Trail Guide

Tim Holt and his sidekick Chito Rafferty guide a group of homesteaders. They intend to find local jobs as cowhands afterwards. They encounter cattle rancher Kenny Masters and his sister Peg Masters. She tells the guys that homesteaders are not welcome here. Kenny Masters has secretly recruited saloon owner Regan to steal the homesteaders' claim papers and money.

There is some horse riding, some shooting, and some relatively simple western fun. It is nothing ground breaking. The story works and it has some rudimentary drama. Tim Holt is Tim Holt. The actors are all fine. Everything is fine here.

Tim Holt turns in a workmanlike job in this run-of-the-mill entry in his long-running series of "B" westerns for RKO. The story about cattlemen vs. homesteaders has been done countless times before, and there's nothing new to be found in the script. The action scenes are OK, the production values are good--as they usually were in this series--and there's a better-than- average supporting cast of veteran western players: John Pickard, Kenneth MacDonald, John Merton, Frank Wilcox. Pretty, but wooden, Linda Douglas is the female interest, and the picture moves along at a satisfactory pace. Tim Holt's westerns were always a bit too cut-and-dried for my tastes and Richard Martin's irritating Chito Rafferty has grated on me from the first time I saw him--the patently phony Mexican "accent" and the "devil-may-care" attitude that he was never able to quite pull off--but on the whole they were better than most of the series westerns at the time, especially the awful Whip Wilson ones from Monogram, and this is no better or no worse than others in Holt's series.

Tim Holt, son of actor Jack Holt and brother to Jennifer Holt, played in such movie classics as "The Magnificent Ambersons" and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." He brought his acting talents to the B western beginning in the early 40's and then made a series for RKO with Richard Martin, another fine actor, as Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamonte Rafferty, an Irish-Mexican role, as his womanizing comical sidekick. Martin had already played the role of Chito Rafferty for others before joining with Tim Holt. A Tim Holt western was always a good one to watch for action and adventure. "Trail Guide" is typical of the series. Tim and Chito are out to help homesteaders led by character actor Kenneth MacDonald against outlaws pretending to be protectors of the open range but really out for their own personal gain. The outlaws have suckered young Kenny Masters (Robert E. Sherwood) into helping them. His sister, Peg Masters (Mary Jo Tarola aka Linda Douglas) at first suspects Tim and Chito as being the outlaws but eventually learns the truth about what is really happening.

By 1952, the singing cowboy was virtually history. There were a few hangers on such as Rex Allen, Eddie Dean, and Jimmy Wakely. Gene, Roy, and Hoppy were going into television production which is where the B western would shortly end up. The main Saturday matinée cowboys of the early 1950's were non-singers such as Tim Holt, The Durango Kid, Allan Rocky Lane, Whip Wilson, Lash LaRue, and Johnny Mack Brown. The only music usually provided was background for the action that took place. This meant that movies such as "Trail Guide" were action packed with no musical numbers to slow things down.

If you are a Tim Holt fan, you should enjoy "Trail Guide." If you've never seen a Tim Holt western before and enjoy action and adventure, this is a good film to watch.

In an effort to keep homesteaders off the open ranges near his and his sister Peg's ranch, young Kenny Masters hires crooked saloon owner Regan to steal their claims. As the settlers' wagonmaster is ambushed and robbed, and the town marshal is killed, Kenny gets cold feet as good-guy trail guide Tim Holt and his partner Chito suspect him of the wrongdoings.

Par for the course Tim Holt and Chito Rafferty western with the expected chases, shootouts, villainous schemes and Chito running from a woman when she mentions matrimony, all executed in a workmanlike fashion. Not the most standout entry, but not bad either. I wonder if Genevieve the dog managed to jump through the hoop.

Trail Guide finds Tim Holt and Richard Martin doing just that, guiding a wagon train of homesteaders to new settlements. But when the job is done it's a lot of hostility that the new settlers are finding. Later on wagon master Kenneth MacDonald is shot and robbed of all the homesteaders money and more importantly the deeds to the new farms.

It wouldn't be a Tim Holt or any other kind of western if the cowboy heroes didn't stay and take a hand in the fight. Of course there's a nefarious villain with a nefarious reason for wanting to keep the hostility going.

Brother and sister ranchers Robert Sherwood and Linda Douglas lead the cattle people's opposition to the new settlers. Wendy Waldron is the girl with marriage on her mind where Chito Rafferty is concerned. That overactive libido working overtime again.

Distinctly unfunny and at time downright annoying his Tom London as the oldtimer comic relief.

Other than Mr. London, this is a good B western.