Fred Scott Movies

This early '70s effort from veteran exploitation director Greydon Clark attempts to create a more socially conscious variation on the blaxploitation genre, but devotes most of its time to thrills of the most lurid variety. The story begins with Jim (director and co-writer Clark), a liberal-minded white Vietnam vet witnessing the death of a black soldier. He returns home and attempts to deliver the fallen soldier's posthumous Purple Heart to the soldier's family. In the process, he angers Makimba(Tom) (Tom Johnigarn), an angry militant who was the soldier's brother. Jim and Makimba's paths continue to cross as the two deal with their problems: Jim struggles to decide whether he should settle down with the prim and proper Nancy (Jacqueline Cole) or live with the free-spirited Bobbie, and Makimba develops an ever-growing anger towards white society as he is hounded by racist white cops, Lt. Stans (Aldo Ray) and Sgt. Berry (Jock Mahoney). Tom is finally driven over the brink and takes action, resulting in a tragedy that changes both men's lives forever. Despite the serious nature of the story line, the film that resulted is an exploitative affair that takes every opportunity to titillate the audience with plenty of sex and violence. As a result, its attempts at social consciousness went ignored, but its salacious moments went over well with the drive-in crowd. Director Greydon Clark later revisited the blaxploitation genre with the even more exploitative Black Shampoo. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

RKO Radio's Thundering Hoofs was the first of several Tim Holt westerns directed by "Hopalong Cassidy" veteran Lesley Selander. The plot is galvanized by the chicanery of crooked lawyer Farley (Archie Twitchell), who has been sent westward to purchase a stagecoach line on behalf of his boss. It soon becomes obvious that Farley intends to cheat both buyer and seller out of what is due them. Buyer's son Bill (Holt) joins forces with seller's daughter Nancy (Luana Walters) to foil the duplicitous attorney's scheme. Perennial Holt sidekick Ray Whitley sings only two songs in this outing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first of four Fred Scott singing Westerns produced by C.C. Burr, Code of the Fearless was like all thirteen Scott vehicles released by poverty row company Spectrum Pictures. Scott, a former baritone with the San Francisco Opera, played a Texas Ranger infiltrating the feared Skull Mesa Gang by pretending to be an outlaw himself. Unfortunately, the lawman is so convincing that he even seems to have fooled Ranger Captain Walter McGrail, who accuses him of fraternizing with the enemy. Scott's only defender is pretty Jean Morrison (Claire Rochelle) but even she is dumbfounded when he joins the Skull Mesa bandits at their secret hideout. It is all a ruse, of course, and Captain Rawlins and his Rangers arrive just in time to round up the entire gang. The story had been told many times before (and would be many times again); the only difference here is that Scott took time out to warble such ditties as Here's Romance and Gonna Ride, both by Lew Porter and Johnny Lange. Popular sidekick Al St. John, who had supported Scott in seven previous Westerns, was replaced here by former burlesque comic Harry Harvey. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The war between cattle ranchers and sheepmen once again took center stage in this low-budget Western starring former opera baritone Fred Scott. Scott played Army Lieutenant Fred Dawson who upon learning that his father has been wounded heads for home disguised as a medicine show performer. He arrives just in time to prevent a range war, falling in love with sheepman's daughter Jean Carmen along the way. The war, as it turns out, was created by the greedy head of the local stockmen's association (Frank LaRue), who had been hoping to purchase enough cheap land to control the territory. In Old Montana was the second of four singing Westerns Scott made for producer C.C. Burr. Leading lady Jean Carmen, here playing a character amusingly named "June Allison," was a 1934 WAMPAS Baby Star who also acted under the name Julia Thayer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The second of the Stan Laurel-financed Fred Scott-singing Westerns, Songs and Bullets features the riding baritone as Melody Smith, a roaming cowboy falsely accused of cattle rustling by the sheriff (Charles King). Melody, who quickly establishes his innocence, is in Dry Gulch searching for the killer of his uncle, the former sheriff. The new lawman, meanwhile, is in cahoots with Harry Skelton (Karl Hackett), the town czar, who uses the commotion caused by the arrival of a new schoolmarm, Mademoiselle Dumont (Alice Ardell), to engage in a bit of larceny. Like Melody himself, Mademoiselle is not quite who she claims to be, however, and Skelton's days of ruthless rule are soon over. In between detective work, Scott sings "Lonesome Cowboy," "Prairie Moon," "Pay Day," "Arkansas," and "My Ten-Gallon Hat," all by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter. The latter also appears in the film as Lew, the piano player. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, bad-guys threaten the local ranchers until a daring drifter comes to town. In the end he earns himself a good job and the love of a pretty woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Truly made to order, The Singing Buckaroo starred former San Francisco Opera baritone Fred Scott in his second of thirteen singing Westerns for poverty row company Spectrum. In between warbling Johnny Lange and Fred Stryker's Cobweb 'Round My Saddle, Frankly Speaking and I'm a Wild Westerner, ranch owner Scott saves pretty Victoria Winton from a couple of pursuers attempting to steal the $25,000 she carries in her purse. Sam Gifford (Roger Williams, the owner of a corporation, turns up and claims Miss Winton stole the money from him. In reality, the girl and her father (William Faversham where attempting to hide the money from the unscrupulous Gifford, intending to hand it over to the company's stockholders. With the assistance of an Indian friend (Augie Gomez), Scott not only delivers the stolen money to the rightful