Tom Tyler Movies

Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with a scandalous past who has been driven out of town by the high-minded ladies of the community. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is the wife of a cavalry officer stationed in Lordsburg, and she's determined to be with him. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a smooth-talking cardsharp who claims to be along to "protect" Lucy, although he seems to have romantic intentions. Dr. Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is a self-styled philosopher, a drunkard, and a physician who's been stripped of his license. Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is a slightly nervous whiskey salesman (and, not surprisingly, Dr. Boone's new best friend). Gatewood (Berton Churchill) is a crooked banker who needs to get out of town. Buck (Andy Devine) is the hayseed stage driver, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) is along to offer protection and keep an eye peeled for the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a well-known outlaw who has just broken out of jail. While Wilcox does find Ringo, a principled man who gives himself up without a fight, the real danger lies farther down the trail, where a band of Apaches, led by Geronimo, could attack at any time. Stagecoach offers plenty of cowboys, Indians, shootouts, and chases, aided by Yakima Canutt's remarkable stunt work and Bert Glennon's majestic photography of Ford's beloved Monument Valley. It also offers a strong screenplay by Dudley Nichols with plenty of room for the cast to show its stuff. John Wayne's performance made him a star after years as a B-Western leading man, and Thomas Mitchell won an Oscar for what could have been just another comic relief role. Thousands of films have followed Stagecoach's path, but no has ever improved on its formula. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Former silent screen cowboy Tom Tyler and newcomer Lon Chaney, Jr. (still billed, modestly, as Creighton Chaney) square off in this inexpensive oater produced by infamous poverty row regular Sam Katzman. Believed by the sheriff (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) to be the notorious bandit Cheyenne Tommy, Tom Wade (Tyler) is in reality an investigator for the Cattlemen's Protective Association looking into a series of cattle rustlings. Along with his dopey sidekick, Dopey (Jimmy Fox), Wade robs the rustlers of their ill-gotten gains until he is recognized by one of the gang, Girard (Chaney). After a great deal of ridin' and shootin', Tom is assisted in bringing down the gang by lovely Sally Lane (Lucile Browne), another operative working undercover as secretary to the leader of the rustlers (Theodore Lorch). The Katzman stamp of poverty is all over this Victory Pictures production, but it is fun to watch Tyler and Chaney, both of whom would later star as the mummy, Kharis, for Universal in the '40s. Director Robert F. Hill makes his usual Hitchcock-like appearance, this time as a townsman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Produced back-to-back with Mystery Range (1937), this Tom Tyler Western was the first of Sam Katzman's Victory Pictures productions to be distributed by Monogram. Tyler plays Tom Wade, an agent for the cattlemen's association who bears a striking resemblance to dying outlaw Jack Granger. Tom assumes the dead desperado's identity, aiding Pa Granger (Lafe McKee) in his feud with nasty neighbor Lance Holcomb (Roger Williams) and Holcomb's even nastier mother (Vane Calvert). The bone of contention is a piece of property containing a gold mine. Tom, as Jack, settles the score with the Holcombs, and, revealing his true identity, wins Sheila Granger's love -- a rather kinky denouement considering Tom's close resemblance to the girl's dead brother. Sheila was played by Harlene Wood, who, as Harley Wood, had starred in the notorious exploitation-melodrama Marihuana (1935). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The agent for a cattlemen's association and his partner spot an old enemy in town one day. They discover that he is planning to swindle a young girl out of her land. It seems the railroad is willing to pay $50,000 for the property, but she doesn't know it -- because her uncle is in on the swindle, too. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Tom Tyler ground out 19 starring westerns for Reliable Pictures in the mid-1930s, of which Santa Fe Bound is neither the best nor worst. "Our Tom" (as he was known in the trade papers) comes to the aid of heroine Molly Bates (Jeanne Martel), who is in danger of losing her ranch to the villains. Since the chief heavy is played by Richard Cramer, possessor of one of the meanest faces in the movies, it's obvious that Tyler really has his work cut out for him this time. In addition, our hero has been entrusted with a great deal of money by Bate's banker father, a fact that leads the girl to assume that Tyler has stolen the cash. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise when Tyler, posing as an outlaw, infiltrates Cramer's criminal gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a pugilist heads out west to find the crook who fixed his last fight so he can clear his own name. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

