Bob Kortman Movies

No, the "Pinto Bandit" doesn't go around stealing beans. This is another of PRC's "Texas Rangers" series, starring Dave O'Brien and Jim Newell. This time, the Rangers' principal foe is a masked desperado. Evidently, the villain's main purpose in life is to disrupt the mail service between two frontier communities. With O'Brien and Newell on the job, rest assured that the settlers will get their bills and circulars on time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tim Holt's third RKO Radio western for 1943 was The Avenging Rider. The story finds Holt trying to clear himself and his partner Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards of a robbery-murder rap. The actual villains each carry a portion of a Five of Spades, so that they can identify themselves when they claim their shares of the stolen money. Our Hero tracks down four of the five miscreants before he is able to expose the "brains" behind the operation (the Least Likely Suspect, as usual). Cliff Edwards has so much to do and so many songs to sing in The Avenging Rider that one feels he should have gotten top billing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Starring the engaging Donald Barry (nicknamed, for obvious reasons, "Red"), this average Republic Western was filmed on-location at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, CA. Barry, a James Cagney look-alike, played a Pinkerton agent masquerading as a criminal in order to infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters that is using wealthy widow Lucy Randall (Helen MacKellar) as a front. Arriving at the Dawson ranch, the gang's hideout, Red discovers that the counterfeiting ring is headed by J. Richard Spencer (Ian Keith), the innocent Mrs. Randall's attorney, and Dawson himself (Ted Adams). With assistance from girl reporter Lynn Parsons (Linda Johnson), Red bests the counterfeiters, discovering along the way that he is Mrs. Randall's long-lost son. Voted a top ten Western star by the Motion Picture Herald in 1942, 1943, and 1944, Barry usually benefited from good supporting casts, this time including the veteran Ian Keith and former stage star Helen MacKellar. Leading lady Linda Johnson replaced an ailing Lynn Merrick, Barry's usual co-star. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Black Hills Express gets off to a powerful start, as hero Lon Walker (Don "Red" Barry) and his sidekick Deadeye (Wally Vernon) pick through the bloody remains of a stagecoach holdup-massacre. Vowing to catch the varmints responsible, Walker is impeded by a crooked sheriff (Jack Rockwell) and a crookeder banker (George Lewis). But justice triumphs, with some help from Walker's fists and six-guns. Ariel Heath, a promising ingenue who disappeared from pictures after a handful of films, is the heroine. One of the plusses of Black Hills Express is that it affords comedy-relief Wally Vernon an opportunity for some convincing dramatics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown essays the title role in Universal's Fighting Bill Forgo. Returning to his home town, Bill Fargo takes over the operation of his late father's newspaper. He quickly gets swept up in political intrigue fomented by political boss Hackett (Kenneth Harlan), who has a cute habit of rubbing out any and all honest candidates for the sheriff's office. When one of Hackett's victims manages to snap a photograph of his assassins, Bill intends to publish the picture and expose the crooks-provided he lives that long. The musical interludes are provided by Eddie Dean, who'd be promoted to cowboy-star status himself in the late1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Don "Red" Barry stars in the lightning-paced Republic western Sundown Fury. Befitting his unofficial title "the cowboy Cagney", Barry plays a character whose ethics seem to be very shaky. Be assured, however, that he'll come out on the side of the law by fadeout time. The director of Sundown Fury was George Sherman, who'd been producing the Barry vehicles since 1940. After the 1942-43 movie season, Don "Red" Barry was deservedly promoted to such Republic B-plus pictures as My Buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Don "Red" Barry is the star of Jesse James, Jr., he plays a character named Johnny Barrett. The scene is a small western town, lacking telegraph service. Every time the locals try to set up communications with the Outside World, they are thwarted by an outlaw gang. Barry-er, Barrett--comes to the rescue. The supporting cast of Jesse James, Jr. includes several formidable western baddies, among them Bob Kortman, George Cheseboro and Stanley Blystone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a town finds itself under the tyrannical control of a shady sheriff. He is usurped by an honest outside lawman and his bumbling side-kick. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, a mining engineer vengefully seeks out the claim jumpers that murdered his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Twilight on the Trail was one of three "Hopalong Cassidy" entries tradeshown in New York during the last two weeks of September, 1941 (the other two were Stick to Your Guns and Secret of the Wastelands). William Boyd returns as Hoppy, with Brad King and Andy Clyde as his sidekicks Johny and California. On this occasion, Plot Number 21-B was trotted out, with Hoppy posing as a mild-mannered Eastern dude, the better to catch the cattle-rustling villains off guard. Right on cue in reel six, Cassidy reveals his true identity as he, Johnny and California make the frontier safe for the likes of tremulous heroine Lucy (Wanda McKay). Twilight on the Trail was coscripted by actress Ellen Corby, who thirty years later gained TV fame as Grandma on The Waltons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Wayne goes up against the lottery racket, 1880 Louisiana-style, in this passable time-killer from Republic Pictures. Arriving from New England to look into the Louisiana lottery on behalf of uplifter Blanche Brunot (Helen Westley), attorney John Reynolds (Wayne) falls in love with sultry Julie Mirbeau (Osa Munson), who attempts to persuade him that her father's gaming business is on the up and up. When a New Orleans restaurateur, Gaston (Shimen Ruskin), is found murdered, Reynolds begins to suspect that General Mirbeau's (Henry Stephenson) gang is behind the killing. To meet the attorney halfway, Mirbeau fires his chief henchman, Blackie (Ray Middleton), but is himself killed by one of Blackie's men, Cuffy Brown (Jack Pennick). Reynolds, who has been appointed special city attorney, pays his respect to Julie, but the angry girl accuses him of indirectly causing the death of her father and then flaunts her engagement to Blackie. Said engagement, however, suffers a fatal blow when Julie finds her fiancé in the arms of gambling hall hostess Pearl (Jacqueline Dalya). Taking the stand in court against the racket, Julie's testimony is interrupted when a rainstorm sweeps the area, breaking a levee. While pursuing a fleeing Blackie, Reynolds orders a steamship to block the hole in the levee, a plan that ultimately saves New Orleans. Having survived the potential disaster, Julie leaves the lottery racket behind and agrees to become Mrs. Reynolds. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown saves the day in the Universal western programmer Law of the Range. Finding himself in the middle of a family feud, Brown endeavors to unruffle the combatants' feathers for the sake of leading lady Nell O'Day. He proves that there's nothing for the families to fight over when he corrals the instigator of the feud, "outsider" Alan Bridge. Brown wields his six-shooters, Ms. O'Day displays some fancy riding and roping skills, Riley Hill (billed as Roy Harris) makes an impressively nasty screen debut, and comic relief Raymond Hatton provides...comic relief. Law of the Range is a remake of the 1935 Buck Jones vehicle The Ivory-Handled Gun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide