Archvillain Pandro Zanti (Earl Dwire) sets his sights on young Ruby (Sheila Terry) and plots the murder of her grandfather, Dusty (George “Gabby” Hayes) as well. John Tobin (John Wayne), whose parents Zanti had murdered years ago, comes to the assistance of Dusty and Ruby, but the hostility of the local sheriff and the conniving …
Read the full post →“<em>The Lawless Frontier</em> (Lone Star / Monogram, 1934)”
Gold shipments are being hijacked, and it’s up to federal marshals Sandy Jackson (Raymond Hatton) and Nevada Jack Mackenzie (Johnny Mack Brown) to get to the bottom of the crimes. To that end, Sandy comes to town dressed in somber clothing, hoping to be mistaken for an undertaker, though instead everyone leaps to the conclusion …
Read the full post →“<em>Six Gun Gospel</em> (Monogram, 1943)”
A gang of crooks is bent on keeping homesteaders out of the Spur area, which is being opened for settlement in a land rush, and government surveyor Steve Harmon (aka the Durango Kid, played by Charles Starrett) stands up for the prospective settlers — including Ozie Waters and His Colorado Rangers — and takes the battle …
Railroad surveyors Whip and Dave (Whip Wilson and Rand Brooks) tangle with a large local landowner and his daughter, who is boss of the local town and will happily take steps, up to and including murder, to keep the railroad away from the captive market. Noel Neill is sympathetic as the younger daughter, who opposes …
Read the full post →“<em>Montana Incident</em> (Monogram, 1952)”
There’s a bit of a different setup for the Range Busters in this outing, their twelfth, with Dusty masquerading as rodeo champion Crash and Crash pretending to be an Eastern dude to woo a rancher’s daughter. Alibi gets some attention, too, as he used to work for the rancher, who is being maneuvered into a …
Read the full post →“<em>Thunder River Feud</em> (Monogram, 1942)”
A rodeo rider and his gambler buddy are framed for theft and the murder of a rodeo official. They make their escape and follow the real killers to another town, but what will they do when they both fall for the sister of one of the crooks and then are framed — again! — for …
Read the full post →“<em>The Desert Trail</em> (Monogram, 1935)”
My first movie of 2021 is the second in the long-running series of Monogram westerns starring Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton. In the early films, Hatton continues to portray Marshal Sandy Hopkins, the character he originated in the Rough Riders series, which ended after the death of Buck Jones in 1942. In The Stranger …
Read the full post →“<em>The Stranger from Pecos</em> (Monogram, 1943)”
Lance Kilkenny may have finally found a home, in a remote valley in the mountains, but when a land-grabbing cattleman threatens all the little spreads in the area, including that run by the woman he loves, the tired gunfighter must once again take up arms and bring the fight to the oppressor. The final Kilkenny …
In Underground Rustlers, the Federal government calls on the Range Busters to foil a plot to steal western gold and enable the cornering of the gold market. Alibi gets a fair amount to do in this one, working undercover as a traveling salesman, while Crash and Dusty operate in the open as government agents trying …
Read the full post →“<em>Underground Rustlers</em> (Monogram, 1941)”
