| Here we have a rip roarin' Saturday matinee "shoot 'em up" with plenty of black-hearted villains and blazing six-guns. Crooks control the law in Santa Fe Junction. The Three Mesquiteers ride into town to see justice served. When a respected local citizen and his young daughter are ambushed, Stony (John Wayne) is framed for the murder. The bad guys incite a lynch mob to take matters in their own hands. Can Tucson and Lullaby (Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune), held captive at the outlaw stronghold, escape in time? Will the beautiful Nancy Carson, rendered unconscious as she tries to unlock Stony's cell, survive the fire set by the angry lynch mob? Will the real killers be brought to justice? Never fear, the distant thunder of drumming hoofbeats are the honest cowboys and ranchers, who ride down the same section of trail and around the same rocky corner at least three times, as they race to the final showdown. Before he made the big time in John Ford's "Stagecoach," John Wayne was a familiar face in Grade B Westerns. The Three Mesquiteers was a popular series of the '30s and '40s, based on characters created by Western novelist William Colt MacDonald. Over time, different actors played the roles of the three saddle pals. This typical example from Republic studios includes cliff-hanging Western adventure and light humor. The emphasis is on hard-riding action rather than the intrusive musical numbers that plagued some other Grade B Westerns. Old-fashioned, light weight fun. ;-) |
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