Charles Starrett

A Western-genre narrative, loosely woven from old clips from B-Western features.

Steve Martin (Charles Starrett)is sent to Wild River to recover stolen gold and finds the town is being terrorized by The Hawk (Clayton Moore) and his outlaw gang. The Hawk attempts to murder Sheriff Jack Mahoney (Jock Mahoney) and is captured and jailed. Steve helps the Hawk break jail and thus makes contact with the bandit gang. He sends a bungling photographer, Smiley Burnette (Smiley Burnette), to warn the sheriff that the gang plan to rob the express office.

Durango, aka Steve Rollins (Charles Starrett) rides into town with saddle pal Smiley Burnette. The boys go to the rescue of pretty Kathleen Case, who is being victimized by greedy relatives.

Charles Starrett makes his final appearance as The Durango Kid, this time as Steve Reynolds, a postal inspector who has gone underground to catch the bad guys. His longtime sidekick, Smiley Burnette appears as an itinerant optometrist who is hardly in the plot line of the film. Jock Mahoney plays Jack Mahoney, an eastern educated dude who has come back home. The Durango Kid teaches Jack how to draw and fire a six-gun, and the two ultimately work together to bring the outlaws to justice.

Markham and his men have found gold on the Indian reservation and are trying to get rid of them by starting an Indian war. Dressed as Indians they are attacking the soldiers. Steve Holden is the Indian agent sent to prevent a war. After finding proof that white men posing as Indians were responsible, he is able to locate the gang's hideout but quickly becomes a prisoner slated to be killed. - Written by Maurice VanAuken

Mahoney is a sheep man who's framed for the murder of a rancher. It's all part of a scheme by a dishonest cattleman who hopes to extenuate a range war for his own profit. The Durango Kid helps clear Mahoney's name.

Charles Starrett returns as the Durango Kid in Columbia's Rough, Tough, West. For most of the film, however, Starrett is known as "Steve Holden," a former Texas Ranger who comes to a wide-open mining town to visit an old friend (Jack -- later Jock -- Mahoney). Alas, said friend has turned bad, and is busy arranging a major land grab when Steve arrives on the scene. With deep regret, our hero dons his Durango disguise to thwart his ex-friend's criminal activities.

In Prairie Roundup, Fred F. Sears' direction brings a welcome jolt of vitality to Columbia's aging "Durango Kid" western series. Once again, Charles Starrett stars as Steve Carson, a lawman who is forced to assume the identity of masked do-gooder Durango. Framed for murder, Carson escapes to locate the real killer. It turns out that he was set up by cattle baron Buck Prescott (Frank Fenton), who eliminates competition by stealing livestock from other ranchers.

Steve is a Government Agent looking for the gang that stole the U.S. Mail. He goes undercover...

Charles Starrett plays lawman Steve Forsythe in Ridin' the Outlaw Trail. Somewhere along the line, of course, Steve is obliged to don the mask of The Durango Kid, mysterious righter of wrongs. The "wrongs" in this instance include the theft of $20,000 in gold, and the "kidnapping" of a blacksmith's forge! Jim Bannon, who only a few months earlier had played the heroic Red Ryder, provides the villainy in this fast-paced "Durango Kid" entry

A late entry in Columbia's seemingly endless Durango Kid Western series, Cyclone Fury was augmented with a hefty dose of stock footage from an earlier Durango effort, Galloping Thunder (1946), footage that included sidekick Smiley Burnette warbling "Hear the Wind (Singing a Cowboy Song)" accompanied by Merle Travis and his Bronco Busters.

Starrett tries to prevent a range war between settlers and the Native Americans. Blue and his fellow scoundrels think they can profit from the bloodshed,but the Durango Kid along with a couple of precocious youngsters put an end to Blue's terrorism.

Charles "Durango" Starrett and his pal Smiley Burnette go after smugglers. Our heroes travel incognito across the Mexican border to beard the leader of the gang in his den.

Fort Savage Raiders is another entry in Charles Starrett's "Durango Kid" western series. Starrett once again does double duty as a peacekeeper named Steve (this time his last name is Drake) and as masked avenger Durango. The heavy of the piece is escaped military prisoner Craydon (John Dehner) who, with several other fugitives from justice, forms an army of terrorists.

A man's pursuit of some wanted criminals is hindered by the interference of a crooked judge.

Federal agent Steve Lawton works undercover with his assistant, Smiley Burnette, to track down an outlaw gang that is raiding government gold shipments bound for Fort Navajo.

The Durango Kid rides again in Lightning Guns. As ever, the masked Durango (alias Steve Brandon) is played by Charles Starrett, who this time around is on the trail of a gang of cold-blooded killers. Rancher Dan Saunders (Edgar Dearing) is held responsible for the killings because of his opposition to a politically expedient dam project. Durango believes that Saunders is innocent, and he intends to prove it.

Charles Starrett, aka "The Durango Kid", is back in Raiders of Tomahawk Creek. Starrett plays Steve Blake, a novice Indian agent, sent out to investigate a series of mysterious murders.

Our Hero is accused of a crime he didn't commit. Once again, he breaks jail to find the real culprits. And once again, he dons his Durango Kid disguise, whereupon stunt-double Jock Mahoney swings into action. Outcasts of Black Mesa is distinguished by the presence of a relative newcomer to the film game, leading lady Martha Hyer.

The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) and his sidekick (Smiley Burnette) look for stolen gold with a history.

Charles Starrett goes up against an entire family of criminals posing as respectable citizens in this entry in Columbia's long-running Durango Kid Western series.

Charles Starrett plays The Durango Kid in the 1950 Columbia western Texas Dynamo. As a novelty, Starrett not only plays Durango and his "alter ego" Steve Drake, but also takes on a third identity, that of a hired gun in the employ of the film's bad guys. As one critic noted, this may be the only western in which the hero is obliged to chase himself. Jock O'Mahoney -- later known as Jock Mahoney -- plays a secondary role, and also doubles for Starrett during the riskier stunt sequences.

Charles Starrett once more hits the trail as "The Durango Kid" in Columbia's Across the Badlands. By now, the formula was a well-oiled machine: Starrett becomes a lawman, is challenged by the local criminal element, and ultimately goes beyond the law as the masked Durango.

The story revolves around Robin Grant (Tommy Ivo), a young boy who's inherited a valuable range. Certain evil interests do their best to kill off Robin and claim the land for themselves. U.S. marshall Steve Saunders (Starrett) comes to the boy's rescue--and when Steve can't rely on the Law to back him up, he dons the guise of the masked Durango Kid.

Wanted outlaws have mysteriously disappeared. Ranger Captain Henley and Steve have a plan to find them. Steve becomes a wanted man by faking the killing of Henley. Not only is he now in trouble as both the Rangers and the Mexican Rurales are after him, but Smiley knows him and may expose his masquerade to the bad guys.

Old Mike Brady built Brady Town and was a leader, but a bullet from an unknown assailant has ended his life. When the will is read, it leaves the bulk of the property to Kirk, the gambling son of Mike. This upsets Sam, the hard working son, but not gambler Full House who always beats Kirk at cards. But even the Sheriff is suspicious of the will, but he needs proof and the Durango Kid will find the proof.

When Steve Downey arrives to reopen his brother-in-law's gold mine, he finds a war between the ranchers and the miners. Ashton has had the water poisoned killing cattle. When Ashton's men find Steve's hat, they kill Tom Tavish and frame Steve for the murder. Escaping jail the Durango Kid goes into action.

Charles Starrett once more dons the mask of mysterious do-gooder "The Durango Kid" in Columbia's Challenge of the Range. Wandering cowboy Steve Roper (Starrett) is hired by the Farmers Association to stem the activities of a group of gunmen who are driving ranchers off their land. The most likely suspect turns out to be innocent: the real culprits are within the Association itself. With the help of the chief suspect's son, Roper brings the crooks to justice.

Silver is being smuggled across the border and the secret passage goes through Betty Long's basement. When Steve arrives he gets tangled up with the rustlers who are now going to have the Durango Kid to contend with.

A major Indian uprising is expected and Wyoming military posts are alerted. Colonel Dennison (Fred Sears) is meeting with Chief Eagle (Shooting Star) and his son Running Wolf (Jay Silverheels) when Chief Eagle is mysteriously shot. Steve Holden (Charles Starrett), an agent for the government peace commission, with the aid of a wandering shoemaker, Smiley (Smiley Burnette), discover the troubles and the Chief's murder have been instigated by Cronin (Bob Wilke), the regimental scout, for personal gain for he and his gang of outlaws.

The plot finds Steve/Durango attempting to capture ex-Civil War guerilla fighter Miller (Trevor Bardette), who may be the man who's been going around knocking down telegraph wires.

The Durango Kid, along with assistance from sidekick Smiley Burnett, investigates a pair of murders that threaten to fuel a range war.

Quick on the Trigger was Charles Starrett's second "Durango Kid" picture for 1949. It all begins when ousted sheriff Steve Warren (Starrett) is put on trial for the murder of heroine Nora Reed's (Helen Parrish) brother. Steve is innocent, of course, but he doesn't stand a chance against prosecuting attorney Garvey Yager (Lyle Talbot) -- especially since Yager is the real killer.

It's 1873 and the disbanded Texas Rangers have been replaced by the corrupt Texas State Police. Steve Lanning arrives posing as a wanted outlaw to get in with them in his attempt to have them replaced. His inside work helps the Durango Kid break up the State Police raids but he is in trouble when his secret identity as Durango becomes known to them.

Charles Starrett returns as The Durango Kid in Columbia's El Dorado Pass. It all begins when Durango, in his everyday guise of Steve Clanton, is falsely accused of robbing a stagecoach. The genuine criminal is not only a thief but a coin collector, searching for a valuable specimen by staging holdups.

In this western, an entry in the "Durango Kid" series of westerns, a corrupt, prominent citizen owns a small western town. The trouble begins when a cowboy finds himself convinced by the evil town father that he has killed the sheriff. In exchange for his silence, the official forces the man to become the new sheriff and instructs him to turn a blind eye to the villain's evil doings.

Filmed at the Providencia Ranch (today's Forrest Lawn in Burbank, CA), this typical "Durango Kid" Western featured the Cass County Boys performing "Go West Young Lady" by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, in addition to series regular Smiley Burnette singing his own "It's My Turn" and "The Yodeler. This time, the Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) is chasing down a gang of outlaws shipping stolen gold in crates marked "ring bolts," ably assisted by Smiley, a treasury agent working undercover as a house painter. Virginia Maxey supplies female interest and little Tommy Ivo, in one of his six appearances in the Durango Kid series, also gets in the way of the action.

This time the Durango Kid confronts an expert gambler.

Western star Charles Starrett was amazing; he kept making the same film over and over, but always made it seem as if it was for the first time. In West of Sonora, Starrett once again plays a frontier good-guy named Steve (Steve Rollins, to be exact), who, when the need arises, disguises himself as The Durango Kid, masked righter of wrongs. This time, Steve/Durango champions the cause of 10-year-old Penelope Clinton (Anita Castle), who has spent her short life as the focus of a feud between her grandfathers, suspected outlaw Black Murphy (Steve Darrell) and Sheriff Jack Clinton (George Cheseboro).

A saddle-weary Steve Larkin (Charles Starrett), also the Duranko Kid, rides into Red Mound, a town filled with cattle rustlers. Cafe owner Smiley (Smiley Burnette), befriends Steve and fills him in on the activities. Steve angers the rustler's leader, Flip Dugan (Jim Diehl) when he purchases the old Atkins ranch which is supposedly haunted. Flip and his henchmen try to prevent the recording of the deed, but the Durango Kid and Deputy Marshal Tug Carter win the gun battle.

Charles Starrett once again dons the disguise of the "Durango Kid" to restore law and order in this entry in Columbia's 1945-1952 Western series. This time, the Kid, aka Steve Ramsey, witnesses a stage robbery, during which local rancher John Avery (Nolan Leary) is brutally murdered.

Government Agent Steve leases land to Masters so he can bring in horses for the Army. Henley has obtained a forged lease for the same land and Steve is unable to prove it's a fake. While Steve checks with Washington, Henley plans to roundup and ship the horses. Masters also intends to roundup the horses and he has the Durango Kid on his side in the battle with Henley.

Treasury Department Steve Waring, and also, unknown to others, the Durango Kid, comes to Sunset Pass in search of $1000,000 in gold coins, stolen from the government by the late Forrest Brent. He is aided by Smiley Burnette, the local deputy sheriff. Later, Paula Thorpe, Brent's daughter from his first marriage, arrives with her lawyer sweetheart Frank Raeburn, with intentions of proving her father's estate belongs to her and not to Mrs. Brent, his wife of record when he died. The widow Brent has no intentions of giving up one single cent.

Steve Driscoll arrives to help a friend who is trying to bring in an oil well. He finds that the well has been blown up and the workers have quit. He gets the workers back on the job and orders a new drill bit . When the drill bit is stolen he organizes the townspeople to invest in the well. But when the money is collected, a fake Durango Kid shows up to take it and flee

An outlaw gang is trying to stop the reopening of a mine as they look for the money left there by the famous outlaw Dusty Morton. After a ten year absence, Morton has apparently reappeared and Steve arrives looking for him. He finds his son who also wonders if his father is still alive. With the gang soon after him, the Durango Kid goes into action and Steve tries to learn who the real Dusty Morgan is.

Freight wagons are being stolen and ransomed back to their owners. Government agent Steve Langtry (and his alter ego the Durango Kid) is sent break up the Hood Gang that's behind the robberies.

When the ranchers of Bearcat are plagued by rustlers, Big Jim Grady offers to buy their herds from them at low-ball prices. Steve Haley suggests to the ranchers that they band together and drive their herds to Abilene, Kansas and get full price. Steve's friend Smiley "joins" the rustlers to learn who their leader is. Grady henchman Doc Walker asks Steve to help break up the cattle drive, and he agrees in order to keep tabs on the rustlers. The gang makes several attempts to take the trail herd but Steve, in his guise as the Durango Kid, intervenes and saves the cattle.

Steve arrives looking for the person printing counterfeit bonds. He finds his man in Pop Ryland who has two sons and a stepson. The stepson doesn't want to be an outlaw like the other sons and helps Steve out by posing as the Durango Kid when needed and then leading him to the evidence he is looking for.

The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) returns to Ret Butte intending to sell his cattle ranch. Saloon owner, Duke Catlett (Lane Chandler) is the secret owner of a sheep flock which graze on the cattle lands--leaving them useless for cattle. A range war looms between the cattlemen and sheepherders.

Steve Landry arrives as the new Marshal of a town that is having trouble with outlaws. When an outlaw escapes over the State line out of his jurisdiction, the Durango Kid brings him in. The Durango Kid then continues to break up the outlaw raids. But Belle, the saloon owner who is in cahoots with the outlaws, notices the the boot prints of the Durango Kid match those of the new Marshal and a trap is sent to get Durango.

The Durango Kid rides again in Columbia's Landrush. As ever, the masked do-gooder, alias Steve Harmon, is played by Charles Starrett. Bringing up the rear in every sense of the word is Harmon's comical sidekick Smiley Burnette. In this outing, Harmon dons his Durango garb to rescue a group of homesteaders from scurrilous villains. Musical relief is provided by Ozie Waters and his Colorado Rangers.

The cattle herds of some Arizona ranchers are being stampeded and stolen, so the Arizona Stockmen's Syndicate sends ace investigator Steve Reynolds in to find out who is responsible. Steve poses as a vicious gunslinger named Buck McCloud to work his way into the gang, and then becomes the Durango Kid to disrupt the activities he learns about. Jud Temple is the loyal fiancée of town banker Grat Hanlon who turns out to be the brain-trust behind the gang.

Cimarron has found a lost treasure and the outlaw gang knows about it. They have made him a prisoner and are trying to get the location from him. However, he has sent for his friend Steve Reynolds and the Durango Kid will soon be on the job.

Dakota Indian Agent Steve Reynolds receives a copy of the Bonanza City Nuggett from Jim Mallory and reads a story blaming the Durango Kid for recent gold mine raids.

In most of his Columbia westerns, Charles Starrett simply was the Durango Kid, a mysterious masked do-gooder who pretends to be a criminal. Desert Horseman attempts to explain why this disguise has been adopted.

Arriving to become the new Deputy, Steve Gordon takes over as Sheriff instead when he finds the Sheriff has been killed. He doesn't last long and is fired for incompetence. But he realizes Brady is pulling off a swindle. Having found the proper soil, Brady has salted it with cheap diamonds, gotten Smiley to accidently find them, and is now taking money from eager investors and planning to flee with it.

When Sheriff Jeff Connor of Powder River cannot stop the crime wave, his young son, Larry, writes to the Durango Kid for aid. Taggart, the saloon owner, is the secret head of the outlaws, while Connor's brother Bill is in cahoots with him. Steve Randall, the Durango Kid, and his pal, Smiley Butterbean, arrive in time to stop a stagecoach holdup, and Steve is made a deputy sheriff. Taggart has one of his men, Slade, pose as the Durango Kid and while he is speaking to the townspeople, the rest of the outlaw gang pillages the town, and this somewhat damages the Durango Kid in the eyes of Larry and his sister Doris. Steve suggests that Sheriff Connor visit the government about a railroad project, and Taggart instructs Slade and the gang leader to kill Connor on his trip back.

Jim Stewart comes to Mesa City and buys a ranch from publisher Matt Edwards, who is confined to a wheelchair. The area is terrorized by an outlaw gang known as The Phantoms. When Jim's cattle herd is rustled and his ranch foreman Pop Evans killed, he takes an active hand against the gang in his guise as the Durango Kid.

Steve Holden (Charles Starrett) and his men successfully raid a wagon train. Among the local ranchers who decide to stop the raiding are Virgil Trent (Wheeler Oakman) and his daughter Gail (Betty Jane Graham). At a meeting, Sidney Padgett (Forrest Taylor), Cannonball (Dub Taylor) and other townspeople conclude that someone is tipping the gang off on important shipments. Trent volunteers to contact the outlaws. He meets Steve and persuades him to cross to the side of the law and protect the ranchers. Steve soon suspects Padgett and tricks him into revealing his identity as the secret leader of the bandits, and in a furious battle between Steve's men and the outlaws, the former win.

This Columbia western starring Charles Starrett finds Steve Randall (Charles Starrett) forming a radio show with Jimmy Wakely (Jimmy Wakely) and his Saddle Pals, and are in town for a rodeo. Reporter Connie Pearson (Constance Worth) persuades them to visit Marty Jones (Elvin Fields), a fatherless boy, who has been sent to a boy's home after stealing Steve's wallet, ran by Tom Goodwin (Forrest Taylor.) Marty tells Steve that the home is a phony and is a front for cattle rustlers. Steve passes the information on to Connie, who doesn't believe him, so he and Jimmy wire the ranch for sound. They are caught and Goodwin turns them over to Sheriff Barnes (Edmund Cobb), and then plans to skip the country

Outlaws of the Rockies is the fourth of Columbia's revitalized "Durango Kid" series. Charles Starrett is back in the saddle as the masked do-gooder Durango, aka easygoing sheriff Steve Williams. Accused of being a member of an outlaw gang, Williams is forced to don his Durango disguise to bring the actual criminals to justice.

Stage line owner Brent has his men robbing Halliday stages and when his manager Waring learns of it, Brent has him killed. Jeff Waring arrives and takes his uncle's job. He soon learns what's happening and the Durango Kid goes into action. This keeps Halliday going and gives them a chance to get the mail contract by winning the stagecoach race.

The Durango Kid fights to catch the rustlers who killed an Army officer.

The outlaw gangs are robbing the railroads and the Rangers cannot follow them when they move to New Mexico. So Kip decides to take a vacation to New Mexico and, as the Durango Kid, bring Cass and his gang back to justice. But Cass and his gang are killed at the bank in a double cross and Kip must still find the loot. For this, he enlists the help of Tex and Grubstake, although Grubstake does not know it.

A masked outlaw steals from bank robbers to help the poor.

In the lawless town of Dusty Gulch, the Durango Kid comes to the aid of Reverend Harding in his fight against Blaze Howard and his henchman. When Durango foils all bad guy's plans, Blaze's boss Doc Weston realizes Cannonball it tipping off Durango. Weston then lets Cannonball overhear false information that will send Durango into a fatal trap.

Steve Holden, a secret service agent, is suspended when his boss becomes suspicious of his activities as The Durango Kid. Can Steve prove his innocence?

In this wartime western, an evil Nazi and his partner endeavor to sabotage a western gunsight plant.

It's World War 2 and saboteurs are out to destroy the ranchers food crop. Steve Travis and sidekick Cannonball have been called in to investigate. Avoiding the attempts on his life by the gang, Steve uses a pair of eyeglasses to discover their leader, a supposedly deaf mute shoe repairman.

This western features a singing cowboy, a brave hero, and a bumbling sidekick who band together to defeat a ruthless range boss.

Song and comedy revue, featuring Western talents, along with a theatrical troupe taking their vacation on the Lazy B Ranch run by Steve Bradley. Steve is about to enter the army and he and Tex Coulter compete for the love of Connie Grey.

Charles Starrett stars in the lightning-paced Columbia western Riding West. Somebody is planning to sabotage the new Pony Express mail service, and hard-ridin' Steve Jordan (Charles Starrett) aims to find out who.

