Ghost Guns

Ghost Guns finds US Marshals Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton on yet another mission. This times it's the Piney Woods Basin where a lot of landgrabbing and cattle rustling is going on. But no ghosts in the tradition of the Hollywood B western giving a film a title that has nothing to do with the story.

What is interesting is that there's a phony judge in the mix. Outlaw leader John Merton has Frank LaRue installed as a phony circuit court judge to bend the law his way. Fortunately our heroes are up to those tricks.

The leading lady here is Evelyn Finley who lives with her aunt Sarah Padden on a ranch being threatened. Ms. Finley was a stunt woman and trick rider and we get a bit of her talent displayed as a coda at the end of the film.

Brown and Hatton did a series of films as gallant US Marshals fighting corruption and crime in the west. This one holds up well enough for western fans of today.

U. S. Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie and Sandy Hopkins ride into Big Piney Basin at the request of Ann Jordan, daughter of a rancher who has been killed and whose cattle have been rustled. At Ann's home, they find Ted Connors, the only surviving member of the Connors brothers, the other two having been killed the previous night.

Johnny Mack Brown and his sidekick ride into help Evelyn Finley in this fast-paced, fun western which has some interesting characters like the main villain - John Merton - and the crooked judge. I love how Merton just schemes, sending his henchmen to do the dirty work. Evelyn Finch is quite a spirited character, just check out her horse stunt work at the end.

Considering that "Ghost Guns" was made by Monogram Studios, I had relatively love expectations. While they were not among the very smallest and crappiest of the studios making B-westerns, their output usually was considerably lower in quality from Bs coming from Paramount, Universal and even Republic. But this one is excellent thanks to a decent script and fantastic acting by Johnny Mack Brown...and with some able assistance from Raymond Hatton, who plays a sidekick who is neither stupid nor inept!

When the story begins, some local baddie is doing what most bad boss-men do in B-westerns, he's trying to take over everything around him. And, to make matters worse, he's got a phony judge working with him to give his actions an air of legitimacy. But when his men kill two of the Connors boy and gravely injure another, it's obvious something must be done to stop their infamy. And, that's precisely when two US marshals arrive to investigate and restore the peace (Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton).

The film is not exactly brilliant but everything is done well here. I even liked the sassy woman because she wasn't all talk...she could punch the snot out of guys when necessary! Enjoyable and far better than I expected.