Charles "Slim" Whitaker Movies
Someone once called American supporting actor Charles "Slim" Whitaker a "no good yellow-bellied polecat," and that is as good a description as any for this paunchy, mustachioed gent, a former stage manager and stock company actor from Kansas City, MO. Whitaker's screen career was spent almost entirely in B-Westerns, where he would skulk around as lazy ranch hands, tobacco-chewing henchmen, Mexican "half-breeds," and even the occasional corrupt lawman. More versatile than most Western supporting players, Whitaker was adept at comedy as well, and was humorously billed "Slender" Whitaker in 1925's Border Intrigue, in which he played a comedic Mexican bandito. Whitaker, who made his screen bow around 1925, was busiest in the 1930s, appearing in over 25 films in 1935 alone! He continued in pictures through the late '40s, but spent his final years working as a short-order cook in a Hollywood coffee shop. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1929
Together with the local sheriff, Oklahoma Adams (Bob Custer) rids a ranch of a gang of cattle rustlers. As a reward, he wins the heart of the ranch owner's (John Lowell) lovely daughter (Mary Maberry). Every western cliche under the sun was utilized in this dreary silent western, including -- you guessed it! -- the crooked ranch foreman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Custer, Mary Mayberry, (more)
- 1929
In one of his last starring roles, stunt-man turned silent cowboy star Yakima Canutt battled bad guys such as Charles "Slim" Whitaker under the static direction of J.P. McGowan. Stunt-rider Ione Reed played the ingenue, with veteran comedians Dorothy Vernon and Bobby Dunn providing the occasional levity. Canutt, whose voice did not register well in talkies, later became an award winning stunt co-ordinator and second unit director. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yakima Canutt, Ione Reed, (more)
- 1928
New York playboy Bob Custer gets into trouble with the cops when he drunkenly steals a cabdriver's coat. The judge decides to send Custer out West so he can straighten himself out and learn to be a "real man." Our hero adapts to the wide open spaces as if he'd been born there, matriculating into the finest rider, roper, and shooter in the territory. His redemption is complete when he rescues a rancher's daughter (Mary Mayberry) from kidnappers. Produced and directed by the veteran J.P. McGowan, this extremely low-budget silent Western was released by Syndicate Film Exchange, a forerunner to the more durable Monogram Pictures. Only one 35 mm nitrate print of Manhattan Cowboy is known to exist; happily, this print has been transferred to video for the benefit of Western fans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lafe [Lafayette] McKee, Mary Mayberry, (more)
- 1926
A very young brunette Jean Arthur provided romantic interest in this otherwise average low-budget Western from Lester F. Scott, Jr.'s Action Pictures stable. Wally Wales starred as a drifter who befriends wounded outlaw Ted Rackerby. Having promised to deliver a sack of gold to the man's family, Wales promptly falls for the daughter of the house (Arthur). The rest of the outlaw gang is naturally upset over the change of events and attempts to recover their loot. Happily, a reformed Rackerby arrives just in time with the sheriff's posse. Producer Scott released scores of technically adequate and fairly streamlined little oaters geared to the hinterlands, most of them directed by the promising Richard Thorpe. Thorpe would become a house director at M-G-M in the sound era, working with nearly everyone on the lot, from Johnny Weissmuller to Elvis Presley. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
Returning home from the Great War, "Breezy" Hart (Fred Humes) and his shell-shocked buddy Frank Wilcox (Ralph McCullough) discover the Wilcox property in the hands of evil Sam Hardy (William Norton Bailey). Frank, who is the rightful heir to the ranch, goes into hiding, while "Breezy" takes a job in the ranch kitchen. Learning of Frank's whereabouts, Hardy plots to have the young heir killed. Luckily, Breezy overhears the villain plotting with his henchmen and is able to rescue his friend. Hardy and his men are arrested, and Frank, now cured of his illness, is reunited with his girl, June Marston (Nita Cavalier). Breezy, meanwhile, is busy romancing his kitchen staff colleague, Mary Jane (Louise Lorraine). Director William Wyler, a distant relative of Universal's founder, Carl Laemmle), began his distinguished career helming Fred Humes and Ted Wells program Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
Versatile silent screen comedian Milburn Morante directed this average Universal western starring Colorado-born Pete Morrison. Perhaps the studio's most authentic cowboy performer, Morrison never gained the popularity of Universal's top western hero, Hoot Gibson or the devoted following of Jack Hoxie. But he wasn't overly coy like Gibson or as bad an actor as Hoxie and it is surprising that he didn't do better. Bucking the Truth tells the usual western tale of a cowboy falsely accused of being an outlaw, who unravels a smuggling ring. Universal apparently believed in the film and surrounded Morrison with a top-notch supporting cast that included lovely Ione Reed as the usual damsel in distress, the always welcome "Slim" Whitaker as one of the bad guys, and a young cowboy from Montana, Curley Witzel, who was so convincing that the studio gave him a starring series of 2-reel westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brinsley Shaw, Bruce Gordon, (more)
- 1926
Despite being a less than inspiring actor at his best, Buddy Roosevelt was asked to play identical twins -- one good, the other bad -- in this otherwise average silent Western directed by Richard Thorpe. The good Roosevelt is falsely accused of being his own twin brother, a notorious bandit smuggling Chinese over the border from Mexico. Considering Roosevelt's lack of acting acumen, his Trigger twins proved slightly more identical than screenwriter Betty Burbridge had counted on. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buddy Roosevelt, Nita Cavalier, (more)
- 1926
Returning to the old homestead, shell-shocked war veteran Wally Marsh (Wally Wales) is tricked into breaking the law by an unscrupulous villain (William Dunn) in this action-packed silent western written by the prolific Betty Burbridge from a story by genre specialist L.V. Jefferson. Penny-pinching Poverty Row entrepreneur Lester F. Scott, Jr. produced scores of minor oaters like this, all of them geared toward small-town movie theaters where also-ran western heroes such as Wales, Buffalo Bill, Jr. and Buddy Roosevelt were heartily applauded by especially the small fry. If nothing else, an audience could always count on action and picturesque locations in a western produced by Scott's Action Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
A gang of counterfeiters are using the mountain division of the Pacific Coast Railroad for their nefarious purpose in this rare surviving railroad melodrama starring the queen of the genre, Helen Holmes. She plays Helen Wainwright, the innocent ticket clerk in Middletown, where the agent, George Harvey (William Lowery), is working for the gang. Learning that a package containing 30,000 dollars is on its way from San Fernando to the National Bank in Garden City, Harvey deftly exchanges it with one containing counterfeit bills. Helen learns that Harvey is trying to reach a Mr. George Smith at the Adams Hotel, and she decides to masquerade as Smith. Dressed in clothes belonging to undercover policeman Jack McDermott (Henry Victor), the plucky ticket clerk manages to get the package containing the real money away from Harvey but is later cornered in Middletown's power station. When the counterfeiters escape by train, Helen uses Morse code to alert railroad superintendent Steele (Clyde McAfee) and soon the heroes are in hot pursuit on a light engine. Helen makes a daring transfer from one speeding train to the other and the counterfeiters are arrested. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
Mistaken for a missing heir, cowboy Wally Wales becomes the focal point in a bitter range feud. This well-made little silent western was produced at Fallbrook, California by genre specialist Lester F. Scott, Jr., whose Action Pictures supplied rural theaters with a seemingly endless string of economical westerns starring the likes of Wales, Buddy Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill, Jr. Scott's first western star, Wales was in reality Floyd T. Alperson of Sheridan, Wyoming, a former stage driver. The name "Wally Wales" was chosen by Scott in honor of the Prince of Wales, the British heir apparent. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Parsimonious Hollywood entrepreneur Lester F. Scott, Jr. produced this little western melodrama starring Buffalo Bill, Jr., an actor later known under his real moniker, Jay Wilsey. Bill, Jr. plays Bill Drake, a cowpoke who must prove himself innocent of robbing the general store. The real culprit, as our hero detects, is Tom Evans ("Slim" Whitaker), the weakling son of a local rancher (Louis Fitzroy). Scott's little oaters were usually filmed in sleepy California towns and employed local "talent" in minor roles. On the Go was no exception but did benefit from a veteran cast that also included leading lady Helen Foster (better known as the much put-upon heroine of the anti-drug melodrama The Road to Ruin [1928]), good old Lafe McKee, as the girl's father, and the aforementioned Charles "Slim" Whitaker, a truly hissable specimen of Hollywood villainy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Constance Talmadge dominates this comedy in her usual, mischievous manner. She's Georgiana Chadbourne, a young widow. Her dead husband was such a straight arrow that it bored her, and after a proper enough mourning period, she goes out in search of adventure. She gets in trouble for picking flowers in Central Park, but is rescued by Jack Garrison (Rockcliffe Fellows), who she mistakes for an artistic, bohemian type of character. To her frustration, she discovers he is as good as her husband was. Since he has already won her heart, she has no choice but to make a bad guy out of him. When she discovers that Garrison is friends with her brother, she hatches her plot. Georgiana pretends that she is her brother's wife, not his sister, and shocks Garrison by vamping him. In spite of his super-human efforts to reject her, he can't help but fall into her trap. Eventually all is explained and Georgiana is more than happy to wed and "reform" her man. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
End of the Trail was written and directed by Oscar C. Apfel, the man who collaborated with Cecil B. DeMille on the direction of the pioneering feature film The Squaw Man. Apfel's star is William Farnum, at that time the Fox Studio's number-one male box-office attraction. Farnum plays a hard-nosed trapper whose icy veneer is melted by the love of a beautiful woman. The heroine is played by Gladys Brockwell, who went on to a worthwhile film career in no-nonsense character roles. End of the Trail was distinguished by well-photographer exterior sequences, with Northern California standing in for the Yukon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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The Man From Utah
After helping prevent a bank robbery, young drifter John Weston (John Wayne) is assigned by Marshal Higgins (George "Gabby" Hayes to look into a series of suspicious deaths among champion rodeo riders. Weston falls for lovely Marjorie Carter (Polly Ann Young) along the way but she gets jealous when he suddenly shifts his attention to fiery Dolores (Anita Campillo, whose name is misspelled "Compillo" in the onscreen credits). The Mexican charmer, however, is in league with Spike Barton (Edward Peil, Sr.), the brain behind the murders, and Weston's interest is purely business. Like most of John Wayne's "Lone Star" Westerns, The Man from Utah was filmed along California's Kern River. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Sagebrush Trail
So unknown was John Wayne in 1934 that the Variety review of the "B"-western Sagebrush Trail fails to list Wayne in the cast! The second of the Duke's films for Lone Star Productions, this one casts him as an accused killer in search of the real culprit. On the lam from the law, Wayne teams up with gunslinger Lane Chandler, never suspecting that Chandler is the man he is looking for. The relationship between Wayne and Chandler, at first friendly and then adversarial, is handled with more depth than was normal in a quickie western. Also in the cast of Sagebrush Trail is stuntman Yakima Canutt, here cast as Wayne's Indian companion "Yak." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After helping prevent a bank robbery, young drifter John Weston (John Wayne) is assigned by Marshal Higgins (George "Gabby" Hayes to look into a series of suspicious deaths among champion rodeo riders. Weston falls for lovely Marjorie Carter (Polly Ann Young) along the way but she gets jealous when he suddenly shifts his attention to fiery Dolores (Anita Campillo, whose name is misspelled "Compillo" in the onscreen credits). The Mexican charmer, however, is in league with Spike Barton (Edward Peil, Sr.), the brain behind the murders, and Weston's interest is purely business. Like most of John Wayne's "Lone Star" Westerns, The Man from Utah was filmed along California's Kern River. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Sagebrush Trail
So unknown was John Wayne in 1934 that the Variety review of the "B"-western Sagebrush Trail fails to list Wayne in the cast! The second of the Duke's films for Lone Star Productions, this one casts him as an accused killer in search of the real culprit. On the lam from the law, Wayne teams up with gunslinger Lane Chandler, never suspecting that Chandler is the man he is looking for. The relationship between Wayne and Chandler, at first friendly and then adversarial, is handled with more depth than was normal in a quickie western. Also in the cast of Sagebrush Trail is stuntman Yakima Canutt, here cast as Wayne's Indian companion "Yak." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