Filmed back-to-back with Rip Roarin' Buckaroo, this low-budget Western starred the darkly handsome Tom Tyler as Jerry Lane, a drifter who comes to the aid of a beleaguered female would-be rancher. Arriving from Santa Fe to establish her claim to her late grandfather's property, Jeanne Moore (Beth Marion) finds the place apparently haunted by old Hiram Moore's ghost. It is all a ruse, of course, concocted by greedy neighbor Brandon (Forrest Taylor), who wants the old man's treasure -- a half-million dollars in gold hidden somewhere on the property. Jerry Lane outbids both Jeanne and Brandon at the auction, hires a cockney butler, Eddie (Sammy Cohen), and invites Jeanne to stay at the ranch. One of Brandon's accomplices, Perdita (Soledad Jiminez), infiltrates the household in the guise of a maid, but it is Eddie who finally locates the treasure, which a magnanimous Jerry insists rightfully belongs to Jeanne. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Tom Tyler stars in the B-Western Ridin' On as ranch hand Tom Rork. His family becomes involved in a feud with the neighboring O'Neil clan. When one of the Rork family's workers is murdered, evidence appears to indicate that one of the young O'Neils is responsible. Tom knows differently, though, and sets out to clear the man's name, all the while attempting to stay a step ahead of the real killer, who wants to make Tom his next victim. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In the fourth of 18 inexpensive Tom Tyler Westerns produced by Reliable Pictures and filmed on location in Newhall, California, Tom and his sidekick, Windy (Ben Corbett), are hired by John Baker's Bar X Ranch. Baker (Lafe McKee) offers a $1,000 reward to anyone who can capture "The Phantom," a wild stallion suspected of chasing a herd of mares through a hole in the Bar X fence. The real horse thief, however, is Bar X's unscrupulous neighbor, Mack Larkin (Dick Alexander), who is in cahoots with Baker's crooked foreman, Bert (Charles "Slim" Whitaker). Tom befriends "The Phantom" and is determined to prove the horse innocent. Despite the skepticism of Baker's pretty daughter, Helen (Alice Dahl), Tom and Windy set out to prove Larkin's guilt. Although sharing the same character name, "Windy," the rustic Corbett had little else in common with George Hayes (later nicknamed "Gabby"), the quintessential comic sidekick of "Hopalong Cassidy" series fame. A holdover from the silent era, Corbett was woefully unfunny and an amateurish actor to boot. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The second of 18 Tom Tyler westerns produced by small-time company Reliable, this film starred the former silent screen cowboy as Tom Saunders, a young cowpoke who obtains a job on the Bar-L Guest and Dude Ranch. A series of cattle rustlings have forced ranch owner Dan Brooks (Lafe McKee) into accepting paying guests, and Tom is assigned to catch the leader of the gang. He proves to be Winthrop, the ranch foreman (Philo McCullough), who Tom -- after a great deal of shootin' and ridin' -- is able to bring to justice. Blonde Ruth Hiatt, a former Hal Roach Studio comedienne, co-starred as McKee's willful niece. Directed by producer Harry S. Webb (under the pseudonym "Henri Samuels"), Ridin' Thru is the kind of cheap B-western where a character listed in the credits under one name is addressed throughout the film by another. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his second of 18 B-Westerns for poverty row company Reliable Pictures, strapping Tom Tyler comes to the aid of a Mexican rancher who is terrorized by a powerful neighbor (William Gould). Tyler's love for the evil neighbor's innocent niece (Lillian Gilmore) is sorely tested when the young cowboy's father is found murdered. The blonde Miss Gilmore also appeared that year opposite Reliable's other cowboy star, Jack Perrin, in Wolf Riders. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Poverty Row company Stage and Screen was somewhat partial to Northwest Mounted melodramas, releasing three films in the genre in 1935. The Silent Code starred the tough-looking Kane Richmond as Jerry Hale, a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman transferred to a lonely outpost run by the greedy Peter Barkley (Barney Furey). When Barkley's brother-in-law, a prospector (Edward Coxen, is murdered over the claim to a valuable strike, the killer frames officer Hale. The murdered man's daughter, Helen (Blanche Mehaffey), initially believes the mountie to be guilty, but she is convinced otherwise by some tell-tale beads left on the body by the killer, Barkley's henchman Lobo (Carl Matthews). Nothing out of the ordinary, The Silent Code was at least more professionally assembled than Stage and Screen's two other Northwest thrillers of 1935: Timber Terrors and Courage of the North, both of which starred a non-entity named John Preston. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide