ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

weezeralfalfa 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 actors varied. John Wayne was in only 8, including this one. With a run time of 54 min., it packs in a lot of scheming and action. This is an early example of George Sherman directing B westerns for Republic. Later, he would do the same for Columbia and then for Universal. Here, Wayne, as Stony, Roy Corrigan as Tucson, and Max Trehune, as Lullaby, are the 3 Mesquiteers. The latter occasionally got out his puppet Elmer for a bit of ventriloquism. Famous(or infamous) Louise Brooks is the token woman, who flirts a bit with Wayne. This was her last film, at 32. She was more striking in silent movies. Here, she's nothing special. Reportedly, she detested Hollywood, preferring European films........ The film involves a bizarre mix of horse and contemporary motorized transport. The villains all ride horses, and hold up buses that are carrying much gold, as well as passengers. Given the state of most roads, the buses couldn't go very fast. Strange that we never saw a car or truck? Small airplanes are also featured as a hopefully less risky and faster means of transporting gold. However, the bad men associated with the president of the bus company make the maiden flight of the new air company a harrowing experience, killing the copilot, and making the other passengers jump out, at least wearing parachutes.(Too bad they didn't require metal detectors back in those days) However, the pilot foils their planned landing spot(apparently across the Mexican border) when he jettisons the remaining fuel(strange that there is such a knob!), necessitating an emergency landing on a mountain. See the film(available for free at YouTube) for the rest of this thread.......The film started out weirdly, with Stony parachuting from Ned Hoyt's small plane. He lands not far from where Tucson and Lullaby are moseying along. They even brought his horse along. Stony says he jumped out because the gold-carrying bus is about to be robbed. How does he know this? Assuming he didn't hear their plans, presumably he saw a cluster of horsemen by the bus route and made a guess as to what they were up to. Anyway, the 3 make it to the bus just in time to scare away the bandits. They get a $1000. reward. After talking to Ned, he decides to invest this money in a larger , more substantial, plane, capable of carrying passengers(This last capability was a mistake, as soon revealed, and hardly useful for such a small town). Stoney goes to the ranchers and asks them to sell their cattle, to buy a share in the new company.(According to Tucson, the price of beef was abysmally low, anyway) The cattle were loaded in box cars to be taken to market. But the bus company gang again appeared and took over the train. However, one of the ranchers got away and told the 3 Mesquiteers, who rode quickly to intercept the moving train, to board it or shoot at the henchmen sitting on top of one car, like so many blackbirds sitting on a wire. After losing some, the latter surrendered, as Stony brought the train to a stop. Presumably, the cattle eventually got to market, although this thread is abandoned at this point.

bbmtwist A very competent B western, well edited and scored, but of no consequence, beyond entertainment.Wayne is charming, Brooks in her 13 scenes in a supporting role, is vocally and facially competent as a sound film actress, but not in any way special. Any back lot actress could have acted the role as well. Her last film, and indeed, it was not a loss. She was special as a silent actress, but on the sound screen, she was mediocre to competent at best.

Jim Tritten A real solid class "B" western with a pre-John Ford John Wayne at his shooting and roping best. Second of the "Three Mesquiteers" series, the plot is both far-fetched and intriguing for its ingenuity. Who would expect to go to a Saturday matinée and see a second billed western that involves the tactical integration of aerial spotting in defense of overland lines of communication, communications deception, gas hand grenades used to defend an improvised landing strip, parachuting cowboys and passengers, the hijacking and retaking of a cattle train, a talking ventriloquist's dummy in flight gear, and an in-flight robbery -- all within less than an hour! A more thorough examination of the plot reveals that John Wayne is aligned with the common folks against the evil and unscrupulous capitalist bus company owner who will go to no end to prevent the loss of his lucrative contract to carry the gold. I mean this movie introduces some basic economic theory into its entertainment. Quite a lot to process within such a short time. The bad guys are either shot outright, roped and hog-tied, or beaten into submission. Oh yes, Louise Brooks plays a quite forgettable part as the sister of the pilot. Not your run of the mill film. Not well made with a very lackluster ending, but worth your time. This one is a hoot!

stuthehistoryguy _Overland Stage Raiders_ marks the convergence of two great performers, one on her way out of film, the other about to begin the most successful run in film history. Louise Brooks, star of G.W. Papst's erotic masterpiece _Pandora's Box_, makes her last appearance in this run-of-the-mill, twentieth-century entry in the "Three Mesqueeters" series. Though the plot is a preposterous hodgepodge involving the opening of air freight service to an isolated cattle town, Brooks is ever the stunner next to John Wayne, who was still a year away from A-line box office success in _Stagecoach_.I recommend this film for three reasons:1. The sheer curiousity value. The greatest western actor opposite the greatest actress in the history of German Expressionism while he was on his way up and she was on her way out. They met in obscurity and went on to immortality.2. The chance to see the raw potential of John Wayne before his work with John Ford. The presence, the charisma, and the physicality that would make him a colossus are all here. Under a competent directior, these would bloom from reliable entertainment into art.3. Everyone should see a "Three Mesqueeters" movie. This is probably the best series of the 1930s "poverty row" films, and it is a pure joy to see the workmanlike love put into these programmers. They aren't auteur classics, but for many viewers in the period, they were what movies were all about.