owners but saves Miss Winton's father from a gang of kidnappers along the way. As in the previous Scott-Spectrum Western, the comedy relief was provided by double-talk expert Cliff Nazarro. Nazarro left the series after The Singing Buckaroo, to be replaced with Al St. John (for seven entries and Harry Harvey. A rare visitor to B-Westerns, supporting actor William Faversham had been a major star of the Victorian stage, ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The fourth of 12 singing Westerns starring the "Silvery-Voiced Baritone," Fred Scott, Melody of the Plains begins peacefully enough with Scott, as cowboy Steve Condon, warbling Don Swander and June Hershey's "Albuquerque." The story quickly takes a rather grim turn when one of Steve's colleagues, Bud (David Sharpe), is shot and killed after selling out to a gang of rustlers. Mistakenly believing he fired the deadly shot, a dejected Steve, along with sidekick Fuzzy (Al St. John), goes to work for Bud's father (Lafe McKee), a rancher nearly forced into bankruptcy by a crooked land developer (Hal Price). The latter hires Bud's real killer (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) to infiltrate the ranch hands, but Steve and Fuzzy see through the ruse and bring the villains to justice. In addition to "Albuquerque," Fred Scott performs "A Hideaway in Happy Valley," also by Swander and Hershey. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Fred Scott musical westerns were high in audience appeal, but invariably handicapped with syrupy titles like Moonlight on the Range. On this occasion, our hero is suspected of being an outlaw, but the real culprit is his look-alike half-brother (Scott plays both roles). At first hoping to wreak vengeance on his crooked sibling. Scott relents at the end, bringing brother dear in unharmed in hopes of reforming the boy. The film's highlight is a fierce gun battle between hero and villain, with director Sam Newfield doing an excellent job differentiating the two brothers. In the course of events, Fred Scott sings four songs, several of them for the benefit of leading lady Lois January. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After 25 years, notorious western outlaw Harry Carey is released from prison. He returns to his frontier home town, only to discover that the place has been streamlined and modernized beyond all recognition. Even worse, virtually everyone in town has forgotten Carey; most of the younger folk consider him a nuisance, addressing him derisively as "Pop" (Carey's double-take reaction to this familiarity is priceless). The ex-outlaw seeks out H.B. Walthall, the sheriff who sent him up, hoping for a fond reunion with his old friendly enemy. Alas, Walthall has been relegated to a do-nothing position by new sheriff Ray Mayer, a staunch advocate of "scientific" crime-fighting methods. But when bad guy Tom Tyler and his mob rob a bank and take Carey's daughter Margaret Callahan hostage, it is Carey and Walthall's "old fashioned" methods which save the day. Hoot Gibson co-stars as Callahan's boyfriend, while singing-cowboy Fred Scott appears in a marvelous sequence wherein Harry Carey reacts with disgust upon watching a musical western movie. The Last Outlaw was based on a story by John Ford, who directed a silent version in 1919. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Advertised as an "all star" film, Swing High is hardly that: The biggest name in the picture, both in terms of popularity and sheer marquee space, was Helen Twelvetrees. A variation of the 1926 German classic Variety, the film casts Twelvetrees and Dorothy Burgess as sisters Maryan and Trixie, a team of circus aerialists. When the two girls have a falling out over the affections of handsome Gerry (Fred Scott), it looks as though one of them will be taking a fall for real. This does eventually happen, but it ends up an act of fate rather than malice. It's amazing that the dramatic portion of the film is given any space at all, what with five musical numbers and the interminable comic antics of diminutive Daphne Pollard and phlegmatic Stepin Fetchit. Mack Sennett-graduates Chester Conklin and Ben Turpin make fleeting appearances, as do several genuine circus performers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rio Rita, an expensive filmization of the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld-produced Broadway musical of 1928, was the first major production for fledgling RKO Radio Studios. Bebe Daniels plays Rita, an Irish-Mexican girl (with thick Hispanic accent) who oversees a large ranch near the Mexican border. Rita's brother (Don Alvorado) is suspected of being "The Kinkajou," a notorious bandit. On the trail of the Kinkajou, an undercover Texas Ranger (John Boles) falls in love with Rita, much to the chagrin of a wealthy but despotic landowner (Georges Renavent). The villain arranges to make it appear that the Ranger is the Kinkajou, prompting Rita to consent to marriage with the cad in order to save her lover's life. The true identity of the Kinkajou is revealed at a lavish costume party, filmed in early Technicolor. Counterpointing the main plot are the antics of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, comic carryovers from the original Broadway show. Wheeler is in Mexico to arrange a quickie divorce so that he can marry his true love (Dorothy Lee). Woolsey is Wheeler's shady lawyer, who learns too late that he can't make the divorce stick. Wheeler and Woolsey have some of the film's best moments, including a riotous drunk scene and a closing musical number wherein they slap one another as their girlfriends sing inanely into the camera. Rio Rita not only made oodles of money for RKO (it was being regularly reissued throughout the 1930s), but it solidified the popularity of Wheeler and Woolsey, who'd become the studio's biggest comedy stars of the early 1930s. 1929's Rio Rita was withdrawn from circulation when MGM bought the rights for a 1942 remake, this one starring Abbott and Costello. Available only for museum screenings during the past five decades, Rio Rita has recently been released on videocassette, with its rare Technicolor sequence intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide