Robbers of the Range (1941)
Robbers of the Range (1941)
This Tim Holt B-Western was directed by Edward Killy and written by Morton Grant and Arthur V. Jones from a story by Oliver Drake. Holt plays rancher Jim Drummond who assumes the name of a notorious gunslinger named Curly Yantis (initially played by Malcolm McTaggart) in order to infiltrate J.R. Rankin’s (LeRoy Mason) gang. Rankin ostensibly working for a railroad run by Colonel Lodge (George Melford) decides to deal with the ranchers whose land they need unscrupulously by cutting their fences burning their crops and framing them for murder.
Rankin’s land agent Greeley (Ernie Adams) and his henchman Monk Saunders (Tom London) attempt to steal Drummond’s land by shooting his neighbor in the back then conspiring to accuse the honest rancher of murder in order to steal his land. They attempt to use the same trick later to convict Roy Tremaine (Howard Hickman) of murdering Frank Higgins (Frank LaRue) but Drummond – as Yantis – and his two bumbling sidekicks Smokey (Ray Whitley) and Whopper (Emmett Lynn) are able to frustrate and ultimately expose the plot before a movie ending shootout.
B Western star George O’Brien’s leading lady Virginia Vale plays the female lead – Alice the daughter of rancher Tremaine – in her only Tim Holt B Western role while Ray Bennett plays Rankin’s lead gunslinger/enforcer Sam Daggett.
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