Pirates of the Prairie (1942) User Reviews (5)

Besting The Vigilantes

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 30 October 2006]

Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Holt is sent to a part of Texas where a committee of vigilantes rule the roost. They've had a kind of unofficial sanction to operate in the area as there is no regularly constituted law. But there've been complaints of late so Tim is asked to investigate and put them out of business if necessary.

It sure is necessary all right. Western villain Roy Barcroft has taken over the vigilantes to use in a scheme to get land for a railroad depot and right-of-way.

For a bunch of films that Holt made at this time for RKO where he was their B western cowboy star, he had for a sidekick Cliff 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards. Note that in several films in this time period before Holt went to war, Edwards was used. He was a big singing star in the twenties whose career was on the skids until Walt Disney used him as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. Edwards was the voice behind When You Wish Upon A Star, the Academy Award winning song of 1940. He then settled back into doing B films and lower for the rest of his film career. After Holt got out of the service he used Richard Martin as Chito Rafferty, his most famous sidekick.

Tim Holt always had straight forward B westerns with no subtle shadings of gray in the characters. This one is no different.

"I'll gamble with you, Mr. Deputy."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 14 January 2024]

Tim Holt appeared in seven B Westerns released in 1942, interrupted only by a terrific Orson Welles film, "The Magnificent Ambersons". One could argue that Holt's character in that film, George Minafer, might have been his finest performance, even if a bit one sided as an arrogant and petty individual. At least it demonstrated a range in Holt's repertoire that doesn't get a chance to come through in these sagebrush sagas.

This one is about as standard as they come. Two towns on either side of a dry wash are vying for a railroad right of way, and the vigilante committee of Spencerville is determined to make sure it gains the properties in its path to enrich its members. Depending on the era Western you get to see, the term 'vigilante' can be used for a committee of good guys or a bunch of villains. Here, the vigilantes are bad guys, terrorizing local ranchers and businessmen to sign over their holdings for a pittance or face the wrath of the baddies. As U. S. Deputy Marshal, Larry Durant (Tim Holt) is working undercover by order of his superior (Lee Shumway), in order to scope out the villains and put an end to the lawlessness.

This flick would have been enhanced by the inclusion of Richard Martin as Tim Holt's sidekick, but that wasn't to happen until Holt returned to pictures following World War II. Instead, we have a poor substitute in Cliff Edwards, nicknamed 'Ukelele Ike' for his preference for that instrument, but not in this story. He plays a guitar for a couple of tunes here, with the first song actually being quite humorous. Otherwise, the attempt at humor with his character is somewhat dubious, while getting in the middle of altercations between Durant and the villains. If you keep an eye on that scene where Ike is chased on horseback by outlaw Layton (Charles King), he's clipped in the shoulder from behind by Layton's gunshot, but when Deputy Durant catches up with him, there's blood on the front of his shirt!

Well, continuity wasn't all that important for these sagebrush yarns back in the day. You always knew the outcome before the story was over as well, as this time, Durant and the citizens of East Spencerville put an end to the vigilante lawlessness as they learn the railroad surveyor's decision to grant the railroad right of way to them. A running gag of Ike waiting for the arrival of his pen pal sweetheart to arrive by stagecoach closes out the story, but to his dismay, his gal Genevieve (Sedal Bennett) shows up with a ready-made family of five!!

Good Quick and Straight-Shooting

[boblipton · 6/10 · 30 October 2006]

This Tim Holt western is a remake of the 1940 LEGION OF THE LAWLESS, starring George O'Brien, Holt's predecessor as RKO's leading B western star. The plot is a good one, about Tim Holt being sent to deal with the vigilantes who are ruining the town, and Cliff Edwards (best known today as the voice of Jiminy Cricket) is on hand for comic relief and the occasional song. Holt is still a little callow for the lead in a western, but he has a few good moments and the gloss of good writing, some nice photography by Nick Musuraca and post production carry it along for the hour that it takes.

The westerns were the most conservative of movies and it shows in the occasional iris cuts. But some of that may be laid at the feet of director Breatherton, who directed B movies, mostly westerns, for a quarter of a century and who started out as an editor -- the ability to 'cut in the camera' led to an efficiently shot production. The result here is a fairly attractive western for fans of the genre.

The Badge

[michaelchager · 7/10 · 19 January 2024]

Holt was in Ambersons that year and later Sierra Madre. Not a problem that he was maybe the best of a certain type in that era. He used the freedom given in these B westerns to make some magic. This is about the sacredness of the badge. This has beautiful photography with a flawless print. Ike is a big plus here particularly with his remarkable singing. Without the horses this is nothing. The task of bringing law to the lawless led seamlessly to the message at the end to buy war bonds. Readily apparent is the reason for the B's: that democracy requires defending, vulnerable to the enemies of its future.

Pirates of the prairie

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 12 March 2024]

Tim Holt, as Deputy Marshal Larry Durant, is sent to Spencerville where a gang of vigilantes has been terrorizing the citizenry. Going undercover as a gunsmith, Larry quickly learns that the leader of the vigilantes, John Spencer (John Elliott), is an honest man who only seeks to establish law and order. The real brains behind the crimes, meanwhile, are revealed to be Spencer's brother-in-law, Lou Harmon (Roy Barcroft), and his chief henchman, Leighton (Charles King), who speculate in the coming of the railroad by forcing the townspeople to relinquish their land.

Pirates of the Prairie is a quality b-western that has an intriguing subject - vigilantes and rail road - and mixes action, humour and drama really well. It's quite engaging and well-plotted. Tim Holt is great as always and he's got a good sidekick in Cliff Edwards, who sings a couple of songs. Roy Barcroft, of course, plays the heavy.