J. Benton Cheney

Satan's Cradle was the fourth of producer Phil Krasne's "Cisco Kid" programmers for United Artists. This time, Cisco takes on a frontier megalomaniac, shyster lawyer Steve Gentry, who has taken over a mining town. Gentry's confederate is dancehall girl Lil who is as deadly as she is beautiful. When itinerant preacher Henry Lane is beaten to a pulp by Gentry's goons, Cisco and Pancho move in for the kill.

Horse breeders Adams and Brock are vying for the Army contract. When Adams is killed trying to ride his horse Trigger, Roy saves the horse from being shot. He trains him and then plans to ride him in the race to win the contract.

In one of his better early Westerns, Tim Holt, as Deputy Marshal Larry Durant, is sent to Spencerville where a gang of vigilantes has been terrorizing the citizenry. Going undercover as a gunsmith, Larry quickly learns that the leader of the vigilantes, John Spencer (John Elliott), is an honest man who only seeks to establish law and order. The real brains behind the crimes, meanwhile, are revealed to be Spencer's brother-in-law, Lou Harmon (Roy Barcroft), and his chief henchman, Leighton (Charles King), who speculate in the coming of the railroad by forcing the townspeople to relinquish their land.

Roy returns home to fine a range feud between the cattlemen and the sheepmen. When his friend is killed he finds the rifle had a defective pin. He learns the rifle belongs to a ranch hand named Barker and that a third party has caused the feud. When he captures outlaws trying to blow up a dam, he claims Barker was the killer. But Barker has switched rifles and the outlaws now accuse Roy and Roy finds himself in trouble.

Hoppy, California and Johnny come to the ranch of a friend and his daughter, disguised as dude detectives from the east, to investigate the disappearances, without a trace, of several herds of cattle.

The two nieces of the deceased Charley Bronson arrive to learn that an unknown judge will determine which one of them will inherit his ranch. But Bronson is still alive and posing as the cook. Hilda learns of this and sets out to use this information to win the ranch from her cousin Laurie.

Satan's Cradle was the fourth of producer Phil Krasne's "Cisco Kid" programmers for United Artists. This time, Cisco takes on a frontier megalomaniac, shyster lawyer Steve Gentry, who has taken over a mining town. Gentry's confederate is dancehall girl Lil who is as deadly as she is beautiful. When itinerant preacher Henry Lane is beaten to a pulp by Gentry's goons, Cisco and Pancho move in for the kill.

Horse breeders Adams and Brock are vying for the Army contract. When Adams is killed trying to ride his horse Trigger, Roy saves the horse from being shot. He trains him and then plans to ride him in the race to win the contract.

In one of his better early Westerns, Tim Holt, as Deputy Marshal Larry Durant, is sent to Spencerville where a gang of vigilantes has been terrorizing the citizenry. Going undercover as a gunsmith, Larry quickly learns that the leader of the vigilantes, John Spencer (John Elliott), is an honest man who only seeks to establish law and order. The real brains behind the crimes, meanwhile, are revealed to be Spencer's brother-in-law, Lou Harmon (Roy Barcroft), and his chief henchman, Leighton (Charles King), who speculate in the coming of the railroad by forcing the townspeople to relinquish their land.

Roy returns home to fine a range feud between the cattlemen and the sheepmen. When his friend is killed he finds the rifle had a defective pin. He learns the rifle belongs to a ranch hand named Barker and that a third party has caused the feud. When he captures outlaws trying to blow up a dam, he claims Barker was the killer. But Barker has switched rifles and the outlaws now accuse Roy and Roy finds himself in trouble.

Hoppy, California and Johnny come to the ranch of a friend and his daughter, disguised as dude detectives from the east, to investigate the disappearances, without a trace, of several herds of cattle.

The two nieces of the deceased Charley Bronson arrive to learn that an unknown judge will determine which one of them will inherit his ranch. But Bronson is still alive and posing as the cook. Hilda learns of this and sets out to use this information to win the ranch from her cousin Laurie.

Rancher Rusty Williams is away at agricultural college and leaves his spread in the hands of his older cousin Shorty. Shorty wants to do more than run a ranch, however -- he wants to prospect for gold, but he has no money. He recruits a pair of partners in the guise of two runaway vagrants and a pair of backers in two stranded singers. But then Rusty shows up, and his four somewhat bumbling hired hands manage to compound Larry and Curly's deep ineptitude, and Rusty wants them all out of his hair.

Hoppy, Johnny and California go to Arabia to buy some horses. There they get involved with a sheik and a harem and a kidnapping plot.

Fur theives are looting the traps on the ranch where Roy is foreman and they have murdered one of Roy's friends.

Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette and the Sons of the Pioneers go undercover to help Texas Governor Russell Hicks stop World War II Axis sympathizers from blowing up U.S. warehouses.

The "star" in the title of this low-budget singing Western was Dynamite, a wild stallion captured by cowboy Curt Walker to ride in the Big Rodeo. Unscrupulous John Burton has bet against Curt and does his best to sabotage the event. When lovely Barbara Allen, Curt's new girlfriend, leaves town because of Burton's schemes, Curt loses the first couple of events. The big Bronco Busting contest is coming up, and Pop Walker stalls the proceedings with a series of singing acts while the girl's brothers attempt to locate her. Barbara arrives just in time to spur Curt on to victory.

In Song of the Wasteland, Jimmy tries to uphold law and order in a tough frontier town.

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.

A cocky young Marine who's alienated many of his fellow soldiers with his smart-aleck, wiseguy attitude gets a "wake-up call" when his unit comes under attack by bandits.

Stage line owner Brent has his men robbing Halliday stages and when his manager Waring learns of it, Brent has him killed. Jeff Waring arrives and takes his uncle's job. He soon learns what's happening and the Durango Kid goes into action. This keeps Halliday going and gives them a chance to get the mail contract by winning the stagecoach race.

Shadows on the Sage is a 1942 American Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movie directed by Lester Orlebeck. The Three Mesquiteers, Tucson, Stony, and Lullaby arrive to help Sheriff Lippy fight the outlaws. But when the gang leader Curly Joe captures Tucson and notices the resemblance, he assumes Tucson's identity.

Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a female boss villain in this unusual Western from Monogram. Hired to look into dirty dealings in the town of Medicine Flats, Johnny learns that Kansas City Kate (Christine McIntyre), the owner of the Golden Spur Saloon, has been waging a war against local prospectors, one of whom is found murdered. Not appreciating Johnny's interference, Kate has her henchman Cameo (Tristram Coffin) take a shot at him and when that fails, hires a notorious gunslinger, the Cherokee Kid (I. Stanford Jolley).

Joan Wingate's wealthy father doesn't want his daughter to go into show business. As they vacation in the west she gets a job with Dan Tyler's show and uses Wingate money to keep him afloat. Sandwiched in between the numerous musical numbers they try to keep her father away from the show. But he eventually finds out and decides they will return east

In this Western, Ken Curtis, Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to Gene Autry, romanced one of the studio's most beautiful starlets, Rita Hayworth-lookalike Dusty Anderson. She played Helen Wyatt, whose father (the rotund Guy Kibbee) loses his ranch to the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, the Hot Shots have been swindled by a couple of Eastern crooks (Ian Keith and Matt Willis) and consider themselves the lawful owners. Chased by the irascible Wyatt, the band members seek protection from aspiring singer Curt Stanton (Curtis), who they mistake for a gunslinger.

The Durango Kid fights to catch the rustlers who killed an Army officer.

Jerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is trying to get a railroad spur right of way. Lucky has a woman come west to marry Jerry to get control of the ranch. After the wedding, Lucky has the owner killed. Roy’s gun is substituted for the murder weapon, so Roy is put in jail.

Brown arrives in the town of, yes, Gunsight, in the company of saddle pal Raymond Hatton. Like a new broom, Brown sweeps clean, going after the town's corrupt element.

In one of his better Monogram Westerns, Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a crooked saloon owner with more than one murder on his conscience. Steve Corbin (Tristram Coffin) and his gang of cutthroats are terrorizing the townspeople of Rimrock, who in self-defense hire Johnny Macklin (Mack Brown) as new town marshal.

Hopalong Cassidy and Johnny Nelson ride to the mountains to help a man and his daughter save their logging business from someone who is sabotaging their efforts.

Three fellows band together to help a woman find her uncle's cache of gold in this western. All they have to help them is a tattered map that her uncle, a prisoner of war, created in camp. Unfortunately two badguys have the map and try to turn the three goodguys against the niece. They do not succeed and justice prevails.

Veteran cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown plays a cattle buyer turned prairie sleuth in this low-budget oater from Monogram, which co-stars perennial old-timer Raymond Hatton as a retired U.S. Marshal assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a rancher. As the two old friends soon learn, a gang of smugglers headed by the town's banker (Frank LaRue) needs the use of the Flying Arrow Ranch for their nefarious purposes.

Stephen Westcott and Ed Martin scheme to put Jane Travers' wagon line out of business. They want to use it take over all the wagon- train traffic going west. Hoppy, California and Lucky must make sure that doesn't happen.

A masked outlaw steals from bank robbers to help the poor.

With the railroad coming, Nixon is after the ranchers land. Using a stooge land agent, his method is to claim the person they bought their ranches from never had title to the land and their deeds are worthless. Fereral Agent Johnny Mack arrives posing as a gunman. He is quickly onto the henchman and Land Agent and eventually suspects Nixon is the big boss. But he needs the help of ventriloquist Alibi to bring them in.

Belle Langtry runs a town being taken over by cattle rustlers. She is also a front for the outlaws, who are led by Steve Fraser. Hoppy gets elected sheriff and cleans up the town with help from the Bar 20 boys.

Johnny Brownell, former Confederate officer turned Federal agent, is sent to Texas during the reconstruction years to obtain evidence against a gang of raiders who have been making life difficult for the local carpet-baggers. He saves the life of Shorty Kendall, an unreconstructed rebel about to be hanged, and this wins him the gratitude of Belle Chambers, a widow whose husband was killed in the Civil War who hates all Yankees with a fever.

Back Trail is one of the livelier entries in Monogram's Johnny Mack Brown western series. Brown rides into a small town where he becomes embroiled in a blackmail scheme. The town's banker (Ted Adams), a pillar of respectability, once served a jail term. Outlaw leader Pierce Lyden threatens to reveal Adams' secret if the banker doesn't let him know in advance when the gold shipments are going through. Adams tearfully tells Brown the whole story, whereupon Johnny rides shotgun on the next shipment himself. Back Trail was one of the last films directed by workhorse Christy Cabanne, whose career stretched all the way back to the D.W. Griffith days.

Rodeo star Roy Rogers returns home to find that his old friend Tom Craig has been murdered after he was accused of stealing a family crest from Helen Williams. Helen joins up with Roy and Gabby Whittaker to find the killers and the crest.

Psychiatrist David Lamont is pressured into "analyzing" the madcap but glamorous niece of a judge. Then crooks on the lam intrude...

Johnny Williams (Johnny Mack Brown) returns to his home town of Beaufort, and finds himself when being chased by banker Henry Stevens (Tristram Coffin), Grangers Association head Les Travers (Ed Cassidy as Edward Cassidy) and real estate agent Frank Wilkins (Ted Adams.)

In this western, a cowboy and his pals must stop outlaws from stealing a cache of gold ore. Action ensues, and they succeed.

Outlaws of the Rockies is the fourth of Columbia's revitalized "Durango Kid" series. Charles Starrett is back in the saddle as the masked do-gooder Durango, aka easygoing sheriff Steve Williams. Accused of being a member of an outlaw gang, Williams is forced to don his Durango disguise to bring the actual criminals to justice.

Jimmy and his pal Cannonball are hired by a rancher and horse breeder to capture Midnight, a wild stallion that has been interfering with local herds and has a reputation as a killer.

Joe Weller has instigated a conflict over water rights between two ranchers. The idea is to have the ranchers do each other in then move in and take over. Hoppy and the good guys won't let this happen.

Hoppy, California, and Lucky travel to Mesa City for a short vacation. California buys new clothes and carrying his old ones in a suitcase, bumps into escaping bank robbers in the dark. His suitcase gets switched with that of the robbers and he is seen with the money. Hoppy must find the money that has mysteriously disappeared and also the robbers so that he can clear California who is now in jail.