Trail Blazer Movies

"Trail blazers" Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson help out inexperienced sheriff Bob Tyler as smarmy town boss Carson and his gang try to prevent a vitally needed herd of horses from being sold to the army, which has been called in to protect a new railroad line from attacks by Indians and renegade whites.

US government agents Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson, aka "The Trail Blazers", make a deal with captured outlaw Duke Dillon to catch crooked Indian agent John Hampton, who has been using his authority to steal from the local tribe. Dillon double-crosses the inept and lethargic heroes, making it difficult for them to carry out their mission.

The Governor sends Ken and Hoot to clean up the town of Willow Springs. Finding themselves outnumbered by Duke Wade and his gang, Hoot gets the Governor to release some prisoners into their custody. They now have the men they need but one of the prisoners is a double-crosser secretly working for Wade.

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.

Learning that Montana is about to become a state and that property values will rise rapidly, Caldwell is using his outlaw gang to force the ranchers off their land. To fight back Tuttle sends for the Trail Blazers and unaware of Maynard's identity, Caldwell appoints him Marshal.

Hoot Gibson and the Trailblazers take jobs as telephone linemen to get the goods on a local banker who is the chief of a band of counterfeiters.

The Trail Blazers go to the aid of ranchers who are being oppressed by a town boss and his henchmen.

The Trail Blazers are bringing in a prisoner to stand trial for bank robbery, when several attempts are made to kill him; convinced of the man's innocence, they arrange a trap for the real thieves.

Following completion of the "Trail Blazers" series, Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson were paired in three other Monogram westerns, with the only connection to the "Trail Blazers" series being Steele and Gibson in the cast and production and distribution by Monogram, with various Monogram people serving as production supervisors i.e., William Strobach on this entry and Victor Hammond on the other two. This one finds Jack Slade (Mauritz Hugo) and Mary Conway,alias Blanche (Veda Ann Borg), being recognized as known and wanted crooks by deputy marshal Harry Stevens (Steve Clark) and, when he orders them out of town, Slade kills him. His son, Bob Stevens (Bob Steele) and friend Parkford (Hoot Gibson) become U.S. Marshals and proceed to rid the town of the cut-throat gang that has been terrorizing the citizens. Bob goes undercover as an outlaw and works his way into the gang, while Hoot poses as a Dude who goes about making fiery speeches on behalf of law and order. The Gibson role here is limited in the action scenes to none, as he and his Monogram stunt double, Ben Corbett, were both getting a bit long in the tooth for such, and the nominal second lead was played by a relative newcomer to the screen, Ralph Lewis (II) as a good guy/bad guy outlaw, who is not the same as the older Ralph Lewis (I) who was making films in the 30's. Rule of thumb here for those who don't know what either one looks like is that any Ralph Lewis credit in the 1930's belongs to (I) and any occurring circa 1943-47 belongs to (II).

Hoot Gibson and Bob Stanley ride into Arizona seeking the killer of Bob's father, who managed the stagecoach line in Eggleston for Kelso McGuire. They intercept a stagecoach holdup, and meet Sally and Tom Buchanan, who are going to Eggleston to purchase a ranch. They come across a murdered rancher who has quarreled with Corey, owner of the water company in Eggleston. Suspicion for the killing of Bob's father falls on Randall, who now runs the stagecoach line. Hoot and Bob help the Buchanans set up their new ranch, and other ranchers ask Bob to form a Vigilante group, to rid the territory of land-jumpers. McGuire, secretly the gang leader behind all of the trouble who wants to gain control of Arizona, tries to incite a lynch mob to hang Randall for the killing of the rancher. Hoot and Bob save Randall from the mob, and Randall produces a letter to him from Bob's father, asking him to come to Eggleston to help clean up the land-grabbers. Forcing McGuire into his own ambush which had been set up for Hoot and Bob, the pair get a confession from McGuire that he killed Bob's father, and also had one of his henchmen murder the rancher.

Impressed by the heroics of young Bob Roberts from Utah, veteran marshal H.R. Higgins enlists his aid to try to put an end to the reign of a wily outlaw gang that's somehow been managing to walk off with the prize money at a series of rodeos, leaving the local favorites with snake bite symptoms.