The Lone Star Trail

John Mack Brown plays the stereotypical bad guy/good guy framed for a crime by alleged friends. After release from prison he returns to home town to expose the real crooks. Tex Ritter is an undercover U.S. Marshal pretending to be an itinerant gunslinger who consistently saves Johnny from death.

There are some other plot twists which help maintain interest and raise the script above predictable. And of course several requisite fight scenes. The love angle is barely a minor storyline and really is just an excuse to wrap the story without resorting to the bad guys being arrested by the local sheriff.

Of course the bonus for western fans is John Mack Brown and Tex Ritter together in same movie. And that is worth the price of admission.

That's right. This 1943 B Western from Tex Ritter introduced "Bob" Mitchum in his first year as a credited Hollywood actor. With a few lines, spoken in that smooth baritone for which Mitchum would soon become famous, a vary young Mitchum mostly looks around a little but surprised to be in a movie!

Easy enough to view, The Lone Star Trail has nothing much more interesting to offer. Typical of the period for westerns, a few songs, a couple of fights, and good ultimately triumphs over adversity.

In the 1930s and 40s, several studios realized that they could combine various B-list western stars into a movie to increase the marketability of the films. So, this led to films like the Three Mesquiteers and the Range Busters...films which featured three stars instead of one. Generally, these movies were pretty good...and the writing of these films seemed a bit better than usual. In the case of "The Lone Star Trail", Universal Pictures paired up Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter and Fuzzy Knight...and it's a pretty dandy film.

The story begins with Blaze (Brown) being released from prison after two years in the pokey. Since he's the hero of the story, it's safe to assume he's NOT a criminal at all and was framed for theft. Now that Blaze is out, he wants to clear his name and is assisted by his friend, Angus (Knight) and a stranger who comes to his aid (Ritter).

The acting is quite nice, the writing better than usual for a B-western and all in all it's a fun film. Interestingly, I've never particularly enjoyed Tex Ritter's solo efforts...but here with Brown and Knight, he's quite good.

By the way, the barber (Knight) talks about creating some health concoction for people to drink and he mentions the ingredients...including milk weed. Well, milk weed is toxic to humans...and I wonder if the writer knew this and that's why he included this!

Solid little oater. The plot's old hat—an innocent man (Brown) needs to search for the men who framed him and regain his good reputation. But the story is also well done, with good acting plus a nice mix of action, intrigue and trail tunes. Even the buffoonish matinée humor is pretty well handled by Fuzzy Knight. Ritter and Brown make a good team, and I like the wrinkle in Fargo's (Ritter) background—(also, check out those sterling movie names, "Blaze Barker" and "Fargo Steele"). Too bad we don't see more of the lovely Jennifer Holt, but we do see Bob Mitchum in an early speaking role and with a mustache, no less. These matinée specials may have ridden into the sunset, but they're still a lot of fun.

Tex Ritter always looked and sounded good and his Texas upbringing showed when he essayed cowboy roles.

Johnny Mack Brown, on the other hand, was not a native-born cowboy, in fact, started his movie career as leading man to such leading ladies as Joan Crawford, but he became one of the most popular Western stars, and with very good reason.

First, he was a good-looking, athletic man, having been, in fact, a college football star. Somehow, he adapted himself to the cowboy role and seemed perfectly natural in his dozens of Western roles.

In this small film, he doesn't have to stretch, except in the fight scenes, but where acting replaces action, he continues to shine.

He and Tex are sided by Fuzzy Knight, whose part stretches him a bit and he's not the silly stutterer he played too often. Really Knight made a good Western player.

Again not needing to do much but look good, Jennifer Holt as usual does that extremely well, but she always was much more than the proverbial pretty face: She came from a family of actors and never let the side down.

Jimmy Wakely, later a star in his own series, is here with his two side-men, the great Johnny Bond and Scotty Harrel.

They, as friends and allies with our heroes, must join in confronting the bad guys, including Robert Mitchum. Wow, even as a beginner, Mitchum was so smooth, so in control, that he would become a huge star just seemed inevitable in the way he handled even this type of small part.

Cast and the script by Oliver Drake make this potentially routine film something more, and they are helped by directing from veteran Ray Taylor. And music from Ritter and the Wakely trio is just icing on the cake.

I have no hesitation in recommending "The Lone Star Trail," and you can find a copy at YouTube.