After a devastating flood wipes out the farms and homes of a large area in the Midwest, a man by the name of "Phineas T. Flagg" (Kenneth Harlan) appears and offers to sell them prime land in Arizona for an extremely cheap rate. Not realizing how deceptive this man has been in the past, the local people take him up on his offer and sell everything they have to purchase the deeds to these lands from him. Sure enough, once they finally arrive in Arizona, they learn that the land they just purchased is about to be flooded due to the construction of a dam and that the contract they signed leaves them no option to negotiate with the federal government about it. Fortunately, there just happens to be three cowboys named "Tucson Smith" (Ray Corrigan), "Stony Brook" (Robert Livingston) and "Lullaby Joslin" (Max Terhune) in that part of Arizona who are wise to Phineas T. Flagg and know how to deal with conmen like him. But the question soon becomes whether these "Three Mesquiteers" will be able to help these settlers before the federal government floods the area and leaves them homeless again. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I was somewhat disappointed with this film for a couple of reasons. For starters, I don't particularly care that much for the comedic antics of Lullaby Joslin and this film featured him way too much. Yet as bad as his comedy routine was, the director (Joseph Kane) then threw in another character named "Elmer Twiddlebaum" (Lou Fulton) who was even worse. Fortunately, things improved during the second half of the film which almost salvaged the movie overall. But on the whole, it just wasn't enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.
Review of Gunsmoke Ranch
