Bandit Ranger (1942)

Best movie of this year hands down!

A Masterpiece!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Having been to "Corriganville", where this shindig was filmed, I recognized some of the filming spots... it's a county park now. Was owned by actor Ray Corrigan, then by Bob Hope (what land in LA or Palm Springs WASN'T owned by Bob Hope at some point?) Your typical oatburner... a dead body is found out in the desert, but when they bring the body back in town, they must figure out who-dunnit. Tim Holt is the good guy, and he's up against the bad bad crew in town. Leroy Mason is the "bad guy", but Clay (Holt) wants to gather as much info as he can before any confrontation. Of course, Cliff Edwards is in here as the sidekick ... he was in so many black & white films as the singer, the comedian, the sidekick, AND probably best known as the voice of Disney's Jiminy Cricket for YEARS. Kind of a slow, droll plot here, but lots of horses, cowboy hats, The dead guy's sister comes to town for a visit, and of course, things get complicated when they don't tell her the brother is dead. Clay gets caught up in the plot, and must prove his own innocence. Directed by Lesley Selander, who had directed TWENTY westerns with Tim Holt, so they certainly had a good working relationship. Story by the prolific Bennet Cohen. he had TONS of stories made into both short and full length films, silents and talkies. It's OK. It's exactly what one expects from an old timey western. kind of interesting that this was made before the good guys in white clothes, bad guys in black clothes theme.

Tim Holt oater has our hero once again falsely accused of murder, arrested, escapes, and then must clear his good name. Jiminy Cricket plays Holt's sidekick, er, I mean Cliff Edwards, who'd later go on to voice Jiminy Cricket, plays Holt's sidekick. It's nothing you haven't seen before in other low budget Holt RKO westerns, but if you enjoy this sort of thing, which I do, you'll likely be entertained by Holt doing the Holt western thing.

Cattle rustling is a problem affecting a small town in the old West. A ranger is sent to clean things up, but he is killed on his way to the town. Tim Holt (the "man in black", who is actually the good guy) shows up just after the ranger is shot. He learns the man's name, Frank Mattison, and is asked by him to give his stenciled money belt to his sister (Joan Barclay), who will be arriving soon on the stagecoach. Holt then takes the dead man's body into town where he witnesses Martin (popular Western stock actor LeRoy Mason) claiming to be Mattison. Martin actually works for Frank Curtis (another popular stock actor), the cattle rustler's leader. Holt decides to keep quiet to uncover the rustling scheme and leaves the money belt with someone at the bank.When Curtis learns of Mattison's sister coming to town, he decides to have his men cause the stagecoach to have an accident. But Holt, who had already anticipated something like this, knowing that she could identify Martin as a fake, assembles his men and rescues the runaway stagecoach. They then stow her at Holt's ranch. However, when Holt returns to town, Martin and Curtis confront him and accuse him of killing the real Mattison. Martin claims that he was posing as Mattison because he was his partner, sent in incognito in advance to catch the rustlers. They take Holt to the bank to prove their accusation and, when the money belt stenciled with Mattison's name is presented, they convince even some of Holt's allies of his guilt. But Holt escapes with help from his goofy, singing sidekick Ike (Cliff Edwards, the uncredited voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (1940)), and hatches a plan to clear his name.Mattison's sister is "convinced" that Holt killed her brother. However, with a telegram from the Marshall's office that only Mattison was sent in, and not another man (e.g. Martin) undercover as well, Holt proves his innocence to her, winning her assistance. Holt then discovers the rustlers secret hideout (where the cattle are) and, using the same telegram, convinces his former townsfolk allies to help capture Martin and Curtis' gang. There is a spectacular shootout with several fight sequences which conclude the story, though Ike gets a new suit (had sent a previous telegram to order) and falls in mud to end the film with a gag.

Although this is a Tim Holt western, the title role is played by perennial western villain LeRoy Mason who plays a killer who shoots down a Texas Ranger and steals his badge and identity. It is rancher Tim Holt who hears the shooting and comes to a dying Dennis Moore who points Holt to a moneybelt he was wearing that Mason and his henchmen didn't notice. It contains a letter of identification and some money that he was carrying for his sister Joan Barclay who was meeting him in town.Holt does not expose Mason when he brings in Moore's body, he's hoping in some way that Mason will lead him to who's doing a lot of cattle rustling. But that proves a little too clever and Mason turns the table on him and it's Tim that's wanted for Moore's murder.This was usually the kind of gambit you might more often find in a Roy Rogers western although usually played for a little more humor. Nevertheless Tim does carry it off.Cliff Edwards whose career had a renaissance of sorts when he introduced When You Wish Upon A Star for Walt Disney in Pinnochio is playing the sidekick role for Tim Holt. That's another thing you would find in a Rogers western, a sidekick who was too stupid to know what was going on so Holt would have to explain his moves to him and the audience. Andy Devine was usually just such a sidekick in many Roy Rogers films of the Forties.Again a quality B western from RKO for Tim Holt.