Marked for Murder

For the most part it was these B films from minor poverty row studios that made it to television first. And when they did they were usually butchered in the cutting room to make it fit the program length for television. But Marked For Murder seems to have really not survived the surgery well.

The version I saw is only 47 minutes and it begins clearly in the middle of the film. Tex Ritter is a former gunfighter now turned attorney and some would argue the gunfighter is higher on the social scale. But he's pals with Texas Rangers Dave O'Brien and Guy Wilkerson. All three are involved in preventing a range war between the cattlemen and the sheepmen.

It's the same plot used in a gazillion westerns, but in this case the editing makes the film almost indecipherable. You really have to fill in the blanks in your head with this one.

Singing cowboy great Tex Ritter stars in the B-Western favorite from the 1940's. In this one, Tex appears again with frequent co-star Dave O'Brien . The two are caught in the middle of a frontier spat between sheep men and ranchers. In between a few homespun cowpoke tunes, lawyer Ritter helps to restore order amongst the various feuding factions.

Ritter was not much of an actor, but always seemed at home on the range. His personable, witty style here fore-shadowed the lovable characters his son John Ritter would also make famous a few decades later. He was a great singer/songwriter, which made this a very enjoyable western programmer.