Lesley Selander

Directing

Lesley Selander

Born — Died

1900-05-26 — 1979-12-05

Place of birth

Los Angeles, California, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

40 titles

From Wikipedia. Lesley Selander (May 26, 1900 – December 5, 1979) was an American film director of Westerns and science fiction movies. His career as director, spanning 127 feature films and dozens of TV episodes, lasted from 1936 to 1968. Before that, Selander was assistant director on films such as The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), A Night at the Opera (1935), and Fritz Lang's Fury (1936). To this day, Selander remains one of the most prolific directors of feature Westerns in cinema history, having taken the helm for 107 Westerns between his first directorial feature in 1936 and 1967. In 1956, he was nominated for the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement …

Known for

Town Tamer poster
6.8

A gunfighter is hired to clean up a wild frontier town, but there are forces afoot who want to keep the town as wide-open as it is. Lyle Bettger, Bruce Cabot and Richard Jaeckel co-star as the lawless bad guys in this Western based on a novel by Frank Gruber.

Town Tamer

1965

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold poster
6.6

Three Indians were brutally murdered by a gang of hooded outlaws. Each one possessed a silver medallion, which were sections cut off from a large silver plaque which served as a treasure map to a secret location where a large amount of gold is reputedly stashed. Two more medallions are unaccounted for, and the The Lone Ranger and his friend Tonto must use all their resources to intercept the gang, prevent further carnage and save the owners of the medallions.

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold

1958

Arrow In The Dust poster
6.2

A cavalry deserter poses as a major and leads a wagon train with a hidden cargo of repeating rifles.

Arrow In The Dust

1954

Fort Vengeance poster
6.4

Two brothers flee America and join the Canadian North West Mounted Police. One brother is good, the other bad, both men on a collision course just as trouble starts to brew with the Indians.

Fort Vengeance

1953

The Raiders poster
5.8

A rancher who has staked a claim during the California gold rush goes after the gang of murderous claim-jumpers who have stolen his claim and murdered his wife.

The Raiders

1952

Heritage of the Desert poster
6.6

John Abbott returns to the desert land he owns, and after being wounded by hired gunman Chick Chance, he is befriended by rancher Andrew Naab and his son, Marvin. Naab's daughter, Marian, falls in love with John but is about to marry Snap Thornton to keep a promise made by her father. She runs away on her wedding day but is captured and held hostage by outlaw Henry Holderness. John, the Naabs and fellow ranchers rush to her rescue.

Heritage of the Desert

1939

Behind the camera

Town Tamer poster
6.8

A gunfighter is hired to clean up a wild frontier town, but there are forces afoot who want to keep the town as wide-open as it is. Lyle Bettger, Bruce Cabot and Richard Jaeckel co-star as the lawless bad guys in this Western based on a novel by Frank Gruber.

Town Tamer

1965

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold poster
6.6

Three Indians were brutally murdered by a gang of hooded outlaws. Each one possessed a silver medallion, which were sections cut off from a large silver plaque which served as a treasure map to a secret location where a large amount of gold is reputedly stashed. Two more medallions are unaccounted for, and the The Lone Ranger and his friend Tonto must use all their resources to intercept the gang, prevent further carnage and save the owners of the medallions.

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold

1958

Arrow In The Dust poster
6.2

A cavalry deserter poses as a major and leads a wagon train with a hidden cargo of repeating rifles.

Arrow In The Dust

1954

Fort Vengeance poster
6.4

Two brothers flee America and join the Canadian North West Mounted Police. One brother is good, the other bad, both men on a collision course just as trouble starts to brew with the Indians.

Fort Vengeance

1953

The Raiders poster
5.8

A rancher who has staked a claim during the California gold rush goes after the gang of murderous claim-jumpers who have stolen his claim and murdered his wife.

The Raiders

1952

Heritage of the Desert poster
6.6

John Abbott returns to the desert land he owns, and after being wounded by hired gunman Chick Chance, he is befriended by rancher Andrew Naab and his son, Marvin. Naab's daughter, Marian, falls in love with John but is about to marry Snap Thornton to keep a promise made by her father. She runs away on her wedding day but is captured and held hostage by outlaw Henry Holderness. John, the Naabs and fellow ranchers rush to her rescue.

Heritage of the Desert

1939

Flight to Mars poster
5.2

Four scientists and a newsman crash land on Mars and meet martians who act friendly.

Flight to Mars

1951

The Texican poster
5.4

Wanted north of the border, Jess Carlin resides safely in Mexico. Then he hears his brother was killed in a gunfight with another man. Knowning his brother never carried a gun he heads north to find his brother's killer. After battling bounty hunters he arrives in Rimrock, a town controlled by Luke Starr. Starr is the man he wants but he unable to find any evidence until he is given an item found by his brother's body.

The Texican

1966

Belle Starr's Daughter poster
5.1

The daughter of famous outlaw Belle Starr arrives at the town where her mother was murdered to find her killer.

