Call the Mesquiteers

Sometimes it doesn't pay to be a Good Samaritan. The Three Mesquiteers stop to help a driver of a wrecked truck as they were returning from a rodeo. They have the horse trailer as well tied to their cab. The people in the wreck however turn the tables on Robert Livingston, Ray Corrigan, and Max Terhune. They steal their rig and hold the Mesquiteers hostage. In a shootout with the authorities the robbers are killed and the Mesquiteers are held as part of the gang.

The writers were sure getting a little lame on this one. Seems that it would have been a simple matter to ascertain the guys just came from competing in a rodeo. Still it's lynch talk that's brewing and the guys have to escape and capture the bandits.

The loot in this case is silk, taken from a freight train. There isn't even much detective work involved as the Mesquiteers just happen to stumble on to the hideout. Good chase climax in the end.

Not one of the best Mesquiteer stories.

This film begins with a highly coordinated train robbery which nets the thieves several truckloads of silk cargo. To that effect, as the trucks are making their high-speed journey over a mostly deserted highway, one of them veers out-of-control and flips over on its side. So, rather than simply abandoning their stolen merchandise, the crooks immediately come up with a plan to commandeer the next vehicle that comes along. The scene then shifts to a truck driven by the Three Mesquiteers down the road when a man flags them over in apparent need of help. Naturally, being the rather courteous cowboys that they are, all three Mesquiteers willingly get out of their truck to help out--only to be forced at gunpoint to load their truck with the stolen goods and then held hostage inside of it while it speeds off down the road. To further compound their problem, after a shootout kills the crooks, they are riding with, the Three Mesquiteers are immediately suspected of being accomplices in the crime as well. So, with bullets whizzing past them, they belatedly come to the conclusion that the only way they can prove their innocence it to catch the other thieves--before the police catch them. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I don't consider this to be one of the better "Three Mesquiteer" films due primarily to the fact that is seemed more in line with a gangster film than an actual Western. Likewise, the scene involving the boy named of "Timothy Irving" (Sammy McKim) and his dog seemed more appropriate for an episode of "Lassie" or "Rin Tin Tin" than in an actual Western. But that's just my opinion. In any case, while I don't consider this to be a bad film necessarily, I don't believe it was quite as good as most of the others in this series, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

During the long course of the Three Mesquiteer B westerns from Republic, they had many different lineups for the trio. The three in "Call the Mesquiteers" are the most familiar--Robert Livingston, Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune with his bizarro dummy, Elmer. And, like some of their westerns, it's set in modern times...another strange gimmick they used in Gene Autry and Roy Rogers films.

When the story begins, the Mesquiteers are captured at gunpoint because a gang of killers and thieves had a wreck and need a truck. Oddly, they take the trio along with them and soon the posse arrives. The baddies are shot and the Mesquiteers are in trouble...because the posse wants to just hang them there! They don't exactly like this idea and soon Stony takes the Sheriff's gun and the trio escape. Can they manage to prove their innocence?

In addition to trucks, the robbers are apparently stealing silk...highly in demand because of the war in the Far East between China and Japan! Again, they don't seem to wind how modern the film is. So why, then do the boys mostly ride around on horses???

Aside from Lullaby (Terhune) actually being very helpful for a change, this is a pretty typical Mequiteer film. Nothing really special...just a lot of the same.

Ray Corrigan, Bob Livingston, And Max Terhune stumble across an overturned truck on the highway and are forced by gangsters to load the stolen goods from the wreck onto their own truck. Kidnapped and in the company of gun-toting criminals, they're mistaken for accomplices and forced to take off rather than participate in a necktie party.

With it's abundance of trucks, car chases, motorcycle cops, telephones, and radio, this isn't much of a western at all. Still, this entry in Republic Pictures' Three Mesquiteer series is a fairly entertaining adventure, with decent enough production values and performances.

One thing that's pretty unique is when the Mesquiteers wander into a modern, art deco ghost town, with grass protruding from the paved streets and tumbleweeds all around!