The final Range Busters movie with the lineup of John “Dusty” King, David Sharpe, and Max “Alibi” Terhune, and the 20th overall, Haunted Ranch has one of my favorite plot devices — apparent hauntings — but falls rather short of the earlier ghost town movie in the series, Trail of the Silver Spurs. Here, both …
Read the full post →“<em>Haunted Ranch</em> (Monogram, 1943)”
This movie is a bit different from the Johnny Mack Brown movies from Monogram that I’ve been watching. Here he is not U.S. Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie. Rather, he is a doctor, a man who used to wield his guns but did so in error once and put them aside. He tries to steer clear …
Read the full post →“<em>Flame of the West</em> (Monogram, 1945)”
John Wayne is Singin’ Sandy Saunders, a government agent who is working undercover to investigate in response to ranchers’ complaints about Kincaid (Forrest Taylor), a businessman who controls nearly all the water in the area and is forcing the landowners to pay up or is by denying them the water needed for their livestock. The …
Read the full post →“<em>Riders of Destiny</em> (Lone Star / Monogram, 1933)”
The Range Busters — John “Dusty” King, Max “Alibi” Terhune, and David Sharpe — are called in by Marshal Jim Hammond when his son Frank, a sheriff, is shot down during a bank robbery and the crooks get away. It seems crime has been on the increase, despite the existence of a vigilance committee: Could …
Read the full post →“<em>Trail Riders</em> (Monogram, 1942)”
Bob Rivers (Bob Steele) and his pal Grizzly (George ‘Gabby’ Hayes) are pals who wander the West, getting mixed up in all kinds of scrapes and ending up wanted in various localities, despite never acting against the law. Their latest travels take them to California, where they are unknown (and not yet wanted by the …
Read the full post →“<em>Galloping Romeo</em> (Monogram, 1933)”
Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie (Johnny Mack Brown) and Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) are on the trail of horse thieves who murdered another U.S. Marshal in this entry in their 18-movie series. This time around, Nevada goes undercover as an outlaw hoping to join up with the horse-stealing ring, while Sandy pretends to be an unsavory …
Read the full post →“<em>The Navajo Trail</em> (Monogram, 1945)”
When a scientist experimenting with revivification brings a young man (Edward Norris) back to life after a car crash, something is very different about the boy. He soon is heading out of the house and taking up with a gang of crooks and proving himself a vicious member of the gang, even as he neglects …
Read the full post →“<em>Man with Two Lives</em> (Monogram, 1942)”
The last of 16 Range Busters movies starring the original trio of Ray “Crash” Corrigan, John “Dusty” King, and Max “Alibi” Terhune (with Elmer) provides a reasonable amount of entertainment but offers nothing particularly original. Here, the boys are asked by an old friend to help put a stop to outlaws terrorizing a town and …
Read the full post →“<em>Arizona Stage Coach</em> (Monogram, 1942)”
Just before his execution, a convicted killer gets ready to reveal the man who hired him, but he is struck down by a poison dart. Who committed the crime right in front of witnesses, including the assistant district attorney (Ricardo Cortez)? When a search of all present turns up no weapon, the assistant DA makes …
Read the full post →“<em>I Killed That Man</em> (Monogram, 1941)”
A rancher is framed for rustling as part of a crook’s scheme to get control of land with a silver deposit, and it’s up to U.S. Marshals Sandy Hopkins and Nevada Jack Mackenzie to set things right, even if it involves foiling the actions of the local sheriff. These Brown-Hatton movies are consistently entertaining, but …
