Jack Rockwell Movies

Dana Andrews -- in one of the best performances of his career -- plays Logan Stuart, a bold, ambitious general store and freight company owner based in the mining settlement of Jacksonville, OR, in 1856. He and his best friend, local banker and express company owner George Camrose (Brian Donlevy), share an attraction for young, beautiful Lucy Overmire (Susan Hayward). However, that's all the two men share -- Stuart sees life in the Oregon territory as a challenge, to be worked out and overcome with thought and time, with the opportunity to build something lasting and significant in the process. Camrose only sees the opportunity to get rich fast and live easy, and he's addicted to gambling at the local saloon. What no one knows is that he's been doing his gambling with the gold dust that the miners have left on deposit in his vault -- and he's been losing. He wants to get out of the territory, to someplace like San Francisco, and plans to take Lucy away. Stuart, by contrast, is as much a frontiersman as a businessman, and so much a part of the community and so trusted and liked that he might even be a potential political leader, if he ever had the time and the willingness to settle down and stay put. He finds consolation over his loss of Lucy in an engagement to Caroline Marsh (Patricia Roc), a daughter of an Englishman who came to Oregon only to see her father killed by Indians, who lives with the homesteading family of Ben Dance (Andy Devine) and his wife (Dorothy Peterson) and their children. Out of friendship, and also a little guilt over the fact that he would love to be engaged to Lucy, Stuart gives Camrose the money to get even, but Camrose can't resist one last card game, and not only loses what Stuart gave him, but the gold dust of one miner -- who shows up unexpectedly in town that night, planning on getting his dust the next day. When the man turns up drowned, Camrose is accused of murder; Stuart stands by his friend, but he's found guilty and the miners, led by hot-headed young Johnny Steele (Lloyd Bridges), plan on hanging him, and shooting anyone who tries to get in the way. But before his fate can be settled, an Indian war starts over the killing of a young Native American woman, and the lives of every white settler in and around Jacksonville are suddenly endangered. There's all of that, plus four songs (including "Old Buttermilk Sky") from Hoagy Carmichael (who does a great acting job), all convincingly woven into the drama along with one of the music legend's best acting performances. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Monogram added a bit of music to this otherwise standard Johnny Mack Brown oater, courtesy of former star Smith Ballew, who performs Cindy Walker's "The Strawberry Blonde" and Don Swander and June Hershey's "Livin' Western Style" accompanied by Dusty Rhodes and the Sons of the Sage. Mack Brown, meanwhile, plays Dusty Smith, a drifter coming to the aid of Bill Simpson (Riley Hill), a young hothead accused of wounding a town bully (Reed Howes). Along with old-timer Santa Fe Jones (Raymond Hatton), falsely accused of rustling by smooth saloon owner Blackie Evans (Tristram Coffin), Dusty obtains a job as ranch foreman at the Simpson spread, much to the ire of Blackie, who proves to be the real rustler. Young Bill pays his debt to Dusty by springing him from jail after the latter has been falsely jailed for killing one of the gang and together they track down the villainous saloon owner. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Red Ryder and his comical sidekick take on a new batch of bad-guys in this western, the 16th in the Red Ryder series. This time the heroic duo try to save a female rancher from a greedy financier who wants her land so he can exploit the enormous oil fields lying under it. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) comes to the aid of a young preacher (Tex Harding), who is battling a gang of land grabbers operating out of Dusty Gulch. As it turns out, The Kid, alias Steve Ranson, has a personal quarrel with town boss Blaze Howard (John Calvert), who had his brother, the marshal, killed. But as Steve, Tex and comedy sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) learn, Howard isn't calling the shots at all but is taking orders from someone completely above suspicion. In a rare contemplative moment, Tex Harding and leading lady Mildred Law sing the Reverend W.B. Stevens' "Farther Along" while Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys interrupt the action with Wills and Tommy Duncan's swinging "Stay a Little Longer" and "Dev'lish Mary". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this western, a postal inspector becomes determined to discover the truth after a series of robberies involving mysteriously disappearing stagecoaches occur. A female Pinkerton agent assists him, and together, they drain a nearby lake, find a missing stagecoach and solve the mystery. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Flame of the West has always attracted more attention than most of Johnny Mack Brown's Monogram westerns, if for no other reason than the offbeat casting of Douglass Dumbrille. Usually seen in villainous roles, Dumbrille herein offers a sincere, effective performance as a scrupulously honest US marshal named Nightlander. When he takes on a gang of crooked gamblers, Nightlander is shot down in cold blood, compelling frontier doctor John Poore (Johnny Mack Brown) to put his Hippocratic oath on the back burner and strap on the shootin' irons. Raymond Hatton contributes his usual grizzled comedy relief in Flame of the West, while Joan Woodbury is interestingly cast as a saloon-hall girl without a heart of gold. Flame of the West works so well on a dramatic level that the musical interludes of Pee Wee King seem downright intrusive. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A bit paunchier but no less energetic, Johnny Mack Brown is back as Nevada Jack McKenzie in Frontier Feud. Once again, Nevada and his grizzled sidekick Sandy (Raymond Hatton) are US marshals posing as drifters. Rancher Joe (Dennis Moore) is accused of a series of murders, but Nevada and Sandy manage to prove that another man is the guilty party. Christine McIntyre, leading lady of many of 3 Stooges comedy, is cast as the heroine in Frontier Feud, a departure from the brassy villainesses she usually played in the Johnny Mack Brown westerns. Director Lambert Hillyer wraps it all up in a breathless 54 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Shortly before Universal Pictures disbanded its "B" unit, the studio inaugurated an energetic western series starring Rod Cameron. In Beyond the Pecos, Cameron plays a rancher at odds with longtime rival Eddie Dew (himself a "B" sagebrush star at other studios). The two brawny men in Stetsons battle over rights of oil land that borders both their properties. When they tire of squabbling over money, Cameron and Dew fight over the attentions of pretty Jennifer Holt (daughter of Jack Holt). Director Lambert Hillyer handles Beyond the Pecos with his customary speed and efficiency. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A priest relates the tale of his friend, a WWI veteran, to the Post-War Planning Committee. Unable to get a job upon his return from the war, he puts off his marriage and works for a bootlegger. He is forced to take a rap for his boss, goes to prison, and forms a gang. After his release, a gang war breaks out, resulting in his death. He leaves a note to his friend the priest asking that his story be told as a warning. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi

An above-average entry in the long-running Hopalong Cassidy Western series, the enigmatically titled Mystery Man opens with Hoppy (William Boyd), California Carlson (Andy Clyde), Jimmy Rogers, and the Bar 20 cowboys driving a herd of cattle to the Circle J. Ranch, whose owner, Tom Hanlon (Bob Burns), is to pay cash on delivery. In the town of Holbrook, however, the Bar 20 crew interrupts a bank robbery committed by the notorious Trilling gang whose boss (Don Costello) remains a mystery man. Not even the shrewd Hoppy is able to detect anything wrong with the inquisitive dude, who commends him for foiling the robbery. The dude, alias Trilling, manages to spring his henchmen from jail and then concocts a plan to steal the Bar 20 cattle en route to the Circle J. Despite strong resistance from Hoppy and his friends, Trilling does manage to drive the cattle to the Circle J where he presents himself as Hoppy. The real Hopalong Cassidy, meanwhile, is imprisoned by Sheriff Newhall (Taylor Homes), who accuses him of being Trilling. But the sheriff's daughter, Diane (Eleanor Stewart), who once rescued Jimmy from a would-be killer, knows otherwise and manages to free the Bar 20 cowboys. With the sheriff's posse hot on their trail and Diane acting as a decoy, Hoppy and his men force the Trilling gang into a box canyon and a final shootout. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this entry in the long-running western series, Hoppy is running for sheriff and is beaten by the yellow-belly who had garnered the support of the local outlaws. Hoppy stands by for a while and watches as the once law-abiding town becomes a veritable den of inequity. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, Hoppy impeaches the spineless lawman, takes over, and then faces down the forty gunmen the outlaw ringleader sends out to stop him. The clever, and fast shooting Hopalong gets them all and saves the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though it's not readily obvious from the title, Lumberjack is the 52nd entry in the long-running "Hopalong Cassidy" series. In this one, Hoppy (William Boyd) and his pals California (Andy Clyde) and Jimmy (Jimmy Rogers) come to the rescue of recently widowed Julie (Ellen Hall). It so happens that Julie has fallen heir to a valuable spread of timber property, meaning that any one of her business rivals could have been the murderer of her husband. Not only does Hoppy reveal the killer's identity, but he also moves heaven and earth to make sure that Julie's mortgage-lifting lumber shipment arrives at its destination on time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi