Death Valley Rangers

Ken Maynard responds to Hoot's plan to catch the stagecoach robbers, "I don't know gentlemen some of Hoot's ideas have an uncomfortable way of kickin' back." The Death Valley Rangers is one of several popular western movie trends of putting three stars in a series of movies. Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele and Maynard are enlisted by Edwards (Bryant Wasburn) to save the gold shipments. Henchmen Blackie (Charles King) and Red (George Chesebro) are part of Jim Kirk's (Weldon Heyburn) gang and Steele has got to go undercover to expose their plans. The daughter of Ranger Captain Ainsley (Forrest Taylor) the beautiful Lorna Ainsley (Linda Brent) proves to be a pleasant distraction for the rangers. Karl Hackett as Doc Thorne adds a touch of 40's type sci-fi to the mix with his lab in an old mine camouflaging the gold with a chemical process. Also, great to see 'Sam the bartender' from "Gunsmoke" fame, Glenn Strange here as The Marshal of Death Valley.

When Charles King and Wally West are just two of the "withs," you know you have a great cast. And usually that means a great movie.

Yes, it's not "Ben-Hur" or "Gone With the Wind." Yes, it's a B Western, but in my not-very-humble opinion, that's the top of the line of movie entertainment.

Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, and Bob Steele were simply among the best of the celluloid cowboys. With even one of them, a movie had to be good. With all three, you know there will be action and fun.

"Death Valley Rangers" -- somewhat of a generic title, but not detracting -- is a well-directed story, with some twists and turns, some shtick from the three main characters ("Say, I've got an idea!"), and lots of great riding, some really good stunts, and one GREAT stunt, with some beautiful non-Death Valley scenery, well photographed.

In addition, one of the prettiest of the thrown-in-for-good-measure girls to appear in a series B Western, Linda Brent, was along to ... well, mostly to look pretty and to give Bob Steele his usual chance at thwarted romance, which was his character's fate in this series.

"Death Valley Rangers" is really fun, and it is well-done fun. Low budget? Sure. Quickly made? Yes. But it is still a cut above and is, as I said, well-done fun. I recommend it, and you can see it where I did, at YouTube.

The best thing about this undistinguished oater are the stunts. The acrobatics center on riveting stagecoach climbs, plus expert saddle mounts that require perfect timing. Otherwise the flick's pretty loose in both storyline and focus as our heroes try to figure out what's behind a string of mysterious stage robberies.

Trouble is the mystery doesn't generate enough suspense or showdown tension that would otherwise cut through the meandering storyline and crowded cast. Steele gets the main action parts while Gibson and Maynard function mainly as secondary backup and sometime participants.

I've always thought Steele was underrated maybe because of his slight stature compared to the John Waynes of his day. Nonetheless, he could generate the kind of feisty intensity and hard-eyed stare of a Jimmy Cagney or Edward G. Robinson that goes beyond physical stature. Here he shows off the action side but minus the dramatic hard-eyed stare.

And oh my, for us guys there's only one female in the whole flick, a real looker (Linda Brent) and she only gets about a minute's screentime. Anyhow, in my little book the oater's a disappointment considering the talent involved. But happily the Trail Blazers will ride better trails ahead.

A succession of stagecoach robberies prompts the citizens of a Death Valley outpost to send for the Trail Blazers, a trio of law-enforcing plainsmen in this routine but diverting enough western packed with fast galloping and shooting action. The camaraderie between the three main stars is great and their dialogue is amusing and snappy.

This is a fun hour of B-western action, made fun by the presence of the three "Trail Blazers!" Although the plot and execution are fairly routine, the show is made fun because of the three men handling the chores of bringing the bad guys to justice. The three men comprising this trio were all among the most significant and popular stars of 1930s westerns. The other trios of the early 1940s "three-man cowboy teams" craze (Three Mesquiteers, Range Busters, and Rough Riders come to mind) were represented by only one or two big stars from the 1930s, but here they are all the real deal. There is a relaxed and comfortable aura permeating the entire movie, and a lot of the dialog is spoken relatively softly. I got the feeling that the Trail Blazers were having a good time on the set and were enjoying one another and relishing their status as veteran western heroes. The early 1940s was a time when music scores could often be irritatingly intrusive in movies of all kinds, including westerns. But here the music was used only occasionally, was subdued for the most part, and was always respectfully reduced in volume when dialog was uttered. I found it endearing when one of the badmen referred to Bob Steele as "a little guy" during the run up to the climax; I assume Bob had to agree to this description being used in the script. Plenty of good chases and horseback riding are in view in this one, including several run-and-catapult horse mounts. There are also some fights and good punches thrown, but through it all there somehow is a kind of gentle aura surrounding this film. And finally it can be mentioned that the horses get some face-time, too. Of course we all know that Tarzan (Ken's horse) is among the most astute of all western movie horses, but we are reminded of it once again in this adventure; just as they are about to be separated for a few minutes while in their effort to apprehend the bad guys, Ken tells Tarzan to "stay on your toes" and thereby pay attention to the situation. Tarzan charmingly and dutifully nods his head in apparent understanding of this American idiom. So although nothing really major happens here in this program, it is definitely fun and worthy of a B-western fan's attention.