Stagecoach to Denver

Really enjoyable western with the usual plethora of fast galloping, shooting and some good stunts. Backing this up is a good story and characters, especially Peggy Stewart, who is working for the villain Roy Barcroft, but goes soft for an injured kid. Rocky Allan Lane is a dependable,solid hero. There's a really tough fight scene between him and the villain. The ending has an unusual twist.

Roy Barcroft has a nasty scheme in mind to get some land for a stagecoach right of way for his line to Denver. It involves murdering a real land commissioner and substituting his man to make some new surveys and move people's claims around. All he has to do is keep people from going to Denver and worse keep folks from Denver away from his town. Unfortunately it's the town where Red Ryder and Little Beaver reside.

In the faked accident that killed the real commissioner and the stage driver a little boy was badly injured with a broken spine. Little Bobby Hyatt is taken to Emmet Lynn's place where he's doctored and his only living relative an aunt in Denver is sent for.

That's what Barcroft has to avoid, someone from Denver who would know the real new commissioner. So he substitutes Peggy Stewart for the aunt, but he doesn't let her in on all his plans. And Stewart turns out to have a heart and real concern for young Hyatt.

Of course Allan Lane and Robert Blake as the famous Red Ryder and Little Beaver figure it all out. As Barcroft says, Ryder's no fool.

Lane was taking over the Red Ryder series from Wild Bill Elliott whom Herbert J. Yates was starting to put into some big budget items in the hope he might have a breakout the way his other contract cowboy John Wayne did. It never quite worked out for Lane, but he handles the Red Ryder role well and later did it on television. And of course he was the voice of that horse of course, the famous Mister Ed.

Stagecoach To Denver might have rated another star had Barcroft who is presented to us as crafty and ruthless committed one more murder he should have. You'll have to see this Red Ryder western to see why.

Almost anyone who grew up during and after the World War II years will recognize this shoot 'em up as similar to hundreds of quickie Westerns filmed during the period. I bought the film for $5 or less just to see what they were really like and, boy, it is exactly as I remember. I have seen chases and gun fights in and around the same rocks and trails in this film as in countless other Saturday matinées. If you do remember what it was like to sit through two of these plus shorts, cartoons and previews, you can refresh your memory and step back to a time when the movies were innocent and the good guys really did beat the bad guys . . . every time, all in less than one hour.

This movie follows the b-movie western tradition. Red Ryder's sidekick, played by Robert Blake, appears little and has few lines, so if you want to find out about his acting as a child, this isn't the place. The story doesn't particularly stand out to me, but it's entertaining enough for the 10-year-olds it was produced for (although I'm not sure it would work with today's 10-year-olds). Peggy Stewart's character is the most interesting. She is a bad girl who spends the duration of the film turning good.

Plot-heavy oater that still manages its share of action. Red and Little Beaver are drawn into an elaborate land stealing scheme headed up by town biggie Bill Lambert (Barcroft) who always seems one set ahead. That's not hard since he's got the sheriff, the land commissioner, a gang, and lovely May Barnes (Stewart) helping out. Looks like Red and the forces of good are in big trouble.

There's a good share of hard riding, fast shooting, and one flying fist brawl. Even that old standby location area, the San Fernando Valley, has a few scenic shots to help the eye. At the same time, Lane makes a first-rate sagebrush hero, while the hulking Barcroft shines as a city slicker instead of his usual gangland thug. Add eye-candy Stewart who shows her acting chops, and the 50-some minutes passes pleasurably. But most of all, catch that very unconventional ending that I sure didn't see coming. Kudoes to Republic for adding something different.

A "7" on the Matinée Scale