Reiter in der Nacht

I imagine that Night Riders was probably done immediately after Stagecoach was finished shooting, but was not out yet. No one knew that it would be the film that would make John Wayne a huge star, so he was back doing the Three Mesquiteers western series for Republic Pictures. It is the film listed immediately after Stagecoach on IMDb and in the Films of John Wayne book.

In this entry Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune and a whole bunch of other honest folk are being tossed off their ranches by a man showing up with titles from an old Spanish land grant. The only problem here is that you're dealing with the Three Mesquiteers who ain't gonna take this lying down.

The three of them, Duke included, decide to go Zorro on the bad guys. They dress up as three stylish bandits with caped hoods and call themselves, Los Capequeros. They rob the rent collectors from the "Don" and give it back to the ranchers. Even sheriff Kermit Maynard is sympathetic to them.

What makes Night Riders interesting is the fact that the Three Mesquiteers go calling on President James A. Garfield who is making a goodwill trip out west. They are looking to elude the rent collectors and break in on President Garfield while he's reading in bed. Don't say much for Presidential security, but they put up their guns and Garfield doesn't give them away. And he offers to help if they can get the evidence after the Mesquiteers tell their tale.

Of course Garfield never went west in the brief three months he had as President in 1881 before an assassin shot him in Washington's Union station. Oddly enough his successor Chester A. Arthur did make a trip west, a well publicized good will trip that was worked into the plot of the Robert Taylor western, Cattle King which I also reviewed. Garfield's shooting was worked in, albeit in a minor way, in the climax of Night Riders.

The Garfield connection does make Night Riders somewhat interesting to watch. And the Three Mesquiteer films were a bit above average of the ordinary B picture westerns of the time.

I hope no one sees that title and assumes some cartoon cat guest starred with the Duke in one of his films.

Less a review than curious about some odd similarities. Night riders in the 1880's were in the Klan and terrorized ex-slaves and those who even slightly aided them. They also attacked catholics and immigrants. The bad guy was based on a real man but the heroes are not. These heroes ride at night, wear white outfits, with capes, and hat masks. They steal from the bad guys and give money to poor white people. Admittedly they don't have points on the hat masks but that is a weird coincidence. Especially because this stuff was well-known in the 30's , they were at their largest and most powerful in 1928.

Confession: I nearly always find early b-Westerns more or less enjoyable, there's usually a lot of pleasant easy familiarity and a lot of dated stuff that can or should be forgiven. Just switch off the analysin'. John Wayne made approximately one million of these swift potboilers before he made his name – the same year as Night Riders. Even good old Gene Autry didn't make as many.

Baddies forge old document proving the legality of their claim to thirteen million acres of land – they promise fairness to the tenants but deliver harshness, endless taxes and death instead. How very like all politicians always! Wayne and his two sidekicks object to this and begin a fightback as mysterious caped crusaders – Los Capaqueros replacing The Three Mesquiteers. It's the usual stuff, sub-Zorro fisticuffs and shootouts complete with self conscious melodrama: therefore all I'd hoped for, nothing more. Wayne's cohorts Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune kept on mining the b-picture vein throughout the '40's while Wayne began his climb to superstardom and the making of many movie classics. Highly enjoyable non-serious time-filler!

The film essentially begins with the Three Mesquiteers traveling on a riverboat when they witness a card shark by the name of "Pierce Talbot" (George Douglas) being called out for cheating and getting into a fight over it. Things quickly escalate from that point when Pierce is thrown overboard after drawing a knife. Managing to reach the riverbank, Pierce eventually finds refuge in a house owned by fraudster by the name of "Hazelton" (Walter Wills) who has drawn up a phony deed to a tract of land encompassing over 13 million acres with the owner being a man that greatly resembles Pierce. As one might expect, it isn't long before Pierce assumes the name of this owner and, once the deed is accepted in court, he immediately lays claim to everything. Naturally, this causes a great deal of concern with the people who have already settled on this land and subsequently have to pay Pierce--now known as Luis de Serrano--an excessive price just to stay there. To that effect, a great number of these settlers are soon forced off of their ranches due to the exorbitant rent being charged--and that includes the Three Mesquiteers. That said, recognizing the inequity of the situation, the Three Mesquiteers don disguises and, under the alias of "Los Capaqueros" start robbing the rent collectors give the proceeds to those who need it the most. Needless to say, this angers Pierce to such an extent that he issues a bounty for their capture--dead or alive. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an entertaining addition to the Three Mesquiteers series due to the brisk action and the "Robin Hood" nature of the overall plot. Admittedly, there are a few issues that strain credibility--with the main one being the pure white horse owned by "Tucson Smith" (Ray Corrigan) being identical to the one ridden by a member of Los Capagueros. Yet nobody seemed capable of making that rather obvious connection. Only in Hollywood. In any case, although this clearly wasn't a great Western by any means, I thought it was one of the better films in the series, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The Three Mesquiteers were able to jump through time from one film to another. In The Night Riders, newspaper headlines are used in transitions between scenes, and those newspapers show dates in 1881. So, there are no automobiles or radios in this one, just horses and telegraphs.

There is a nice plot that sets up the action for The Night Riders. A corrupt former engraver for the U.S. Mint and a crooked riverboat gambler team up to pull off a land swindle using a forged Spanish land grant. The forger, Hazleton, orchestrates everything by having Talbot, the gambler and former actor, pose as Don Luis Serrano. Immediately they start taxing and evicting the settlers on 13,000,000 acres of land.

The Don's henchmen and an apprehensive sheriff run the Mesquiteers off of their ranch, and the Mesquiteers see others dealt the same fate. Stony makes a perfect John Wayne speech about what America means, and writes to President Garfield for help. The President is bound by the laws of the country and cannot help. Not content to let the Don take every settler's land, the Mesquiteers become Los Capaqueros, three masked riders that rob the tax collectors and give the money to ranchers facing eviction. As Los Capaqueros, the Mesquiteers accidentally meet with President Garfield, who is on a cross country tour. Garfield promises his help if the Mesquiteers can find evidence of something illegal. Eventually the Don raises an army to search for Los Capaqueros, and the Mesquiteers find a way to get themselves included so they can infiltrate the Don's compound. Stony is determined to prove that the Don is really Talbot. Everything ends with justice being served in Mesquiteers fashion.

I have not seen all of the Mesquiteers films, but I have never seen a "3 M Ranch." Perhaps it only existed for this one film as a plot device. In almost every other movie the Mesquiteers have been some kind of federal agents, but in The Night Riders they have absolutely no connection with law enforcement at all. I must assume that the script was written without the Three Mesquiteers in mind, and adapted to fit the team later.

The Night Riders has a cast with many of the B western regulars. It was fun looking for all the familiar faces. Glenn Strange and Horace Murphy are uncredited, but they both have more significant parts than the credited Tom London. Kermit Maynard had been a leading man shortly before this film. Sadly, he was destined to play supporting parts from around the time this movie was made onward. It was interesting to see Tom Tyler as one of the bad guys, because within a couple of years he would play the part of Stony Brooke through the end of the Mesquiteers series.