Red River Range (1938)

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers.
They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw.
This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid.
But Hartley is on hand and unknown to anyone is the rustler's boss and he joins the posse
with a plan that will do away with the Mesquiteers.
Summary written by Maurice VanAuken

Full Cast
John Wayne .... Stony Brooke
Ray Corrigan .... Tucson Smith
Max Terhune .... Lullaby Joslin
Polly Moran .... Mrs. Maxwell
Lorna Gray .... Jane Mason
Kirby Grant .... Tex Reilly
Sammy McKim .... Tommy Jones
William Royle .... Payne
Perry Ivins .... Hartley
Stanley Blystone .... Randall
Lenore Bushman .... Evelyn Maxwell
Burr Caruth .... Pop Mason
Roger Williams .... Sheriff Wood
Earl Askam .... Henchman Morton
Olin Francis .... Henchman Kenton
Chuck Baldra .... Dude Ranch Cowhand (uncredited)
John Beach .... Rustler (uncredited)
Ed Cassidy .... Marshal (uncredited)
Curley Dresden .... Rustler (uncredited)
Theodore Lorch .... Rancher (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie .... Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
Jack Montgomery .... Cattleman (uncredited)
Al Taylor .... Henchman Slick (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones .... Bellhop (uncredited)
Joe Whitehead .... Henchman (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Betty Burbridge screenplay
William Colt MacDonald characters
Stanley Roberts screenplay
Luci Ward story and screenplay

Original Music
William Lava (as Wm. Lava)

Cinematography
Jack A. Marta

Stunts
Yakima Canutt .... stunts (uncredited)
Tommy Coats .... stunts (uncredited)

Trivia
The Civilian Volunteer Reserve's dossier on The Three Mesquiteers reads:
"Lullaby Joslin / Stony Burke / Tucson Smith Alias:
The Three Mesquiteers Address: Three M Ranch, Mesquite County Qualifications:
Top Hands - Expert Gunmen - Closed Mouthed - Dependable - Absolutely Honest"

Memorable Quotes

Filming Location
Agoura, California, USA

Watch the Movie

[extendedmedia]

Red River Range is a 1938 "Three Mesquiteers" Western film
starring John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune, and Polly Moran.
Wayne played the lead in eight of the fifty-one movies in the popular series.
The director was George Sherman.

After his unhappy spell, with the 6 picture deal with Universal,
things changed for the better.

A series of 'B' Westerns, was being updated, with Duke
being invited into the role of Stony Brooke, recently vacated by
by Bob Livingston.
The Three Mesquiteers
was a popular series for Republic , and Duke's winning personality,
soon worked in, with the established characters, Ray Corrigan, as Tuscon Smith,
Max Terhune as Lullaby Johnson, and Terhune's dummy, Elmer.

Duke made 8 of these and this was his fourth.
Although, it is said, he found them to be dreary, and a drudgery.

I can remember seeing them, on the Saturday morning matinees,
with all the kids, yelling, booing and hissing, at every other interval.
I remember Elmer, with great fondness, oh and yes Duke of course.
What an improvement he was, in these, and the Duke we now ,know and love,
was at least shining through.

Quote

They were horrible montrosities
he told writer Maurice Zolotow.

However, what Duke didn't realise, is that they had exposed him,
to a much bigger audience, including 'A' pictures, audiences.

They may have been a drudgery, but within months,
the big bang, was there Stagecoach
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User Review

Quote

Author: Steve Haynie from Easley, South Carolina

Any adventure of the Three Mesquiteers will be good, but Red River Range is not as polished as some of the other movies I have seen in the series. By polish, I mean that were continuity and script issues that I felt could have been handled better.

Everything starts fine with a build-up of the importance of the Mesquiteers. When the town sends for one investigator to help the local sheriff find out who has been stealing the ranchers' cattle they end up with three! However, there is a switch along the way. The meat industry sends out its own agent to investigate what is happening to the cattle in the area. That investigator is Tex Reilly (Kirby Grant) who happens to be an old friend of the Mesquiteers. When he runs into the trio he explains that his face may be known to the cattle rustlers, so he trades places with Stony (John Wayne) and rides into town with Tuscon (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby (Max Terhune). Stony investigates Tex's lead by masquerading as escaped murderer who falls in with the rustlers. That makes a total of four people working as Mesquiteers. From there the adventure unfolds!
There were a few things that made me feel the quality was lacking in this movie. In one scene Tex refers to "the kid" before any kid has been mentioned or seen. In the next scene Tuscon and Lullaby meet Tommy (Sammy McKim). A scene must have been edited from the film or the scenes were edited out of order. Another thing that is really minor but noticeable is the lack of development of the main bad guys, Payne and Hartley (William Royle and Perry Ivins). They are taking/giving orders throughout the movie, but they never come across as really strong villains.

The last thing to complain about is something that I perhaps should not mention, but it was significant. Red River Range recycles a plot element that I remembered from a Gene Autry movie, Public Cowboy No. 1 which was released in 1937. In that movie the cattle rustlers butchered the cattle on the range, buried the hides and waste, and moved the beef out in refrigerated trucks. That is repeated in this Mesquiteers adventure. Complaining about re-using plot elements in a B western may be a bit like complaining about 14 shots coming from a six shooter without reloading, but what seemed to be an original twist on cattle rustling in one movie reeked of plagiarism in the next. To be fair to Red River Range there is a plot element that I have not yet seen anywhere else. Vacationers at a dude ranch are taken out to rustle cattle as part of the everyday activities without knowing that they are helping real cattle rustlers.

Perhaps I have nitpicked too much because over all Red River Range is worth viewing.

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Love these old stills, great action shot