Bullets and Saddles

This is yet another Range Busters film from Monogram Pictures. However, in later films Dusty King became one of the three do-gooders, along with Crash Corrigan and Tex Terhune and his bizarro sidekick, Elmer the ventriloquist dummy!

The film features a very familiar plot--a baddie is creating all sorts of havoc in order to force other ranchers off their land. Using his paid baddies, he does all sorts of mischief...so much so that one of the local ladies calls for the Range Busters (though, oddly, they are never referred to as this in the film). Naturally this means Terhune will whip out Elmer...a strange gimmick that he employed in most of his films. Imagine...a cowboy with a dummy...and no one seems to think it's THAT unusual AND no one recognizes him or knows of him by reputation!!

Overall, enjoyable and fast...clocking in at just under 54 minutes and offering very few surprises but some decent action and acting. One of the only surprises, albeit a minor one, is the presence of Glen Strange. This man made a lot of westerns and appeared frequently on "Gunsmoke" but is known more as playing the Frankenstein monster in the 1940s.

Budd Buster sets the scene when he confronts the Marshal (Forrest Taylor) "Something has got to be done about this Claiburn these renegades are running all the decent settlers right out of this valley." Ma Craig (Rose Plumer) calls in the Range Busters. Ray Corrigan and Dennis Moore stay at the ranch while Max Terhune has a great scene at the bar with his dummy Elmer. Glenn Strange of Gunsmoke fame does a great job of playing the villain trying to burn out the ranchers with his henchmen.

When Republic Pictures dropped the Three Mesquiteer series, two of the three Mesquiteers moved on over to Monogram and became the Range Busters. Other than a title change this is the same kind of film and it was the last in the series that Ray Corrigan, Dennis Moore, and Max Terhune did for Monogram and the series.

The Range Busters have been sent for by Mother Craig who helped raise Crash Corrigan as a kid. Her son and her granddaughter are being beset by some evil folks who want their ranch and cattle. The three generations of Craigs working down are Rose Plumer, Budd Buster and Julie Duncan.

Nothing terribly original here, the guys went through all this mesquite before at Republic.

This late entry in the Range Busters series finds the cowboy trio riding to the rescue in all their black & white glory. Crash Corrigan, Max Terhune and Dennis Moore make a very good western trio and this film has plenty of action.

Corrigan, a veteran of the 3 Mesquiteers series, always was at his best when included in these type of pairings. Terhune is funny here and continues to be a good comic foil. Glenn Strange was a fine villain in this one and a good match for the determined heroes.

This was a standard programmer, the last in the Range Buster series. Interesting but unpretentious.