Black Jack the Horse Movies

Savage Frontier stars Allan "Rocky" Lane in his familiar movie guise as a U.S. marshal. A criminal gang, run by a mysterious "Mister Big," has been knocking off lawmen left and right. Once the audience is introduced to Roy Barcroft as leading citizen William Oakes, the mystery surrounding the identity of the criminal mastermind is over. No matter: the film's action content is worth the admission price, and besides, the story is really about the regeneration of former convict Sam Webb (Bob Steele). At 53 minutes, Savage Frontier makes its points with speed and efficiency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Allan "Rocky" Lane's Republic western series was rapidly drawing to a close when Marshall of Cedar Rock was released in early 1953. Lane plays a U.S. marshal who seems to be derelict in his duty when he allows convicted outlaw Bill Anderson (Bill Henry) to escape. In fact, marshal Lane hopes that Anderson will lead him to bigger fish: specifically, frontier crime boss Henry Mason (Roy Barcroft). "Rocky" also believes that Anderson is an innocent victim of circumstance, and it turns out that he's right. Phyllis Coates, best known to TV buffs as the first Lois Lane on the Superman series, turns in a good performance as Anderson's troubled fiancee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a US marshal tries to stop a nefarious gang of thieves from harassing the local sheriff and from stealing shipments of gold ore by putting their leader into the jail. The ringleader turns out to be a female newspaper publisher who has been creating all the problems to make sure her brother will be elected sheriff. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Billy the Kid doesn't really appear in Captive of Billy the Kid, but his memory lingers throughout this Republic "B"-western. According to screenwriters M. Coates Webster and Richard Wormser, Billy salted away a fortune in stolen gold somewhere in the hills. Before he died, he tore his treasure map into five pieces, giving one piece each to his most trusted friends--one of whom, Van Stanley (Grant Withers) eventually decides to grab all the loot for himself. When the other map-holders begin dropping like flies, Allan "Rocky" Lane is brought into the picture to tie up loose ends and thwart the villain--who, surprise or surprises, isn't the highly suspicious Van Stanley! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Allan "Rocky" Lane takes on a crooked landowner in Republic's Rough Riders of Durango. The villain intends to drive several ranchers into bankruptcy so he can snatch up their property at dirt-cheap prices. The ranchers fight back by scraping up $40,000 to clear all their debts. When the money is stolen, Lane is called in to retrieve the cash and collar the crooks. As was customary in the Allan "Rocky" Lane vehicles, Lane's horse Black Jack is afforded second billing in Rough Riders of Durango, while nominal leading lady Aline Towne is billed fourth. Even farther down the cast list is future Dukes of Hazzard co-star Denver Pyle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Allan "Rocky" Lane is cleverly cast as Allan "Rocky" Lane in the Republic western Desert of Lost Men. The story finds Lane going undercover to trap the leader of an outlaw gang. His scheme is complicated by the fact that heroine Nan Webster (Mary Ellen Kay) is the daughter of a doctor who is deeply involved in the gang's activities. Veteran character actor Irving Bacon is second-billed as the film's comedy relief, an ineffectual sheriff named Skeeter Davis (no relation, of course, to the country-western star of the same name). Though nothing new, Desert of Lost Men is expertly assembled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A state rangers rides out to find rustlers who have stolen from every ranch in the territory except a hot-headed loner, whom all the other ranchers think is the culprit. However, the ranger investigates, and finds that the blacksmith and his accomplice are guilty. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Allan "Rocky" Lane rides again in Salt Lake Raiders. This time, action takes a back seat to mystery and suspense. Lane arrives in a ghost town where his saddle pal Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) is being held captive by outlaws. Also on hand is accused murderer Fred Mason (Myron Healey). With only 60 minutes' screen time at his disposal, Lane must free Nugget and prove Mason's innocence. The villains are Roy Barcroft and Clifton Young, as if there was any doubt the moment that their names appeared in the credits. The heroine is played by Martha Hyer, a pretty young ingenue on the threshold of bigger things. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gunmen of Abilene top-bills Republic western hero Allan "Rocky" Lane and his horse Black Jack. Lane plays a U.S. marshal who is sent to investigate a reign of outlaw terror in Abilene. He arrives in town incognito, securing a job as deputy sheriff. Soon he discovers that the outlaws want to scare off the populace so that they can claim the gold ore that rests beneath the town. It's no surprise that Roy Barcroft is the chief heavy, though it is a bit startling that Barcroft's partner-in-crime is played by Peter Brocco, an actor usually cast as a pasty-faced gangster henchman or communist spy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Plot number 6259A -- mistaken identity -- is trotted out for the Republic sagebrusher Powder River Rustlers. Allan "Rocky" Lane stars as a wandering cavalier who stumbles across a scheme to defraud an entire village. A stranger has arrived in town, claiming to be a railroad agent who has been assigned to collect $50,000 to finance a new train line. Lane knows that the stranger is a fraud, but he bides his time, hoping to capture the stranger's boss and to rescue the real agent. That Powder River Rustlers will contain a plenitude of action is tipped off by the fact that several smaller roles are filled by well-known Hollywood stunt doubles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The rubber-stamp quality of Allan "Rocky" Lane's Republic westerns continued to manifest itself in Bandit King of Texas. Lane plays an honest cowboy who has seemingly fallen in with an outlaw gang. It comes as no surprise when Lane turns out to be working undercover to bring the gang to justice. As with his earlier films, the whole story is wrapped up in a brisk 60 minutes. One of the pleasanter aspects of Allan Lane's vehicles was their depiction of the villains as fairly normal human beings: in this case, Jim Nolan is the wicked but essentially believable heavy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the western Sheriff of Wichita, an unjustly imprisoned Army Lieutenant searches for the actual perpetrators of a robbery he was unfairly accused of five years earlier. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In a season that also saw him as The Denver Kid (1948) and The Sheriff of Wichita, Republic's Allan Lane, still carrying the nickname of "Rocky," became marshal of the title's rough-and-tumble Texas location. Marshal Lane comes to the aid of a group of stagecoach passengers stranded at the spooky Halfway House after driver Ben Dolan (Roy Barcroft crashed the stage in an attempt to outrun a masked gunman. Prospector Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) realizes that the Halfway House may not be your average hostelry when the night clerk (Denver Pyle) keeps up a lengthy conversation with a non-existent porter named George. After discovering the body of fellow passenger Hiram Short (Charles Williams), Marshal Lane and Nugget become even more mystified when the manager of the place, Welsh (Trevor Bardette), announces that he employs no night clerk and that the only guest in residence is cranky Mrs. Pettigrew (Minerva Urecal). Yet another stranded passenger, Underwood (Tom Chatterton), has vanished into thin air, his room now used for storage. Dolan, the stage driver, also meets with sudden death and the missing Underwood's pretty daughter Marjorie (Mildred Coles) informs Lane that her father was carrying $50,000 on his person, money earmarked for buying a ranch. Arriving to the inn late at night, Marjorie is also served by the spooky night clerk, who offers to take her to see her father. The plot thickens and Marshal Lane realizes that Underwood has been kidnapped for his money. After all the mysterious goings-on have been unmakes as fake, the murder/kidnapper is caught in a dramatic chase between stagecoaches, a chase that ends in a raging river. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide