Pals of the Saddle

An American Western; A story about three cowboy pals known as the Three Mesquiteers who befriend a woman and then are involved in foiling enemy agents who plan to smuggle poisonous gas into Mexico. This is the first in a long series of films based on the Western novels of William Colt MacDonald involving a trio of travelling cowboys set in the modern West. It's a formulaic oater of modest means but it keeps a good brisk flow of drama. The plot is protracted and the falsely accused of murder device is well-worn. John Wayne is lively and has presence as the hero with the stubble. Doreen McKay as a strong female character makes their scenes together attractive.

If you have any partiality towards B oaters then this is impossible not to like. In fact, it is in my Top 10 for this category of less-than-A sagebrush sagas. Some complain the emphasis in the Wayne Mesquiteer movies was on him and not the group. I think the camaraderie aspect is handled with gusto by director George Sherman right up front in the story and suitably reinforced throughout the plot. Granted, Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin has too many "I'll look after the horses!" moments but he is not left to get lost. Ray Corrigan as Tucson Smith has wonderful times of camera mugging, a comedic style for which he has never been properly acknowledged. John Wayne, is, well, John Wayne, a presence to be reckoned with. The Duke's "Listen Mr. Big Chest" remark to Corrigan as they duel verbally over the femme interest is a great moment. Undoubtedly unscripted.

This Mesquiteer epic also has more plot, more action and more stunts than most in the series. Hey, and a flag-wavin', patriotic story line that takes you right back to a kinder era. Herbert Yates, the head of Republic Pictures, obviously knew what (who) he had on contract and was actually investing in his product. It shows throughout the picture. The is a big B. And when the Mesquiteers do that triple-tandem leap onto a moving covered wagon, well, you've got all the thrills, all the action and all the spirit of "all for one, one for all" trigger trio cowboy flick any fan could stand.

After saving a girl, Ann (Doreen McKay) on a runaway horse, The Three Mesquiteers and in particular Stony (John Wayne) find themselves aiding her as she is in fact a government agent. Ann is trying to get to the bottom of who is smuggling a chemical used to create poisonous gas out of the country and in to Mexico. But after posing as a foreign Agent Stony fids himself being taken a prisoner.

A little different from the other three Mesquiteers entries, mainly because of the cloak and dagger and inclusion of the poisonous gas, Pals of the Saddle is a fast-paced western ( well sort of western as Wayne and co. Dressing as cowboys, riding horses etc and theres the rugged landscape, but apart from that it's setting is 1938), has some good surprising twists, the usual non-taxing fun - if you're looking for lighthearted, action western with nary a psychological depth then look no further. Also, this film is loaded with some death-defying stunts.

According to IMDB, there was oneThree Mesquiteer film before "Pals of the Saddle" but it was made by RKO. For some reason, Republic rebooted the series with all new actors and they went on to make quite a few of these B-westerns. However, I looked into it and "Pals of the Saddle" is the 17th Mesquiteer film by Republic AND there were two previous Mesquiteer films not made by Republic...TWO not one! The Trivia entry for this film is just plain wrong!

The films in the series are mostly enjoyable but suffer in two ways. First, the cast changed A LOT...with a variety of actors playing the three crime-fighting pals. In this case, John Wayne plays Stony...though Tom Tyler and Bob Livingston played the same character in later films. Second, for some inexplicable reason, the only consistent member of the trio, Max Terhune, was one weird cowboy! In each, he carried along his sidekick, a ventriloquist's dummy named 'Elmer'! Yeah, I guess any good cowboy worth his salt needed a dummy!!

Like many B-westerns, this one is a weird combination of old west and modern times. So, while the trio ride about on their horses and sport six-guns...others use semi-automatics and drive cars! This is bizarre...just accept it and go with it!

What ALSO is bizarre in this one is the plot...and bizarre it is! The film begins with news that wars are taking place and unlike WWI, the US is determined to remain neutral. But some unfriendly foreign powers want a mineral called 'Monium' in order to make poison gas...and it just happens the stuff can be mined out west.

The Mesquiteers stumble into the intrigue when two US agents are tangling with a foreign spy! Now at this point, you and the Mesquiteers have no idea who is who...and to hide their killing the foreign spy, the woman agent inexplicably blames Stony and sets the law on him.

Stony manages to escape and later meets up with the woman who quickly and without real evidence convinces him she is on the side of good and manages to get him to help her. This makes no sense at all...as EVERYTHING she's done so far shows she's either evil OR willing to get Stony killed in order to do her mission. Plus there is that pesky dead body in her hotel room!

Later, Stony's even dumber friends are also convinced to work with her...though again, there's really no proof of who she claims to be and she's been lying almost constantly. Can the three of them manage to somehow help the good 'ol USA...or are they actually helping some Axis Annie destroy freedom and implement some reign of terror? Tune in to find out.

If the plot sounds NOTHING like a western, then you have a pretty good handle on the plot! Bizarre to say the least...and not much like later Mesquiteer flicks.

So is it any good? Well, it's pretty sloppily written and confusing, as a film should NOT portray its heroes as dummies...but this is the case. So, at least Elmer is in good company!

So is it enjoyable? Yes, but mildly so. It's not among the better films in the series and although Wayne is fine, he isn't given great material with which to work. Enjoyable for fans of the series but others might just want to try another one of the movies first.

By the way, in several other Mesquiteer films, the trio played lawmen or federal agents....which makes the plot here a bit harder to understand.

Pals of the Saddle (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The first of eight Three Mesquiteer films John Wayne made for Republic from 1938-39. In the film, Wayne is accused of murder so he and the two others must try and clear his name while bringing down bad guys trying to sell poison gas. This is one of the better films in the series that I've seen. Wayne is his usual self, although he certainly wasn't the legend he was to become. The story movies pretty fast at 55-minutes and the supporting cast adds nice support. The fight scenes are all pretty well done.