Belle Starr's Daughter

1948

Shotgun poster
5.6

Clay Hardin, a Deputy U.S. Marshal, is about to turn in his badge and take the job as the territory's Indian commissioner until the notorious Ben Thompson slays the marshal when he tried to make an arrest. Clay turns his back on a white-collar job and his girl to pursue the gang. Picking up a bounty hunter and a beautiful half-breed woman along the way, the little band follows the trail into Apache land where the lawman discovers that the outlaws plan to sell repeating rifles to the Indians.

Shotgun

1955

Fort Algiers poster
6.2

In northwest Africa, a tribal leader tries to stir up a rebellion against the ruling powers.

Fort Algiers

1953

Stampede poster
6.2

In 1887 Arizona, in the context of the settler-vs-cattleman struggle, two rancher brothers fall in-love with the same settler girl while crooked businessmen try to swindle both sides.

Stampede

1949

Panhandle poster
5.8

An ex-gunfighter woos two women while avenging his brother, victim of a crooked gambler.

Panhandle

1948

Tall Man Riding poster
5.8

Still seeking revenge against ranch owner Tuck Ordway for publicly whipping him years earlier and breaking up his relationship with Ordway's daughter, cowboy Larry Madden plans to oust Ordway from his ranch by having his claim to the land declared invalid. Ordway's daughter Corinna, believing Madden to be the cause of the family's recent misfortunes, is unaware that the local saloon owner also has designs upon the Ordway holdings.

Tall Man Riding

1955

Tomahawk Trail poster
6.0

Led by an incompetent Lieutenant, a troop of soldiers is on the Tomahawk Trail in Apache territory. When he lets the Indians steal their horses and gets slightly wounded in a skirmish, Sergeant McCoy takes over command. McCoy successfully gets them to the fort only to find all the soldiers have been murdered by the Apaches. He prepares the troops for an attack knowing if they survive the Lieutenant plans to have him court marshaled.

Tomahawk Trail

1957

Return from the Sea poster
6.0

A hardened career navel officer must come to terms with adapting to civilian life with the help of a waitress that can see through his tough veneer.

Return from the Sea

1954

The Highwayman poster
10.0

During the 1700s, a masked bandit robs the rich and aids the poor, to the chagrin of the authorities and the corrupt nobility, and prompting the king to task a ruthless man from the Colonies to capture the outlaw.

The Highwayman

1951

Cassidy of Bar 20 poster
6.0

Hopalong Cassidy, boss of the Bar 20 ranch in Texas, rides down the Camino Real in the New Mexico cattle country near Alamogordo, in response to an urgent message from his lifelong sweetheart, Nora Blake, who is in serious trouble. Before he and his saddlemates, "Lucky" Jenkins and "Pappy", can reach her ranch, they are stopped by Clay Allison, a cattle-rustler who is in almost complete control of the district, and wants to extend his holdings by seizing Nora's cattle and driving her out. Seeing Cassidy as a menace to his plans, he has him arrested on a trumped-up charge. Cassidy and his pals shoot their way out of the trouble and reach Nora;s ranch where they learn that Allison's henchmen have murdered her foreman, Tom Dillon, and Allison has sent for a crew of outlaws on the Texas border.

Cassidy of Bar 20

1938

Fort Yuma poster
5.3

Apaches plan to attack a fort by wearing uniforms plundered from a cavalry officer's (Peter Graves) supply column.

Fort Yuma

1955

Fury poster
NR

Jim Newton and his adopted son Joey navigate life on the Broken Wheel Ranch, with their close bond to the wild black stallion Fury.

Fury

1955

The Light of Western Stars poster
5.0

Easterner Madeline Hammond buys a ranch not knowing Hayworth is using it to smuggle ammunition across the border. When trouble starts, she brings back Gene Stewart ex-foreman who left the country after fighting with the Sheriff.

The Light of Western Stars

1940

Dragonfly Squadron poster
5.9

A Korean War film with a secondary plot of the training of South Korean pilots, to fly fighters in air defense, by American Air Force instructors,led by Major Brady, a famed and skilled-but-grounded pilot, assigned to the Kongku base.

Dragonfly Squadron

1954

Robin Hood Of Texas poster
7.0

When the bank is robbed, Gene and the boys are singing nearby and the Chief arrests them as gang members but lets them go thinking they will lead them to the others.

Robin Hood Of Texas

1947

Riders of the Deadline poster
5.3

When Ranger Hoppy's falsely accused young ranger friend is killed while supposedly trying to escape from jail, Hoppy is blamed and drummed out of the Texas Rangers.

Riders of the Deadline

1943

Stick to Your Guns poster
5.7

Buck Peters arranges for Hoppy, California, Johnny and other cowboys to go to the aid of friends whose cattle are being rustled. Hoppy and California locate the rustlers' hideout and join the gang by posing as outlaws themselves, but must find a way to let the rest of the posse know where they are.

Stick to Your Guns

1941

Flat Top poster
4.6

A rock hard commander trains Navy Carrier Pilots during the Second World War

Flat Top

1952

Buckskin Frontier poster
7.0

A railroad man and the owner of a freight line battle for control of a crucial mountain pass.

Buckskin Frontier

1943

Short Grass poster
6.0

Steve Llewellyn hung up his guns after killing a man in self-defense, left Willow Creek and went on the drift for five years. Now he’s back. And the bad blood stirred up by his return and the violence caused by a cattleman’s grab for all the good grasslands mean Steve must strap on his sidearms again. Rod Cameron -- who became a marquee draw with a pair of espionage serials in the 1940s and went on to establish himself as a popular cowboy star -- makes Steve a hero to reckon with in Short Grass, one of the actor’s 10 films with busy shoot-‘em-up director Lesley Selander. Johnny Mack Brown, a sagebrush stalwart in his own right, plays the marshal who allies with Steve. Adding to the Western pedigree is costar Cathy Downs, who plays the title role in the iconic My Darling Clementine. Buffs will note other familiar faces, including Alan Hale, Jr., well remembered as the skipper who takes a “three-hour tour” to Gilligan’s Island.

Short Grass

1950

Cavalry Scout poster
6.0

Kirby Frye, a former Confederate officer but now a Union Cavalry scout, is sent into Montana territory to locate and retrieve three Gatling Guns stolen from the U.S. Arsenal by outlaws believed to have taken them west to sell to the Soiux and Cheyenne. The trail leads him to Red Bluff where, aided by Claire Corville, he and the audience discover together and real quick like that Martin Gavin, a supposedly-honest operator of a freight line, has the guns and intends to exchange them to the Indians for furs.

Cavalry Scout

1951

Pistol Harvest poster
6.5

Two men are accused of killing their boss. They are saved from the hangman's noose when two other guys are arrested, but Holt feels as though justice is still not being served. On their own, they set about to track down the genuine killer.

Pistol Harvest

1951

Arizona Bushwhackers poster
4.3

During the Civil War, a Confederate spy takes a job as marshal of a small western town as a cover for his espionage activities. However, he soon finds out that a local businessman is selling weapons to a band of rampaging Indians.

Arizona Bushwhackers

1968

Lost Canyon poster
6.3

Burton is after Clark's ranch. He gets the banker to refuse to renew Clark's note and then sends his men to rustle his cattle. Hoppy is Clark's new foreman and is on to Burton's scheme. But just as he learns of the rustling and is about to go after the gang, the Sheriff arrives and arrests him for hiding Johnny who has been accused of robbery.

Lost Canyon

1942

I Was an American Spy poster
6.6

An American nightclub singer in 1940's Singapore becomes a spy for America in an effort to get back at the invading Japanese army. Based on a true story.

I Was an American Spy

1951

The Yellow Tomahawk poster
6.6

When the army insists on building a fort on Indian land, in defiance of a treaty, the warnings of a scout go unheeded.

The Yellow Tomahawk

1954

Colt Comrades poster
6.0

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.

Colt Comrades

1943

Fort Osage poster
6.5

Rod Cameron stars as frontier scout Tim Clay, assigned to guide a wagon train through Indian territory. Clay knows that he's in for a lot of trouble because of the treaty-violating activities of white criminals Pickett and Keane. Fortunately for the hero, Pickett and Keane double-cross each other somewhere along the line, weakening their ability to foment an all-out Indian attack.

Fort Osage

1952

Riders of the Range poster
6.3

Out-of-work cowboys Kansas Jones and Chito Rafferty are offered jobs at pretty Dusty Willis' ranch after saving her from a beating by saloon owner Clint Burrows. Dusty's good-hearted but weak-willed brother Harry, adding to his $3000 gambling debt to Willis, reluctantly agrees to pay it off by allowing the Ringo Kid, Burrows' vicious hired gun, to rustle cattle from his sister's ranch. Kansas intervenes, deters the rustlers and persuades Harry to confess his involvement to Dusty. Kansas, sent into town by Dusty to pay off Harry's debts, suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the law, wrongly accused of murder and must rely on Dusty's belief in his innocence for his salvation.

Riders of the Range

1950

Sheriff of Las Vegas poster
5.5

In this western, brave Red Ryder and his sidekick save a murdered judge's son from going to jail by proving that someone else killed his father.

Sheriff of Las Vegas

1944

Strike It Rich poster
8.0

When not drinking and fighting, three wildcatters in search of a gusher are enthusiastically drilling for black gold. The trouble begins when one of them grows dissatisfied with their lifestyle and quits so he can be with his new wife. Unfortunately for him, soon after he leaves, the other two find their gusher and become filthy rich. The impoverished quitter is envious and begins looking for an obscure law that will force his pals to share.

Strike It Rich

1948

Out California Way poster
7.5

Newcomer Monte Hale is tying to just get a job in western films when he meet young Danny McCoy and his sister Gloria. Danny is trying to get his horse, "Pardner" into films. Monte sings a song and "Pardner" does some tricks and a casting director notices. Monte gets a singing-cowboy role and the horse gets a bit, but there is an accidental explosion, engineered by western star Rod Mason, who is jealous of Monte, and the horse is badly scared and blows his lines.

Out California Way

1946