Chief Many Treaties Movies
- 1948
Worthless from a historical aspect, Black Bart is nonetheless an enjoyable fabrication about the fabled Western outlaw. Rescued from a "necktie party," outlaws Charles E. Boles (Dan Duryea) and Lance Hardeen (Jeffrey Lynn) decide that it would be best to part as friends and go their separate ways. When next seen, Boles is a prosperous rancher who supplements his income by robbing the Wells Fargo gold shipments under the alias of Black Bart. Upon learning this, Hardeen rides back into Boles' life demanding a piece of the action. Both of the hero-villains are foiled when they succumb to the charms of the bewitching international courtesan Lola Montez (Yvonne DeCarlo). The story is related in flashback-from a jail cell by the outlaws' erstwhile partner Jersey Brady (Percy Kilbride). Obviously forgotten or ignored by the screenwriters was the fact that the actual Black Bart was really black, an ex-slave who "made bad" in the Wild West . Black Bart was remade in 1967 as Ride to Hangman's Tree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, (more)
- 1947
Usually associated with erudite, urbane comedies, the legendary screen team of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy goes intensely dramatic in the expensive western Sea of Grass. Tracy plays cattle baron Colonel James Brewton, who staunchly opposes opening the western frontier to homesteaders. Standing steadfastly beside Brewton-at least at the beginning--is his headstrong wife Lutie (Hepburn). Eventually disillusioned by the stern implacability of her husband, Lutie leaves Brewton and goes off to Denver, where she falls in love with liberal attorney Brice Chamberlain (Melvyn Douglas), the champion of the homesteaders' cause. Upon giving birth to Chamberlain's son, Lutie confesses her indiscretion to Brewton, who takes the news with commendable restraint, even offering to accept the baby as his own. Unfortunately, the Brewtons' standing in the community is weakened by the revelation of Lutie's infidelity, causing her to leave her husband for a second time. Years later, Lutie's grown-up boy Brock (Robert Walker) drifts to the wrong side of the law, leading to his death at the hands of a posse. Though it hardly seems possible under the circumstances, Brewton and Lutie are at long last reconciled through the intervention of their daughter Sara Beth (Phyllis Thaxter). Elaborately produced in the traditional MGM manner and adroitly directed by Elia Kazan, Sea of Grass is still one of the lesser Tracy-Hepburns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, (more)
- 1947
Produced by Jack Schwartz for low-budget company Screen Guild, this mild Western starring the veteran Richard Arlen was apparently the first entry in a proposed series. Arlen played the title role, here assigned by the army to quell an Indian attack on the powerless settlers. The Indians are accusing Tom Russell (John Dexter) of murdering a member of the tribe, an act, as Buffalo Bill discovers, actually committed by a gang of outlaws hired by investment company owner J.B. Jordon (Frank O'Connor). Buffalo Bill Rides Again was soundly defeated by a low budget and slipshod direction by the veteran Bernard B. Ray. Popular B-Western villain Ted Adams disappeared mysteriously halfway through the film, only to be replaced by Edmund Cobb. Jennifer Holt, the daughter of Arlen contemporary Jack Holt and by far the busiest B-Western heroine of the 1940s, had little to do other than letting herself be kidnapped by evil Gil Patric. Arlen, whose career dated back to the silent era, was perhaps a mite too old and stout by 1946 when this film was produced to become an acceptable B-Western hero. No further Buffalo Bill Westerns were produced by Schwartz. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Adams, Richard Arlen, (more)
No slouch himself at rearranging the facts to make a good story, Colonel William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody would probably have enjoyed this Technicolor version of his life and times. Well played by Joel McCrea, Cody is first seen as an army Indian scout, pursuing peaceful coexistence despite the animosity of Chief Yellow Hand (Anthony Quinn) and the obstruction of anti-Indian politicians. He also takes time out to court the lovely Louisa (Maureen O'Hara), the well-bred Eastern girl who will become his wife despite her initial (and quite justified) distaste for the West. Under the tutelage of impresario Ned Buntline (Thomas Mitchell), Cody follows up his military career with a more spectacular one as a larger-than-life super-showman, touring throughout the world with his spectacular Wild West show. In later years, Buffalo Bill director William Wellman would wince at the liberties taken with Cody's life -- especially the film's now notorious closing line, "God bless you, Buffalo Bill!" But Wellman allowed that, in terms of sheer entertainment, it was smarter to emulate Cody by perpetuating the legend rather than debunking the Buffalo Bill image with cold, hard facts. Or, as John Ford put it in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1944
