John Cason Movies

Allan "Rocky" Lane and his trusty stallion Black Jack star in Republic's Black Hills Ambush. Lane plays a U.S. marshal who answers a call for help from his old pal Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller). It seems that someone is staging ruinous raids on Nugget's newly established freight line. Realizing that gang leader Bart (Roy Barcroft) is a lost cause, Lane tries to reform gang member Larry Stewart (Michael Hall), thereby forcing the crooks' evil scheme to collapse under its own weight. The highly forgettable leading lady is played by Leslye Banning. Allan "Rocky" Lane continued turning out low-budget westerns for a full decade after Black Hills Ambush was released in 1952 but is probably best-known as the voice of TV-equine Mr. Ed ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charles Starrett once more dons the mask of mysterious do-gooder "The Durango Kid" in Columbia's Challenge of the Range. Wandering cowboy Steve Roper (Starrett) is hired by the Farmers Association to stem the activities of a group of gunmen who are driving ranchers off their land. The most likely suspect turns out to be innocent: the real culprits are within the Association itself. With the help of the chief suspect's son, Roper brings the crooks to justice. Cast as the son is onetime "Dead End Kid" Billy Halop, whose previous western credentials included the radio series Bobby Benson of the B Bar V Ranch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This laid-back western manages to deliver a full quota of action, an agreeable dash of sentiment, and quite a few three-dimensional characterizations. Van Heflin plays Luke Fargo, a Civil War veteran who returns to his Southern homeland to find his house destroyed, his crops burned out, and the local town under the thumb of "white trash" Vancey Huggins (Raymond Burr). In addition, Fargo is on the outs with the townsfolk because he fought for the Union instead of the Confederacy. Having grown weary of death and killing, Fargo hopes to start life anew as a minister, and to that end intends to rebuild the town's only church. Complicating matters is the presence of unkempt, hoydenish teenager Lissy (Joanne Woodward, in her film debut). Though Fargo's feelings for Lissy are basically paternal, the townsfolk, stirred up by Huggins, suspect the worst and prepare to drive the novice minister out of town. A happy--or at least satisfying--ending is reached through a series of logical events not often seen in "formula" westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dead Man's Gold, starring the black clad, whip wielding Lash LaRue and his sidekick, Fuzzy (Al St. John), is the kind of cheesy low-budget production in which legendary lawman Wyatt Earp's name is misspelled "Erpt" in a foreword. Arriving at their friend Jim Thornton's ranch in Gold Valley, Lash and Fuzzy learn from Thornton's niece, June (Peggy Stewart), that her father has gone missing for three days. Lash finds some gold nuggets and realizes that the land may be valuable and a target of claim jumpers terrorizing the valley. As it turns out, Thornton has been murdered by the town's crooked mayor (Lane Bradford), who is in league with the Thornton foreman (Terry Frost). Lash and Fuzzy "persuade" the foreman to turn state's evidence and the mayor is brought to justice. Dead Man's Gulch was one of ten ultra-cheap Westerns produced by Ron Ormond, his wife, former vaudevillian June Carr, and Ira Webb. The budgets were so tight that stunt doubles were eliminated. Years later, LaRue and frequent adversary Terry Frost wondered how they ever survived the quite realistic-looking fight scenes. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A cooperative of independent oil men goes up against a greedy Eastern syndicate in this Republic Pictures serial directed by Fred C. Brannon. Colonel Arnold (Cliff Clark), his daughter Sally (Judy Clark) and Ward Gordon (Richard Powers) furnish the leadership of the cooperative but are constantly threatened by Eastern mogul Dude Dawson (I. Stanford Jolley) and especially his chief henchman, Hacker. The latter was played by burly Roy Barcroft, Republic's now legendary master villain. Leading man Richard Powers had begun his screen career in the '20s under the name George Duryea, then became Tom Keene, B-Western star, in the '30s. He was again using the Tom Keene moniker when appearing in Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s legendary turkey, Plan 9 from Outer Space (1956). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Slightly more elaborate than most Charles Starrett westerns, Down Rio Grande Way is set in the mid-19th century, when the Republic of Texas was poised to join the Union. Starrett plays Texas Ranger Steve Martin (!), who is dispatched to a "renegade" Texas country that refuses to become part of the good old USA. He discovers that the crux of the problem is a local tax collector (Norman Willis) who, with the help of a crooked newspaper editor (Davision Clark), is systematically robbing the citizens of their hard-earned cash, all the while fomenting anti-American sentiments. Britt Wood takes over from Cliff Edwards as Starrett's comical sidekick, while band singer Rose Ann Stevens makes an impressive acting debut as the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Fighting Bill Carson, as any B-western aficionado can readily tell you, is played by Buster Crabbe. And where there's Bill Carson, you'll also find faithful sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones, portrayed as ever by Al "Fuzzy" St. John. This time around, Bill and Fuzzy rescue the lovely Lorraine Miller from stagecoach bandits. Little do they know that Lorraine is actually a member of the gang. Once they do know, Bill and Fuzzy use Lorraine to lure the other crooks into the calaboose. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The scene is Schofield Army Barracks in Honolulu, in the languid days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, where James Jones' acclaimed war novel From Here to Eternity brought the aspirations and frustrations of several people sharply into focus. Sergeant Milt Warden (Burt Lancaster) enters into an affair with Karen (Deborah Kerr), the wife of his commanding officer. Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a loner who lives by his own code of ethics and communicates better with his bugle than he does with words. Prew's best friend is wisecracking Maggio (Frank Sinatra, in an Oscar-winning performance that revived his flagging career), who has been targeted for persecution by sadistic stockade sergeant Fatso Judson (Ernest Borgnine). Rounding out the principals is Alma Lorene (Donna Reed), a "hostess" at the euphemistically named whorehouse The New Congress Club. All these melodramatic joys and sufferings are swept away by the Japanese attack on the morning of December 7. No words could do justice to the film's most famous scene: the nocturnal romantic rendezvous on the beach, with Burt Lancaster's and Deborah Kerr's bodies intertwining as the waves crash over them. If you're able to take your eyes off the principals for a moment or two, keep an eye out for George Reeves; his supporting role was shaved down when, during previews, audiences yelled "There's Superman!" and began to laugh. From Here to Eternity won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and supporting awards to Sinatra and Reed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Officially released one month before PRC's "Billy the Kid" entry Prairie Badmen, Ghost of Hidden Valley, another "Billy"effort, was issued simultaneously with the later film for its New York debut in July of 1946. The story is the usual, with Billy Carson (Buster Crabbe) and Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) defended some good guys against some bad guys. This time, a young homesteading couple (Jean Carlin, John Meredith) are menaced by a gang of rustlers. The villains are using the couple's spread to hide their stolen livestock, threatening to kill both husband and wife if they tell the authorities. But Billy and Fuzzy see to it that justice triumphs within the film's allotted 56-minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this amiable imitation Guys and Dolls, Alan Reed plays a big-time 1920s gangster who is rubbed out by his enemies. In his will, Reed bequeaths his nightclub to chorus girl Lucy Marlow--which doesn't sit too well with Lucy's policeman boyfriend (Richard Long). Frankie Laine plays the tough-but-lovable nightclub manager who first squabbles with Marlow, then falls in love with her. To let us know that the story is all in fun and we shouldn't worry about the ultimate fate of hero and heroine, the film is related in flashback, narrated by Laine. He Laughed Last is directed by Blake Edwards in the buoyant spirit of Edwards' earlier musical-comedy collaborations with director Richard Quine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An otherwise typically cheesy Billy "the Kid" Carson B-Western series entry from Poverty Row studio PRC, His Brother's Ghost is unusual in having no leading lady. Yes, that's right: no rancher's daughter or schoolmarm for Larry "Buster" Crabbe to romance and embrace at the fade-out and no damsel for the evil Charles King to bring in distress. In what could have been another departure from the norm is the fact that the comic sidekick is killed off early on. That, of course, is merely a plot contrivance to bring on his identical twin brother, who then goes about scaring the living daylights out of the gang that has been terrorizing Wolf Valley. The outlaws are so frightened that their leader, Thorne (King), takes the extreme measure of exhuming the dear departed to prove that he really is completely and irrevocably dead. Al St. John, as Andy Jones and his twin, Jonathan "Fuzzy" Q. Jones, had a field day playing the dual role, and Charles King got to utter such lines as "the only good sharecropper is a dead one." But all in all, His Brother's Ghost is typical PRC: shoddy production values (the bandits' hideout resembles, and probably was, a nice suburban tract house in the San Fernando Valley), occasionally inept direction, murky photography, and a wonderful overall sense of fun. But what happened to the girl? The handsome but somewhat stuffy Crabbe seemed lost without her. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Jubal could just as easily have been titled Othello Out West, even though it was officially based on a novel by Paul I. Wellman. The Othello counterpart is likable (and extremely gullible) ranch owner Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine). Horgan hires handsome drifter Cassioer, Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford) as a cowhand, much to the delight of the film's "Desdemona", Horgan's hedonistic wife Mae (Valerie French). The "Iago" of the proceedings is psychotic ranch hand Pinky (Rod Steiger), who, envious of Jubal and hoping to enjoy Mae's sexual favors, sows the seeds of suspicion in Horgan's mind by falsely accusing Jubal of messing around with Horgan's wife. Amidst all this nastiness, there is at least one wholly virtuous character, pretty Naomi Hoktor (Felicia Farr), so guess who Jubal eventually winds up with? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The old bromide about the western town run by outlaws as a hideout for their fellow crooks makes a return appearance in Monogram's Land of the Outlaws. Since the crooks include such reliable disreputables as Charles King and John Merton, the good guys really have their work cut out for them. But not to worry! The heroes are Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton, whose B-western track record is unbeatable. Land of the Outlaws was directed by Lambert Hillyer, whose sense of rhythm and pace had saved many another inexpensive oater. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi