Death Rides the Range

When Ken Maynard signed with independent producer Maurice Henry Hoffman in 1937, he was forced to accept a standard shooting budget of only $30,000. This included a personal payment to him of only $2,500 per picture. In all, a considerable comedown from the $125,000 budgets, and the $10,000 he was earning per week at Universal only three years earlier.

Yet worse events were soon to come. Hoffman fell ill and sold his contract to Max and Arthur Alexander. The Alexander brothers cut Maynard's budget to only $15,000. Total shooting time was reduced to five or six days, which is certainly evident in this entry.

Alas, Ken Maynard doesn't put up much of a struggle to hold this Poverty Row potboiler together. True, he's forced to contend with a none too bright screenplay and obviously hasty direction. Unfortunately for his career, however, he receives more than adequate support from some of his players. John Elliott, who enjoys by far the best written part, easily steals the movie from Ken with his crusty characterization of a cantankerous storekeeper. Then there's Charlie King, that prince of heavies, making the most of a sizable role, and our little heroine Fay McKenzie more than holds her own as well. Not to be outdone, Tarzan also steals the limelight in a delightful bit in which he picks up Ken's hat, while minor player Kenneth Rhodes is handed a song yet. And even Sven Hugo Borg as the chief villain makes a game try, assisted by director Newfield indulging him with a few close-ups.

Fortunately for Ken, his two sidekicks, the innocuous Ralph Peters and the hammy Julian Rivero, are both write-offs. As for the cheesy plot, frankly we couldn't care less if the Nazis made off with all the helium in the universe. If they want to blow themselves up, why not? And as for who killed Professor Wahl, good old Sam Newfield reveals the murderer's identity right from the start.

At least the movie is brief. but it's sad to see a great star like Ken Maynard not only lending his presence to such a minor production, but putting up such a poor fight in allowing himself to be outclassed by actors who are obviously taking their roles more seriously. Most of the time, Ken is content to merely rattle off his lines.

"Death Rides the Range" is a routine Poverty Row quickie starring the aging Ken Maynard and his horse Tarzan. In an effort to prop up the story, Maynard is given two sidekicks, Panhandle (Ralph Peters) and Pancho (Julian Rivero) who provide some of the best moments in the film. It didn't hurt either to have veteran bad guy Charlie King cast as one of the villains.

The story has a thinly disguised WWII plot wherein unknown villains are trying to steal helium gas (for dirigibles) found in a secret cave on the Morgan Ranch. Along comes Ken Baxter (Maynard) and his two pals looking for work. They come across an injured archaeologist Dr. Wahl (Michael Vallon) and bring him to the ranch of cantankerous old Hiram Crabtree (John Elliott). There we meet Wahl's other two partners Baron Stakoff (Sven Hugo Borg) and Dr. Flotow (William Costello). Wahl mutters something about finding a lost cave but is murdered by an unknown assailant before he can reveal more.

Next we meet rancher Joe Larkin (King) who is engaged in a dispute over a strip of land upon which sits (you guessed it) the hidden cave is located. The other party in the dispute are the Morgans, Lettie (Fay McKenzie) and Jim (Julian Madison). Naturally Ken has an eye for the comely Lettie. It turns out that Larkin is in cahoots with the archaeologists. Soon Dr. Flotow is eliminated and Ken closes in on the bad guys.

Although the need for helium for dirigibles was a little dated by 1940 this film has an obvious ruthless "foreign" villain, a thinly disguised German, interesting for a "B" western since the U.S. had not yet entered WWII.

Ken Maynard had been a major star in the 1920's famous for his trick riding and daring subnetwork. Unfortunately he had a few too many personal demons and his career steadily declined during the 1930s. This film is from his final solo starring series. He would re-surface briefly over weight and as nasty as ever in the 40s in Monogram's "Trail Blazer" with Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele. After that he basically "retired" from the screen.

All right, already. Over and over again, like a broken record, it is penned that this is a low budget flick, that Ken Maynard was at the tail end of his career, etc., etc.

I enjoyed this movie, thoroughly and, although I had seen very few Ken Maynard flicks, it made me want to see more. The guy was part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, was in the Army in WW1, played several instruments, sang, made records, was a rodeo performer - so - there was nothing phony about his ridin' and fightin'.

He may not look much like a western movie hero, but he acted like one. His last few years were disgustingly sad - same old story - liquor was the villain he could not fight.

There are beaucoup well-done fight scenes in this movie. At one point, he missed and fell back adding to the realism.

Adding to the enjoyment of this movie were some short scenes of funny stuff. I especially enjoyed his initial proposal to Fay McKenzie. I know nothing of her but would like to see her again and again - cute and perky.

This movie has not one but two sidekicks and they play really well as partners, and as Maynard's fascinating friends. Ralph Peters and Julian Rivero.

The plot ain't bad, some of it all too familiar, but all it well played out. Especially fascinating was the tall, blonde Swede, Sven Hugo Borg.

One more thing. Trigger was billed as the smartest horse in the movies. Negative. He never picked up his boss's hat and brought it to him, and he never untied ropes that bound Roy. Smartest horse honors go to --- ta-da --- Tarzan.

If you can find this movie, grab it --- guaranteed enjoyment.

Death Rides the Range (1939)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Ken Baxter (Ken Maynard) and his pals are out camping when they notice a body fall. They take it to a local doctor who refuses to deal with the man until the dying man tries to give the location of something. Ken wants to find out who killed the man and it turns out there's a piece of property with helium on it as well as some foreign agents.

DEATH RIDES THE RANGE is a pretty poor "C" Western from the days where you probably had two or three of these types of films being released weekly. This one here has all of the Western settings but they also mix in elements of a crime picture, a melodrama and an adventure. There's quite a bit going on in the 55 minute running time but sadly none of it is all that entertaining.

I think the film tries to do way too much and in the end it doesn't get much of anything done. Characters come and go without too much reasons why. We get all sorts of action scenes that are rather good, although you'll notice that the same hill is used several times for people to fall down it. The performances are bland at best, although Maynard is slightly entertaining in his role.

What I've read about Ken Maynard on IMDb and wikipedia makes it sound like he was a real jerk. Rarely have I read biographies of actors where they were more hated and more self-destructive than this movie cowboy. Heck in the IMDb biography, it says 'To never have met Maynard was reportedly a blessing'!! But, because he was so unpleasant he ended up going from an A-list actor with a huge salary in 1935 to a bum who worked for a tiny fraction only a few short years later. Here in "Death Rides the Range", instead of being in a top picture for a top studio (commanding $10,000 a picture), he's in a film that cost only $15,000 to make and he was paid a reported $1500. Talk about karma! It did get worse--by the mid-1940s he was getting only $800 a film....if he could find work at all.

So is it possible to make a good film for only $15,000? Maybe, though this film would make it seem that the answer is a definite NO! The problems are many--and the worst is the quality of the supporting characters. Several seem illiterate and a little addle-brained in front of the camera and it just looks like the tiny studio would put any one in the film provided they didn't want much money!! Rarely (and this includes Ed Wood movies) have I seen such bad acting. Additionally, the terrible writing didn't help. While the basic story idea is interesting, how it was handled was just completely inept. All in all, a very bad film--one that I had a hard time completing.