Wagon Wheels Westward

Quite a bit more plot than usual is in this Red Ryder western from Republic Pictures. This one involves nothing less than an outlaw gang headed by perennial western villain Roy Barcroft masquerading as the citizens of the sleepy town of Desert Springs and taking the money quite illegally from the travelers on a Wagon Train that Bill Elliott and the Duchess are leading. Alice Fleming is thinking of setting up a stage line in this area where the railroad hasn't traveled and the news of the outside world only rarely.

The appearance of George J. Lewis who is both blackmailing one of the women on the wagon train and who simultaneously wants to cut himself in on Barcroft's scheme gets Lewis murdered and the whole outlaw plan slowly unraveling. It might have worked but Red Ryder that peaceable man smells a rat and he has the same opinion that Rooster Cogburn has of rodents of all kinds.

Wagon Wheels Westward still holds up as good western entertainment even for today's more jaded audience.