Jack O'Shea Movies

There's practically no western action in Hands Across the Border, but there's music aplenty. Roy Rogers stars as a wandering cavalier (named "Roy Rogers", naturally), who comes to the aid of entertainer Kim Adams (Ruth Terry). The daughter of a rancher, Kim does her patriotic bit by raising prize horses for the Army. But villainous Brock Danvers (Onslow Stevens) does his best to keep Kim's stock from reaching the Army, and that's when Rogers comes to the rescue. The final two reels of Hands Across the Border is a virtual nonstop parade of musical numbers by the likes of Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington, and featuring Rogers, Ruth Terry, Janet Martin and that zany European comedy trio The Wiere Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, two cowboys ride to the rescue of ranchers who are fighting to keep a land-grabber from taking their land and selling it to the railroad. Things look bleak for a while, but fortunately, one of the heroes is related to the vice--president of the railroad and is able to straighten the whole mess out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Roy Rogers heads the cast of Song of Texas as a rodeo star named Roy Rogers. Quitting the rodeo operated by larcenous Jim Calvert (Barton MacLane), Roy goes into the ranching business. As a favor to his old pal, washed-up bronco buster Sam Bennett (Harry Shannon), Roy convinces Bennett's daughter Sue (Sheila Ryan) that Sam is in fact the owner of Roy's ranch. This harmless subterfuge is thwarted by the evil machinations of Calvert, but Rogers and his confreres eventually save the day. No fewer than eight songs are heard in Song of Texas, including such favorites as "Mexicali Rose" and "Moonlight and Roses". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Overland Mail Robbery is another entry in Republic's "Wild Bill" Elliot western series. Once again, Elliot's leading lady is Anne Jeffreys, and once again his comical sidekick is Gabby Hayes. The plot finds Wild Bill coming to the aid of namby-pamby Easterner Tom Hartley (played by future "Superman" Kirk Alyn), who has inherited his family's stagecoach line. With Elliot's assistance, Tom proves he's a real he-man by standing up to the outlaw gang terrorizing the countryside. Of interest is the fact that the gang leader is a woman, played by Alice Fleming, who later portrayed "The Duchess" in Republic's "Red Ryder" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Riders of the Rio Grande, Republic's 51-entry "Three Mesquiteers" western series came to an end. Starring as the Mesquiteers on this excursion are Bob Steele as Tucson Smith, Tom Tyler as Stony Brooke and Jimmy Dodd as Lullaby Joslin. It all begins when kindly town banker Pop Owens (Edward Van Sloan) arranges to have himself killed to make up for the financial excesses of his no-good son Tom (Rick Vallin). Pop mistakes our three heroes as the gunmen he's hired for the job, and the boys play along, hoping to dispel Owens' suicidal inclinations and to straighten out the prodigal Tom. Things really get hopping when the genuine "hit men" show up, leading to a no-holds-barred climactic fracas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Man from Rio Grande stars Don "Red" Barry as movie cowboy star Lee Grant. The plot finds Grant coming to the rescue of 8-year-old skating star Twinkle Watts (playing herself), who is being cheated out of an inheritance by scheming John King (Harry Cording). What follows is an unsettling mixture of traditional shoot-'em-up fare and ice-capades stunting. Twinkle Watts was an acquired taste, to say the least, but Republic insisted upon featuring the nimble-footed tyke in the next three Don "Red" Barry westerns. Perhaps as a result, the Barry series came to an abrupt end in late 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sons of the Pioneers is a showcase for?the Sons of the Pioneers, who are reteamed with ex-"Son" Roy Rogers in this budget western. The plot is contingent upon a deposit of rare minerals, vital to the American war effort. The villains want to get their hands on these minerals, and to do so organize themselves into a gang of masked terrorists, bent on chasing everyone else out of the territory. Unable to handle the villains alone, sheriff Gabby Whittaker (Gabby Hayes) sends for Roy Rogers, whose father was a legendary guns-slingin' peacekeeper. Alas, Roy is a shy entymologist who's never handled a gun in his life-but he soon learns how, thereby routing the heavies and striking a blow for Democracy. Pat Brady, a member in good standing of the Sons of the Pioneers, makes the first of many screen appearances as Roy Rogers' comical sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's hard to dislike the Roy Rogers musical western Romance on the Range, but it's equally hard to get too enthusiastic about it. Rogers plays the owner of a western ranch who suspects that something is amiss with his highly secretive foreman Banning (Edward Pawley). Assuming a phony name, Roy gets a job as a ranchhand on his own spread, eventually discovering that Banning is secretly the head of a bandit gang which has been fencing stolen furs at the local trading post. Innocently caught in the middle of all this is postmistress Joan Stuart (Linda Hayes) who falls in love with Rogers while unaware of his true identity. As Steve, veteran movie heavy Harry Woods plays a relatively benign role in Romance on the Range. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

In his final film before entering war service, Gene Autry joins the World Wide Wild West Show, a faltering enterprise about to be taken over by the more powerful Johnson Bros. Rodeo, and his success as the Singing Bronco Buster allows the show to open at San Capistrano instead of the rival outfit. Stag Johnson (Morgan Conway), who is sweet on World Wide's owner Jennifer Benton (Virginia Grey), is inclined to leave things as they are but brother Jed (Tristram Coffin) and jealous show girl Jackie Laval (Marla Shelton) do what they can to sabotage the competition, including forcing Mom (Claire DuBrey) and Pop McCracken (Lucien Littlefield), Jennifer's foster-parents, off the road. Gene at first blames himself for all the troubles but then joins sidekicks Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) and Tadpole (Joe Stracuh, Jr.) in battling the increasingly desperate Johnson brothers. When not rescuing the heroine from runaway buckboards and other such Wild West shenanigans, Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Joe Strauch, Jr. and company perform "In Old Capistrano", "At Sundown", "Forgive Me", "Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You", and "Fort Worth Jail". According to some reports, Bells of Capistrano), which was produced on an impressive budget of $500,000, employed two camera crews in order to finish principal photography prior to Autry's induction into the Army Air Force. Gene Autry Entertainment restored the film to its original length in 2001. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

There's a surprising lack of phyisical action in Phantom Cowboy, requiring star Don "Red" Barry to carry the picture through sheer force of personality. Barry plays a ranch hand named Lawrence, one of several heirs to the estate of a wealthy landowner. Resenting the presence of the other heirs, villains Borden (Milburn Stone) and Jeffers (Rex Lease) scheme to rid the world of their competition, with Borden intending to wed the dead man's daughter (Virginia Carroll) as icing on the cake. Their plans are thwarted by a masked avenger known only as El Lobo, who-surprise!--doesn't turn out to be Lawrence in the fifth reel. Even so, it is Lawrence who metes out final retribution to the despicable Borden and Jeffers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Opera star-cum-cowboy hero George Houston stars in PRC's The Lone Rider Fights Back. Appropriately enough, Houston disguises himself as a musician to get the goods on a gang of terrorists. The principal villain hopes to scare the local miners off their land, so he can move in and clean up. Suffice it to say he doesn't succeed. Al St. John, everybody's comedy sidekick, adds a few choice chuckles to the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide