A young John Wayne heads the cast in this western as John Drury, a cowboy who seeks to defend a boisterous horse, Duke, against a charge of murder. To clear the horse, Drury goes after the criminal known as the Hawk, who is behind a series of crimes in the area. But when Drury is …
In Old Santa Fe (Mascot, 1934)
Gene Autry gets plenty of credit in many of the posters, and also at the beginning of the print I watched, as a reflection of his popularity, but this is Ken Maynard’s movie, with Autry only present with a band — and Maynard gets some dubbed singing in as well. Ken and his partner Cactus …
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Prairie Raiders (Columbia, 1947)
A battle over a land lease is at the center of this Durango Kid outing, as a conniving crook plots to use a forged lease to keep young Bronc Masters (Robert Scott, aka Mark Roberts), the rightful lessee, from rounding up horses for use by the Army. Luckily Steve Bolton, the agent of the Department …
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Haunted Ranch (Monogram, 1943)
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 …
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Flame of the West (Monogram, 1945)
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 …
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Come On, Tarzan (K.B.S. Productions / World Wide, 1932)
Ken Maynard’s horse plays a major role in this picture (he’s the title character) — although for much of the film, Tarzan isn’t really Ken’s horse, but rather a smart, free-ranging equine that helps to foil the aims of horse rustlers who want the wild creatures for dog food. Maynard plays a likeable character, as …
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Riders of Destiny (Lone Star / Monogram, 1933)
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 …
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Trail Riders (Monogram, 1942)
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 …
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Law of the Canyon (Columbia, 1947)
While bringing in supplies to start a new store, dude Steve Langtry (Charles Starrett) is set upon and has his wagons hijacked. Upon arrival in town, Steve, slightly injured in the fracas, goes to see the town doctor (Fred F. Sears), who offers his services as a go-between to take a ransom to the bandits …
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Trailing Trouble (Grand National, 1937)
A peace-loving cowboy, “Friendly” Fields (Ken Maynard), has a strong resemblance to a noted outlaw, Blackie Burke, and when Friendly gets a job at the ranch owned by Patty Blair (Lona Andre) and sets out to retrieve some stolen cattle, that resemblance comes in handy, as the rustlers mistake his identity. But when he tries …
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