Reno Browne Movies
- 1950
Whip Wilson and Andy Clyde are back and Monogram's got 'em in Fence Riders. The Whipster comes to the aid of beautiful ranch owner Reno Browne, who is being victimized by rustlers Myron Healey and Riley Hill. To get Wilson out of the way, the villains frame him on a murder rap. With the aid of grizzled old Clyde, Wilson escapes to mete out justice. One question: how does one ride a fence? (Ouch!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1950
Gunslingers is another of Monogram's Whip Wilson western series, built around the bullwhip-wielding skills of its star. This time, Wilson and his saddle pal Andy Clyde come to the rescue of a group of ranchers who are being victimized by villain Ace Larabee (Douglas Kennedy). Ace has inside information that the railroad is coming through the territory, and he intends to grab up all the land and sell it to the train execs for a tidy profit. Stealing every scene she's in is venerable character actress Sarah Padden as "Rawhide Rose." Whip Wilson still hadn't learned to act by the time he made Gunslingers, but he was still a sight to behold behind that bullwhip. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1949
The differences between West of El Dorado and Johnny Mack Brown's previous 1949 vehicles are minimal. Once again, Brown is teamed with Max "Alibi" Terhune, comic ventriloquist extraordinaire. In this outing, Johnny and Alibi try to straighten out a hostile young boy (Teddy Infuhr) whose older brother was a notorious stagecoach bandit. When a gang of thieves try to strong-arm the kid into revealing the whereabouts of the stolen loot, Johnny and Alibi come to the rescue. There's a cursory romantic subplot involving heroine Mary (Reno Browne) and Barstow (Marshall Reed). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1949
Haunted Trails is another of the long series of Whip Wilson westerns churned out by Monogram in the late 1940s. As before, Wilson is aided and abetted by grizzled sidekick Andy Clyde, who acts the leading man right off the screen. This is no accident: Adele Buffington's screenplay makes certain that the talented Clyde has the lion's share of the footage, and he makes the most of it. The plot concerns a group of bandits who exploit local rumors about a ghost for their own purposes. The combination of Clyde's buffoonery, Buffington's script and Lambert Hillyer's direction results in one of Whip Wilson's best vehicles (it might even have been better without the stiff and uncomfortable Mr. Wilson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Monogram's Whip Wilson western series occasionally produced a better-than-average entry. In Range Land, Wilson and saddle pal Andy Clyde try to get the goods on a gang of stagecoach bandits. The robberies are being staged by a "solid citizen" who hopes to accumulate a fortune in gold bars. Whip goes undercover, joins the gang, has a few close shaves, and collars the crooks. And, in keeping with his screen nickname, Wilson wields a mean bullwhip whenever the occasion arises. One of the villains is played by Leonard Penn, the father of actors Sean and Christopher Penn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1949
Riders of the Dusk is another of Monogram's formula Whip Wilson westerns. Since the studio couldn't build an entire film around Wilson's bullwhip prowess, a plot was called for. This time around, it's the one about a U.S. marshal who searches high and low for a mysterious masked desperado. The mystery angle is minimal, since seasoned movie fans will be able to determine the mystery person's identity within 15 minutes. As always, Andy Clyde is a tower of comic strength as Whip Wilson's grizzled old sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1949
In this late entry in Monogram's Jimmy Wakely series of musical Westerns, Wakely and sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) come to the aid of Reno Browne, whose brother, Steven (Riley Hill), is convicted and sentenced to death for killing an enemy of their later father. Wakely and Cannonball, who has enrolled in a detective correspondence course, do a bit of investigating and are soon on the track of the real killer, Carson (Dennis Moore), the leader of a gang smuggling ore from Mexico. Although ostensibly a Jimmy Wakely vehicle, Across the Rio Grande became something of a showcase for supporting actors Riley Hill and Dub Taylor. The latter made much of his mail-order detective schtick, to the point of firing a bullet into a recently acquired "bulletproof" vest. The bullet, alas, was not deflected by the vest but by Cannonball's correspondence-manual. Across the Rio Grande marked the screen debut of radio songstress Polly Bergen, who appeared as a cantina singer under her real name Polly Burgin. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Wakely, Reno Browne, (more)
- 1949
Even his cinematic rival Lash LaRue allowed that Whip Wilson was one of the best whip wielders in the movies. Shadows of the West was Wilson's second starring vehicle for Monogram, and as in the first, Crashing Thru, the star is teamed with seasoned sagebrush funster Andy Clyde. The Whipster plays a vacationing lawman who takes time out from his much-needed R-and-R to help out a reformed criminal. Striking an incongruous note is heroine Reno Browne, whose lavish wardrobe is a bit too lavish for her frontier surroundings. Though Whip Wilson wasn't much in the acting department, and while his singing and fisticuffs left a lot to be desired, his prowess with a whip was nothing short of astonishing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1948
A rather corpulent Johnny Mack Brown more than fills the title role of Frontier Agent. Once more, Brown plays a government man, sent to the badlands to round up an elusive outlaw gang. And once more, he is aided and abetted by Raymond Hatton, an old codger who has a lot more on the ball than people suspect. Director Lambert Hillyer keeps things moving even when nothing much is happening. Though it usually adheres to The Expected, Frontier Agent has a few offbeat touches, just to keep the non-western fans awake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1947
Johnny Mack Brown races to the rescue in the Monogram western Raiders of the South. But we're a bit ahead of ourselves here: we should explain that Johnny has come to the aid of helpless settlers who've been victimized by a vigilante group. The mysterious masked leader turns out be...but wait, we're gettting ahead of ourselves again. Featured in the cast is former silent screen star Evelyn Brent, and Superman's Perry White, aka John Hamilton. Raiders of the South benefits from the production polish indigenous to producer Scott R. Dunlap and director Lambert Hillyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Monogram added a bit of music to this otherwise standard Johnny Mack Brown oater, courtesy of former star Smith Ballew, who performs Cindy Walker's "The Strawberry Blonde" and Don Swander and June Hershey's "Livin' Western Style" accompanied by Dusty Rhodes and the Sons of the Sage. Mack Brown, meanwhile, plays Dusty Smith, a drifter coming to the aid of Bill Simpson (Riley Hill), a young hothead accused of wounding a town bully (Reed Howes). Along with old-timer Santa Fe Jones (Raymond Hatton), falsely accused of rustling by smooth saloon owner Blackie Evans (Tristram Coffin), Dusty obtains a job as ranch foreman at the Simpson spread, much to the ire of Blackie, who proves to be the real rustler. Young Bill pays his debt to Dusty by springing him from jail after the latter has been falsely jailed for killing one of the gang and together they track down the villainous saloon owner. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In one of his better Monogram Westerns, Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a crooked saloon owner with more than one murder on his conscience. Steve Corbin (Tristram Coffin) and his gang of cutthroats are terrorizing the townspeople of Rimrock, who in self-defense hire Johnny Macklin (Mack Brown) as new town marshal. Corbin, meanwhile, kills a miner for his claim and threatens the local newspaper editor, Diane Foster (Reno Browne), who happens to be the daughter of Macklin's deputy, Idaho Jim Foster (Raymond Hatton). When a compromised jury returns a not guilty verdict, Macklin has Corbin transferred to the county seat but the villain manages to escape after killing a couple of witnesses. Naturally, the hero quickly hunts him down, restoring peace and tranquility to Rimrock. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
