Red River Range (1938)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

William Colt MacDonald (characters)
Luci Ward (original story)

Release Date:

22 December 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley...

Plot Keywords:

Posse | Ventriloquist | Three Mesquiteers Series | Assumed Identity | Beautiful Woman

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

Runtime:

56 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

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"

Quotes:

[the Mesquiteers have locked a henchman in a refrigerated truck]
Tucson Smith: Say, aren't you afraid he'll catch cold?
Lullaby Joslin: I'm afraid the cold's gonna catch him.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Westward Ho (1942)

When They Ask For Three Mesquiteers, They Get Three Mesquiteers

One of the more enjoyable entrées in the Three Mesquiteers series is Red River Range which finds the boys working as government agents to stop some cattle rustling.

Unbeknownst to John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, and Max Terhune the meatpacking industry has hired its own agent, Kirby Grant, to get a line on the rustling. That in itself was an interesting aspect of this film, the inflation of meat prices as a result of cattle rustling. One never does think of the economic hurt, those rustlers cause.

Kirby's cover is blown before he can infiltrate and folks in the Red River country already know the Mesquiteers are coming. So Wayne and Grant switch places and Wayne poses as an escaped killer.

The focus of the investigation is a dude ranch where some mighty strange goings on are occurring. Can't reveal what the scheme, but I assure viewers it's a lulu.

A bit more comedy than usual in this film in the person of old vaudevillian Polly Moran, an amazonian tourist at the dude ranch with eyes on the Duke. Good thing the investigation was over as soon as it was because who knows what John Wayne might have had to do to keep his cover.