Pirates of the Prairie (1942)

This film opens with two small Arizona towns, Spencerville and East Spencerville, separated by a dry gulch and a feud, and governed by a Vigilante Committee. Lew Harmon, committee member ... See full summary »

Director:

Howard Bretherton

Writers:

J. Benton Cheney (screenplay), Berne Giler (story),

Stars:

Tim Holt, Cliff Edwards, Nell O'Day

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tim Holt	...	Deputy Marshal Larry Durant
Cliff Edwards	...	Ike (as Cliff 'Ukulele Ike' Edwards)
Nell O'Day	...	Helen Spencer
John Elliott	...	John Spencer (as John H. Elliott)
Roy Barcroft	...	Lew Harmon
Karl Hackett	...	Rufe Jackson
Ed Cassidy	...	Chief Surveyor Allen
Charles King	...	Henchman Layton

Storyline

This film opens with two small Arizona towns, Spencerville and East Spencerville, separated by a dry gulch and a feud, and governed by a Vigilante Committee. Lew Harmon, committee member and also leader of the crooked element, is using the masked band for his own purpose to terrorize ranchers, and to grab the land and force the railroad to pay high right-of-way prices. Deputy U.S. Marshal Larry Durant, sent to investigate, poses as a gunsmith, and is ordered out of town by Harmon. Helen Spencer, the banker's daughter, discovers the railroad survey is finished and later, Harmon tricks Ike into telling him where the line will run. Larry trails Harmon's henchmen to East Spencerville and breaks up an extortion scheme. This convinces banker John Spencer of the treachery of Harmon and the vigilantes, but he is killed by Harmon before he can disband the committee. Larry, after Ike is wounded trying to help him, rounds up the citizens of East Spencerville and sets a trap for the criminals.

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Plot Keywords:

remake

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Taglines:

WAR OUT WEST...as bullets whine and fists fly!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Piratas da Montanha

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of Legion of the Lawless (1940)

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Soundtracks

"Where The Mountains Meet The Moonlight"
Written by Fred Rose and Ray Whitley
Sung by Cliff Edwards

User Reviews

Besting The Vigilantes

Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Holt is sent to a part of Texas where a committee of vigilantes rule the roost. They've had a kind of unofficial sanction to operate in the area as there is no regularly constituted law. But there've been complaints of late so Tim is asked to investigate and put them out of business if necessary.

It sure is necessary all right. Western villain Roy Barcroft has taken over the vigilantes to use in a scheme to get land for a railroad depot and right-of-way.

For a bunch of films that Holt made at this time for RKO where he was their B western cowboy star, he had for a sidekick Cliff 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards. Note that in several films in this time period before Holt went to war, Edwards was used. He was a big singing star in the twenties whose career was on the skids until Walt Disney used him as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. Edwards was the voice behind When You Wish Upon A Star, the Academy Award winning song of 1940. He then settled back into doing B films and lower for the rest of his film career. After Holt got out of the service he used Richard Martin as Chito Rafferty, his most famous sidekick.

Tim Holt always had straight forward B westerns with no subtle shadings of gray in the characters. This one is no different.