Arizona Bound

Three heroes Buck Roberts, Tim McCall and Sandy Hopkins are undercover Marshals out to stop villains who seek to destroy a stage line. The owner has been killed and his daughter Ruth Masters has taken over in her dads place running the coaches. Tristram Coffin stars as the dastardly Steve Taggert who will stop at nothing to ruin the Masters Stage company business.

Ok western starring Tim McCoy, Buck Jones and Raymond Hatton, but it's familiar and an ordinary, only the stars and the action keep it afloat. The finale is quite thrilling, though.

My father (88), was a fan of Buck Jones and other Western Movie Stars back when he was a kid in the 1930's. He grew up with them. He was 10 in 1933 when "Gordon of Ghost City" was released. We are watching these serials and movies, and he will go...OK, now so-and-so person will fall off their horse and it will look like they are trampled...and it will happen. he remembers the pattern. Funny. I don't think he remembers the stories. But they remind him of the times he went to the movies as a kid. A few shorts, a cartoon, and two features for like a DIME!!!!!

These Rough Rider series of movies are pretty standard fair, but interesting, and fairly well made. There is plenty of action, and trouble. They all follow the same formula. 3, seemingly unrelated people come to town, and come at the problem from different angles. But of course they know each other, and are actually working together...they are...."THE ROUGH RIDERS"...US Marshals.

Good entertainment for kids, and grown ups alike, we are well entertained.

Former lawman Buck Jones is called to Mesa City, Arizona in order to get to the bottom of the constant stagecoach and gold-shipment robberies. Framed for the hold-ups, Jones teams up with "preacher" Tim McCoy and good-old-boy Raymond Hatton to uncover the real culprits.

The first in Monogram Pictures' Rough Riders series, this is mostly by-the-numbers, with little action. However, it's redeemed somewhat by an exciting, action-packed climax and an inspired performance by McCoy, who's flamboyant character introduction, where he refuses to "dance" to a blazing six-gun before turning the tables and forcing the whole saloon to sing "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie", is the film's highlight.

Buck, Tim and Ray kick off a great Rough Riders series. Seems as though Bunion (Horace Murphy) was right that Buck can't turn down a request from Bat Madison (Bob Baker). McCoy comes on strong with early comic relief as a preacher who forces the barflies to sing at gunpoint. Great to see Tristram Coffin famously known for his "dead man walking" incident on live television. Easy to see why Slim Whitaker was one of the most prolific actors as a B-western villains. Also, sweethearts on the set Luana Walters and Dennis Moore were very popular in these early westerns. A lot of action and throwing lead here, especially with the spectacular final scene.

Watching many of the cheaply made 'B' westerns, I am use to an array of repeat stories that seem so cookie-cut that you can tell the ending only after a few minutes of watching. However, as I sat down to watch this film it became apparent that all 'B' movies are not created equal. This was actually an entertaining story with some fascinating characters.

The story was centered around three Marshals (Rough Riders) that went undercover to find the people responsible for a series of stage robberies in a small Arizona town. The three Marshals, Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Ray Hatton arrive in the town at different times as to not arouse the suspicion of the locals with only Jones revealing that he use to be a Marshal but had since retired. And as the plot thickens, the townsfolk will soon learn that they are in the middle of a investigation that will not stop till justice is served.

This was an enjoyable start to the Rough Rider series. -- And sure some of the scenes were rough, as when the trio went through a hail of gunfire and never even got a scratch. Or when a villain was shooting at one of the Marshals and he just walked right towards the villain and never was struck- but it played out well on the screen. An enjoyable watch that has me looking for the next time the Rough Riders ride again. I giving this an solid 8 on the 'B' western index.