Reiter in der Nacht

Talbot Pierce, a notorious card shark, is thrown from a riverboat and washes on shore at an inn which also houses a forger Hazelton. Hazelton has the idea of using a forged Spanish land grant that would say Don Luis de Serrano (Pierce) would own 13 million acres of land in Arizona. The courts decide it is authentic and Don Luis takes over the land and charges high taxes, cattle tolls, and rent for his land, and then evicts them after he taken everything they have including the 3M ranch. Stony, Tucson, and Lullaby decide to strike against Don Luis by riding as white robed vigilantes Los Capaqueroes, where they hold up Don Luis' tax collectors and give the money to the next person to be evicted from the valley. While this causes confusion, the Three Mesquiteers lack the evidence that will cause an investigation. They decide to take jobs from Don Luis as hunters for Los Capaqueroes, but Stony recognizes Don Luis as Pierce, but it is too late as our heroes are discovered to be the vigilantes and sentenced to be shot. Decent B western, but nothing really new and exciting considering there was never any chemistry between Wayne and Corrigan & Terhune and it shows here. I do like the Los Capaqueroes idea but the film lacks much action and the resolution to the film is sort of a downer. Remade w/ Don Barry as Arizona Raiders and again (loosely) w/ Vincent Price in the Baron of Arizona. Rating, based on B westerns, 6.

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 cast of the Republic Three Mesquiteers series was never consistent, with the various three leading men everchanging. For a while, the lead was played by John Wayne, but considering that his career was taking a fast turn for the better, it's not surprising he soon left the series. "The Night Riders" is one of these Mesquiteer films featuring Wayne.

In this installment, a baddie poses as Don Luis de Serrano, a Spanish nobleman. He creates a phony land grand deed with the help of another local jerk and now goes to court and seeks control of 13,000,000 acres. Then, he taxes everyone to death and is a general nuisance. So, it's up to the Mesquiteers to take the law into their own hands to stop Don Luis. And, perhaps, along with the help of the ill-fated President Garfield as well!

This film marks a first. Lullaby's really annoying and strange use of ventriloquism in the old west is strange and way out of place. But in a first, it actually comes in handy in a scene early in the film. Heck, it might be the first time Lullaby did ANYTHING much to help!

Overall, a father formulaic but enjoyable installment in the series. It's also unusual because the message seems to be 'if the law doesn't work, take it into your own hands or resort to mob rule and vigilanteism'! Strange but worth your time is you like B-westerns.