In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Hollywood made approximately 2929342342097 B-westerns. A B-film was a relatively short film (about one hour) with a small budget and was intended as a second film in a double-feature. Kids loved these westerns and they were very formulaic--with a near-perfect hero, there was usually some singing, the baddies almost never getting killed but always being defeated and, often, a goofy sidekick there to add some color.
"Gangsters of the Frontier" is one of these films and in most ways it's pretty ordinary for the genre. It stars Tex Ritter (John Ritter's father) and he belts out song after song in the film--though his charisma left a bit to be desired. He has put the wicked Kern gang behind bars, but somehow they have escaped and are worse than ever--enslaving an entire town! It's obvious that the Kerns are meant as a metaphor for fascism and Ritter and his friends talk a lot about freedom and God-given rights in this one. They also have WOMEN join their posse--a reference to the women now working to support the war effort. All these details do make the film interesting to history teachers like me, but the average person will possibly miss all these references--as well as be relatively unimpressed by the film. It's not super-exciting and there's too much singing--even for one of these style films. It's just adequate--one of many, many, many adequate B-series westerns.
