Maxine Leslie Movies

Billy the Kid, in the person of former swimming champion Larry "Buster" Crabbe, is once again falsely accused of a crime in this low-budget oater from Poverty Row studio PRC. This time, the sheriff of Red Rock accuses the Kid (Karl Hackett) of terrorizing communities on the border to Mexico. Deciding to investigate the matter, Billy and sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) ride into Red Rock, where they stumble across a murdered deputy and a note claiming responsibility signed by "Billy the Kid." Following a couple of mysterious riders to a nearby cabin, Billy is surprised to learn that the leader of a gang of outlaws is a woman named Kate (Maxine Leslie). She agrees to let Billy join the gang provided that he robs the stagecoach. Jealous henchman Dillon (Jack Ingram) attempts to get rid of his new rival by secretly warning the sheriff, but our hero once again eludes the law and is soon holed up in a cabin with Kate. When the girl flatly refuses to abandon her life of crime, Billy warns the sheriff of an upcoming raid on the bank. The town erupts in gunfire and when the dust settles, Kate and her gang are on the run for their lives. In the end, a mortally wounded Kate shoots Dillon to prevent him from killing Billy. Fugitive of the Plains was reissued in 1947 as Raiders of Red Rock. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A collegiate football player becomes the campus laughing-stock when he scores the winning touchdown--for the wrong team. The bungler's life doesn't get much better when a gangster, the only one who is happy about the player's mistake because it earned him a bundle, hires him and hands him a fortune worth over $100,000 to transport from California to Chicago. While at the airport the player gets distracted by a lovely reporter and misses his flight. He then rents a private plane. The fun really begins after he accidentally fumbles the cash and it plummets into the midst of a prison yard. Now he must somehow retrieve every penny lest he lose more than another game. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

She's in the Army is a fascinating vehicle for character actress Lucille Gleason (aka Mrs. James Gleason), heretofore usually confined to supporting roles. Gleason is cast as Hannah, a crusty, all-knowing sergeant in the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps. Brassy nightclub singer Diane (Veda Ann Borg) would rather romance Army captain Steve (Lyle Talbot) than follow Hannah's orders, but eventually she realizes that her first duty is to her country. Likewise, dizzy Marie Wilson "smarts up" enough to prove her value to the Corps. She's in the Army was written by Sidney Sheldon, two decades removed from his success as a best-selling novelist and I Dream of Jeannie mentor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Caught in the Act was filmed under the title You Betcha My Life, in honor of its star, Italian character comedian Henry Armetta. The plot concerns a construction foreman named Mike (Armetta) who inherits a whole passel of headaches when he's promoted to salesman. Among these is a gang of crooks who make their living peddling "protection" to hapless building contractors. Before Mike is able to brings the villains to heel, he himself is tossed behind bars, much to the dismay of his long-suffering spouse Mary (Inez Palange). Though amusing in small doses, Henry Armetta gets a bit wearisome when he's on-screen for nearly a full hour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Police detective Pat O'Day (Leon Ames) involves himself with a gang of slum kids led by Dutch Kuhn (Hally Chester) and Danny Dolan (Harris Berger). He tries to keep them from getting into trouble and to help out Danny, whose brother, Knuckles Dolan (Dave "Tex" O'Brien), is about to be executed for a murder allegedly committed as part of his involvement in a counterfeiting ring. O'Day knows Knuckles, having tried to keep him on the right side of the law, and knows that he couldn't have done the shooting, regardless of the circumstantial evidence, because Knuckles resolutely refused to carry a gun -- the real killer is the gang leader, Mileaway (Dennis Moore), a smooth-talker who earned his nickname through his knack for always being "a mile away" whenever a crime is committed by his gang. O'Day not only wants to catch Mileaway, but tries to keep the teenagers from falling in with the hood. When the detective starts to get too close, Mileaway sets him up for a brutality charge using crooked shop owner Schmidt, and gets O'Day busted back to uniformed patrolman. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

As conceived, Monogram's On the Spot was meant to be purely a Frankie Darro vehicle, with black comedian Mantan Moreland as comedy relief. As filmed, however, On the Spot offered Darro and Moreland as costars, contributing equally to the film's plotline and entertainment value. The story shifts into gear when a mysterious stranger shows up in the small-town drugstore manned by soda jerk Frankie (Darro), then promptly expires after leaving an important message with Frankie and his assistant Jefferson (Moreland). Gangster Smiling Bill (Leroy Mason) shows up soon afterward, demanding that Frankie and Jefferson turn over the message-only to be knocked off himself by a mysterious assailant. Doing a bit of detective work on their own, our heroes discover that the double murder was linked with a recent bank heist, masteminded by?.well, best not to give away the surprisie ending. Former "Our Gang" star Mary Kornman provides the love interest, but the largest female role, that of a big-city insurance investigator, is essayed by Maxine Leslie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Emmett Tansey, production supervisor and head writer on Monogram's Jack Randall Westerns, had the gall this time around to outright plagiarize John Ford's newly released Stagecoach (1939). Like John Wayne in Ford's masterpiece, Jack Randall found himself boarding a stagecoach after having his horse shot out from under him. The coach is already occupied by Mary, a saloon belle (Jean Joyce, aka Claire Rochelle), a whiskey salesman (George Cleveland), and Duke (Dennis Moore), an outlaw. By the time Jack and the passengers arrive in town, Tansey mercifully stops imitating Ford long enough to craft a none too spectacular story of Randall attempting to persuade Miss Joyce from working for Polini (Tristram Coffin, sporting the worst "foreign" accent this side of Buck Jones), whom he suspects of heading a counterfeiting ring. As it turns out, both Mary and the whiskey salesman are undercover agents and the greedy Polini is turned over to a gang of Indians, one of whom he once murdered. No one apparently complained about Tansey plagiarizing John Ford (not to mention screenwriter Dudley Nichols) and Overland Mail was dismissed as just another low-budget Western released on the lower half of double bills. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide