Conquest of Cheyenne

There really is not much of a "conquest" in Conquest of Cheyenne. The title character, Cheyenne Jackson, is a feisty young woman who owns a cattle ranch, but has gone missing. Tom Dean (Jay Kirby) happens to find her horse stuck in some brush and frees it. For this he is mistaken for being responsible for Cheyenne's disappearance. She rolls into town with her new automobile that upsets the town as a nuisance the sheriff wants to ban. Tom makes the case that automobiles cause great demand for Texas oil as electricity diminishes the need for lamp oil. As it turns out, he is a geologist who suspects there may be oil in West Texas. His speech about the meaning of oil in Texas' future is met by skepticism that probably matches the way some Texans felt at the turn of the century.

Of course, the local banker, Tuttle, knows there is oil in the ground on the Jackson ranch, but he does not want anyone to know until he can appropriate the property for himself with a false due date for a bank loan payment. An oil well is built with local investors' money. In order for Tuttle to grab the land he must eliminate the oil well and Tom Dean. Red Ryder does very little more than act as a referee between Tom and the mob that has turned against him as a result of Tuttle's manipulation.

Rather than being a Red Ryder adventure for Red and Little Beaver, Conquest of Cheyenne is an interesting story that takes place around them. With a few shoot-outs and chases thrown in for western flair, this movie is more of a drama about a young man with a vision. Jay Kirby is the center of attention for most of this film. While not having Red as the focal point, Conquest of Cheyenne is still a good entry in the Red Ryder series.

Red Ryder helps to bring in an oil well on a ranch owned by Jackson, after Tom Dean found oil in the ranch. However, Tuttle sets the well on fire in an effort to get the ranch foreclosed

The last Red Ryder with Wild Bill Elliott in the lead has Red Ryder take the back seat with the focus on Peggie Castle and Audie Murphy lookalike Jay Kirby and their disagreement turned to romance. Jay Kirby is a man of vision about oil which other don't agree with. Hence, some shootout and chases. There's some nice light moments regarding the automobile and Peggie Castle, however it's not the most outstanding in the series - just a fair time pass.

This Red Ryder film has Wild Bill Elliott trying to save cousin Peggy Stewart's ranch as some unscrupulous people are trying to get a hold of it because there's oil on the property. Something that young geologist Jay Kirby late of the Hopalong Cassidy series is trying to prove. But the fact that Kirby served a term in prison does compromise his believability.

In fact the town takes a lot of convincing as Stewart rides to town in what they called back in the day a horseless carriage and frightens the horses and livestock. Most upset of all is sheriff Tom London who appeared in a gazillion of these B westerns. This will never take the place of the horse, especially in the not so wild west at this point.

Wild enough in Conquest Of Cheyenne for their to be a few murders that the villains try to pin on Kirby. Not being fooled a bit is Red Ryder as usual.

Fans of the Red Ryder series should be pleased.

Cheyenne Jackson, puts off selling her cattle at market in order to start drilling for oil on her land, with the help of Tom Dean, who has experience in surveying oil land prospects. Cheyenne gets all of the neighboring ranchers to split the costs, where as they would all split the profits. Banker Tuttle, who refused a loan for Cheyenne, has some of his hired thugs burn down the well, in order to foreclose on her ranch and get the land, and the oil for himself. Its up to Red to uncover Tuttle's scheming and clear the name of Dean, a former convict, of wrongdoing in the sabotage. Last Ryder for Elliott (who doesn't even say he's a "peaceable man" in this one), but compared to the previous entries in this series, this one comes off as a lackluster effort. Director Springsteen forgoes much action, sans two average fights, and puts in too much filler, but in fairness to him, this is a weak script. All in all, when you compare the Ryder series to others in the B western genre, a movie such as this does come off better than most, in my opinion. Rating, out of B westerns, 5.