Charles "Slim" Whitaker Movies

A rather weak entry in Tim McCoy's Columbia oeuvre, this Western was released to smaller venues in December of 1934, but not widely shown until 1936. McCoy, a rather stolid type of cowboy hero, is rather miscast as a rodeo performer competing for the affection of Juanita Barnes (Marion Shilling) with Bob Lockhart (Joe Sawyer). Juanita chooses the latter, but comes to regret her decision when she discovers that she really loves Tim. Meanwhile, Tim's father, Zack (Edward J. LeSaint), is killed by the rodeo rider's horse, Midnight. With his inheritance, Tim buys the ranch next to Senator Lockhart (John H. Dilson), Bob's father, and has a run-in with Lockhart's crooked foreman, Wallace (Hooper Atchley). There is a fight during which Bob is badly injured. Tim is arrested but escapes with the assistance of Uncle Ben, an old family retainer (Harry Todd). Together, they learn that Zack's death was no accident, and that the sheriff (Albert J. Smith) may be implicated. After the climactic shootout, Bob's name is cleared, the villains apprehended, and Tim free to pursue a future with Juanita. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

To say that Smoking Guns is one of Ken Maynard's strangest Westerns is understating the case. The film wastes no time getting started, with Ken Masters (Maynard) in mid-sentence accusing the villain (Harold Goodwin) of murdering Masters' father. Framed for murder himself, our hero is forced to escape to the swamplands of Louisiana, where he is pursued by lawman Dick (Walter Miller). Rescuing Dick from a pack of hungry alligators, Masters is forced to perform an emergency leg amputation, which, combined with a bad case of jungle fever, unfortunately results in the lawman's death. Astonished at the close resemblance between himself and Dick (the two men are actually about as similar as Abbott and Costello!), Masters decides to assume Dick's identity and return to the dead man's hometown. He manages to pull off his masquerade with everyone, even Dick's fiancee Alice (Gloria Shea), thereby giving himself free reign to finally trap the bad guys in a spooky old mansion. Decked out with a serpentine plotline that would do Erich Von Stroheim proud, Smoking Guns doesn't make much sense, but that's part of the fun -- as is the astonishing final shot, wherein the heroine's low-cut blouse threatens to slip from her shoulders as she and the hero ride off together. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A pretty Mexican dancer, Tina Menard, is actually the lead character in this low-budget Western ostensibly starring Jack Perrin. Jack Fenrod (Perrin) and his grizzled sidekick Amos (Frank Rice) are on the trail of a gang of smugglers when they save Lolita Carlos (Menard) from a runaway carriage. Lolita dances in the Casa de Oro Saloon owned by Meeker (William Gould), the leader of the smugglers. Jack is accused of horse-thievery by local rancher Don Carlos (Elias Lazaroff), Lolita's father, but that is only a ruse to lure Meeker into a false sense of security. With the help of a lovesick flower girl (Rosemary Joy) and an equally amorous cook (Fern Emmett) -- both pursuing Amos -- the Meeker gang is finally brought to justice. Amazingly, Menard, a Mexican-born actress, continued working in films until at least 1981, usually playing maids. She died in 1993 at the age of 88. Loser's End was the second of six Jack Perrin Westerns produced by small-scale Reliable Pictures from 1934-1935. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his first western, former football star Reb Russell plays Clint Mason, a young parolee returning to Bonanza City intent on proving that he was framed in a stage holdup. The sheriff (Murdock MacQuarrie) tends to believe the youngster but is hamstringed by the local marshal (Jack Rockwell), who is in the pocket of town czar Rance McCloud (Fred Kohler). The latter threatens to destroy Colonel Campbell (George Hayes) unless his daughter Nancy (Ann D'Darcy) agrees to marry him. But Clint has learned that McCloud is really Kelso, an escaped convict, and the villain is forced to flee into Mexico with Nancy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his second starring Western for low-budget producer Willis Kent, former All-American fullback Reb Russell played just that, a former football star for Northwestern. He is also a detective for the Cattlemen's Association, assigned to look into a series of cattle rustlings. Posing as a cowboy, Reb makes the acquaintance with Big Jack Thorpe (Yakima Canutt), another football veteran, and together they unmask saloon keeper Lenihan (Edward Hearn) as the leader of the rustlers, saving lovely Lucille (Lucille Lund) from a fate worse than death along the way. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, a miner heads back East and ends up traveling with a wagon train. He carries with him a map of his recently discovered claim. Among his comrades is a group of outlaws planning to ambush the train so they can get hold of the map. To do this, they start the local Indians on the warpath. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, John Wayne plays a bronc buster who flees to Mexico after he is falsely accused of rigging a stagecoach race. Living as an outlaw, he joins a gang and finds that the son of his old rodeo boss has been roped into joining them. While trying to save the youth from a life of crime, The heroic Wayne also manages to save a silver mine and find true love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Man From Monterey was the last of John Wayne's "B"-westerns for Warner Bros. The Duke plays U.S. army captain John Holmes, dispatched to Monterey to convince the ranchers to register their long-standing Spanish land grants, lest their property fall into the hands of undeserving strangers. This makes Holmes the enemy of local land swindler Don Luis Gonzales (Donald Reed), who has been plotting to grab up all the acreage for himself. Holmes must race against time to prevent Gonzales from achieving his goal by marrying Dolores (Ruth Hall), the daughter of the richest landowner (Lafe McKee) in the territory. John Wayne looks most uncomfortable in his ill-fitting army uniform and fancy-dancy Mexican duds -- but no more uncomfortable than Ken Maynard, who appears in the silent stock footage which is spread throughout The Man From Monterey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A cowboy (Jack Hoxie) and his partners are known as "trouble busters," men who look for adventure and help out people in need. They discover that a ranch owned by a crotchety old man and his daughter has large oil deposits. They also discover that a local gang has found out about it and plans to take the land from the pair. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Filmed at the Mack Sennett Studios, the future home of Republic Pictures, this obscure western starred rugged Lane Chandler as a cowboy mistakenly accused of being the notorious "Phantom Bandit." His true identity verified, Lane is deputized and begins a search for the real outlaw, who has been terrorizing the settlers of Panhandled, Texas. Obtaining a job as ranch hand on a spread belonging to pretty Doris Brook, Lane finds himself once again accused of being the "Phantom," this time by foreman Charles "Slim" Whitaker who, as every B-Western fan knows, is highly suspicious himself. About to be lynched, Lane is rescued in the nick of time by Sheriff Wally Wales, who has arrested the real culprit -- not Whitaker, surprisingly, but bit part player Philo McCullough, something of a cheat. Directed by the venerable J. P. McGowan, whose career dated back to the 1910s and The Hazards of Helen, The Lone Bandit was far too cheap and ramshackle to make the otherwise capable Lane Chandler a western star. Leading lady Doris Brook was of no help to Chandler, but instead a rank amateur who also graced several westerns produced and directed by legendary bad filmmaker Robert J. Horner. The Lone Bandit was the first entry in a proposed series of Phantom Rider westerns produced by H. and H. Productions (Nathan Hirsch and Robert Hoyt), but only The Outlaw Tamer (1935), also starring Chandler, would follow. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Tom Tyler and Wally Wales, both refugees from the silent range, starred in this very low-budget oater from Poverty Row company Monarch. Tyler played an innocent victim of circumstances and Wales was the law-fighting postal inspector who mistakes him for a notorious outlaw known only as The Hawk. The real villain, however, is none other than Butch Cassidy, here depicted by an actor as far removed from Paul Newman as possible: Charles "Slim" Whitaker. Alice Dahl, another refugee from the silent era, played the heroine, the daughter of the sheriff (Lafe McKee). Carlotta Monti, W.C. Fields' longtime companion, was a fiery senorita named Lolita. Tyler starred in four Monarch Westerns in-between contracts with Monogram and Reliable. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Directed by Tenny Wright, The Telegraph Trail features John Wayne as John Trent, a calvary scout who has been sent to put a stop to sleazy opportunist Gus Lynch's (Albert J. Smith) crooked business dealings. Lynch (Smith) has convinced High Wolf (Yakima Canutt), a local Native American tribe leader, that his people must delay the completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line unless they wanted their entire tribe to be wiped out by the consequent influx of white men. This action, which only benefits Lynch's (Smith) greed, creates an uprising from the Native Americans that results in the harm of the men working on the construction of this historical telegraph system. Luckily, the injustice doesn't last for long once Trent (Wayne) comes to town. The Telegraph Trail also features actors Frank McHugh and Otis Harlan, as well as actress Marceline Day. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Filmed on-location at Lone Pine, CA, and thus looking a lot better than the average cheapie Western, Cheyenne Cyclone was the second of eight sagebrush thrillers produced by Willis Kent and starring former Paramount cowboy Lane Chandler and his horse Raven. Chandler and Connie Lamont played travelling stock company actors who find themselves stranded in a Western town. A former cowpuncher, Chandler obtains a job at the failing Lost River Ranch and helps the owner and his granddaughter (Marie Quillan) fight off a gang of cattle rustlers. Lamont switches sides and becomes the mistress of one of the rustlers, but Chandler manages to bring the entire gang to justice in the final reel. Chandler, who always considered producer Willis Kent "a prince," never quite made it as a B-Western star. Increasingly gaunt-looking, he made the switch to villainy with ease and enjoyed a career that lasted well into the television era. Cheyenne Cyclone was later reissued under the rather more appropriate title Rustler's Ranch. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide