Blackjack Ward

With the election approaching, a judge in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century is involved variously in revealing the real identity of a young woman, reliving his Civil War memories, and preventing the lynching of an African youth.

A small rancher is being harassed by his mighty and powerful neighbor. When the neighbor even hires gunmen to intimidate him he has to defend himself and his property by means of violence.

Mine owner William Sharon keeps having his gold shipments held up by a gang of bandits. Sharon hires banker Charles Crocker, who happens to have connections in the Central Pacific Railroad, to build a spur line from Virginia City to Carson City, so that the gold can be shipped by railroad. Silent Jeff Kincaid is the railroad engineer. However there is opposition to the railroad, chiefly from another mine owner, Big Jack Davis.

Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.

Bat Masterson's old friend Billy Burns convinces him to become marshal of Liberal, Kansas and help the residents fight drought and a destructive range war.

Hoppy, California and Johnny partner up with brother and sister ranch owners, two of several who are having their access to water blocked by a dam owned by a greedy merchant in town, who is intent on driving them out and taking their land for himself.

A shy horticulturist becomes involved with a local criminal in the old west.

Columbia's 11th serial and the first western serial that James W. Horne solo-directed.

Wild Bill Hickock and Cannonball help two young people in love and bring the murderer of Cannonball's father to justice.

A singing cowboy and his sidekick rescue miners from a bad deal.

Two investigators for a stagecoach company are assigned to find out why the company's stages keep being ambushed. They discover that the culprits are white men disguised as Indians, and they set out to discover who is behind the plot.

Bill learns that two con artists whom he has dealt with before are at it again. Crowley runs the saloon and Adams the newspaper and both are highly respected by the citizens. Bill has foiled their schemes before and this time he breaks into Adams' office and resets the front page saying Adams confesses to be a fugitive criminal. When the citizens gather the next day the end is near for Adams and Crowley.

Elliott is hunted by Curtis who has spent six years behind bars because of his testimony. After knocking out several baddies and putting up with the zany antics of his sidekick Taylor, Elliott guns down his antagonist, but Luana Walters, the girl he almost marries, will not abide a gunslinger so Elliott is compelled to ride off alone into the sunset once more.

Bill Hickok, assisted by Calamity Jane, is after a foreign agent and his guerrilla band who are trying to take over some western territory just as the Civil War is coming to a close.

The Cisco Kid (Gilbert Roland) hears of a land-swindling scheme devised by the police Commandante (Martin Garralaga) and the tax collector (Harry Woods) in a small western town. Cisco's efforts against the plot cause the thieves to fall out, and Cisco is able to return the land to the rightful owners.

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

Landis kills Tom Ross but fails to get his money. Now he is after the Ross ranch for the money he knows is there. When he tries to evict Ross with gambling IOU's, Bill drives him away. With the Ross cowhands out after his rustlers, he finds the money. But Bill is right on his trail.

A man escapes from prison, then joins up with a gang of stage robbers while at the same time working as a deputy in a distant town, hoping to ultimately find the outlaw who killed his father during a robbery years ago.

The mysterious Don Del Oro ("Lord of Gold"), an idol of the Yaqui Indians, plans to take over the gold and become Emperor. Francisco was put in charge of a legion to combat the Yaqui tribe and protect the land, but when attacked Zorro came to his rescue. Francisco's partner recognized Zorro as the hidalgo Don Diego Vega, then ask him to take over the fighting legion as his alter-ego Zorro.

In Kentucky just after the Civil War, the Hayden-Colby feud leads to Jed Colby being sent to prison for 15 years for murder. The Haydens head for Nevada and when Colby gets out of prison he heads there also seeking revenge. The head of the Hayden family tries to avoid more killing but the inevitable showdown has to occur, complicated by Lynn Hayden and Ellen Colby's plans to marry.

John Mason returns to the Sally Ann mine to claim his half share. Janet Cater also returns although her father lost his half share to Joe Ryan. Ryan and his gang are also there to get the gold. A mysterious Phantom is also present. Mason's plan to expose Ryan as an outlaw and to force him to turn his share to Janet works. But when distracted by the Phantom, John is made a prisoner by the gang.

Clint Turner is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Judy's father, a rival rancher who was an enemy of his own father, and his best friend, Sheriff Buck Gordon sets out to find the real killer in the face of pressure for a quick lynching of Clint.

Homesteaders are moving into the valley settled many years ago by rancher Craig Dolan. He wants to keep them out by legal means but his nephew Bart brings in outlaws to drive them out. The Lone Ranger is on hand to help the homesteaders battle Bart's men as he overcomes traps, ambushes, burning buildings and other obstacles in his attempt to bring peace to the valley.

Hoppy goes to town to help Marshal Windy with some rustlers and winds up helping the widow Joyce when confidence men try to take her herd. King's Men songs include: "Hi Thar Stranger" and "Lazy Rolls the Rio Grande."

John Drury saves Duke, a wild horse accused of murder, and trains him. When he discovers that the real murderer, a bad guy known as The Hawk, is the town's leading citizen, Drury arrested on a fraudulent charge.

Efforts to build a transcontinental railroad are resisted by crooks and Indians on the warpath. A 12-chapter movie serial.

A reformed gunfighter battles a crooked sheriff who used to be a member of his gang.

Cattle are being routinely stolen from a local ranch, and suspicion centers on a local mountain family. But the Three Mesquiteers are wise to the criminals' deeds. But when a ranger is shot and Stony is framed for the crime, it's up to Lullaby and Tucson to prove his innocence.

Roy Rogers is a cowboy who joins the Border Patrol, only to have his buddy Tommy get killed at a local saloon. Determined to get revenge at any cost, Roy and Rusty cross the border in search of Arizona Jack, the man responsible for Tommy's death.

Billy, after shooting down land baron William Donovan's henchmen for killing Billy's boss, is hunted down and captured by his friend, Sheriff Pat Garrett. He escapes and is on his way to Mexico when Garrett, recapturing him, must decide whether to bring him in or to let him go.

Jim Bullard escapes from prison and returns to settle matters with the Rascob's that framed him. He kills two of them leaving an ace as his calling card. Bull remembers the deck of cards that fell when he fought Dave had no aces and the Rascob's set out after him. Trapped in a cabin, Dave receives unexpected help from Bullard.

On a cattle drive Hoppy, camp cook Windy, companion Lucky, and young Artie Peters encounter an eccentric professor. The professor professes to be searching for the evolutionary missing link, but in reality he is a cattle rustler who uses his dynamite to scatter the cattle in order capture some of them. Hoppy and Bar 20 guys ultimately capture the professor.

A ranch hand sets out to prove his father is innocent of murder in this B-movie Western starring cowboy hero Tom Tyler. Disguised as an outlaw, Tom Lansing (Tyler) takes up with a motley crew hiding out in a ghost town to catch the true killer. This 1934 classic co-stars Frank Rice as Lansing's sidekick, Banty, and Roberta Gale as Bess, a beautiful young captive of the outlaw gang who is in desperate need of a hero.

A cowboy recently released from prison is determined to go straight, but he winds up in a tough western town where he finds trouble everywhere.

This is a remake of Columbia's 1932 "Cornered" that starred Tim McCoy. Bob Pearson saves the life of his friend, Sheriff Dick Houston, who has captured two stagecoach bandits and is about to be shot from ambush by a third. Bob is found a few days later near the murdered body of cattleman Herrick with a gun in his hand.

In the Kentucky mountains, Ken McTavish comes to Kettle Creek looking for the killer of his father. Pretending to be deaf so he can investigate, he arouses the suspicions of the Harland clan, a family in a longstanding feud with his own.

A singing medicine-show cowboy and his magician partner catch a killer.

Jeff Scott is sent to investigate problems with wagon trains attempting to make the journey to Oregon. Sam Morgan has sent his henchmen, under lead-henchman Bull Bragg, to stop the wagon trains in order to maintain control of the fur trade in the area.

Chip of the Flying U was Johnny Mack Brown's first western entry for 1940. Brown essays the title role of Chip Bennett, foreman of the Flying U ranch. Before the second reel has tumbled over the spools, Chip finds himself falsely accused of robbery and murder. The actual miscreants are in the employ of a band of foreign gunrunners, who speak in heavily Teutonic accents. Rest assured that Chip makes short work of these bush-league Storm Troopers before the sun sets in the West. Musical interludes are provided by a group calling themselves the Texas Rangers, even though they actually hailed from Kansas City.

A New Yorker moves West when he inherits an Arizona ranch.

Hoppy goes undercover as a gambler from the East when Bar 20 cattle are stolen by unknown rustlers. Brennan/Talbot are twin brothers (one a casino owner, the other a rancher) and Hoppy believes they provide alibis for each other while one is out committing crimes. Hoppy gets a job in the casino to learn more but is exposed when a gambling gunslinger notices him.

Accused of a murder he did not commit, Ken leaves the country. Three years later Evans finds him in the jungle. When Evans dies, Ken seeing the resemblance, assumes his identity and returns to clear his name.

A young man helps a marshal in his battle against outlaws.

An outlaw trying to double-cross his partners-in-crime inadvertently rescues a judge's daughter from them and winds up going straight.

A blowhard cowboy talks himself into a job as a movie stunt man.

Hoppy's friend Dennis owns a rich gold mine. Frazier who owns the adjoining mine and wants the Dennis mine, has Dennis killed. Hoppy steps in to take over running the Dennis mine and learns Frazier's men sneak into and work the Dennis mine at night. Hoppy captures one of Frazier's men only to be captured in return by Frazier and left to die in a burning building.

Learning of Walters' inheritance, Larson kills him and assumes his identity. When Larson's men try to kill Walter's niece Lola, Jack Lane breaks it up. This leads to a showdown with Jack outnumbered by Larson and his gang. Having saved Loma's life earlier, he has Fuzzy ride for him and his men.

When Mort loses his and Ken's money at poker, Goss gets him to rob the stage. He is captured, identified by his palomino horse. Ken tries to clear him by robbing a stage while riding a palomino, but he also gets caught.

Jerry Hixon's ranch is being besieged by raiders so Ben sends for his friend Bud. When Bud arrives and finds that the outlaw Texarkana Pete has been captured, he buys Pete's clothes and posing as Pete joins the outlaw gang. But he is quickly in trouble when his masquerade is exposed.

A cowboy turns auto racer, beats his rival and wins a girl.

Ken Maynard's exceptionally intelligent horse, Tarzan the Wonder Horse, is the star of this western about evil cowboy Steve Frazer (Welch) who gathers horses for slaughter, whose meat is sold to pet food manufacturers. The wild horse Tarzan frees the doomed horses from their corrals, and Frazer convinces the Sheriff that Tarzan is a threat and can be shot on sight. Local cowboy Ken Benson (Maynard) and rancher Pat Riley (Kennedy) work together to clear Tarzan's good name and put Frazier behind bars for his evil deeds.

Sandy Doyle, gambler and political chief of a small border town, seeks to gain control of the Bar-X Ranch, owned by Rufe Rickson, to further some undercover activities of his own. He counts on Rickson's inability to stay away from gambling as the means to his ultimate success. Government investigator Oliver Shea and his assistant, Dan Haggerty, start a fight in Doyle's place when they see Rickson being cheated and are invited to the Bar-X where Oliver and Helen Rickson, Rufe's daughter, discover interest in each other and Dan finds himself pursued by Bell, the ranch cook. Sheriff Larson brings the prize money for the $5,000 race of the Rodeo Association, and that night it is stolen.

Hoping to rid a small western community of its corrupt political machine, Ken Marshall (Ken Maynard) runs for sheriff against the bad guys' candidate and wins the election. Dissatisfied with this, the villains contrive to frame Ken on a murder charge. He breaks out of jail and tracks down the genuine culprit,

The local school is causing Hoppy problems. First Bar 20 cattle are stolen when Hoppy investigates a problem there. Then the new teacher arrives and disrupts the routine of the Bar 20 hands. Later with the Bar 20 hands at graduation, the rustlers are poised to strike again. But there is dissension among them and this will lead to the break that Hoppy needs.

Dorothy, and her big city lawyer boyfriend, return to the Lazy 'B' ranch to read her late father's will. For Dorothy to inherit everything, she must stay on the ranch for 5 years. If she does not, everything goes to Buck, who is the manager. She does not like Buck, so she makes a deal with the wrong people for cattle and then the outlaws go to the ranch to get the $10,000 from her. But Buck is on the job.

Goss, Mason, and Kelly force Joaquin Murieta to watch as they hang his brother Juan for a crime he did not commit. To exact his revenge on the three, Joaquin becomes the notorious Black Shadow.

A cattleman's association hires a range detective to track down and capture a notorious rustler known as El Lobo.

A naive young girl becomes infatuated with a crooked city slicker. A cowboy who loves her is determined to expose the crook for what he is.

A young woman is forced by her abusive father to marry an older man even though she is in love with a kindly young doctor.

Western short subject