Rustlers

Solid Holt-Martin programmer. Riding into town, the boys are looking for a job. Trouble is that rustlers have driven many local ranchers into penury, so no jobs for the guys. But who is this rustler gang and who's leading them. The guys, of course, get caught up in the struggle, but can they out- tough ranch girl Ruthie (Hyer) who keeps getting the drop on our heroes.

The plot's fairly standard with a mystery mastermind, a saloon, and lots of hard-riding. Naturally, Chito can't keep his mind on business with bar-girl Trixie (Andrews) wiggling around. Good thing no- nonsense Holt's on the case. So there's got to be some fast-shooting and a saloon bout of flying fists to spice things up. Plus, there's some pretty good scenery from what looks like the piney Big Bear area northeast of LA. At least it's not the cheaper scrublands of LA area. And catch the fiery showdown, more budget consuming than most. All in all, the programmer's nothing special, but workhorse director Selander does keep things moving, while our heroes are in fine form, as usual. Anyway, the results are sure good enough for this front-row geezer.

Dick and Chito are nearly broke when they ride into Bisbee, Arizona. They hope to find work at a ranch owned by Frank Abbott (Addison Richards), but Abbott is having trouble staying in business due to cattle rustlers. When Chito unexpectedly wins a large sum of money he and Dick want to invest in Abbott's ranch, but a series of circumstances leads Abbott to believe that Dick and Chito are the rustlers.

It always amazes how one can fit everything in a 60 minute film, adding the right amount of action, excitement, villainy and plot twists - Tim Holt and Chito are looking for work but end up finding trouble in this good entry that has many obstacles set for them. With the help of Lois Andrews who plays Trixie, a saloon gal and Chito's gal, they clear their name, but not with out some hard riding and gun play. There's some fine locations, loads of pine trees.

I am watching Rustlers (1949) on TCM right now. It's an above average Tim Holt western. Cowboys Dick McBride (Tim Holt) and Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) wander into the middle of a rustling racket. The rustlers steal cattle and then ransom them back to the owners. The leaders of the gang are saloon owner Brad Carew (Frank Fenton) and his henchman Mort Wheeler (Steve Brodie). Saloon singer Trixie Fontaine (Lois Andrews) is with the good guys. Ranch owner Frank Abbott (Addison Richards) and his daughter Ruth (Martha Hyer) are victims of the rustlers. The script is good, the dialogue believable, and the background scenery makes the viewer wish that the movie was in color. The climax is a very exciting shootout.

Young brunette Martha Hyer plays Ruth Abbott as a young lady who wears men's clothes and a six gun. She looks really good in her cowboy hat and boots. Martha played in numerous B-westerns during her early movie career. In 1959 she would be nominated for a best supporting actress academy award for her role in "Some Came Running." Martha deserved to win for her performance in that film.

Lois Andrews plays Trixie Fontaine, she was married to Steve Brodie (who plays Mort Wheeler) when "Rustlers" was made. They were the parents of actor Kevin Brodie. Sadly, Lois died at the young age of 44 from lung cancer.

Rustlers (1949) is a very entertaining B-western. It's well worth watching, especially for the performance of the young Martha Hyer.

One thing I have to say on this particular Tim Holt western. As you can tell by the title it has to do with cattle rustling, not exactly an original theme in westerns. But these Rustlers have put a really different twist on the crime of cattle stealing.

The biggest problem in cattle rustling reasons saloon owner Frank Fenton and the payoff guy in the racket is that you have to move the cattle to market after you've changed the brands and sell them. It's the moving and changing that get you caught. So what these outlaws do is take the cattle and hold them for ransom. What the owner pays to get them back is pure profit without a lot of work.

Tim Holt and Richard Martin stumble into this racket when they get a hold of some marked bills that the ranchers marked in an effort to trap whoever is behind all this. These outlaws aren't dumb and they've got the best kind of resources.

The climax is a thrilling one where the outlaws have Tim Holt trapped in a burning building during a shootout. Very well staged by veteran B western director Lesley Selander.

One of Tim Holt's best westerns for RKO.

The Salt River Gang is hounding a group of Arizona ranchers. They are desperate to uncover the rustlers' identities. Dick McBride and Chito Rafferty get falsely jailed and they have to clear their names.

The spanking is funny and dated... and funny. The jail break is also fun. It's a functional B-western. There is some fine horsemanship and some passable stunts and functional shootouts. I'm not familiar with these actors but they seem to have good charisma. This is good for what it is.