Al Taylor Movies
A mainstay in B-Westerns, especially serials, since the mid-1920s, narrow-faced Al Taylor (born Albert Clark Taylor) could play both ranchers and rustlers. His almost 40 appearances in serials may well be a record for a supporting player. In his final years, Taylor supplemented his decreasing income as a performer by also working as a stagehand. He died at the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1946
In this western, a stagecoach driver learns that his little brother is working for a corrupt, rival stage line. The good brother does all he can to save the bad one from a life of crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In David O. Selznick's Duel in the Sun, Jennifer Jones stars as Pearl Chavez, whom everyone has tagged as a "bad girl" foredoomed to an unhappy end. She is taken into the home of wealthy, greedy rancher McCanles (Lionel Barrymore) and his kindly wife Laura Belle (Lillian Gish), who'd once been the sweetheart of Pearl's recently executed father (Herbert Marshall). Almost immediately, Pearl becomes the object of an emotional tug-of-war between McCanles' virtuous son Jesse (Joseph Cotten) and wicked ne'er-do-well offspring Lewt (Gregory Peck). After killing a man (Charles Bickford) who'd tried proposing to Pearl, Lewt becomes a fugitive, secretly working to undermine the railroad that threatens to cut across McCanles' land. The level-headed Jesse tries to negotiate with the railroad men, and as a result is ordered from the ranch by McCanles. While all this is going on, Pearl, sick to death of being told what a bad job she is, decides to become the Jezebel everyone assumes she is. Duel in the Sun was based on the novel by Niven Busch, who'd written the work hoping that his wife Teresa Wright would play Pearl--but that was before Selznick fell head over heels in love with Jennifer Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Griff Barnett, Jennifer Jones, (more)
- 1944
Two wild western towns battle it out for the position of county seat. Fortunately, Red Ryder and his little side-kick are around to restore the peace. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
In this western, the Three Mesquiteers team up with a Texas Ranger to round up the outlaws who forced the ranger's younger brother into becoming a criminal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, (more)
- 1943
This lightning-paced Republic western stars Don "Red" Barry as lawman Tennessee Colby. When sinister forces try to prevent a congressional investigation of shady freight-line activities, Colby swings into action. The problem: Among the bad guys is Colby's best friend, Tommy Logan (Bud McTaggart). The sheriff wavers in his loyalties until Logan adds cold-blooded murder to his list of crimes. This is one film that cries out for comedy relief, which is provided in excess by Emmet "Pappy" Lynn. Dead Man's Gulch manages to pack of passle of plot in its brief 58 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don "Red" Barry, Lynn Merrick, (more)
- 1943
In this western, a cowboy and his pals must stop outlaws from stealing a cache of gold ore. Action ensues, and they succeed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
Republic's winning combination of western star Wild Bill Elliot, comic sidekick Gabby Hayes and leading lady Anne Jeffreys is shown to good advantage in Death Valley Manhunt. Elliot plays a lawman who is hired by a group independent oilmen to protect them from crooked business interests. One of the bad guys is Richard Quinn (Weldon Heyburn), who tries to stir up a range war against the oilmen and the local landowners. When Elliot figures out what Quinn is up to, pity the poor bad man who gets in Our Hero's way. In the film's best scene, Wild Bill finds himself atop an oil well just as a gusher is about to burst forth from the earth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Gabby" Hayes, Anne Jeffreys, (more)
- 1943
This late entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" series stars Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmy Dodd as, respectively, Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Johnson. This time out, the Mesquiteers try to help young Tim Clay (John James), who's been framed for murder by villains who want to gain possession of Clay's ranch property. While Tim sits helplessly in jail, the bad guys move in, forcing the neighboring ranchers to pay exorbitant prices for Clay's water supply. As usual, the Mesquiteers don't stage a counteroffensive until they've got enough legal evidence to do so, but when they do swing into action, watch out! Not the best of the "Three Mesquiteers" epics, Santa Fe Scouts is also far from the worst. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, (more)
- 1943
Black Hills Express gets off to a powerful start, as hero Lon Walker (Don "Red" Barry) and his sidekick Deadeye (Wally Vernon) pick through the bloody remains of a stagecoach holdup-massacre. Vowing to catch the varmints responsible, Walker is impeded by a crooked sheriff (Jack Rockwell) and a crookeder banker (George Lewis). But justice triumphs, with some help from Walker's fists and six-guns. Ariel Heath, a promising ingenue who disappeared from pictures after a handful of films, is the heroine. One of the plusses of Black Hills Express is that it affords comedy-relief Wally Vernon an opportunity for some convincing dramatics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don "Red" Barry, Wally Vernon, (more)
- 1943
Set during the "man"power shortage of WW II, this low-budget western tells the story of a group of cowgirls hired by the government to stop rustlers from stealing a government contracted-ranchers' cattle. The brave ladies of the group call themselves the Women's Army of the Plains and run themselves as a military unit, using walkie-talkies to talk to cowboys so they can stop impending thefts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" western series was in its fifth year of production when Raiders of the Range was released in March of 1942. In this one, the Mesquiteers are enacted by Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith), Tom Tyler (Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). Our heroes come to the aid of visionary Doc Higgins (Tom Chatterton), whose efforts to strike oil on his property and thus bring financial security to his community are constantly being undermined by the villains. The main culprit is saloon owner Sam Daggett (Frank Jacquet), who blackmails local wastrel Ned Foster (Dennis Moore) into doing his dirty work. But with the Mesquiteers around, Daggett doesn't have a snowball's chance in you-know-where of succeeding in his skullduggery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, (more)
- 1942
Republic's The Phantom Plainsman is another in the long-running "Three Mesquiteers" western series. The heroic triumverate are herein portrayed by Bob Steele (as Tucson Smith), Tom Tyler (Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). In keeping with a trend then prevalent in "B" westerns, the Mesquiteers are pitted against a Nazi agent, one Colonel Hartwig (Robert O. Davis, aka Rudolph Anders). Ranch owner Cap Marvin (Charles Miller) is forced by Hartwig to turn his horses over to the Third Reich, lest harm befall Marvin's son, currently held behind bars by the Gestapo. Though jailed themselves on an assault-and-battery charge, the Mesquiteers manage to escape in time to clean Hartwig's clock and make the west safe for Democracy-and more Three Mesquiteers films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, (more)
- 1942
Director William Witney puts his distinctive stamp on the Don "Red" Barry western Outlaws of Pine Ridge by opening the picture with a body sailing through the plate-glass window of a frontier saloon. Barry stars as gun-slingin' Chips Barrett, who makes it his mission in life to prevent the inaccurately nicknamed Honest John Hollister (Noah Beery Sr.) from becoming territorial governor. Complicating things is the fact that Chips is in love with Honest John's daughter Ann (Lynn Merrick, perennial heroine in the Republic "Red" Barry vehicles). In between a multitude of barroom brawls and shootouts, Emmett Lynn provides genuinely funny comedy relief as a desert rat named Jackpot McGraw. Outlaws of Pine Ridge got the 1942-43 season of Barry westerns off to a rousing start. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don "Red" Barry, Lynn Merrick, (more)
- 1942
The Three Mesquiteers are back in the saddle in Republic's Code of the Outlaws. In this outing, the Mesquiteers are played by Bob Steele (as Tuscon Smith), Tom Tyler (as Stony Brooke) and Rufe Davis (as Lullaby Joslin). Bennie Bartlett costars as the son of outlaw Weldon Heyburn, who refuses to inform on his dad's outlaw gang even after Heyburn is shot dead. Our three heroes try to set Bartlett on the right path-and, incidentally, attempt to round up the gang on their own. Reviewers in 1942 felt that Code of the Outlaws was one of the best "Mesquiteers" entries since the series' salad days of the late 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, (more)
- 1942
In this western, two deputies go undercover to save a scientist from his evil kidnappers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1942
When the order of the Western frontier is threatened by bandits, cowboys are the only measure of justice in the area. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1942
The Man from Cheyenne is Roy Rogers, who does his best to squash a gang of cattle rustlers. What Roy doesn't know is that the mastermind behind the gang is a beautiful woman, East Coast socialite Marian (Lynn Carver). Making Marian's job easier is the fact that all the local cattlemen are crazy about her, and have a tendency to tip off the times and locations of their impending cattle drives. But Rogers is not so easily flummoxed-after all, he's a government man. Man From Cheyenne was hailed at the time of its release as the film in which Roy Rogers received his first screen kiss, which was certainly not the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1942
The all-purpose title Westward Ho was applied in 1942 to this "Three Mesquiteers" western. This time, the Mesquiteers are Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Joslin, here played respectively by Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Rufe Davis. Our heroes converge on a small town to solve a series of mysterious bank robberies. The "mystery" is solved the moment Evelyn Brent shows up on screen as the seemingly respectable bank president. In virtually every one of her western appearances of the 1940s, the talented Ms. Brent was cast as the "secret" criminal mastermind, and this film is no exception. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, (more)
- 1941
In this western, the Three Mesquisteers face down angry Indians and outlaws while fighting to save the life of am abducted young woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1941
The Three Mesquiteers are back in Republic's Gangs of Sonora. The story is set in Wyoming, just before statehood was bestowed upon the territory. Town boss Sam Treadwell (Robert Frazer) doesn't want his little fiefdom to enter the Union, and does everything he can to prevent this eventuality, including the murder of the local newspaper editor. The dead man's cudgel is taken up by his fearless wife Kansas Kate Connor (Helen MacKeller), but her crusading efforts are undercut by her own son (Bud McTaggart), who is in league with Treadwell. This is the dilemma which Mesquiteers Stony Brooke (Robert Livingston), Tucson Smith (Bob Steele) and Lullaby Joslin (Rufe Davis) must solve in 56 minutes flat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Bob Steele, (more)
