The Night Riders

Talbot uses a phony land grant to rule thirteen million acres, taxing everyone heavily and evicting those who won't pay. The Three Mesquiteers becomes mysterious "night riders" to fight this evil.

Typical Three Mesquiteers entry that has a right amount of humour, intrigue and action. This time the trio are wearing masks and capes while fighting against greedy landowners. Therefore this entry has a swashbuckling feel a la Zorro but without swords. Enjoyable western.

By this time Wayne was a big star - thanks to Stagecoach- however he had to complete Mesquiteers films for republic. In the Mesquiteers he's quite cheerful and takes leadership.

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.

An American Western; A story about a villain who impersonates a Spanish nobleman and uses a phony land grant to tax tenants heavily and evict homesteaders who won't pay. This interests a trio of heroic cowhands from Texas. This Three Mesquiteers programmer, hastily produced, themed on Robin Hood, is in fact based on the real-life account of James Addison Reavis, a 19th-century con artist who declared himself owner of the state of Arizona. Although it has a flimsy script, with John Wayne at the helm it chugs along well with good action set pieces, chases and scraps as distraction. George Douglas makes a good foe, leader of the ruthless henchmen. There's a boisterous finale with plenty of din before things are resolved cleanly, tied up in a bow.

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.

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.