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Gangsters of the Frontier [VHS]

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Gangsters of the Frontier, 1944 film

This film features "The Texas Rangers" as a group of men who fight crime in the Old West. [The real Texas Rangers are an organization created when Texas was a republic; their members are appointed by and responsible to the Governor.] This story is dedicated to the law officers of the Old West in 1880. The story begins with a lone rider on the street of a small town. He enters the office of the sheriff of Red Rock. Other men ride into town, as if for a confrontation. The Kern boys are out of prison, and enter the sheriff's office with drawn guns to retrieve two trophy pistols. Will they now run the town? Lone rider Dave disagrees, shots are fired. The Kern boys want to take over the businesses in town. Now they grab men off the street for forced labor.

Can Sheriff Tex enlist the townspeople in this fight? People will be afraid of joining. One of the gang is a music critic. The men in the barn can escape during the shoot-out at the Merritt house. "I'll tell them what to do." [The telegraph company was a small business in those days.] The forced labor for the Kern boys will be paid in company scrip, paper money with no intrinsic value unlike specie. People are afraid of the outlaws. [Like in "High Noon"?] Tex explains this is a free country, people can fight for what is right. Tex sings a song that is appropriate to the occasion. Mrs. Merritt wants equal rights for women. They organize volunteers, and will strike the first blow at night. They will stop the outlaws from stealing people's property. [There are many mines in that local area.] Tex and Dave capture the guards of one mine, then set off an explosion to destroy the mine. Other mines are destroyed. [Economic sabotage.]

Jane Deering operates the telegraph. [Women and boys were hired as telegraph operators in the 19th century.] Tex and Dave understand the lack of a reply from Jane. The Kern boys plan to use Jane to send a false call for help and bring the Rangers into a trap. "We ain't afraid of no trap." Pete cleans his frying pan. These Rangers will head for Red Rock and a show down with the Kern gang. There is shooting from ambush. Men stop to reload their pistols. Dave has a fight in court. There is poetic justice for the Kern boys. Their gang is rounded up. Panhandle Pete frees Miss Jane. The honest citizens triumph for a happy ending. Some loose ends are left untied (the spy for the Kern boys).

"Tex Ritter" is an appropriate name for a cowboy. This film is set in 1880, but Jane's hairstyle says the 1940s. The Kern boys tried to make Red Rock into a Company Town where workers received low pay for company scrip. Upton Sinclair's "King Coal" explained how this worked.