The Lone Star Trail (1943)

You won't be disappointed!

How sad is this?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The Lone Star Trail pairs two B picture cowboy heroes Johnny Mack Brown and Tex Ritter in a tale of investigation and apprehension, the result of which would be to clear a man who has already served two years in prison for a robbery he didn't commit.The innocent man is one of our heroes Johnny Mack Brown and being on parole he can't carry a six gun which would cramp the style of any cowboy hero. That's all right because Tex Ritter who is really an undercover government agent gets in enough shooting for both of them.Lots of action is involved to cover up a poorly plotted script because the bad guys are out to get Brown even before he's set foot in town. Seems to me that all they had to do was keep a cool head and do nothing suspicious and Brown or Ritter couldn't have touched them.Fuzzy Knight has some good scenes as the sidekick who is also the town barber and Jennifer Holt, daughter of Jack and sister of Tim, looks pretty in her cowgirl outfit as the girl Johnny Mack Brown left behind. And one of the villains, none other than Robert Mitchum at the beginning of his long and illustrious career.For fans of B westerns and Robert Mitchum completists.

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.

Forget the story here pardners, you'll be doing a double take when you see who shows up in this one. He's listed as Bob in the credits, but if you're a movie fan, there's no denying that villain Ben Slocum is played by Robert Mitchum! You just never know who's going to show up in these old B Westerns from the Thirties and Forties, and catching a name like Mitchum is an unexpected treat.From 1939 to 1943, Johnny Mack Brown did twenty eight films for Universal, teaming with Bob Baker for a half dozen, going it alone for another fifteen pictures, and then joined by Tex Ritter for seven more. Along with Fuzzy Knight, they formed an unofficial trio of sorts, portraying different characters in their films together. It also wasn't unusual to see the Jimmy Wakely Trio adding some musical accompaniment to the story, along with veterans Earl Hodgins and Jennifer Holt, all of whom appeared in "The Lone Star Trail".In the story, Brown is fresh out of jail after being framed by Slocum and his cronies, which include the Mayor of Dead Falls, Cyrus Jenkins. Jenkins is portrayed by Earle Hodgins, who usually turns up in Westerns as a comic relief character, but he plays it straight here. I prefer him in his comic bits, he just has the right looks and temperament for those kinds of roles, like he did in "The Old Chisholm Trail", another Brown/Ritter/Knight story. There he played the part of Indian Hopping Crow.Tex Ritter shows up in an opening scene when he backs up JMB during a stagecoach attack by the outlaws. Their characters are unknown to each other at the start of the show, which is why I mentioned earlier that they were an unofficial trio with Fuzzy. Though they often share the same goals in their pictures, they don't necessarily work together, but criss-cross each other as the story plays out. In this one Fargo Steele (Ritter) has to pull Blaze Barker's (Brown) fat out of the fire more than once before it's all over.With a lively saloon brawl and some well placed tunes by Wakely's group, this is a fairly entertaining and quick paced Western. One interesting bit of trivia - in the picture I mentioned earlier, "The Old Chisholm Trail" - Tex joins the Jimmy Wakely Trio around the campfire to sing a song called 'The Lone Star Trail' - what were the odds?!!

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.