alley, up the stairs and across the roof tops. One great line, Starrett says, "I can handle outlaws but I can't handle that Smiley." Hint of truth there --- the two were not the best of friends, Starrett tolerated Smiley in his pictures. "He did his thing and I did mine", Starrett often said. Holding this picture back is the addition of Smiley clones --- singers Mustard and Gravy as wrestling promoter Burnette's two protegees --- politically incorrect in blackface! Watch for the wanted poster for Black Murphy, leftover from WEST OF SONORA ('48).

 DAWN ON THE GREAT DIVIDE (1942 Monogram)
Buck Jones' final film is a lonesome affair, released about a month after the star's tragic death in Boston's Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire. Unfortunately, the film is a sad end to a stunning career, a plodding concern with the first 10 minutes or more given over to sluggishly introducing the characters on a wagon train of railroad supplies and new settlers (Robert Lowery, Christine McIntyre, Jan Wiley, Robert Frazer and Mona Barrie). It's a long first 30 minutes but scouts Buck Jones and Raymond Hatton finally arrive in Beaver Creek, run by Judge Frazer's brother, Harry Woods, the crooked boss of the outpost whose men (Roy Barcroft, I. Stanford Jolley, Reed Howes) have been raiding other wagon trains disguised as Indians. Buck and Hatton's partner, Rex Bell, has arrived before them and worked his way into a position of confidence. There's a lot of plot and soap-operaish shenanigans --- too much even for the slightly over 60 minute running time confining the action to tepid when it finally arrives. Watch for fiddler Spade Cooley (unbilled) playing "Beautiful Dreamer" while Christine McIntyre and Robert Lowery sing a duet. DAWN --- is a continuation of sorts of Jones and Hatton's Rough Riders series, playing the same characters of Buck Roberts and Sandy Hopkins, with Rex Bell as Jack Carson replacing Col. Tim McCoy who'd left the series to return to Armed Forces duty. If more were planned with this new trio, one could only hope they would have been more lively than this "Yawn On the Great Divide".

 RIDE HIM, COWBOY (1932 Warner Bros.)
The first of John Wayne's six film Warner Bros. series is a remake of Ken Maynard's UNKNOWN CAVALIER ('26). The film introduces Duke, Wayne's horse, who he saves, tames and rides as he tracks down the Hawk (Frank Hagney), the outlaw responsible for a string of bank robberies, the one who tried to have Duke destroyed and who is masquerading as a solid citizen. Ruth Hall is the girl whose father was killed by the Hawk. Excellent photography from Ted McCord who lensed dozens of superior Bs with Buck Jones, Tom Keene, Ken Maynard and Dick Foran before becoming an A-film staple at Warner Bros. in the '40s (ROCKY MOUNTAIN, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, JOHNNY BELINDA etc.). Holding the film back is a protracted, silly trial midway with unfunny Judge Otis Harlan as well as Harry Gribbon miscast as a fearful, bumbling deputy.

 LOCAL BAD MAN (1932 Allied)
Crooked businessmen Hooper Atchley and Edward Hearn plot to rob their own bank of $25,000 then collect $25,000 insurance from the railroad who transported the funds and lay the blame on charming 'local badman' Hoot Gibson and his buddies 'Skeeter' Bill Robbins and Milt Brown. The story is based on a Peter B. Kyne story, "All For Love" which appeared in Cosmopolitan. There's a very exciting wrap up all-over several speeding railroad cars --- bit different for Hooter --- and some cute scenes between station agent Sally Blane and Hoot. Blane, one of Loretta Young's sisters, entered films around 1917 and worked til 1939. Then married to director Norman Foster, she retired except for a rare film such as A BULLET FOR JOEY in '55.

 SADDLES AND SAGEBRUSH (1943 Columbia)
Thrill a minute action supplemented by William Berke's inventive action direction as fast gun Russell 'Lucky' Hayden and his pals --- Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor --- bring swift justice to range hog William Wright and his gang (Joe McGuinn, Wheeler Oakman, Ed Cobb, Jack Ingram) who try to grab free government range from ranchers like Frank LaRue and his daughter Ann Savage. Savage told us Russell Hayden saved her in a "real --- not reel --- runaway buckboard" as anxious horses took off with her while waiting for a scene. Again, songwriter Cindy Walker supplies the songs ("Hubbin' It", "Toodlelumbo", etc.) for Wills' Playboys.

 WAGON TRAIL (1935 Ajax)
It looks like Sheriff Harry Carey is going to have to hang his own son, Edward Norris, after he arrests him for a stagecoach robbery and killing, not knowing his son was forced into the holdup by nasty saloon owner Roger Williams who holds Norris' IOU gambling notes. Complicating matters further is the fact Norris is in love with Williams' step-daughter, Gertrude Messinger, and can't bring himself to tell her that her 'Dad' is a crook. Earl Dwire has a pivotal role as Carey's faithful friend. Gertrude Messinger (1911-1995) was briefly married to famed stuntman Dave Sharpe. When Gertie's brother, Buddy, died in 1965, Dave married his widow, Margaret Messinger. Gertie later married cameraman Schyler Sanford (primarily at Paramount) who received an Oscar with the Todd-A-O group for AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

 SADDLE MOUNTAIN ROUNDUP (1941 Monogram)
In this strict remake of BIG BOY RIDES AGAIN ('35), the Range Busters (Ray Corrigan, John King, Max Terhune) replace Big Boy Williams as they search for $50,000 hidden in the house of murdered old man John Elliott. Our suspects are (once again) lawyer Jack Mulhall, Chinese cook Willie Fong, foreman George Chesebro and neighboring rancher Steve Clark --- the uncle of Lita Conway (with little to do). This Range Busters entry is high on mystery and weak on action content. William Nolte wrote the original story in 1935. Now production manager on the Range Busters series for producer George W. Weeks, he let Earle Snell and John Vlahos tune up his old script. Included this time is Cousin Harold Goodman (out of WSM radio) with a pitiful song, "Little Brown Jug". Obviously, the idea was to add some regional entertainers to several of the Range Busters films in hopes of securing a greater amount of playdates. But producer Weeks' selection of Goodman (and in other films Jerry Smith and Art Fowler) was from an inferior talent pool than that from which Columbia was selecting musicians for their Charles Starrett westerns, so the idea was thankfully soon abandoned. The trained crow seen in this film is the same one, Jimmy, seen in G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON serial as well as ENCHANTED FOREST.

 ROOTIN' TOOTIN' RHYTHM (1937 Republic)
Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette's misadventures with rustlers (Monte Blue, Max Hoffman Jr., Charlie King) are a little more nonsensical than usual. Hal Taliaferro is Gene's cattle ranch partner. Blue is leading lady Ann Pendleton's uncle. Comedic actress Armida as Pendleton's silly friend is Gene's love interest. Gene's real-life buddy and songwriter partner, Frankie Marvin, is in most of Gene's features but has his biggest role in this offbeat plot. Al Clauser and his Oklahoma Outlaws from WHO in Des Moines, IA, are the featured group (but look for Art Davis as a fiddler). Visiting the band, WHO's sportscaster Ronald Reagan spent his very first day on a movie set during the filming of this picture. Stuntman Yakima Canutt once again performs his hair-raising under-the-stage, grab-the-rear and climb-back-on stunt. Director Mack Wright and cameraman William Nobles took advantage of a real storm at Lone Pine turning it into a stunning chase sequence in the film.

 BIG BONANZA (1944 Republic)
Richard Arlen, a Cavalry officer unjustly court martialed for cowardice, returns home to discover his boyhood pal, Robert Livingston, is now a corrupt saloon owner. Problem is, Arlen's younger brother (Bobby Driscoll) was being raised by Livingston while Arlen was at war. Arlen is aghast to learn Driscoll is living in a saloon with his best friend being dance hall queen Jane Frazee. Arlen moves Driscoll in with schoolteacher Lynne Roberts just as he discovers Livingston's plot to gain control of kindly Russell Simpson's gold mine. When Driscoll sees two of Livingston's men murder Simpson, Livingston even tries to kill the boy. A year later, Driscoll hit the big time with Disney's SONG OF THE SOUTH followed by THE WINDOW, SO DEAR TO MY HEART, MELODY TIME, TREASURE ISLAND and others. Sadly, his outstanding childhood career came to an end when he became addicted to drugs and died destitute without identification and was buried in a pauper's grave in New York. This is Monte Hale's 'test run' in films. He sings a song in the saloon. Republic prexy Herbert J. Yates liked what he saw on film and soon elevated Monte to a starring series.

 SUNRISE TRAIL (1931 Tiffany)
With no action in Wellyn Totman's script til the 57 minute mark (in a total of 63 minutes), there's a lot of latitude for platitudes ...'partners', 'different trails', 'ridin' tonight', 'friendship', 'long ropes', 'tangled ropes' ... in this early Bob Steele cattle thieves western from producer Trem Carr. Leading lady Blanche Mehaffey plays it woeful and forlorn. Well photographed by Archie Stout who kept moving up ... first to John Wayne Lone Stars, then Hoppy and Zane Grey westerns at Paramount, then A films such as THE WESTERNER, CAPTAIN KIDD, G.I. JOE, FORT APACHE and RIO GRANDE. Producer Carr graduated from Illinois University and became chief of a St. Louis construction company before a chance meeting with Al St. John in 1921 fired his interest in motion pictures. The pair turned out several silent comedies. Carr partnered with W. Ray Johnston to produce features. At various times Carr was an exec at Rayart, Syndicate, Tiffany and Monogram which he and Johnston formed in 1931. When the merger with Republic came, he went with the deal but terminated his position there in late 1935 to organize his own producing unit. He signed with Universal in 1936 to produce features, including six adventure films with John Wayne whom he had under personal contract and a series with Bob Baker. Wound down his career back at Monogram in the '40s where he was fond of saying his hobby was beating producer Scotty Dunlap at golf and hearts.

 WAGON TEAM (1952 Columbia)
The whole Autry stock company (Gail Davis, Dick Jones, Cass County Boys, Pat Buttram and heavies George J. Lewis, Gregg Barton, John Cason, Pierce Lyden) are on hand as Gene joins a medicine show to find the robbers of an Army payroll. The medicine show backdrop gives Gene a chance to sing a bit more than usual in his Columbia outings but there's nothing memorable except an uninspired version of "Back In the Saddle". Overall, this picture looks cheaper than some Columbias even to the quite unusual (for an Autry) stunt of lifting a long ambush/fight sequence with John Cason, George J. Lewis and Gene direct from BIG SOMBRERO ('49). It's also a bit on the sloppy side for an Autry picture in the script continuity department with several glaring errors including shots of Dick Jones escaping on horseback midway through the picture that really belongs to an earlier jailbreak sequence when Dickie did not have on the prominent white gunbelt he should have on in the later 'escape' sequence but does not.

 SPOILERS OF THE PLAINS (1951 Republic)
During cold war America, Roy Rogers is fighting enemies of the USA. As the trailer proclaims, "Roy and Trigger don asbestos suits to fight an oil fire, a fire started by our enemies, men who are after our country's newest secret weapon! Roy and his pals (Gordon Jones, Penny Edwards [looking very medicinal], Riders of the Purple Sage) have never before fought such vicious killers! It's rocket fast excitement combined with rollicking western song in the first western rocket picture!" Using an oil well as a blind, Grant Withers, Don Haggerty, House Peters Jr. and Fred Kohler Jr. are working for 'an unfriendly power' as they attempt to steal William Forrest's missiles used for long range weather forecasting. Roy's dog Bullet has a fight with a Doberman while Roy and Haggerty splash around in an oil pit and there's a wild finish with stuntmen jumping back and forth from one wagon to another in an exciting fight while Roy and Grant Withers battle to the death on a tall oil derrick. Watch for the stuntman who attempts a wagon transfer and fails, falling off the wagon under the wheel. Ouch! Current and up-to-date for its time, another dandy Rogers from director Bill Witney.

 GENTLEMAN FROM TEXAS (1946 Monogram)
Better than average Johnny Mack Brown B as he fights the vicious, lawless element of Rimrock (Tris Coffin, Marshall Reed, Terry Frost) who are opposed by newspaper editor Reno Browne and her father, Raymond Hatton. Slam-bang windup after Tris' men kill saloon girl Claudia Drake. Johnny warns Tris, "This is to the finish!" --- and it sure is! Music by Curt Barrett and the Trailsmen.

 THUNDERING TRAILS (1943 Republic)
The Texas Rangers are disbanded in 1871. Overnight, the state becomes the haven of the lawless. If ranchers don't subscribe to the protection the corrupt new county police offer, they find their cattle stolen and ranches burned. The Three Mesquiteers (Tom Tyler as Stony, Bob Steele as Tucson, Jimmy Dodd as Lullaby) are three ex-Texas Rangers who fight back on their own when Stony's father, also a Ranger (Charles Miller), is killed in a stage robbery and Stony's hot-headed younger brother (John James) unwittingly becomes the head of the county police. The crook really running the 'police' is Judge Sam Flint (with his henchmen Reed Howes and Karl Hackett). The Texas Rangers are re-established after a wild windup in the Republic cave set. Politically incorrect now, but standard fare in '43, Jimmy Dodd sings a song in blackface. After a two year run at Universal with Johnny Mack Brown, leading lady Nell O'Day was now freelancing. Sadly, this is her only western at Republic who should have used the spry horsewoman more at this point. Juvenile lead John James (1914-1960) worked quite steadily in westerns (and other films) from '41-'53 without ever quite grabbing the brass ring. His closest brush with the top was as part of a trio with Jimmy Wakely and Lee 'Lasses' White in 1945. His last couple were at Allied Artists with Bill Elliott.

 THE FORTY-NINERS (1954 Monogram)
Trackdown tale with near DRAGNET style narration by Bill Elliott as the U. S. Marshal seeks the identity of three murderers in 1849 gold rush California. Striking up a relationship with card sharp Henry (Harry) Morgan eventually leads Elliott to Sheriff Lane Bradford and saloon owner John Doucette. Also with Virginia Grey. Notable as Elliott's last western after a 16 year run. Unfortunately, Bill leaves the screen with a mild whimper instead of a big bang. Cowboy cancer alert: Bill smokes heavily. He indeed died of cancer after touting Viceroys on TVmercials.

 CODE OF THE PRAIRIE (1944 Republic)
Words instead of guns are now the weapons used by former western lawman Bat Matson, turned frontier newspaperman (Tom Chatterton) who, with his daughter Peggy Stewart, attempt to bring law and order to a small western town. But when Chatterton learns too much about the past of local politician Roy Barcroft, he is killed. However, frontier photographer Smiley Burnette accidentally snaps a picture of Barcroft disposing of the body. It takes Smiley's pal Sunset Carson and misguided Weldon Heyburn (who's running for Sheriff against Sunset under Barcroft's backing) to handle the rough stuff and restore justice. The quite unusual final denouement brings the audience into the explanation of the picture, then Smiley turns directly to the audience and says, "You kids go home now. You been in here all day." The strong supporting cast is a field day for western fans: Bud Geary, Tom London, Jack Kirk, Rex Lease, Horace Carpenter, Henry Wills, Bob Wilke, Charles King, Jack O'Shea, Tom Steele, Ken Terrell, Karl Hackett, Frank Ellis, Hank Bell.

 DEVIL'S TRAIL (1942 Columbia)
There are strong political overtones not common to B-westerns as guns blaze and fists fly when Bill Elliott and Tex Ritter ride roughshod over the Broken-U League headed up by Noah Beery Sr., leader of a secret society sworn to disrupt the Union and advocating slavery in Kansas. Their symbol is a broken horseshoe for 'The Cause' as a horseshoe makes a U for Union and Beery is working for a broken Union. Marshal Tex Ritter (who has a far better and larger role than in most of these films where he's billed second) and Wild Bill Hickok (Elliott) are aided and abetted by the pratfall comedy of Frank Mitchell as they come to Beery's outlaw camp and help Dr. Joel Friedkin and his daughter Eileen O'Hearn of the Frontier Emigrant Aid Society who are being held prisoner by Beery. Beery hopes to bully them into naming the members of his free states society. Terrific windup in what is probably the best of eight Elliott/Ritter pairings. Tough, smart, snappy dialogue by Robert Lee Johnson whose brief 1941-1946 screenwriting career included two others in this series as well as non-western films such as HIT THE ROAD with the Dead End Kids, ENCHANTED FOREST and MAN WHO WALKED ALONE.

 CHEYENNE RIDES AGAIN (1937 Victory)
Regulation cowboy derring-do well done as Cattleman's Protective Association investigator Tom Tyler is suspected of being a bandit as he and his pard Dopey (Jimmie Fox) get the goods on the real rustlers Ted Lorch (as nasty as he can be), Ed Cassidy, Lon Chaney Jr., Roger Williams and Merrill McCormack. Tom's 'plant' inside boss Lorch's house is Lucile Browne who finds herself in trouble when the lecherous Lorch discovers who she is. Browne (1907-1976) worked in films from 1929-1939, and again briefly in 1950. The co-star of six serials and eight westerns was married to actor James Flavin in 1932. Their deaths in 1976 were only weeks apart. Boo-boo: about midway in the film Ted Lorch calls Ed Cassidy 'Ed' instead of his character name of Dave Gleason.

 OVERLAND PACIFIC (1954 World/U.A.)
When undercover railroad agent Jock Mahoney is sent to investigate Indian trouble delaying the installation of track, he finds his old buddy, William Bishop, at the bottom of the raids. Bishop and his pals, Sheriff Chubby Johnson, gunslinger Chris Alcaide and businessman George Eldredge, want the railroad to pass through property they own so they may collect a small fortune. Tried and true B plot marred by some awfully stilted dialog the actors have to wrap their tongues around. Color and cast keep it alive. Also with Peggie Castle (just seeing her in tight britches is reason enough to watch) as love interest for Bishop and Mahoney, Walter Sande as Castle's Dad and Adele Jergens as a dance hall floozy jilted by Bishop. Terrific, memorable street fight between Mahoney and stuntman/actor Fred Graham. Jocko had been starring on TV's RANGE RIDER and had previously worked with Fred Sears, director of OVERLAND PACIFIC, at Columbia in Durango Kid westerns.

 HOME ON THE RANGE (1946 Republic)
Republic's first Trucolor (aka Magnacolor) B-western as well as Monte Hale's first starring western is a major disappointment that certainly didn't get Monte off on the right track with the Saturday matinee audience. Under R. G. Springsteen's direction, it plays more like a juvenile wildlife adventure than a B-western. It's simply too laid back and relaxed, all the while craving some movement. In addition, half the movie sounds like it was 'looped' in later either due to bad location recordings, loss of the soundtrack --- or maybe even work on Monte's Texas-twang so the rest of the U.S. could understand him. Whatever --- the dubbing gives the film a very 'flat' feel at times. The plotline is another of Republic's conservation themes. Grizzly Garth (Tom Chatterton) and his young son, Bobby Blake, have turned their property into sort of a wildlife preserve --- no hunting. Greedy cattleman LeRoy Mason, in an effort to acquire Grizzly's property for his use, employs two henchmen, Roy Barcroft and Kenne Duncan, to carry out his dirty deed of loosing his trained killer bear on cattle in the area to build up sentiment against Grizzly's game preserve ideas. Grizzly's niece is Adrian Booth, who, unlike any other Republic leading lady, got equal billing with Monte in every one of their seven westerns together. It was always 'Monte Hale and Adrian Booth'. Not even Dale Evans got that kind of star treatment. Monte may have set some sort of record for changing outfits in this film --- I count five different outfits. Republic even put the Sons of the Pioneers in to back up Monte in his initial outing, but nothing could save this drab affair.

 ARIZONA TERROR (1931 Tiffany)
Seems 20 minutes longer than it actually is. This one should have top-billed Tarzan over Ken Maynard. The marvelous palomino lays down, leads leading lady Lina Basquette to Ken, bucks off Michael Visaroff and knocks over Hooper Atchley in a fight. Maynard, never referred to by a name, only the Arizonian, captures Atchley's outlaw gang who buy cattle from ranchers then ambush them and take back their money. Visaroff as good-badman Emilio Vasquez, gives his performance too much of the 'heh-heh-heh' phony Mexicano blatherings. There really was a bandido named Vasquez, for which the distinctive rock location in which this western was filmed was named. Born in 1907, fiery Latino Lina Basquette led an off-screen life that itself should be made into a movie. Gaining attention as a Ziegfeld Follies girl, she married Sam Warner (one of the Warner brothers) even though Sam was her senior by 20 years. She bore Sam a child in 1926 and Sam died in 1927 which was the beginning of legal strife and front page headlines for some 24 years as Sam's brothers sought to take the child (and heir) from her unlawfully. With that, as well as a failed attempt at stardom in Cecil B. DeMille's THE GODLESS GIRL ('29) and an unsuccessful marriage to DeMille's cameraman, J. Peverell Morley, Lina attempted suicide in 1930. Divorced from Morley, she drifted into B-westerns with Keene, Maynard and Gibson. In 1931, she was married to boxer Jack Dempsey's trainer, Teddy Hayes, but was soon involved in a front page love affair with Dempsey himself. In 1932 she again attempted to take her own life with caustic acid. She divorced Hayes in early '32 but remarried him later that year. She gave birth to a son in '34 but the marriage again broke up in the late '30s and Lina left on a stage tour of South Africa, New Zealand and South America. During WWII she claims to have met Hitler when she did a stint as a spy for the office of Strategic Services. She'd remarried again to British actor Henry Mollinson but when he left her in Brazil and returned to England, she divorced him in 1947. She retired from showbiz and in 1948 entered the dog show world becoming internationally famous for her Great Danes.

 HAWK OF POWDER RIVER (1948 PRC)
One of Eddie Dean's best even though it is one of his last containing quite a bit of stock from previous episodes. A primary reason it stands out is due to Jennifer Holt's charming but hateful portrayal of the Hawk --- villainous leader of an outlaw gang terrorizing the area with stage and bank holdups while masquerading as sweet Vivian on her uncle Steve Clark's ranch where she's caching the loot. When Uncle Steve discovers the ruse, The Hawk's heavies, Terry Frost and Lane Bradford, mercilessly kill him. Jennifer even plots with her crooked lawyer, Eddie Parker, to murder Uncle Steve's daughter, June Carlson, so the Hawk herself will have complete control of the ranch. All four of Eddie's songs are recycled from previous Dean films (BLACK HILLS, WILD COUNTRY, SHADOW VALLEY) which causes the jarring effect of Eddie being seen riding two different horses! Neither got billing (as usual) this time. Off screen, Lane Bradford (1922-1973) was seriously involved romantically with Jennifer during this time. In later years she often spoke affectionately of him. Jennifer (1920-1997), of course, was the beautiful daughter of Jack Holt and sister of Tim Holt.

 TRAIL DUST (1936 Paramount)
One of the more unusual and one of the best Hopalong Cassidy adventures as he and his Bar-20 pals George 'Windy' Hayes and Jimmy 'Johnny Nelson' Ellison trail drive a huge cattle herd, encountering fire, a midnight killer and rustler Stephen Morris (Ankrum). They even find an unconscious girl on the trail (Gwynne Shipman) who is the daughter of a sheriff (John Elliott) who has been kidnapped by outlaw Harold Daniels now posing as the real sheriff and giving Cassidy even more trouble. Jimmy Ellison 'sings' two songs including "Wide Open Spaces". Was he dubbed or is that Jimmy singing? Episodic in nature, you can almost feel the originators of TV's RAWHIDE watching this and writing their series ideas. Shipman was writer Barry Shipman's wife and TV actress Nina Shipman's mother. At 77 minutes, this is the third longest Cassidy, only the next two, BORDERLAND and HILLS OF OLD WYOMING, topped this entry's running time at 82 and 79 minutes respectively.

 EL PASO (1948 Paramount)
At the close of the Civil War, not wanting to return to his legal career just yet, John Payne former lawyer and captain in the Confederate Army, heads west to El Paso where he encounters not only his old flame, Gail Russell, but corruption in the form of saloon owner/town boss Sterling Hayden and his enforcer, Sheriff Dick Foran. Reluctantly, Payne takes a hand --- legally at first --- but when Foran and his gang cold bloodedly murder Russell's father, Judge Henry Hull, as well as Payne's old friend Arthur Space and his wife (Catherine Craig), leaving their son (Bobby Ellis) an orphan, Payne takes the law into his own hands forming a vigilante group to wage war against Hayden and Foran. Lewis Foster's direction and screenplay for producers Pine-Thomas is that of an overblown law and order B. Stirring final shootout on the dirty, windswept streets of El Paso (actually Iverson's movie ranch). Also with Gabby Hayes (as Payne's friend), H. B. Warner (as Payne's grandfather), Mary Beth Hughes (as Stagecoach Nellie) and Eduardo Noriega (as a Mexican rancher).

 VALIANT HOMBRE (1948 United Artists)
Producer Phil Krasne bought the Cisco Kid rights from 20th Century Fox in 1944 and sold them to Monogram who produced the Gilbert Roland version of the derring-do bandit. When Monogram dropped the idea in 1947, Krasne resumed control of the popular character and made a distribution deal with United Artists. Duncan Renaldo, now a partner with Krasne, returned to the part (he'd done three for Monogram before Roland) and this time established the carefree adventurer spirit of Cisco, dropping the mustache he'd worn before and all of Roland's overt sexuality. The role was now much more solidly in the juvenile mold of a Hopalong Cassidy do-gooder. With Leo Carillo now ingrained as the perfect Pancho, Krasne and Renaldo issued five features before taking the character to a long run on television from 1950-1956. This, the first of the Krasne/Renaldo five, is an exciting adventure that winds up on the swinging bridge high above the cliffs and river of Kernville. Evil John Litel holds John James and his sister Barbara Billingsly (best known later as Beaver's mom on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) to learn the location of James' gold mine. Cowboy cancer alert --- Pancho smokes several cigarettes. Note that the dog, Daisy, is the same pooch from Columbia's Blondie series of films.

 RUSTLERS ON HORSEBACK (1950 Republic)
Allan 'Rocky' Lane and Eddy Waller infiltrate Roy Barcroft's outlaw gang posing as a killer Barcroft had sent for (but Lane captured --- Stuart Randall) and a cook. Barcroft plots to rob Forrest Taylor, an Easterner bearing $125,000 to purchase a ranch owned by pretty Claudia Barrett and her brother George Nader (in his film debut --- spelled Nadar in the credits). Scripted by Richard Wormser who wrote several other Lane entries (VIGILANTE HIDEOUT, POWDER RIVER RUSTLERS, FORT DODGE STAMPEDE, CAPTIVE OF BILLY THE KID) as well as A-features such as TULSA and BIG STEAL.

 MARKED FOR MURDER (1945 PRC)
It's the goofy antics of henchie badman Charlie King that gives this routine Texas Rangers (Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien, Guy Wilkerson) effort a viewing lift ... that and three songs by Tex including Don Weston's "Tears of Regret". It's the old outlaws (Jack Ingram, Wen Wright) start a range war between the cattlemen (Ed Cassidy, Frank Ellis, etc.) and the sheepmen (Marilyn McConnell, etc.) to grab off the spoils for themselves plot. Look-alikes Edward and Edwin, the Milo Twins, sing a song. They were also in I'M FROM ARKANSAS and SING NEIGHBOR SING.

 BLAZING ACROSS THE PECOS (1948 Columbia)
Average Durango Kid B with plenty of action (some stock) but the quick-resolve it's-over-before-you-realize-it hurts the whole film. Also Smiley Burnette's songs are not up to par --- even for his silly-symphonies --- and Red Arnall and the Western Aces don't compare with Bob Wills, Pee Wee King, Texas Jim Lewis and Doye O'Dell as featured musicians seen in other Durangos. Story has self appointed Mayor Charles Wilson as a gun running rapscallion (along with his gunman, Jack Ingram) secretly supplying the local Indian tribe (led by Chief Thunder Cloud) with rifles to attack the wagon caravans of Wilson's business rival (Thomas Jackson) in an attempt to drive him out of business. Wilson doesn't reckon on the intervention of Charles Starrett (as the Durango Kid) being appointed clown-sheriff Smiley Burnette's deputy. Watch for Jacques (Jock) Mahoney in a small role. He also doubles Starrett including a startling leap over two horses onto Durango's Raider.

 LAW AND LAWLESS (1932 Majestic)
A showcase for Jack Hoxie's trick riding and shooting skills as he plays a two-gun man who, with his braggadocio Mexican pal Julian Rivero, hires out to rancher Jack Mower and his pretty daughter Hilda Moreno to stop cattle rustling by the Wolf gang, mysterious night riders (Wally Wales, Yakima Canutt, Slim Whitaker, Hank Bell) who shoot flaming arrows and use a chilling wolf-cry as their signal. Onetime silent serial star Helen Gibson (1892-1977) who starred in THE HAZARDS OF HELEN in 1915-'16 along with other silent serials and two-reelers opposite Hoot Gibson, Pete Morrison and others, plays a rancher's wife with child star Edith Fellows as her and Bob Burns' daughter. Dixie Starr, Hoxie's wife of 10 years as of 1930, has a miniscule bit part.

 FRONTIER CRUSADER (1940 PRC)
The first PRC western, if you disregard TEXAS RENEGADES, the first film Tim McCoy made for producer Sig Newfield under the PRC banner, a company which evolved from the restructuring of the short-lived PPC/PDC set-up. And it's a good one from an Arthur Durlam story fleshed out by writer William Lively. (Durlam later reused his story and scripted himself turning it into BOOT HILL BANDITS with the Range Busters at Monogram in '42.) Monument City Sheriff Hal Price sends for town tamer Trigger Tim Rand (McCoy) when Karl Hackett's bandit gang holds the area in a reign of terror. There are several 'moments' in this western that lift it above the ordinary --- Tim kicking the gun out of badman Kenne Duncan's holster; Duncan's slow walk of death; John Merton's realization Tim hasn't been blown to bits. I'm not giving much away revealing the shadowy mystery boss as honest citizen Forrest Taylor ... his voice gives him away instantly in his first 'hidden' scene. Monogram Ranch locations add to the picture also.

 BOOT HILL BANDITS (1942 Monogram)
This surprising entry amongst the usually routine Range Busters westerns is a true delight, pure fun all the way. Both I. Stanford Jolley's swaggering Mesquite Kid and Glenn Strange's hulking scarfaced, dim-witted killer, the Maverick ("That ain't friendly ..."), are well-defined characters, two of the more interesting in B-westerndom. Filled with witty dialogue from Arthur Durlam, this one shows real style and flair in Ray 'Crash' Corrigan's barroom confrontation with I. Stanford Jolley when Crash kicks Jolley's gun from his holster and the way Jolley strikes his match on Corrigan's gunbelt. Other nice touches are Jimmy Aubrey's drunk, Corrigan drinking milk-with sugar (!), a mystery boss angle and the repartee between heavy George Chesebro and Max Terhune's dummy, Elmer. Thoroughly enjoyable! (A remake of Tim McCoy's FRONTIER CRUSADER ['40] also scripted by Durlam but Peter Stewart's direction then doesn't have the inventiveness of S. Roy Luby.)

 TREASON (1933 Columbia)
High grade Buck Jones entertainment. In 1870, self-styled idealist Shirley Grey (in the part of a lifetime for a girl in a B-western) forms a group of Confederate sympathizers to establish the Republic of South Kansas, determined to regain land she believes the U. S. Government unjustly stole from she and her followers. Although on her raids to confiscate government supplies she orders no civilians be hurt, her regulations are countermanded by her second in command, the Quantrillish Col. Robert Ellis who allows the 'soldiers' (Frank Lackteen, Art Mix, Frank Ellis, Ivar McFadden) to pillage a town. This wanton act results in a $10,000 reward for her capture as government agent Buck Jones is loosed on her trail. Infiltrating the band, the scene in which Buck is branded a 'squaw thief' with a hot poker is quite potent.

 NEBRASKAN (1953 Columbia)
Chief Spotted Bear (Jay Silverheels) and his Indians are after Wingfoot (Maurice Jara), an Indian aide to Army scout Phil Carey, who they think killed a tribal elder. Wingfoot is on the run with escaped outlaw-trooper Lee Van Cleef. They, along with Carey's old girlfriend (Roberta Haynes) and her new husband, cowardly gambler Richard Webb, all end up at grouchy old timer Wallace Ford's dugout trading post trapped by the Indians. As in most of these films, the bad guys (Webb, Van Cleef) have the best roles even if the dialogue is crappy, by-the-numbers rote. Originally made in 3-D, so some of the 'comin' at ya' shots look rather foolish in 2-D as does some of the mis-color-matched action stock footage. Watch for Dennis Weaver in a small role as a cavalry officer a couple of years before he became Chester on GUNSMOKE. Produced by former actor Wallace MacDonald and directed by Fred Sears, a veteran of many Durango Kid B's.

 LAW OF THE BADLANDS (1950 RKO)
Posing as outlaws (Tioga Kid and Pancho Chompez) to nab some clever counterfeiters (Leonard Penn, Robert Livingston, Robert Bray, Larry Johns) flooding the country with the phony stuff, Tim Holt and Richard 'Chito' Martin are exposed when an old girlfriend of Chito's (Joan Dixon) suddenly upsets the apple cart. The showdown (Tim once again trapped --- a standard RKO plot ploy) in the badlands is well handled by director Les Selander except for a few time-lapse problems. Nice to see Harry Woods on the right side of the law as an undercover secret service agent. I kept expecting him to pull a gun on Holt and say he wasn't really a secret service man.

 PANHANDLE (1948 Allied Artists)
"Oh the deacon went down in the cellar to pray ... but he got drunk and he stayed all day ... Ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more", so sings Rod Cameron plaintively as an ex-gunman who has to buckle on his guns one more time to avenge the murder of his brother by saloon owner/town boss Reed Hadley. It's not the simple revenge plot that makes PANHANDLE shine, it's the style with which it's carried off, slowly building the tension between Hadley and Cameron to the final showdown in the rain on a dirty street. Anne Gwynne is Hadley's secretary who winds up (naturally) with Cameron who also spars with tomboyish Cathy Downs. Blake Edwards, who later found huge success with the Pink Panther films, VICTOR/VICTORIA, 10, and others, wrote the script and is one of Hadley's gunmen as well. Edwards also wrote another of Cameron's best, STAMPEDE. PANHANDLE contains one of the best screen brawls in westerns between Rod and Jeff York. A highly underrated western directed by Les Selander who was so fond of it, he remade it in 1966 with Audie Murphy as THE TEXICAN, a definitely inferior film. Cowboy cancer alert --- Rod rolls his own.

 RETURN OF THE RANGERS (1943 PRC)
The Texas Rangers (Dave O'Brien, Jim Newill, Guy Wilkerson) expose a gang headed by Glenn Strange of the Custer Land and Cattle Co. attempting to evict people from their long-standing homesteads. They'd been promised a home the balance of their lives and now, when the owner of the land is dead, Strange and his boys (Charlie King, Dick Alexander, I. Stanford Jolley) discover the trustee in charge of the estate (Harry Harvey) will be arriving. They murder him and put in a ringer (Robert Barron) who'll co-operate with their scheme. Nell O'Day is the interim ranch manager caught in the middle being helped by our intrepid heroes. Nell O'Day (1910-1989) was about at the end of her movie trail, having had a very successful two year association with Johnny Mack Brown at Universal. During the War she married actor Larry Williams who became ill and was an invalid for years. Nell turned to plays in New York as well as script writing ("The Monster Maker"). After Williams died, she remarried, lived abroad and wrote for numerous publications. She also acted in some 20 industrial films for the Johns Manville company over the years.

 THUNDER MOUNTAIN (1935 20TH Century Fox)
Based on the Zane Grey novel which was published the same year this film was released, THUNDER MOUNTAIN downplays action in favor of dramatics. After George O'Brien and pal Dean Benton make their gold strike, Benton goes to file on the claim but is dry-gulched and left for dead by corrupt saloon owner Morgan Wallace. When George investigates, he finds their claim jumped and the area inundated with prospectors. The strong plot finds George hooking up with old prospector Gabby Hayes to try and reclaim his strike while he inadvertently falls in love with the wrong girl-mercenary Barbara Fritchie-when he should be looking toward saloon singer Frances Grant who works for Wallace. Good results from director David Howard in this the final of O'Brien's Zane Grey series.

 CALIFORNIA MAIL (1936 Warner Bros.)
Standard stuff well done by Dick Foran and director Noel Smith who helmed five of Foran's twelve series westerns. To award the mail contract, a 30 mile 4th of July stagecoach race is devised over dangerous territory. The bidders are Foran and his Dad (Tom Brower), Ed Cobb and his brother (Milton Kibbee), and old timer Fred Burns. Since Cobb covets Foran's girl, Linda Perry, and he and his brother are no good anyway, they rig the race by sabotaging Foran's coach then later steal his horse, Smoke, in order to blame a robbery on Foran by using the recognizable Smoke and a lookalike Foran (Bob Woodward). Let's just say Smoke metes out justice! One glaring error midway: Foran, for a time, is riding a pinto when he comes upon a stage holdup. Cut to the holdup. Back to Foran --- on a black horse! Back to the holdup then back to Foran once again on the pinto! Roy Rogers fans will be pleased to hear him call a square dance ... and the Sons of the Pioneers all back up Foran on a song. This one is worth watching alone for some of the very funny moments with comedic outlaw Glenn Strange.

 NEVADA BADMEN (1951 Monogram)
Kenne Duncan discovers gold on his place and sends for his brother Jim Bannon who brings along his pals Whip Wilson and Fuzzy Knight. Unfortunately, crooked express agent I. Stanford Jolley, banker Bill Kennedy and their henchmen (Riley Hill, Marshall Reed and Lee Roberts) also learn of the gold and kill Duncan. Our hero-trio helps Duncan's daughter Phyllis Coates find the unrecorded mine and save the ranch. The Wilsons really took a nosedive when Andy Clyde left the series at the end of 1950. Even though replaced by popular Fuzzy Knight and second lead Jim Bannon, the even more threadbare budgets under producer Vincent Fennelly were really beginning to take a toll. Wilson's best westerns were behind him. This one lets Whip pop-it only once, and that's while he's herding cattle. The film is simply saddled with too much milling and riding around.

 RAWHIDE MAIL (1934 Reliable)
Jack Perrin, who made his mark in silent westerns, had a likeable screen persona and looked fine in early talkies, but he never got much help from the production end in all the lowbudget fare he made for Reliable, Atlantic, Big 4, Principal, Syndicate or Horner. In this one, three good-hearted bandits, Perrin and his silly-billy pals, Shakespeare-spouting ex-lawyer Nelson McDowell and Mexican Chris Pin Martin, help out Lillian Gilmore (a real non-actress) when smarmy Richard Cramer cheats her out of a saloon/dance hall she's come west to inherit. Jack and the boys open up a rival saloon to thwart Cramer and his bartender stooge, Lew Meehan. The plot explains where Jack's group gets the liquor to open but fails to detail where the dealers, girls, cards, tables, musicians and gaming equipment came from. I'm sure producer/director B. B. Ray figured, "Aw, who cares? It's just another cheapie western". It's that type of slipshod non-caring thinking that brought so many of these lowbudget oaters to their knees.

 COWBOY FROM SUNDOWN (1940 Monogram)
Lot of palaver abut hoof and mouth disease with very little excitement until the windup, then it's too little too late to save this weary Tex Ritter entry. Sheriff Ritter and deputy Gloomy Day (Roscoe Ates in his sole effort as a Ritter sidekick) foil banker George Pembroke, his son Carleton Young and lawyer Tris Coffin's plan to generate a false epidemic in a scheme to gain control of the valley. Pauline Hadden is the girl with Dave O'Brien as her brother.

 'NEATH THE ARIZONA SKIES (1934 Lone Star)
In search of the father of the half breed girl (Shirley Jean Rickert) he has raised since infancy, John Wayne is overtaken by Yakima Canutt's outlaws who learn the youngster is worth a fortune in oil to them. Rickert's Osage Indian mother had died and her wayward father, Earl Dwire, had skedaddled west. Now Rickert is heir to $50,000 in oil leases, but Wayne must locate Dwire and get his signature on the documents. It's a convoluted plot from Burl Tuttle (also featuring Sheila Terry, Buffalo Bill Jr., George Hayes and Jack Rockwell) which was filmed before as CIRCLE CANYON ('33) with Buddy Roosevelt but the difference between the two films is like night and day as Harry Fraser's direction here brings out and clarifies important plot points only vaguely hinted at in the previous version. (Note --- this film is often listed as 'NEATH ARIZONA SKIES.)

 BROKEN LAND (1962 20TH Century Fox)
Three young drifters (Robert Sampson, Gary Sneed, Jack Nicholson) and a girl (Dianna Darrin) become outlaws when pushed too hard by domineering sheriff Kent Taylor. Jody McCrea (Joel's son) is wasted as a deputy with only one good scene. When the scenery and photography (by Floyd Crosby) is better than the actors, the script or direction --- you're in trouble. Filmed at Apacheland in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains.

 PAINTED TRAIL (1938 Monogram)
Rustling, stage holdups and smuggling along the Rio Grande brings U. S. Marshal Tom Keene undercover as the Pecos Kid to the border country where his ruse gains him admittance to the bandit gang headed up by LeRoy Mason and brutish Walter Long. When the daughter of an old friend, Eleanor Stewart, recognizes him it nearly spoils Keene's plans to work with the Mexican police to round up the border gang. A few deft directorial touches by Robert Hill make this one of Keene's best. Canadian born Hill (1896-1966) started as a director in 1919 directing serials. As well, he often moonlighted as a writer under the pseudonym of Rock Hawley. It's been said that a problem with alcohol kept him bouncing from one independent to another and kept him out of the major leagues, except on rare occasions --- a stint with Keene at RKO in the early '30s and the second Flash Gordon serial, FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS. Nevertheless, much of his work requires no apologies as it's well-set and slickly paced.

 SOUTH PACIFIC TRAIL (1952 Republic)
A reworking of GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY ('41) with Bob Steele, an idea recycled once again for William Elliott's LAST BANDIT ('49). Under director Bill Witney, this third 'version' has nasty Roy Barcroft (as the foreman of a ranch owned by Nestor Paiva and his daughter Estelita Rodriguez) plotting the heist of a train carrying a million in gold, causing it to disappear on a railroad spur leading to an abandoned mine on the ranch. Rex Allen replaces Roy Rogers as Arthur Orloff's script also borrows liberally from the plotline of SONG OF NEVADA. The Republic Rhythm Riders (Darol Rice, George Bamby, Slim Duncan, Buddy ?) back up Rex on songs. In a fight with Barcroft, Rex beautifully performs what became a 'standard' move for him as he pins Barcroft's hands behind his back, then spins him around to administer the final punch.

