Pioneers of the West is a 1940 American Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movie[1] directed by Lester Orlebeck.
Pioneers of the West is a 1940 American Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movie[1] directed by Lester Orlebeck.
1940-03-12
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Ruth Burroughs the daughter of a beleaguered rancher whose valuable property is threatened by a greedy railroad company
Knowing the railroad is coming, Carter is after the rancher's land. Bob and Chito return just in time to save Banker Stockton and his money from Carter's men. When Stockton then lends the ranchers money, Carter has them burned out. Bob knows Carter is responsible and when Carter's henchman Saunders is recognized, Bob goes into action.
Cowboy star Buck Jones made his directorial debut with the Universal western For the Service. Jones is cast as Indian scout Buck O'Bryan, trying his best to keep the peace between the Native Americans and a government outpost. O'Bryan is replaced by George Murphy, the son of commanding officer Captain Murphy. Obviously unqualified for his job, Murphy proves himself a coward and a weakling, forcing O'Bryan to take over when the fort is besieged by outlaw Bruce Howard and his gang.
A cavalry unit escorts a group of civilians through dangerous territory inhabited by Indians on the warpath.
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.
Ex-gunfighter Ned Britt returns to Fort Worth after the civil war to help run a newspaper which is against ambitious men and their schemes for control.
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.
Hamilton's Rangers, led by our hero Gene, must keep the Indians in the northern Michigan territory from attacking the settlers.
Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy is all alone now.
A wagon train crossing the plains comes across the remains of other wagon trains that have been attacked by looters. Soon they too are attacked.
Unable to legally capture and sell a herd of protected wild horses, corrupt rancher Rance Macgowan uses his trained killer horse, Volcano, to substitute for the real leader of the herd and cause havoc and death among the ranches. With the government about to drop the restrictions on rounding up the herd, the Three Mesquiteers find themselves in the middle of the controversy after their friend, Sheriff Miller is killed by Volcano.
After gold shipments from a mining town have been hijacked, the three Mesquiteers buy a plane to fly the gold out. The owner of the shipping line brings in Eastern gangsters to thwart them.
The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw. This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid. But Hartley is on hand and unknown to anyone is the rustler's boss and he joins the posse with a plan that will do away with the Mesquiteers.
A Civil War guerilla gang plans an attack on a Kansas arsenal.
Steve Holden and his men successfully raid a wagon train. Among the local ranchers who decide to stop the raiding are Virgil Trent and his daughter Gail. At a meeting, Sidney Padgett, Cannonball and other townspeople conclude that someone is tipping the gang off on important shipments. Trent volunteers to contact the outlaws. He meets Steve and persuades him to cross to the side of the law and protect the ranchers. Steve soon suspects Padgett and tricks him into revealing his identity as the secret leader of the bandits, and in a furious battle between Steve's men and the outlaws, the former win.
Inasmuch as western star Charles Starrett gained screen fame as the Robin Hood-like "Durango Kid", it stands to reason that Starrett would head the cast of Robin Hood of the Range. The star plays Steve Marlowe, the foster son of railroad manager Henry Marlowe (Kenneth McDonald). When it becomes apparent that the railroad is using underhanded methods to drive local homesteaders off their land, Steve adopts the guise of "The Vulcan", a legendary champion of justice.
Seven women are the only survivors of an Apache attack on a wagon train. They must cross the desert on foot to escape the Indians who are hunting them.
Dan Beattie gives up his lawman job to move further west and rejoin his old war buddy Curt Warren in the town of Sundown. At first mistaken for a railroad agent by Beau Santee, a Sundown businessman who wants to keep the railroad away from his town, Dan is nearly killed by Santee's henchman, Mark Faber. Dan discovers that his old pal Curt works for Santee. Even after learning Dan's true identity, Santee considers him trouble and plots to get rid of him. With the help of Curt's son Stony, Dan tries to get Curt to take a stand on the right side of the law.
A wagon train heads west from Independence, Mo., along the Oregon Trail, led by proud cowboy Clint Belmet. On board are feisty young widow Nancy Wellington and her toddler, Sonny, as well as the older Abby Masters, who begins a romance with scout Jim Burch. Along the way, the wagon train battles Indians led by Kenneth Murdock, a trapper who doesn't welcome competition for Oregon's lucrative fur trade. Wagon Wheels is a 1934 remake of 1931's Fighting Caravans, using stock footage from the original.
"Wicked" Lily Bishop joins a wagon train to California, led by Michael Fabian and Johnny Trumbo, but news of the Gold Rush scatters the train. When Johnny and Michael finally arrive, Lily is rich from her saloon and storekeeper (former slaver) Pharaoh Coffin is bleeding the miners dry. But worse troubles are ahead: California is inching toward statehood, and certain people want to make it their private empire.