Ambush Trail (1946) User Reviews (6)

Greedy by nature

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 4 October 2015]

Ambush Trail from PRC studio has Bob Steele as a young rancher who might have picked the wrong time and place to settle on a ranch he's just bought. The other ranchers in the valley are being starved out by a gang led by perennial western villain I. Stanford Jolley who won't let wagons with supplies get through. Jolley's planning to acquire the whole valley if he can. Why he wants it stays a mystery unless he's just greedy by nature.

Steele is suspected it in the murder of sheriff Henry Hall, but Deputy and brother to sheriff Kermit Maynard trusts him. One look at Jolley's men and I can understand that.

In fact there's a big old surprise waiting for Jolley at the end of the film. He slipped up big time in his scheme though not for lack of trying.

The plot does get a bit confusing, but Ambush Trail holds up well for Bob Steele fans.

"Shucks, you ain't any smarter than we are!"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 17 May 2015]

Here's a typical B Western story coming out of the 1940's, but if you're a fan of this stuff like I am, you manage to find something unique in each one. Syd Saylor provides the comic relief here as the partner of Bob Steele's character, Curley Thompson, using a running double-talk gag about a charley horse, which if you listen closely enough almost makes some sense.

If you've seen enough of these old time oaters, you'll easily identify the baddies, led this time by I. Stanford Jolley as Hatch Bolton. His henchmen include Charles King as Al Craig, and John Cason as Ed Blaine. It's a common scenario, Bolton's scheme to force the local ranchers into selling out to him is carried out by controlling the supplies and livestock feed heading into town, and if the ranchers can't buy it, they have to pack it in.

With a clue provided by a rancher shot through the window of his cabin, Curley deciphers a drawing that resembles a pair of steer horns over a bar. Well what could that be other than a pair of steer horns hanging over the bar of a local saloon? It's where the former sheriff hid the ranchers' money to buy needed supplies in a kind of hide in plain sight scenario. With Curley driving a decoy rig to draw out the bad guys, his partner Sam Hawkins (Saylor) takes a wagon loaded with supplies into town to save the day for the ranchers.

Bob Steele fans ought to be pleased with this entry as he mixes it up with the bad guys a few times in the fisticuffs department, and Syd Saylor is entertaining as mentioned earlier. However I found Kermit Maynard to be somewhat frustrating in his role as deputy sheriff Walter Gordon. Most of the time he appeared to be clueless both in his role and in his screen presence, with an expression on his face most of the time that made it seem like he didn't know where he was.

Steele Rides Again

[dougdoepke · 27 April 2011]

He may have been small (5'5'') but there was no more energetic player among the matinée heroes than Bob Steele. His barroom brawls, a matinée staple, are still an impressive example of a buzz saw in action. Here he rescues local ranchers from an embargo on supplies set up by the local greed merchant. Of course, it takes a lot of hard riding and fisticuffs, just the sort of thing we Front Row kids expected from our heroes.

It's cheapo PRC producing, so the action never leaves the non-scenic LA area, but that's okay because director Fraser makes good use of the scrubby hills. Good to see veteran baddies Charles King and I. Stanford Jolley picking up a payday for what they do best, menace the hero. But get a load of leading lady Lorraine Miller's hair—there's enough there to fill several mattresses—the style of the day, I guess. It's better than average dialog from scripter Clifton. I especially like comic-relief Syd Saylor's charlie-horse explanation of why he can't ride a horse—it's almost like an Abbott & Costello routine.

Anyway, it's a good mix of action and chuckles from the Jimmy Cagney of the matinées, the great Bob Steele.

Bob Steele Struggles Against Dead Plot, Director Harry Fraser

[boblipton · 4/10 · 9 January 2021]

Bob Steele shows up in a mustache in this weak PRC western directed by the inept Harry Fraser. The plot of this one has I Stanford Jolley trying to take over the valley by hijacking all the supply wagons. Steele runs some in, but is framed for assault by 'three citizens' who are Jolley's henchmen.

It contains all the usual problems of Fraser's movies. Although the editing is a bit tighter than it was in the 1930s, the pace is still slow, and it isn't until the final three minutes, when Steele gets into a fistfight that anything of interest happens. He still looks and moves well, but he's pushing 40 by this point, and the lithe athlete of the early 1930s is just about gone.

Steele Can't Save Ambush Trail

[danashley · 3/10 · 10 February 2019]

I am fairly confident that Ambush Trail never made it to Bob Steele's career highlight reel. It would be hard to find a B western with less production value than this one. I would estimate that 80% of the film is made up of interior scenes, including a "saloon" that looks like a lunch counter and never has any customers other than Steele, side-kick Saylor and the heavies he punches around.Charlie King adds some heft (no pun intended) to the proceedings although how any conscious on- looker could not realize that is him with a kerchief on his face defies belief. Steele does throw some good punches, Saylor's Charley-horse routine is entertaining and Maynard is competent as the deputy marshal. Lorraine Miller is given little to do which is fortunate as she recites her lines as if she just finished memorizing them and Jolly does not deliver his A game as the boss villain. In sum, a very weak PRC entry.

Well done!

[lividevereux · 10/10 · 3 January 2007]

It's incredible what old westerns were like. How they could fit in an entire story in one hour is impressive. As in many old westerns there are the countless nameless riders and horses doing their jobs expertly, not to mention the expert mounting that Bob Steele did with his horse. Bless their hearts for jobs well done. This is not a sleeper of a movie. The pace is fast and the movie is quite entertaining. You are left with a satisfied feeling at the end of the movie. Typically, in a western there is the good against evil scenario. While dealing with that, there is no brutality nor extreme violence, as we are bombarded with everyday in films of today.