Hit the Saddle

Prohibited from taking wild horses off government lands, a villainous rancher uses a trained horse to wreak havoc and clear the way for him to take all the "nuisance" horses he wants. Meanwhile, Ray Corrigan, Bob Livingston, and Max Terhune are at odds over Bob's romance with beautiful gold-digger Rita Hayworth.

This interesting, above average entry in Republic Pictures' Three Mesquiteers series is more offbeat than usual, with the unique premise of a horse being being used as a weapon to kick someone to death, Livingston's brooding performance, and a rare note of discontent among the three friends.

In fact, the story is solid enough to have been turned (with a little work) into an A-list western!

A satisfying climax features good animal footage and a neat stunt in which Yakima Canutt takes a dive off some steep rocks.

My only complaint is that Hayworth's unpleasant character takes the money and runs instead of getting her just desserts. The finale should have shown her in New York, trying and failing to cash Corrigan's rubber check!

This film answers the question about a cowboy's greater love: for his woman or for his horse? Although the bond with his woman exceeds those between Stony and the other Mesquiteers (Tuscon and Lullaby), after THEY pay her to leave, Stony's still stickin' up for the horse. And rightly so. The horse ACCUSED of being violent, was actually framed by a TRAINED horse, owned by a guy who wants the protection of hundreds of wild equines to be lifted so that he can round 'em up. Stony does a duet with his girlfriend, billed as Rita Cansino, who later became better known as Rita Hayworth. But, to hell with her...it's the HORSE that's important: an example of the order of priorities which is responsible for my opinion about this movie: things somewhat outta place.

This movie begins with a small group of thieves trying to rustle a herd of wild horses on a government sanctuary for their ruthless boss named of "Rance McGowan" (J. P. McGowan). His plan is temporarily ruined, however, when a local law official named "Rance McGowan" (J. P. McGowan) and his deputies known as the Three Mesquiteers appear on the scene and arrest the dastardly hombres in the act. Naturally, being a rather slick conman, Rance convinces the sheriff that it was all a big mistake, and the outlaws are released not too long afterward. Even so, Rance remains determined to capture these horses and is willing to do whatever it takes in that regard--to include killing everyone who stands in his way. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was one of the weaker films in the Three Mesquiteers series due to the rather tame plot overall. Likewise, the uncharacteristic hostility between "Stony Brooke" (Robert Livingston) and his Mesquiteer colleague "Tucson Smith" (Ray Corrigan) didn't help either. But then, that is just my opinion. Be that as it may, while I don't consider this to be a terribly bad film by any means, I don't think it quite measured up to some of the others in the series, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

This installment of The Three Mesquiteers stars Robert Livingston, Dusty King and Max Terhune. I mention who stars in the film because the composition of this Republic Studios trio varied tremendously over the years....with many different actors being cast to play the three roles. Perhaps because of this, King and Terhune left Republic after a few more films and went on to Monogram where they made a nearly identical series called The Range Busters. The trio in this series was much more stable, though after about 2/3 of the films, a few cast changes occurred.

In "Hit the Saddle" there are two main plots. First, Stony is in love with Rita (Rita Hayworth), a saloon girl with a heart of lead. His pals are dead set against this, as they understand exactly who Rita really is. The second is about a greedy rancher who not only wants his own horses but wants to capture the protected wild horses as well. The scum-bag needs to make these wild animals look dangerous, so he and his men deliberately stampede the horses...killing the sheriff in the process! Will Stony see the light and will the trio manage to bring the horse wranglers to justice?

So is it any good? Well, since Terhune does have his stupid ventriloquist dummy, Elmer, in the film...something I simply never understood about the Mesquiteer and Range Buster films. Why is a lawman and cowboy running around with a dummy like this?! What I also didn't love was how much Stony hated his friends....as they argued throughout the story....something you DON'T expect in a Mesquiteer film! The men always play close friends....and disrupting this formula seemed foolish. Because of this, it's definitely not one of the team's better efforts.

By the way, just before the killer stampede is loosed, pay attention as one of the baddies called the trio 'The Three Musketeers'! I am surprised no one caught that and corrected it. It is possible they noticed but didn't both re-shooting it, as these B-westerns were definitely done on the cheap...and re-shoots cost money.

The Three Mesquiteers nearly come to an end over Rita Hayworth and a horse. Depends on your point of view as to who caused more ruckus.

First there's the horse, a beautiful wild animal called the pinto stallion. He leads a herd of wild horses which are now protected by law by the government. Some dastardly villains want to shoot the wild ones like The Misfits for dog food. They train a black horse and paint him to look like the pinto so he can start stirring up the other rancher's horses. On one raid, the sheriff is trampled to death by the ersatz pinto. Robert Livingston believes in the horse's innocence, but Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune want him done in and Corrigan's the sheriff.

And then there's the matter of Rita Hayworth or as she was known at this point in her career, Rita Cansino. Rita and Livingston want to get married. The other two Mesquiteers have no use for her and think she's a goldigger. This part of the plot may have been the basis for the Gunga Din story that RKO did two years later.

So who does Livingston wind up with, Rita or the pinto stallion? For that you have to view this film of The Three Mesquiteers series.