Lafe [Lafayette] McKee Movies
White-haired Lafe McKee (real name, Lafayette McKee) was seemingly born old, dignified, and kind. Already playing old codgers by the mid-1910s, McKee delivered one of the funniest and most improbable moments in B-Western history, when, disguised as a bedraggled señorita, he sprang Ken Maynard from prison in Range Law (1931). "The Grand Old Man of Westerns," as film historian William K. Everson called him, retired in the early '40s after more than three decades of yeoman work opposite every cowboy hero on the Hollywood range, from Franklyn Farnum to Gary Cooper. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
In this crime comedy, a gang of reformed criminals takes over the town bank and must then fight with their temptation to rob it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The first of director Frank Capra's independent productions (in partnership with Robert Riskin), Meet John Doe begins with the end of reporter Ann Mitchell's (Barbara Stanwyck) job. Fired as part of a downsizing move, she ends her last column with an imaginary letter written by "John Doe." Angered at the ill treatment of America's little people, the fabricated Doe announces that he's going to jump off City Hall on Christmas Eve. When the phony letter goes to press, it causes a public sensation. Seeking to secure her job, Mitchell talks her managing editor (James Gleason) into playing up the John Doe letter for all it's worth; but to ward off accusations from rival papers that the letter was bogus, they decide to hire someone to pose as John Doe: a ballplayer-turned-hobo (Gary Cooper), who'll do anything for three squares and a place to sleep. "John Doe" and his traveling companion The Colonel (Walter Brennan) are ensconced in a luxury hotel while Mitchell continues churning out chunks of John Doe philosophy. When newspaper publisher D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold), a fascistic type with presidential aspirations, decides to use Doe as his ticket to the White House, he puts Doe on the radio to deliver inspirational speeches to the masses -- ghost-written by Mitchell, who, it is implied, has become the publisher's mistress. The central message of the Doe speeches is "Love Thy Neighbor," though, conceived in cynicism, the speeches strike so responsive a chord with the public that John Doe clubs pop up all over the country. Believing he is working for the good of America, Cooper agrees to front the National John Doe Movement -- until he discovers that Norton plans to exploit Doe in order to create a third political party and impose a virtual dictatorship on the country. The last of Capra's "social statement" films, Meet John Doe posted a profit, although Capra and Riskin were forced to dissolve their corporation due to excessive taxes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
- 1940
The second of Columbia Pictures' four "Wild Bill Saunders" westerns, Pioneers of the Frontier features William Elliott as the title character who discovers that his uncle Mort (Lafe McKee) has been murdered by an unscrupulous ranch foreman, Matt Brawley (Dick Curtis). But before he can right Brawley's wrongs, Wild Bill is arrested for a murder he didn't commit. Sidekick Cannonball Sims (Dub Taylor) and disgruntled girl rancher Joan Darcy (Dorothy Comingore) plot to break Wild Bill out of jail but Brawley is wise to their plan. Wild Bill nevertheless manages to escape and concocts a plan to trap Brawley and his men. The scheme succeeds but before he can settle down, Wild Bill heeds the call of a friend in trouble and rides off to bring law and order to another violent part of the Old West. Preceded by Taming of the West (1939), Pioneers of the Frontier was followed by two additional "Wild Bill Saunders" westerns: The Man from Tumbleweeds and The Return of Wild Bill (both 1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Curtis
- 1940
In his penultimate Western for low-budget company Metropolitan, Bob Steele's horse Pirate, "one of the finest Arabian stallions in the West," is stolen by Ted Adams in a daring attempt to lure mares belonging to local ranchers into secret Wild Horse Valley. The ploy, of course, backfires and Adams and his unsavory partners are arrested for rustling. Perhaps the nadir of his long screen career, Steele's Metropolitan series came to a merciful end with the eighth entry, Pinto Canyon (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1940
In this exciting western, Roaring Dan is the meanest old cuss around. He and his "son" are constantly bickering. But things are not as they seem as the young man is only pretending to be Dan's son so they can find the killers of the young man's real father. Among the guilty are two women. In the end, the young hero and the killer engage in a thrilling fist fight. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, (more)
- 1940
The best thing about the Jack Randall Western Pioneer Days is its short-and-sweet running time, a brisk 50 minutes. Randall plays Dunham, a wandering cavalier who comes to the aid of frontier heiress Mary (June Wilkins). The girl's legacy is half-ownership of a prosperous saloon, the other half controlled by hissable villain Slater (Ted Adams). With the help of no less than two comic sidekicks (Frank Yaconelli and Nelson McDowell), Dunham cuts the villain down to size. Surprisingly, the film's funniest performance is delivered by frog-faced Western heavy Rychard Cramer, here cast as a bartender who fancies himself a cardsharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Wilkins, Frank Yaconelli, (more)
When the Daltons Rode is the much-embellished tale of that celebrated outlaw family, the Daltons. Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, Stu Erwin and Frank Albertson play the gunslinging brothers, with Mary Gordon on hand as Ma Dalton. In the tradition of the 1939 western Jesse James, the film whitewashes the Daltons, showing them being forced into committing their crimes by duplicitous railroad interests. There's plenty of comic banter and byplay until about twenty minutes from the end; then the film becomes a nonstop marathon of action, halted only by the Daltons' fateful (and for the most part fatal) bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas. Randolph Scott is the nominal hero, a lawyer who befriends the boys and tries to dissuade them from their life of crime. When the Daltons Rode ends with all four brothers dead as doornails--even though the script was based on the autobiography of the surviving Dalton! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Kay Francis, (more)
Santa Fe Trail, Errol Flynn's third western, has precisely nothing to do with the titular trail. Instead, the film is a simplistic retelling of the John Brown legend, with Raymond Massey playing the famed abolitionist. The events leading up to the bloody confrontation between Brown and the US Army at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, are treated in a painstakingly even-handed fashion: Brown's desire to free the slaves is "right" but his methods are "wrong." Whenever the leading characters are asked about their own feelings towards slavery, the response is along the noncommittal lines of "A lot of people are asking those questions," "I don't have the answer to that," and so forth. Before we get to the meat of the story, we are treated to a great deal of byplay between West Point graduates Jeb Stuart (Flynn) and George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan), who carry on a friendly rivalry over the affections of one Kit Carson Halliday (Olivia DeHavilland). Just so we know that the picture is meant to be a follow-up to Warners' Dodge City and Virginia City, Flynn is saddled with Alan Hale and "Big Boy" Williams, his comic sidekicks from those earlier films. Despite its muddled point of view, Santa Fe Trail is often breathtaking entertainment, excitingly staged by director Michael Curtiz. The film's public domain status has made Santa Fe Trail one of the most easily accessible of Errol Flynn's Warner Bros. vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1940
Worth seeing for its title alone was the Johnny Mack Brown western Riders of Pasco Basin. This time, Brown plays the head of a group of vigilantes (the peace-keeping variety) who take on a gang of clever villains. With the law on their side, the bad guys have been cheating the local farmers while promising to dig an irrigation ditch. Before bringing the crooks to heel, second-billed Bob Baker (who own western series was scotched by Universal the previous year) performs a brace of cowboy tunes, the most enjoyable of which is "I'm Tying Up My Bridle to the Door of Your Heart". Director Ford Beebe brings a serial-like pace to the proceedings, as was his custom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Baker, (more)
- 1940
Johnny Mack Brown plays a dual role in the Universal B-western Bad Man From Red Butte. It seems that honest, upright Gil Brady has a less-than-honest twin brother, a desperado who goes by the name of Buck Halliday. Eventually, Gil is blamed for the crimes committed by Buck, and is promptly tossed in the calaboose. With the help of frontier lawyer Gabriel Hornsby (Bob Baker) and snake-oil peddler Spud Jenkins (Fuzzy Knight), Gil manages to clear his name and bring his black-sheep sibling to justice. Heroine Anne Gwynne offers a refreshing and likeable slant on the traditional "new schoolma'rm" role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Baker, (more)
