Gerald Geraghty Movies

In this western, the many travails of a wagonmaster on a Westward trek are chronicled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Singing cowboy Rex Allen joins the circus in Down Laredo Way. It all begins when Allen and his sidekick Slim Pickens come to the aid of little Taffy (Judy Nugent), whose acrobat father is killed in an accident. Or was it an accident? After all, the dead man's partner, Valerie (Marjorie Lord), has been keeping company with suspicious-looking Cooper (Roy Barcroft). It turns out that a diamond-smuggling racket is at the bottom of things. Livening up the proceedings in Down Laredo Way is peppery Dona Drake as a warm-hearted, hot-blooded gypsy gal. Like most of Republic's Rex Allen vehicles, the film benefits from better-than-usual production values. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Postal inspector Rex Allen rides hell bent for leather in order to save an innocent man from hanging in this enjoyable Western from Republic Pictures. When Allen suggests shipping the mail from San Francisco to San Diego via stagecoach instead of clipper ship, Roger McCall (Grant Withers), the crooked owner of the shipping line, does his utmost to prevent stage line operator Sam Sawyer (Forrest Taylor) from winning the contract, including having him falsely accused of murdering a longtime rival (George H. Lloyd). Rex, however, suspects that First Mate Orrin (Roy Barcroft) is the real culprit, but will he be too late to see justice done? ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The title of this Gene Autry opus is almost as long as the film itself. This time, Autry plays a circuit judge who presides over a murder case in a mining town. The accused, Ed Wheeler (Kirk Riley), has confessed to the killing, and is undeniably guilty, but Autry considers this to be a case of justifiable homicide. The catch: How can Autry exonerate Wheeler without violating his own vow to uphold the law at all costs? The answer is a technicality, so cleverly handled that it can't be repeated here without giving the whole game away. On hand, as ever, are Autry's comic sidekick Smiley Burnette and favorite leading lady Gail ("Annie Oakley") Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rex Allen, the last of Republic's singing cowboys, stars in Red River Shore. This time, it's up to Allen to prevent a major oil scam. The potential suckers have been enticed into the deal on the reputation of a recently deceased local hero. The problem here is to rout the crooks without dragging the dead man's name through the mud. Fortunately, providence, and the screenwriters, take a hand in things. Though Rex Allen usually gets the girl -- in this case, Lyn Thomas -- the romantic angle this time is handled by young swain Bill Phipps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical western, a rancher sends a man to prevent the marriage of his daughter. When the man arrives he finds a dude ranch and several murders which require solving. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry plays a cattle buyer in the better-than-average formula western Barbed Wire. Investigating a paucity of fresh livestock, Autry returns to his home turf of Texas. Here he discovers that powerful ranch owner Steve Ruttledge (Leonard Penn) has been fencing off valuable grazing land, preventing the cattle men from bringing their stock to market. The trouble is, Ruttledge's methods, while underhanded, are well within the limits of the law. This doesn't stop Autry from finding a legal method to thwart Ruttledge's megalomanic dreams--and, incidentally, to clean the villain's clock in the closing reels. Barbed Wire was produced by Armand Schafer, the man in charge of Gene Autry's "Flying A" TV-production empire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Valley of Fire is a fairly gutsy title for this formula Gene Autry western. This time, Autry plays the reform-minded mayor of a wide-open western town. The villain of the piece, Tod Rawlings (Harry Lauter), decides to undermine Gene by convincing a band of disreputable miners to hijack a wagon train which is bringing mail-order brides into the community. Fortunately, the community's "good" miners thwart Rawling's plan and claim the brides for themselves (fear not: the ladies are more than willing to be claimed). One of Rawling's partners in crime is played by Russell Hayden, who only a few months earlier had been the clean-cut hero of Lippert's "Four Star Western" series. Once again, Gene Autry's feminine vis-a-vis in Valley of Fire is Gail Davis, who went on to star in TV's Annie Oakley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though the hit song "Mule Train" is most closely associated with Frankie Laine, it was Gene Autry who first sang the tune on film, in a picture titled ... what else? .... Mule Train. This time, Autry plays a federal marshal who comes to the aid of a grizzled old prospector who has been framed for murder. The villain, Sam Brady (Robert Livingston), wants to appropriate the prospector's land, and he isn't particular as to how he achieves that goal. Leading lady Sheila Ryan plays a female sheriff who is on Brady's side at first, but who later realigns herself with Autry. Ryan later became the wife of Pat Buttram, who also appears in Mule Train in his usual role as Gene Autry's comical sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Elliot is the multitextured hero of the deluxe Republic western Savage Horde. Elliot plays a gunslinger named Ringo, who, though no paragon of virtue, is not a murderer. After killing a man in self-defense, Ringo takes it on the lam from the law. Hiding out in a remote frontier town, Ringo becomes involved in a range war between land baron Proctor (Grant Withers) and a group of honest ranchers. At the risk of his own capture, Ringo decides to stick around and join the ranchers in their battle against Proctor. Leading lady Adrian Booth plays Livvy Weston, who'd like to fall in love with Ringo but can't reconcile herself with his bad reputation. Featured in the cast are such western "regulars" as Noah Beery, Bob Steele, Roy Barcroft, Earle Hodgins and Hal Taliaferro (aka Wally Wales). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sunset in the West finds Roy Rogers playing a deputy sheriff in a wide-open town. Roy must contend with a vicious gun-smuggling ring, this time aided and abetted by a bloodhound (not Rogers' "wonder dog" Bullet). The climax, set aboard a moving freight-car festooned with cases of live ammunitions, is one of the more exciting in the entire Rogers canon. Though Penny Edwards plays the nominal heroine, Estelita Rodriguez dominates the proceedings as a peppery South American songstress. Also contributing to the musical portion of the program are Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most famous of the anti-communist tracts of the late 1940s, Republic's The Red Menace plays like a merciless lampoon of the genre when seen today. After a portentous introduction by one Lloyd G. Davies, described as a member of the Los Angeles City Council, the film concentrates on disgruntled ex-GI Bill Jones (Robert Rockwell). Having been victimized by crooked real estate agents, Jones turns to the government for help, only to come away empty-handed and mad as a wet hen. Obviously, the susceptible Jones is ripe for plucking by the American Communist Party. Using slogans, bribes and even sex to recruit disenfranchised souls like Jones, the dirty Reds hope to spread their poison to the entire U.S. of A. Fortunately, Jones and another commie dupe, schoolteacher Nina Petrovka (Hanne Axman), smarten up just in time. The HUAC and Joe McCarthy needn't have searched so diligently for subversives: according to The Red Menace, all they would have had to do was arrest anyone wearing a baggy suit or sporting a bad haircut. Some modern-day viewers begin laughing the moment the opening title of Red Menace, wherein an animated octopus wraps its tentacles around the Free World, fades into view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released in Republic Pictures' low-budget Trucolor and filmed at the majestic location of the title, Grand Canyon Trail stars Roy Rogers is a rancher going up against a crooked mining engineer played by fellow Western star Robert Livingston. The latter, Bill Regan, has conned eastern silver magnate J. Malcolm Vanderpool (Charles Coleman) into believing that his Sintown mine is worthless. But Vanderpool's pretty secretary, Carol Martin (Jane Frazee), is suspicious and travels to the ghost town masquerading as the boss' daughter. Rancher Rogers and his hired hands -- Foy Willing & the Riders of the Purple Sage in their first Rogers Western -- have all invested in the mine, courtesy of hayseed blacksmith "Cookie" Bullfincher (Andy Devine), and are doing a bit of digging themselves. The only person with knowledge of the location of the mine, elderly stage driver Ed Carruthers (Emmett Lynn), is kidnapped by the gang and later murdered. Carol, whom Roy accuses of being in cahoots with the villains, is kept captive in a cabin during a rainstorm and when Mike Delsing (Ken Terrell), one of Regan's men, turns up, she mistakenly believes he has come to rescue her and hits Roy over the head with a vase. Realizing her error, Carol later aids Roy and the Riders capture the gang and their leader, Regan, whom she dispatches with a well-appointed rock. In between the action, Roy and the Riders perform "Everything's Going My Way," by Foy Willing and "Grand Canyon Trail" and "Colorado Joe" by Jack Elliott. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide