Merrill McCormack Movies

The creative team of producer Harry Joe Brown and star Randolph Scott turned out some of the best westerns of the 1950s, and Santa Fe is no exception. Set in the years following the Civil War, the film casts Scott as Britt Canfield, one of four ex-Confederate brothers who head West to carve out a new life. While his three siblings (Jerome Courtland, Peter Thompson and John Archer) cast their lot on the wrong side of the law, Britt accepts a job with the Santa Fe Railroad. Inevitably, Britt is obliged to bring his wayward brothers to justice, though he knows full well that the person responsible for their downfall is "untouchable" gambling boss Cole Sanders (Roy Roberts). In a well-staged climax, Britt squares accounts with the evil Sanders and his hulking henchman Crake (Jock O'Mahoney). Curiously, many TV prints of Santa Fe were processed with the soundtrack slightly out of sync with the action. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Johnny Mack Brown stars in the Monogram oater Outlaw Gold. The plot is motivated by revenge: sentenced to five years in prison, vicious gunman Sonny Lang (Myron Healey) vows to "get" Dave Willis (Brown) the moment he's released. Our Hero, however, can't be bothered by such trivialities. He's too busy trying to prevent the hijacking of a gold shipment on the Mexican border. Inevitably, Willis and Lang's paths cross, but not before Willis exposes the mastermind behind the robbery. The film's romantic element is handled by Marshall Reed (cast as a crusading newspaperman) and Jane Adams. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In one of his better later Westerns, singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely comes to the aid of a reformed outlaw and his wayward son. Wrongfully accused of a shooting, the outlaw, Hank Cardigan (Lee Phelps), is rescued by Jimmy, who manages to obtain a job for his new friend at the local express office. But Cardigan's unruly son, Tom (John James), is determined to repeat his father's mistakes -- until, that is, Jimmy and sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) convince him that crime does not pay. Wakely and an unbilled Ray Whitley perform "I Have Looked the Whole World Over" and Foy Willing's "Rose of Santa Fe." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

With Silver City Raiders, perennial western sidekick Russell Hayden launched his own starring series. Hayden plays "Lucky", the same character he'd previously essayed in the Hopalong Cassidy films. This time around, Lucky tries to prove that crooked land baron Dawson (Paul Sutton) doesn't have prior claim on the entire territory. When legal methods prove only moderately effective, Lucky and his chums use more direct methods to drive Dawson and his ilk out of town. The film is highlighted by what must be the more unrealistically bloodless gun duel in screen history. Supporting Russell Hayden are two carryovers from Columbia's Charles Starrett series, Dub "Cannonball" Taylor and Bob Wills. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A virtual remake of Rustlers' Valley (1937), this average "Hopalong Cassidy" Western features Jay Kirby as Johnny Travers, a Hoppy associate framed for a bank robbery and supposedly killed during the ensuing chase. Johnny, however, to Hoppy and California Carlson's (Andy Clyde) great relief, proves to be very much alive but the accusation of robbery still stands. Hoppy, meanwhile, smells a rat when the local lawyer, Jeff Burton (Douglas Fowley), suddenly becomes very protective of his fiancée, Laura Clark (Lola Lane), whose ranch he desires. But why, when the price of beef is down, are Burton and the local banker, Zack Rogers (Guy Usher), so determined to buy up all the neighborhood ranches? In between the mayhem, The Sportsmen Quartette twice performs Joseph J. Lilley and Frank Loesser's melodious "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle". Contrary to popular belief, Lost Canyon was released by Paramount and was not part of the "Hopalong Cassidy" package sold outright to United Artists. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A well-acted, well-paced entry in the Don "Red" Barry Western series from Republic Pictures, The Sombrero Kid featured the diminutive Barry as Jerry Holden, the apparent son and heir of veteran lawman Tom Holden (Robert Homans). But when Holden Sr. is killed by one of Banker Martin's (Joel Friedkin) gang of claim jumpers, Jerry learns that his real father was Bart Clanton, a notorious bandit killed by Marshal Holden, who then raised the orphaned boy as his own. After accidentally killing one of Martin's men, Taggart (I. Stanford Jolley), in a barroom fight, Jerry becomes a fugitive wanted for murder. He joins a gang led by Smoke (Stuart Hamblen), one of Martin's henchmen, hoping to obtain enough evidence to convict the crooked banker. Along with Tommy Holden Jr. (John James), who has replaced his late father as town marshal, Jerry sets a trap for Mason's weak-willed son, Phillip (Rand Brooks). In a desperate attempt to escape justice, Mason kills Phillip, but is arrested by Jerry. The latter is cleared of all charges and elected sheriff by a grateful citizenry. Country gospel songwriter Stuart Hamblen makes a fine villain in one of his infrequent screen appearances and blonde Lynn Merrick is, as always, an attractive adornment to any "Red" Barry vehicle. Merrick, whose contract was held jointly by Republic and Columbia Pictures, appeared in no less than 16 Barry Westerns, one of the longest runs of any sagebrush heroine. Her "leading man" this time around, however, is John James, not Barry. The Sombrero Kid was filmed at the Walker Ranch at Placerita Canyon, CA, a busy location for low-budget moviemaking from 1931-1955. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In one of his better early Westerns, Tim Holt, as Deputy Marshal Larry Durant, is sent to Spencerville where a gang of vigilantes has been terrorizing the citizenry. Going undercover as a gunsmith, Larry quickly learns that the leader of the vigilantes, John Spencer (John Elliott), is an honest man who only seeks to establish law and order. The real brains behind the crimes, meanwhile, are revealed to be Spencer's brother-in-law, Lou Harmon (Roy Barcroft), and his chief henchman, Leighton (Charles King), who speculate in the coming of the railroad by forcing the townspeople to relinquish their land. When Harmon learns from innocent tattle-tale Ike (Cliff Edwards) that the railroad will be bypassing Spencerville in favor of neighboring East Spencerville, the vigilantes shift their operations to that community. Spencer is killed by Leighton in the ensuing melee but with the assistance of the East Spencerville townspeople, Larry manages to trap Harmon and his gang in the local saloon. When not making life difficult for Tim Holt, comedy relief Cliff Edwards performs "Grandpap" and "Where the Mountain Meets the Sunset," both by Fred Rose and Ray Whitley. Pirates of the Prairie was a remake of Legion of the Lawless, a '40s Western starring Tim Holt's predecessor at RKO, George O'Brien. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

With its slight resemblance to Destry Rides Again (1939) -- probably not entirely coincidental -- this rousing Western from Republic Pictures remains a joy throughout. John Wayne plays Tom Craig, a mild-mannered druggist from Boston who opens a shop in wild and woolly Sacramento shortly before the Gold Rush. The town is "owned" by the Dawson brothers, Britt (Albert Dekker) and Joe (Dick Purcell), who poison Craig's tonic when saloon hostess Lacey Miller (Binnie Barnes) takes too much of an interest in the handsome newcomer. Town drunk Whitey (Emmett Lynn) has one drink too many, and all of Sacramento is soon in a lynching mood. The news of "gold in them thar hills" saves the druggist in the nick of time, but his business is destroyed. While everyone is heading for the gold fields, Craig prepares to leave town with snobbish debutante Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish), whom he intends to marry. News of typhoid fever among the prospectors changes his mind, however, and the man once referred to as "a human hitchin' post instead of a two-legged man," risks his own life to save the suffering populace. The Dawson brothers, meanwhile, plan to hijack the medical supplies and sell them to the highest bidder, but when Britt Dawson learns that Lacey is helping the sick and may be stricken with the disease herself, he has a change of heart and eventually confesses to spiking Craig's medicine. Cast against type for most of the film, John Wayne fails to make his amiable druggist entirely believable but remains simply John Wayne throughout -- which is as it should be. Binnie Barnes is rowdy and fun whether leading a chorus of "California Joe" by Johnny Marvin and Fred Rose, or jealously interrupting a tête-à-tête between Wayne and 19-year-old Helen Parrish. Usually cast as glacial "other women" in Hollywood films, the British-born Barnes had actually begun her professional career touring Europe and South Africa with bucolic American headliner Tex McLeod, which was as good a preparation as any to play In Old California's saloon belle. Patsy Kelly, who shoots down her laundry with a Winchester, and Edgar Kennedy, as Wayne's tooth-ache plagued sidekick, add to the general fun. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Bantam-weight western star Don "Red" Barry certainly deserved his designation as "The Cowboy Cagney" in Republic's Desert Bandit. Barry is cast as two-fisted Texas Ranger Bob Crandall, who after being dishonorably discharged heads to the Mexican border to start life anew. He falls in with a gang of gun runners, headed by corrupt lawman Largo (William Haade). It turns out, of course, that Crandall's "disgrace" was merely a ruse to allow him to work undercover in bringing Largo and his minions to justice. More realistic than most Republic B oaters, Desert Bandit is climaxed by a tension-filled shootout between hero and villain. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Old Cheyenne is where the viewer can find Roy Rogers and Gabby Hayes this time out. Rogers is cast as frontier journalist Steve Blane, determined to print the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in his weekly rag. But when Steve inaugurates a series of articles about alleged bandit Arapahoe Brown (Hayes), he finds he's been misled: Arapahoe is innocent of the crimes attributed to him. The instigator of this outrage is town boss Sam Drummond (George Rosener), who hopes to use Brown as a scapegoat for his own misdeeds. Steve manages to show Drummond up as the no-good he is, pausing every so often to serenade heroine Dolores Casino (Joan Woodbury) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bill Elliot took time out from his "Wild Bill Hickok" westerns series to essay the title role in Son of Davy Crockett. During the Reconstruction era, Davy Jr. (Elliot) is hired by President Grant (Harrison Greene) to convince the residents of a small territory on the Texas border to align themselves with the United States. Opposing this move is local outlaw leader King Canfield (Kenneth MacDonald), who wants nothing to interfere with his dictatorial hold over the territory. For a while, it looks as though young Crockett has cast his lot with Canfield, but his true loyalties are revealed at a crucial plot juncture. Despite its potential, Son of Davy Crockett falls short due to his overabundance of dialogue and its paucity of action. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Beautifully restored to its original theatrical length of 84 minutes by the Gene Autry Foundation, Melody Ranch is a bright, tuneful, and at times quite action-packed piece of B-Western extravaganza, Republic style. The victim of both a drop in ratings and a tardy leading lady, radio star Gene Autry is only too happy to oblige when old friend Pop Laramie (George "Gabby" Hayes) proposes that he return to his hometown of Torpedo as honorary sheriff during the upcoming Frontier Day celebration. With leading lady Julie Shelton (Ann Miller), city slicker announcer Cornelius Courtney (Jimmy Durante), and bemused sponsor Tommy Summerville (Jerome Cowan) in tow, Gene takes Torpedo by storm. That is, everyone except the Wildhack brothers (Barton MacLane, Joe Sawyer, and Horace MacMahon), old enemies who take umbrage to Gene's lampooning them on his daily broadcast. Julie, meanwhile, falls in love with the Wild and Woolly West in general and Gene in particular, and when the crooner proposes to leave show business and run for the office of sheriff for real, she decides to stay as well. The Wildhack brothers, meanwhile, attempt to sabotage the election, but Gene and his pals persevere against the odds. Produced at a cost of 500,000 dollars, Melody Ranch was the first Autry Western to be booked into first-run theaters, which had been Republic Pictures' goal all along. Autry, Ann Miller, Jimmy Durante, Mary Lee, and Bob Wills and His Playboys perform "Melody Ranch," "We Never Dream the Same Dream Twice," "Call of the Canyon," My Gal Sal," "Torpedo Joe," What Cowboys Are Made Of," and "Rodeo Rose," all by Jule Styne and Eddie Cherkose, and a good time is had by all. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi