Almost anyone who grew up during and after the World War II years will recognize this shoot 'em up as similar to hundreds of quickie Westerns filmed during the period. I bought the film for $5 or less just to see what they were really like and, boy, it is exactly as I remember. I have seen chases and gun fights in and around the same rocks and trails in this film as in countless other Saturday matinées. If you do remember what it was like to sit through two of these plus shorts, cartoons and previews, you can refresh your memory and step back to a time when the movies were innocent and the good guys really did beat the bad guys . . . every time, all in less than one hour.
11 Reviews
Keeping everyone out of Denver
bkoganbing24 March 2013
Roy Barcroft has a nasty scheme in mind to get some land for a stagecoach right of way for his line to Denver. It involves murdering a real land commissioner and substituting his man to make some new surveys and move people's claims around. All he has to do is keep people from going to Denver and worse keep folks from Denver away from his town. Unfortunately it's the town where Red Ryder and Little Beaver reside.
In the faked accident that killed the real commissioner and the stage driver a little boy was badly injured with a broken spine. Little Bobby Hyatt is taken to Emmet Lynn's place where he's doctored and his only living relative an aunt in Denver is sent for.
That's what Barcroft has to avoid, someone from Denver who would know the real new commissioner. So he substitutes Peggy Stewart for the aunt, but he doesn't let her in on all his plans. And Stewart turns out to have a heart and real concern for young Hyatt.
Of course Allan Lane and Robert Blake as the famous Red Ryder and Little Beaver figure it all out. As Barcroft says, Ryder's no fool.
Lane was taking over the Red Ryder series from Wild Bill Elliott whom Herbert J. Yates was starting to put into some big budget items in the hope he might have a breakout the way his other contract cowboy John Wayne did. It never quite worked out for Lane, but he handles the Red Ryder role well and later did it on television. And of course he was the voice of that horse of course, the famous Mister Ed.
Stagecoach To Denver might have rated another star had Barcroft who is presented to us as crafty and ruthless committed one more murder he should have. You'll have to see this Red Ryder western to see why.
In the faked accident that killed the real commissioner and the stage driver a little boy was badly injured with a broken spine. Little Bobby Hyatt is taken to Emmet Lynn's place where he's doctored and his only living relative an aunt in Denver is sent for.
That's what Barcroft has to avoid, someone from Denver who would know the real new commissioner. So he substitutes Peggy Stewart for the aunt, but he doesn't let her in on all his plans. And Stewart turns out to have a heart and real concern for young Hyatt.
Of course Allan Lane and Robert Blake as the famous Red Ryder and Little Beaver figure it all out. As Barcroft says, Ryder's no fool.
Lane was taking over the Red Ryder series from Wild Bill Elliott whom Herbert J. Yates was starting to put into some big budget items in the hope he might have a breakout the way his other contract cowboy John Wayne did. It never quite worked out for Lane, but he handles the Red Ryder role well and later did it on television. And of course he was the voice of that horse of course, the famous Mister Ed.
Stagecoach To Denver might have rated another star had Barcroft who is presented to us as crafty and ruthless committed one more murder he should have. You'll have to see this Red Ryder western to see why.
Uncle Red saves Dickie
ejrjr10 August 2007
Allan Lane is Red Ryder and Robert Blake is Little Beaver in this outing which revolves around a double-crossing stagecoach owner in Elkhorn, Colorado and Dickie, an injured orphan who needs a risky back operation.
The script is above average and the ending although predictable has an unusual twist. There are some good chase scenes and gun battles plus several subplots which help make this a cut above average.
Red is a stagecoach driver for the Duchess, owner of the line south of Elkhorn. However, for unexplained reasons, Red does not regularly work. Instead, he he is consumed with exposing a fake land commissioner and his cohorts including the sheriff of Elkhorn.
If you like Red Ryder you will like this film. If you have not watched Red Ryder, this is a good choice to first watch.
The script is above average and the ending although predictable has an unusual twist. There are some good chase scenes and gun battles plus several subplots which help make this a cut above average.
Red is a stagecoach driver for the Duchess, owner of the line south of Elkhorn. However, for unexplained reasons, Red does not regularly work. Instead, he he is consumed with exposing a fake land commissioner and his cohorts including the sheriff of Elkhorn.
If you like Red Ryder you will like this film. If you have not watched Red Ryder, this is a good choice to first watch.
The usual b-western
JLarson200620 October 2001
This movie follows the b-movie western tradition. Red Ryder's sidekick, played by Robert Blake, appears little and has few lines, so if you want to find out about his acting as a child, this isn't the place. The story doesn't particularly stand out to me, but it's entertaining enough for the 10-year-olds it was produced for (although I'm not sure it would work with today's 10-year-olds). Peggy Stewart's character is the most interesting. She is a bad girl who spends the duration of the film turning good.
"It's no use, I'm afraid she's done for".
classicsoncall24 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I'm kind of partial to the Bill Elliott Red Ryder's, but this one's pretty entertaining with Allan 'Rocky' Lane in the lead role, and young Bobby Blake (that would be Robert Blake for you Baretta fans) as his sidekick Little Beaver. Actually, Little Beaver doesn't have a very prominent role here, in fact it was well after the half way point before he even got a line of dialog.
The story has the crooked town boss Lambert (Roy Barcroft) having his henchman Blackie (George Chesebro) sabotage an Overland Stagecoach by tampering with the hitch, and it goes careening over a cliff, killing the land commissioner en route to Elkhorn. With the commissioner out of the way, Lambert's replacement will redraw the survey lines to gain control of property owned by Red's friend Coonskin (Emmett Lynn).
As standard as the story is for a B Western, there's an unusual element offered here that I've only seen one other time in about five hundred I've watched to date. Lambert's attractive accomplice (Peggy Stewart) starts to go soft while caring for an injured young boy with a broken back, and she's just about ready to turn on her boss. Fearing the jig is up, Lambert unleashes his boys in a final shootout against the good guys, and Stewart's character gets shot in the back! Too bad, she was better looking than a lot of women who showed up in these pictures.
For action fans, I would recommend catching the film for the brawl between Red Ryder and baddie Lambert. It was rather well done, with the boys taking out quite a bit of furniture in a realistic looking fight. The quick talking Lambert had Red arrested for his trouble, but it wasn't long before old Coonskin broke him out of jail in time for Red to make the save for the good guys.
The story has the crooked town boss Lambert (Roy Barcroft) having his henchman Blackie (George Chesebro) sabotage an Overland Stagecoach by tampering with the hitch, and it goes careening over a cliff, killing the land commissioner en route to Elkhorn. With the commissioner out of the way, Lambert's replacement will redraw the survey lines to gain control of property owned by Red's friend Coonskin (Emmett Lynn).
As standard as the story is for a B Western, there's an unusual element offered here that I've only seen one other time in about five hundred I've watched to date. Lambert's attractive accomplice (Peggy Stewart) starts to go soft while caring for an injured young boy with a broken back, and she's just about ready to turn on her boss. Fearing the jig is up, Lambert unleashes his boys in a final shootout against the good guys, and Stewart's character gets shot in the back! Too bad, she was better looking than a lot of women who showed up in these pictures.
For action fans, I would recommend catching the film for the brawl between Red Ryder and baddie Lambert. It was rather well done, with the boys taking out quite a bit of furniture in a realistic looking fight. The quick talking Lambert had Red arrested for his trouble, but it wasn't long before old Coonskin broke him out of jail in time for Red to make the save for the good guys.
Inoffensive Red Ryder Adventure
FightingWesterner16 June 2014
With their crooked land scheme in trouble, villains sabotage a stagecoach, killing the local land commissioner and seriously wounding a young boy, before switching the boy's aunt and the commissioner's replacement with impostors, leading to the inevitable range war.
An alright, though trite entry in Republic Pictures' Red Ryder series, based on the popular comic strip, this stars Ron Lane as Ryder and Robert Blake as his pint-sized Indian sidekick Little Beaver. A fair amount of gun-play and a compact running time almost make up for the bland heroes and villains and so-so production values, which aren't quite as good as other, mostly earlier Republic B-westerns.
Peggy Stewart stands out as the attractive pretend aunt, who's re-awakened maternal instincts lead to a crisis of conscious.
An alright, though trite entry in Republic Pictures' Red Ryder series, based on the popular comic strip, this stars Ron Lane as Ryder and Robert Blake as his pint-sized Indian sidekick Little Beaver. A fair amount of gun-play and a compact running time almost make up for the bland heroes and villains and so-so production values, which aren't quite as good as other, mostly earlier Republic B-westerns.
Peggy Stewart stands out as the attractive pretend aunt, who's re-awakened maternal instincts lead to a crisis of conscious.
Twist Ending
dougdoepke14 February 2016
Plot-heavy oater that still manages its share of action. Red and Little Beaver are drawn into an elaborate land stealing scheme headed up by town biggie Bill Lambert (Barcroft) who always seems one set ahead. That's not hard since he's got the sheriff, the land commissioner, a gang, and lovely May Barnes (Stewart) helping out. Looks like Red and the forces of good are in big trouble.
There's a good share of hard riding, fast shooting, and one flying fist brawl. Even that old standby location area, the San Fernando Valley, has a few scenic shots to help the eye. At the same time, Lane makes a first-rate sagebrush hero, while the hulking Barcroft shines as a city slicker instead of his usual gangland thug. Add eye-candy Stewart who shows her acting chops, and the 50-some minutes passes pleasurably. But most of all, catch that very unconventional ending that I sure didn't see coming. Kudoes to Republic for adding something different.
A "7" on the Matinée Scale
There's a good share of hard riding, fast shooting, and one flying fist brawl. Even that old standby location area, the San Fernando Valley, has a few scenic shots to help the eye. At the same time, Lane makes a first-rate sagebrush hero, while the hulking Barcroft shines as a city slicker instead of his usual gangland thug. Add eye-candy Stewart who shows her acting chops, and the 50-some minutes passes pleasurably. But most of all, catch that very unconventional ending that I sure didn't see coming. Kudoes to Republic for adding something different.
A "7" on the Matinée Scale
Phony Replacement
StrictlyConfidential9 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"Stagecoach To Denver" was originally released back in 1946.
Anyway - As the story goes - The Commissioner is killed in a stagecoach wreck that has been carefully orchestrated by Lambert. Lambert then replaces the Commissioner with an imposter who plans to falsify Coonskin's land survey. When Red Ryder exposes the imposter and his scam, the tenacious Lambert has his puppet sheriff put our hero in the hoosegow.
Anyway - As the story goes - The Commissioner is killed in a stagecoach wreck that has been carefully orchestrated by Lambert. Lambert then replaces the Commissioner with an imposter who plans to falsify Coonskin's land survey. When Red Ryder exposes the imposter and his scam, the tenacious Lambert has his puppet sheriff put our hero in the hoosegow.
You can't fool the good guys.
mark.waltz24 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A better than average story for a B western, this Red Ryder film (my first) is short and filled with action, drama and thrills. The story focuses on the kidnapping of a young boy's aunt, his possible paralysis after a stagecoach accident, and the passing off of a con-artist with a heart as the aunt in the effort to aide a big wig land grabber after the boy's family's property. Bobby Hyatt is the sweet ailing kid and Peggy Stewart is the phony aunt who is actually quite lovely. They join series regulars Allen Lane, Bobby Blake, Martha Wentworth and Roy Barcroft. Emmett Lynn is a carbon copy of Gabby Hayes. I liked the fact that this really seemed like it could happen anywhere, not just in the old west, and seemed to have a sense of theatricality to it. The ending doesn't strive for a typical happy conclusion, yet brings at least a sense of atonement, even in a really surprising way.
One of the weakest in the Red Ryder series
danashley26 January 2005
This is the first of the 7 Allan Lane Red Ryders. Lane replaced Wild Bill Elliott as Red Ryder after Elliott did 16 and his are generally considered superior. Robert (Baretta) Blake played Little Beaver in all 23 Ryder films although his role in this one is minor. The plot is the basic land grab by the town's big businessman.The only innovation is the use of a female (who smokes!) as one of the villains.There is a little boy with a broken back who unrealistically gets carried around like a football (even by the doctor) and the action is minimal including a couple of gunfights and one brawl. Red Ryder was one of the best of the "B" western series of the 40's,.This entry however was weak.
Snappy Red Ryder western
coltras3521 November 2020
Really enjoyable western with the usual plethora of fast galloping, shooting and some good stunts. Backing this up is a good story and characters, especially Peggy Stewart, who is working for the villain Roy Barcroft, but goes soft for an injured kid. Rocky Allan Lane is a dependable,solid hero. There's a really tough fight scene between him and the villain. The ending has an unusual twist.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