The Sundown Riders was the first in a brief series of "experimental" westerns, designed for the then-burgeoning 16-millimeter home-movie and classroom market. RKO contractee Russell Wade teams with "Hopalong Cassidy" alumni Jay Kirby and Andy Clyde, portraying the "Sundown Riders". Their first mission: to thwart an outlaw gang, thereby making the west safe for progressive education. Filmed in Kodachrome color, Sundown Riders is as professional-looking as possible under the circumstances, thanks to the conviviality of the stars and the surehanded director of veteran Lambert Hillyer. Alas, the 16-millimeter market was not of sufficient size and scope in 1944 to warrant a full years' worth of "Sundown Riders" epics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Wade, Jay Kirby, (more)
The second entry in Monogram's low-budget "Trail Blazers" B-Western series, The Law Rides Again marked the final directorial effort of Alan J. Neitz (alias Alan James), a veteran genre specialist whose career dated back to 1916. Aging lawmen Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson are this time assigned to determine why an Indian tribe is breaking their treaty with the United States government. Aligning themselves with a notorious criminal (Jack LaRue), Ken and Hoot discover that the tribe is being cheated out of their government sanctioned cattle by a crooked Indian agent (Kenneth Harlan) and his Indian co-cohort (Chief Many Treatise. Filmed on the cheap at Corriganville, actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan's movie ranch in Simi Valley, California, The Law Rides Again's only novelty was stunt-rider Betty Miles) playing a female stage driver. Chief Thundercloud, here playing the Indian chief, would later replace the increasingly difficult Ken Maynard in the final two "Trail Blazers" entries, Outlaw Trail and Sonora Stagecoach (both 1944). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, (more)
- 1943
This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a city slicker con man -- the better to accommodate that film's stars, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The 1943 remake does without the comic relief, concentrating on Rooney, a teenaged playboy who is sent to a Western mining school by his father (Henry O'Neill), in the hopes that the Rooney will forsake his wastrel ways. Judy Garland is cast in the role originated on stage by Ginger Rogers: the feisty, lovelorn frontier postmistress Ginger Gray, who falls in love with the hero -- the difference being that Garland has been promoted from postmistress to the daughter of mining-school dean Phineas Armour (Guy Kibbee). The new plot involves a contest for rodeo queen, pitting Ginger against Marjorie Tait (Frances Rafferty), who is also her rival for Rooney's affections. The contest serves a double purpose: Rooney is hoping that the publicity engendered by the rivalry will attract students to the failing school, proof positive that for all of his bravado, he's a swell, altruistic guy underneath. These plot complications are merely prologue for a gargantuan musical finale built upon the Gershwin standard "I Got Rhythm," staged by the film's original director, Busby Berkeley. Other musical carryovers from the stage play include "Embraceable You," "Bidin' My Time," and "But Not for Me." Featured in the cast are June Allyson, Rags Ragland, and the Tommy Dorsey Band. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, (more)
- 1943
After gathering dust for nearly a year, the independently produced The Deerslayer attained a national release through Republic. A bottom-budget adaptation of the James Fenimore Cooper classic, the film stars Bruce Kellogg as Deerslayer, an intrepid Indian scout-hunter in the 18th century Hudson Valley. He spends most of the film escaping from hostile Indians and helping white settlers protect themselves against the savage hordes. Most of the film is amateurishly shot, with the actors fighting a losing battle against an uninspired, illogical script (in one scene, an Indian brave receives a wound in a portion of the body that was out of the range of gunfire!) In later years, Deerslayer would gain reissue value by virtue of supporting actors Larry Parks and Yvonne De Carlo, who'd gone on to achieve full-fledged stardom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Kellogg, Larry Parks, (more)
- 1941
Taking a vacation from her "Blondie" movies, Penny Singleton plays an Eastern girl who follows Horace Greeley's advice and heads westward. She arrives in a flea-bitten frontier town where Marshal Glenn Ford is trying to rid the community of the vicious Pecos Pete. Singleton vies with saloon gal Ann Miller over Glenn Ford's affections, and along the way both actresses perform a few musical numbers. In the end, Singleton helps Ford lasso the villain. Go West, Young Lady takes great pains to avoid originality, especially in a knock-down, drag-out fight scene between Penny Singleton and Ann Miller which was clearly inspired by the Marlene Dietrich-Una Merkel battle in Destry Rides Again (39). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Glenn Ford, (more)
- 1941
Congress suddenly changes the boundary between Texas and Mexico and the rangers leave the territory to the U.S. cavalry in this fine entry in Republic Pictures long-running Three Mesqueteers western series. Left to fend for himself, the commanding officer, Colonel Langley (Forbes Murray), makes the mistake of trusting LeRoque (Peter George Lynn), a half-breed interpreter who in reality is the feared Commanche renegade Waneeche. Nothing the Three Mesqueteers, "Stony" Brooke (Robert Livingston), "Tucson" Smith (Bob Steele) and "Lullaby" Joslin (Rufe Davis), do or say dissuades Langley from walking straight into a trap and only by taking a typically daring approach are the Mesqueteers able to prevent wholesale slaughter. Gale Storm plays the nominal female lead as the colonel's cheery daughter and comedy relief is provided by spinster-ish Ellen Lowe, as Aunt Amanda, a scalp-hungry Glenn Strange and rube comic Rufe Davis. The latter also performs Smiley Burnette's "Just Imagine That" backed by cowboy swing fiddler Spade Cooley. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Bob Steele, (more)
- 1941
Tex Ritter's thirty-second music Western for producer Edward F. Finney -- the last twenty released by Monogram -- The Pioneers was also Ritter's perhaps most unusual. "Suggested" by James Fenimore Cooper's 1853 The Leatherstocking Tales, the Western featured both Ritter and sidekick Slim Andrews wearing buckskin jackets, the latter even completing his ensemble with a homey coonskin cap. Ritter and Andrews played trail guides saving a wagon train from an Indian attack, much to the dismay of land owner J.W. Carson (Karl Hackett). Carson, along with henchmen Wilson (George Chesebro) and Jingo (Lynton Brent), had orchestrated the raid in the first place in an attempt to scare settlers away from a valuable parcel of land. Tex, meanwhile, is falsely accused of murdering one of the settler's, Ames (Del Lawrence), whose daughter, Suzannah (Wanda McKay), Carson has been courting. Ritter narrowly escapes a lynching party to hook up with his pal Red Foley. Together with Slim and Doye O'Dell (of radio fame), they manage to save Suzannah from a fate worse and death and the settlers in general from Carson's evil machinations. Making their screen debuts, country and western performers Red Foley and Doye O'Dell "played" themselves, a rather odd choice for what was ostensibly a Fenimore Cooper adaptation. Ritter, who had just married his former co-star Dorothy Fay, left Finney in favor of a more steady paycheck from Columbia Pictures. The Pioneers, alas, was the former radio performer's final solo starring vehicle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Arkansas "Slim" Andrews, (more)
- 1938
Singing cowboy Bob Baker starred in this average music western as a cavalry officer assigned to investigate the murders of several Pony Express riders. Going undercover as Pony Express riders themselves, Captain Bob Bradley and his sidekick Andy Sharpe (Don Barclay) arrive at the Ricardo Ranchero to purchase horses for the Express. Don Ricardo's neighbor Don Diego (Julian Rivero) is killed after filing a grant with the United States Land Office in Placita, and Bob begins to suspect a connection between the Pony Express killings and the Spanish land grants. Don Ricardo (Martin Garralaga) is the next obvious victim and, sure enough, shortly after the dignified rancher files his claim, the rider assigned to deliver it to Placerita is found murdered. Realizing that Don Ricardo is in danger from a gang of outlaws plotting to take over all the valley's ranches, Bob forms a posse with the surviving riders and arrives at the Ricardo ranchero just in time to save the don and his pretty daughter, Loreta (Cecilia Callejo) from the marauding thieves. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Baker, Cecilia Callejo, (more)
- 1937
In this war film, set in 1817, an American Army captain searches throughout Spanish-ruled Florida for his brother who has been abducted by an evil Don. En route he begins to romance the daughter of the Don. He also manages to save his brother from the firing squad. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Keene, Edna Lawrence, (more)