Frank Capra's classic comedy-drama established James Stewart as a lead actor in one of his finest (and most archetypal) roles. The film opens as a succession of reporters shout into telephones announcing the death of Senator Samuel Foley. Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), the state's senior senator, puts in a call to Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Guy Kibbee) reporting the news. Hopper then calls powerful media magnate Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), who controls the state -- along with the lawmakers. Taylor orders Hopper to appoint an interim senator to fill out Foley's term; Taylor has proposed a pork barrel bill to finance an unneeded dam at Willet Creek, so he warns Hopper he wants a senator who "can't ask any questions or talk out of turn." After having a number of his appointees rejected, at the suggestion of his children Hopper nominates local hero Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), leader of the state's Boy Rangers group. Smith is an innocent, wide-eyed idealist who quotes Jefferson and Lincoln and idolizes Paine, who had known his crusading editor father. In Washington, after a humiliating introduction to the press corps, Smith threatens to resign, but Paine encourages him to stay and work on a bill for a national boy's camp. With the help of his cynical secretary Clarissa Sanders (Jean Arthur), Smith prepares to introduce his boy's camp bill to the Senate. But when he proposes to build the camp on the Willets Creek site, Taylor and Paine force him to drop the measure. Smith discovers Taylor and Paine want the Willets Creek site for graft and he attempts to expose them, but Paine deflects Smith's charges by accusing Smith of stealing money from the boy rangers. Defeated, Smith is ready to depart Washington, but Saunders, whose patriotic zeal has been renewed by Smith, exhorts him to stay and fight. Smith returns to the Senate chamber and, while Taylor musters the media forces in his state to destroy him, Smith engages in a climactic filibuster to speak his piece: "I've got a few things I want to say to this body. I tried to say them once before and I got stopped colder than a mackerel. Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir. And as a matter of fact, I'm not gonna leave this body until I do get them said." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Jean Arthur, (more)
- 1939
Brothers Terry and Joe Murphy (Dick Purcell, Charles Quigley) are the Heroes in Blue in this Monogram actioner. Actually, Terry, a policeman, is the only one "in blue"; Joe washes out of the police training program early on, opting for a dangerous association with a band of gangsters. Poor old Pop Murphy (Frank Sheridan), an ex-cop turned night watchman, tries to extricate Joe from his dilemma, with disastrous results. It's up to Terry to round up the crooks during the film's pulse-pounding racetrack finale. It's best to ignore some of the plot absurdities in Heroes in Blue, including a murder that occurs in full view of a crowd, but reaps only a single solitary eyewitness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Purcell, Charles Quigley, (more)
- 1939
At the end of his long association with Hal Roach, comedian Stan Laurel produced three singing Westerns featuring operatic baritone Fred Scott. The second of the three, Knight of the Plains featured such songs as Paradise Valley (the film's working title), by Lew Porter and Harry Tobias, and When We Heard the Music Play Home Sweet Home, by Porter and L. Wolfe Gilbert, as well as the expected comedy routines of the redoubtable Al St. John. In between the songs and comedy, Scott portrayed rancher Fred "Melody" Brent, whose neighbors, the Rands, are in trouble with a gang of land grabbers out to acquire an old Spanish grant. After the usual sagebrush derring-do and a bit of romance with lovely Gale Rand (Marion Weldon, Scott and his sidekick Fuzzy (St. John) can deliver the bad Guys to Sheriff Steve Clark, happy with the knowledge that they have prevented a range war. Scott was to make thirteen singing Westerns for various low-budget producers, all of them released by Spectrum Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Scott, Marion Weldon, (more)
Singing cowboy Smith Ballew is the nominal star of Rawhide, but the audience only had eyes for Ballew's co-star: baseball-great Lou Gehrig, in his one-and-only screen appearance. Gehrig plays "himself"-that is, he's a rancher named Lou Gehrig. Pressured by crooks to give up his spread, Gehrig, his sister (Evelyn Knapp) and cowboy-lawyer Ballew inspire the neighboring ranchers to form a united front. During a climactic fist-fight in a pool hall, Gehrig utilizes his pitching skills to subdue the villains. A fan of B westerns in real life, Gehrig does his best to fit into the proceedings of Rawhide; his acting is strictly from hunger, but he does possess an imposing physique and an eagerness to the please the filmgoers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Lou Gehrig, (more)
- 1938
Columbia Pictures' year-long effort to turn utility actor Jack Luden into a western star sputtered onward with Stagecoach Days. Luden is okay in the lead, but the story, about a deadly rivalry between two stage lines, is an exercise in tedium. Things pick up tremendously during the final reel, with the good guys pitted against the bad guys in a thrill-packed stagecoach race. Hal Taliaferro and Harry Woods, both regulars in the Luden series, go through their usual villainous paces, while Eleanore Stewart is the heroine. After the Jack Luden series ran its course, Columbia managed to find a more than suitable replacement in the person of "Wild Bill" Elliot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Luden, Eleanor Stewart, (more)
- 1938
Orphan of the Pecos is one of the eight Tom Tyler westerns produced by Victory Pictures during the 1937-38 season. Victory was owned by legendary fast-buck entrepreneur Sam Katzman, who also directed this particular film. Tyler is cast as Tom Wade, an agent of the Cattlemen's Protection Agency; this time, he's after the man who killed his parents. Like most of the Victory productions, Orphan of the Pecos has a script seemingly made up on the spur of the moment, compelling Tyler to mouth some bizarre ad-libs. Tom Tyler was seen to better advantage in later years as a character actor and villain in both westerns and contemporary films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tyler, Jeanne Martel, (more)
- 1938
Radio comedian Joe Penner, of "You Naaassty Man!" fame, was very much an acquired taste in 1938, and even more so when seen today. Nevertheless, such Penner movie vehicles as I'm From the City never failed to make a tidy profit for RKO Radio Pictures. In this one, the star plays a circus bareback rider who happens to be deathly afraid of horses. In order to perform his equestrian act, Penner must be hypnotized, whereupon he turns into a fearless, ridin' fool. This single joke is stretched across 7 reels as Penner finds himself participating in a grueling cowboy race, snapping out of his hypnotic trance at the most inopportune of moments. Former dancer Lorraine Krueger is actually funnier then Penner in the role of the hero's birdbrained girlfriend, as is Paul Guilfoyle as a comic-strip Indian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Penner, Richard Lane, (more)
- 1938
The locale may be South of Arizona, but the on-screen personnel in this Charles Starrett western is virtually the same as in all previous Starrett vehicles. The star plays rancher Clay Travers, who lives and works in an area plagued by perpetual dust storms. Because the local populace is forced to walk around with handkerchieves covering their faces, a gang of murderous outlaws is able to pull off their skullduggery in broad daylight. Travers vows to round up the bad guys, especially after they bump of the brother of his sweetheart Ann Madison (Iris Meredith). The supporting cast of South of Arizona includes the usual lineup of Starrett regulars, including heroine Meredith, singing sidekick Bob Nolan, villains Dick Curtis and Richard Fiske, and townsmen Edmund Cobb and Art Mix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Iris Meredith, (more)
- 1938
Rolling Caravans was one of four Columbia B-westerns designed to make a star out of utility actor Jack Luden. Harry Woods, a fixture of the Luden series, fills the villain role, while Eleanor Stewart is the heroine once more. The story concerns the efforts of a homesteader named Breezy (Luden) to ward off the bad guys, who've determined that there's gold on his property. By the time the heavies have discovered that Breezy's "treasure" consists primarily of topsoil, the hero has settled accounts with his fists and deposited his enemies in the local calaboose. At one point, Jack Luden indulges in a bit of ventriloquism, suggesting that perhaps he would have been better off as a comedy sidekick rather than a leading man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Luden, Eleanor Stewart, (more)
- 1938
The second of six low-budget Ken Maynard Westerns produced by Max and Arthur Alexander, Six Shootin' Sheriff featured a veteran star who, as reviewers were quick to point out, had gained quite a bit of poundage since his heyday in the early '30s. Maynard played Trigger Martin, a cowboy falsely accused of bank robbery and hiding out under an assumed name in a small Western town. Wounded in a barroom brawl with the town bully, Trigger is nursed back to health by post mistress Molly Morgan (Marjorie Reynolds). Impressed with Trigger's ability to stand up to the town's lawless elements, shopkeeper Zeke (Lafe Mckee) persuades the newcomer to accept the position of sheriff. A former associate, Chuck (Walter Long), attempts to blackmail the new sheriff, but Trigger not only prevents Chuck and his gang from raiding the post office safe, but also saves his kid brother (Bob Terry) from a life of lawlessness. Although made for around 15,000 dollars, Six Shootin' Sheriff netted its distributor more than six times that amount on Maynard's box-office value alone. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Marjorie Reynolds, (more)
- 1937
Produced back-to-back with Mystery Range (1937), this Tom Tyler Western was the first of Sam Katzman's Victory Pictures productions to be distributed by Monogram. Tyler plays Tom Wade, an agent for the cattlemen's association who bears a striking resemblance to dying outlaw Jack Granger. Tom assumes the dead desperado's identity, aiding Pa Granger (Lafe McKee) in his feud with nasty neighbor Lance Holcomb (Roger Williams) and Holcomb's even nastier mother (Vane Calvert). The bone of contention is a piece of property containing a gold mine. Tom, as Jack, settles the score with the Holcombs, and, revealing his true identity, wins Sheila Granger's love -- a rather kinky denouement considering Tom's close resemblance to the girl's dead brother. Sheila was played by Harlene Wood, who, as Harley Wood, had starred in the notorious exploitation-melodrama Marihuana (1935). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tyler, Harlene Wood, (more)
- 1937
In this western, a singing outlaw and a US marshal kill each other in a fight. Their demise is witnessed by an opportunistic fellow who assumes the dead lawman's identity. He soon finds himself in over his head when he tries to stop cattle rustlers and gain the love of a rancher's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Baker, Joan Barclay, (more)
- 1937
A courageous Texas Ranger leaves his job to mediate a violent, long-standing dispute between his family and that of his sweetheart. When, his investigations reveal that there is a third party of troublemakers involved, he gallops off to stop them and restore the peace. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleanor Stewart, John Merton, (more)
- 1937
- Add The Mystery of the Hooded Horseman to QueueAdd The Mystery of the Hooded Horseman to top of Queue
Based on the notorious Black Legion which had created quite a turmoil in Michigan a few years earlier, screenwriter Edmund Kelso and director Al Taylor crafted one of the better Tex Ritter musical Westerns. Filmed on location at Kernville, California, The Mystery of the Hooded Horsemen was made almost serial-style, except that this time the villains wore the masks instead of the hero. A gang of hooded riders is terrorizing the local ranchers and even shoots kindly old Tom Wilson (Lafe McKee) in cold blood. Before he expires, Tom begs Tex Martin (Ritter) and his sidekick Stubby (Horace Murphy) to help his partner, Farley (Joseph W. Girard), save their mine. The supposed leader of the riders, Blackie (Charles King), gets Tex in hot water with the sheriff (Earl Dwire) but assisted by old Tom Wilson's pretty daughter Nancy (Iris Meredith), the singing cowboy nevertheless manages not only to bring Blackie to justice but also reveal the identity of the real brain behind the terror. The Mystery of the Hooded Horsemen proved the first Ritter Western to open on Broadway in New York City and the sometimes overbearing critic from the New York Times, John T. McManus, was charmed enough to term it "refreshing." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Iris Meredith, (more)
- 1937
The agent for a cattlemen's association and his partner spot an old enemy in town one day. They discover that he is planning to swindle a young girl out of her land. It seems the railroad is willing to pay $50,000 for the property, but she doesn't know it -- because her uncle is in on the swindle, too. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
