One of 51 westerns by Republic in the late '30s and early'40s, under the banner of The Three Mesquiteers. The identity of the 3 players varied. John Wayne is involved in only 8 of them, and this is one of those. With a run time of only 55 min., it packs in a lot of scheming and action. Incidentally, although this is scripted as taking place in New Mexico Territory, the Santa Fe in the title refers to the small town of Santa Fe Junction, not to the capital! Also, the closest thing to a stampede is the mob milling around outside the jail where John Wayne, as Stoney Brooke, is being kept. This was early in director George Sherman's career at Republic. Later, he would move to Columbia, and then to Universal. Each time, he would direct B westerns, nearly exclusively. Luci Ward and Betty Burbridge combined to develop the screenplay, both writing the screenplays for primarily B westerns from the late '30s through the '40s.......Here, Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Max Trehune were the 3 Mesquiteers. The latter occasionally got out his Elmer puppet to practice some ventriloquism. Petite June Martel played Stoney's quasi-girlfriend. Her small sister, Julie Jane, was played by Genee Hall, while her small brother Billy was played by Martin Spellman, whose film career was limited to juvenile roles. William Farnum played their father, Dave Carson. LeRoy Mason played the kingpin villain Mayor Gil Byron. Ferris Taylor ,as Judge Hixon, and Dick Rush, as Sheriff Tom, were his two main accomplices in obstructing law and order in the town......It was a gold vein that the Carsons discovered that forms the basis of the story. Mayor Byron and his cronies and henchmen want to take the mine away from the Carsons. To do so legally, they must obtain an ore sample. Toward this end, Byron sends 2 men out to sneak into the mine to get a sample. As they leave on 2 of Carson's horses, Billy shoots at them, alerting the others, who chase them. One is caught, but the other has the ore sample. Stony and bunch take the one to the sheriff, who tells them they need a court order to put him in jail. So, they go to the judge, who obliges them. However, he says there is be a trial right away. The sheriff brings the prisoner over, with a bunch men. One of the men says he couldn't be the thief, since he was working with the defendant at the time. Based on this flimsy evidence, the judge dismisses the case. Stony pipes up "This isn't a court. It's a three ring circus", and is fined for contempt of court. Soon, Stony starts a petition to be sent to the governor, that these corrupt officials be fired. Dave Carson is selected to take this to the governor while, at the same time, Stony takes his ore report to the claims office , in another town. The mayor sends two men to kill Carson, and return with the petition. This they do. However, little Julie Jan was also in the buckboard(why?), which went over a cliff, without a driver. It was assumed she died. Her reported death incensed the town people. Meanwhile, the mayor decided to charge Stony with the crime, since he was away from town at the time. He was jailed on this flimsy evidence, and a mob gathered, demanding that he be lynched. When the sheriff opened the door, Nancy slipped in but, mysteriously, fainted before reaching Stony. The impatient mayor ordered that the jail be set afire. There soon were several big fires within the jail. Then, several sticks of dynamite were thrown into the jail, One blew out a wall allowing Stony to escape, with Nancy in his arms, surviving the fire and smoke inhalation. This whole sequence, beginning with Nancy's fainting, is totally unbelievable. Other than this last part, I enjoyed the film , which was based on a good screenplay. See the ending of the film, at YouTube, for instance.
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