Unavailable for decades, this 15-chapter serial from Republic Pictures was finally re-released on video tape in the late 1990s. Based on a story by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jungle Girl featured former Paramount starlet Frances Gifford as Nyoka, a white girl raised by her father, Dr. Meredith (Trevor Bardette), among the savages of Darkest Africa. But the good doctor is mercilessly bumped off by his identical twin (also Bardette), who along with American gangster Slick Latimer (Gerald Mohr is searching for the famous Nakros diamonds. Along come Yankee fly-boys Jack Stanton (Tom Neal) and Curly Rogers (Eddie Acuff) who, again and again, are forced to rescue either Nyoka or each other from the evil machinations of both the girl's uncle and nasty witch doctor Shamba (Frank Lackteen). Miss Gifford, suffice it to say, is attractive if not much of an actress this early in her career, while Neal, who is best remembered today as the unfortunate protagonist in the noir classic Detour (1946), appears customarily dashing. Comic relief is provided by Acuff, who is never too tiresome, and Frank Lackteen adds his patented exotic villainy. All in all, if the viewer can get past the natives' fright wigs a la Harpo Marx, an overly cute child actor (Tommy Cook) who speaks pidgin-English and the build-in repetitiveness typical for action serials, there is much to enjoy, including eye-popping acrobatic stunts performed by the likes of Yakima Canutt, David Sharpe, Tom Steele and Carol Thurston, the latter doubling for Gifford. Jungle Girl was successful enough to warrant a sequel but by the time Perils of Nyoka was ready to go before the cameras, Frances Gifford had become unavailable and was replaced by former Powers model Kay Aldridge. In typical serial fashion, footage from both chapterplays ended up in Panther Girl of the Kongo (1955), starring Phyllis Coates in a skimpy yet tasteful outfit identical to those worn by her predecessors. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frances Gifford, Tom Neal, (more)
- 1940
A fast-paced, enjoyable entry in the long-running Three Mesqueteers Western series, Heroes of the Saddle featured the three cowboy pals promising to look after Peggy Bell (Patsy Lee Parsons), the little daughter of mortally wounded rodeo champ Montana (Kermit Maynard). Legal technicalities, however, halt the adoption proceeding and Stony (Robert Livingston), Rusty (Raymond Hatton), and Rico (Duncan Renaldo) can only watch as the little girl is placed in the county orphanage. On a visit, the Mesqueteers discover that Peggy has been injured and Melloney the superintendent (sour-faced Byron Foulger) claims that the institution cannot pay for the necessary treatment. Stony wins the amount in a boxing match against "Killer" McCulley (Jack Roper), only to learn that Melloney is threatening the child to keep quiet about something. The "something" is the fact that Melloney and county supervisor Crone (William Royle) are not only mistreating the children in their care but cooking the books as well. Aided by a pretty nurse, Ruth Miller (Loretta Weaver of the Weaver hillbilly act), the Mesqueeters "kidnap" Peggy and the other kids and bring them to their spacious ranch. There is a final shootout before the three heroes can round up the gang and celebrate the election of a new county supervisor, nurse Ruth. A comic highlight of this Western has Duncan Renaldo pretending to be a department store dummy in order to fool drunken watchman Al Taylor. Heroes of the Saddle was one of the final films of ace villain William Royle, who later that year would appear in perhaps his best-remembered role as Sir Neyland Smith in the serial Drums of Fu Manchu (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Donald Barry, not yet Donald "Red" Barry, heads the cast of the Republic western Ghost Valley Raiders. A federal marshal, Barry is assigned to put an end to the activities of a stagecoach-robbery gang. That's why he spends most of the film pretending to be an outlaw himself. Stunt specialist Yakima Canutt plays a secondary villain, and also doubles for Barry in the dicier action scenes. Ghost Valley Raiders goes through its familiar paces with the speed of summer lightning. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don "Red" Barry, Lona Andre, (more)
- 1940
Eduardo Cianelli (his first name changed to "Edward" on this occasion) is the not-so-mysterious title character in the 15-chapter Republic serial The Mysterious Dr. Satan. A criminal genius, Dr. Satan has developed a "killer robot" to do his bidding. In order to perfect his invention, he must get his hands on a secret remote-control device invented by kindly Professor Thomas Scott (C. Montague Shaw). His efforts along this line-including the period abduction of Scott's pretty daughter Lois (Ella Neal)-are constantly stymied by the Copperhead, a masked do-gooder who in reality is handsome hero Bob Wayne (Robert Wilcox). Jam-packed with fast action and dizzying plot twists, The Mysterious Dr. Satan was one of the best and most often-revived Republic serials of the early 1940s. A feature-length abridgement, Dr. Satan's Robot, was prepared for televison in 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wilcox
Roy Rogers plays an outlaw out to avenge the murder of his brother in this fine Republic Western directed by one of the masters of the genre, Joseph Kane. Learning that the man he believes to be the killer, Lee Jessup (Bob Steele), is running a gambling establishment in Sonora, the Kid manages to obtain a job body guarding Jessup's saloon and its star attraction, Joby (Pauline Moore). But although intent on biding his time, the hero cannot stand idly by while Jessup is taking advantage of a naïve prospector (Noah Beery Jr.) and is forced to show his hand. One of Rogers' better early vehicles, The Carson City Kid is enlivened by a couple of good songs, including "Are You the One?" and "Sonora Moon," both by Peter Tinturia and performed by Rogers and Moore (who later admitted to having been dubbed). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