 RIO GRANDE (1938 Columbia)
A smart, savvy script by Charles Francis Royal highlights this exciting confrontation between Charles Starrett and Dick Curtis. Thoroughly bad Curtis and his right hand man, George Chesebro, want rancher Hal Taliaferro's land for its water. Hal sends for help in the form of his old friend Charles Starrett who arrives too late, Curtis has gunned down Taliaferro leaving his sister Ann Doran alone. But Starrett and his pals, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, outsmart Curtis and Chesebro every step of the way. One can only speculate, we'll never know for sure what prompted Columbia head Harry Cohn to dislike Bob Nolan's solo voice bad enough to have it dubbed by someone else.

 WESTERN RENEGADES (1949 Monogram)
Bit different twist on an old plot from screenwriter Adele Buffington. Within the first 15 minutes Johnny Mack Brown knows who the bad guys are, after that we just watch his shrewd way of letting them trap themselves. Certainly a more elaborate plan than usual, but a ranch grab nevertheless as boss Hugh Prosser and his henchies (Marshall Reed, Terry Frost, William Ruhl, Myron Healey) frame ex-Marshal now livery-man Steve Clark for the murder of his friend Marshall Bradford. Bradford was awaiting the return arrival of his dead (so he thought) wife. Prosser then brings in an imposter-wife (Constance Worth) so he can slicker the ranch away from Bradford's children, Jane Adams and Riley Hill. Sidekick Max Terhune has a relatively unimportant role in this one as Sheriff. The Steve Clark role seems tailor made for longtime Brown partner Raymond Hatton, but Hatton was now gone from the series.

 GUN LAW JUSTICE (1949 Monogram)
One of the best of the Jimmy Wakely westerns with the part of a lifetime for Lee Phelps (would that he was a slightly better actor) as a paroled ex-outlaw returning to the town he looted 15 years earlier, now determined to go straight. Conincidentally, his release coincides with the 25th anniversary of the gang's raid on the town --- which the town oddly celebrates with a re-enactment of the robbery. (I guess if it's good enough for Coffeyville, it's good enough for West Bend!) Phelps is also adamant about seeing that his wayward son, John James, doesn't follow in his outlaw footsteps, but, James is already riding with I. Stanford Jolley and his bandits (Myron Healey, Carol Henry, Bob Curtis) who have James convinced crime does pay. Wakely and saddle-buffoon Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor help Phelps land a job riding shotgun for leading lady Jane Adams' stagecoach line but Jolley and the boys have plans to lay a real robbery blame on Phelps during the re-enactment. Credit to screenwriter Basil Dickey for coming up with a different story (other than the tired old land grab plots). Well handled by director Lambert Hillyer. Watch for Ray Whitley in a musical number with Wakely at the very start. Whitley was, at the time, Jimmy's manager.

 GUNSLINGERS (1950 Monogram)
The railroad is coming through! Grab that land by hook or crook! Whip Wilson comes to the aid of Andy Clyde, telegraph operator Reno Browne, storekeeper Sarah Padden, blacksmith Steve Clark, Clark's son Riley Hill and the rest of the drought stricken citizens of Rockhill who are being menaced by saloon owner Bill Kennedy, phony marshal Dennis Moore and their henchies, crooked judge George Chesebro, Frank McCarroll and Carol Henry. Whip use - 3. Nice inter-cutting between three locations --- Walker Ranch, Iverson's and Melody (Monogram) Ranch by director Wallace Fox. Reno Browne (1921-1991) was Whip's leading lady in 6 westerns, this being her last. A rodeo queen out of Reno, NV (hence her name), she was one of the best female riders in the business. She was married for a brief period to that other whip-wielder, Lash LaRue.

 OUTLAWS OF THE PLAINS (1946 PRC)
Fuzzy St. John, tricked into believing he is psychic, is told by Chief Standing Pine from the spirit world, there is gold on Charlie King's property. But it's all a scam by King, Jack O'Shea and John Cason to sell Fuzzy the worthless property for $50,000, which Fuz tries to raise by having all his rancher friends who believe in him mortgage their land and go in with him on the 'gold mine'. Enter Fuz's old pal, Buster Crabbe, who has a much more level, logical head on his shoulders-with fists and guns to back it up! This was the last of Buster Crabbe's 36 B-westerns over a six year period for PRC, but this one is Fuzzy's film all the way, including the windup when Fuz chases, bulldogs Charlie King off his horse and captures him rather than star Crabbe. Even at the start --- Crabbe doesn't appear until the 15 minute mark! He went on to make SWAMP FIRE and other B-films as well as three Columbia serials while Fuzzy saddled up with Lash LaRue within the year and kept right on ridin' the sidekick trail.

 STICK TO YOUR GUNS (1941 Paramount)
When you watch a dozen or so PRC and Monogram B-westerns in a row, then slip in a Hopalong Cassidy from Paramount, you effectively realize how much better even an average Hoppy was in production values and overall quality than the best from PRC, Monogram, Spectrum and other low-budget studios. Sound, camera-work, lighting, music score, location (Lone Pine here), subtle script nuances, direction-simply everything was higher in quality. Part of the reason is the care spent on each film --- Hoppy's generally went 13 days in production, while PRC, Monogram --- even Republic --- shot their B-westerns in 5-7 days. This film is a remake of Hoppy's own BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN from 1935 --- albeit a lackluster remake with Dick Curtis as the rustler gang boss, Nevada, given none of the outstanding characteristics that made Harry Worth so memorable in the earlier version. Curtis' outlaw band includes Weldon Heyburn, Ian MacDonald (in one of his first screen roles. He achieved outlaw fame as killer Frank Miller in HIGH NOON ten years later), Kermit Maynard, Jack Rockwell, Frank Ellis and Bob Kortman. A new leading lady is introduced to the screen --- Jacqueline (soon Jennifer) Holt, screen legend Jack Holt's daughter. She isn't given much to do and it's obvious she's still finding her way in her first screen appearance. It's a well known fact William Boyd wasn't fond of singing cowboys, but obviously producer Harry 'Pop' Sherman saw some value in them to combat the onslaught of Rogers, Autry and others as he threw in, as members of the Bar 20 outfit, the Jimmy Wakely Trio for several songs (Wakely, Johnny Bond, Dick Rinehart). A couple of their tunes are quite nice, especially "On the Stri