A posse, hunting the assailant of Denton's Partner, captures Steve Carlisle (Charles Starrett), who identifies himself as a mineralogist sent to check the area for quartz for radio parts. Calling at the Denton ranch, Steve hires Cannonball Mullins (Dub Taylor), who has just been fired by Jane Fielding (Vi Athens), Denton's ward. Steve learns that she wants to sell the ranch to the Empire Syndicate. Paul Edwards (Lloyd Bridges), syndicate representative, plans to convert the ranch into a swank hotel-gambling operation. At a party which Jane gives for Edwards, Hiram Denton (William Gould), is murdered and Steve is accused. He and Cannonball escape before the sheriff can take them into custody, and in searching for evidence find that Jane and Edwards are married and have done the killings in order to gain the ranch.

A rancher who becomes a pilot staunchly defends the newly formed Civil Air Patrol from the cattle barons who fail to see the value of airplanes on the range.

Inasmuch as western star Charles Starrett gained screen fame as the Robin Hood-like "Durango Kid", it stands to reason that Starrett would head the cast of Robin Hood of the Range. The star plays Steve Marlowe, the foster son of railroad manager Henry Marlowe (Kenneth McDonald). When it becomes apparent that the railroad is using underhanded methods to drive local homesteaders off their land, Steve adopts the guise of "The Vulcan", a legendary champion of justice.

In this western, a lonesome cowpoke trots into a town and helps clear his pardner's name. The trouble began when the friend was framed by the leader of the Cattlemen's association who made it seem like he was a rustler. Because the friend was an ex-con, the evidence against him seems airtight. The wandering hero must work extra hard to prove his friend's innocence.

In this western, a decent Indian agent loses his job and his good name after someone steals the government money he was to deliver to a tribe. Because he cannot bear to see the people starve over the long winter, he begins searching for the robbers. He does so by looking for the unusual coins that had been included in the payroll.

In this western, fake settlers make themselves at home on an ex-ranger's ranch and drive him away. A shady newspaper publisher and a gambler then conspire to take over the land. Fortunately, another ranger endeavors to help his pal. Enlisting the aide of his fellow rangers, they get oust the homesteaders. The publisher and the gambler shoot each other and the retired ranger gets his ranch back.

Briefly switching gears in 1942 and 1943, western star Charles Starrett made a handful of "northerns" in which he played a Canadian mountie. In Law of the Northwest, Steve King (Starrett) supervises a road-construction project designed to transport war materials to the Aleutians. Problems arise when a crooked contractor decides that his interests are more important than the war effort.

In this western, a ranch foreman and the bosses son go to a saloon to slake their thirst and find themselves in the midst of a battle started by the feisty saloon owner's wicked ex-husband who loots the safe in the ensuing scuffle.

In this western, a community revives the legend of Billy the Kid after robbers attack a stage coach. The deputy marshal believes the Kid is dead and even goes to the cemetery to exhume his body. Unfortunately, the grave is empty and as the marshal ponders the mystery, a masked rider shoots at him. The eagle-eyed lawman recognizes the man's horse and realizes that he is a prominent businessman in town.

In this western, three Texas Rangers decide to do their part to save the world and join the Army, but before they can, they are sent to Alaska to destroy a secret Nazi operation involving a submarine refueling station. The outpost is located behind an impenetrable tangle of barbed wire. The rangers get a little help, and discover a traitor. Then to get through the wire, they start a cattle stampede and save the day.

Cash Quinlan, owner of the Hauling Company, is the leader behind a gang of raiders who have been robbing stagecoaches between Mesquite and Deadwood. He hopes by doing so to drive his competitors out of business so that he can get the railroad franchise for himself.....

Slightly more elaborate than most Charles Starrett westerns, Down Rio Grande Way is set in the mid-19th century, when the Republic of Texas was poised to join the Union. Starrett plays Texas Ranger Steve Martin (!), who is dispatched to a "renegade" Texas country that refuses to become part of the good old USA. He discovers that the crux of the problem is a local tax collector (Norman Willis) who, with the help of a crooked newspaper editor (Davision Clark), is systematically robbing the citizens of their hard-earned cash, all the while fomenting anti-American sentiments. Britt Wood takes over from Cliff Edwards as Starrett's comical sidekick, while band singer Rose Ann Stevens makes an impressive acting debut as the heroine.

U.S. Marshal Dave Upjohn arrives in Sundown to investigate reports of lawlessness.

In this western, a rancher is ambushed, killed, and robbed, but for some reason the killers through his money pouch in the bushes without opening it. Later a woman happens upon the cash and finds herself a prime suspect in the killing. Fortunately, a survey engineer proves her innocence, and they begin looking for the real villains.

Riding Through Nevada is a western starring Charles Starrett

Officially a Charles Starrett western, Riders of the Badlands divides its running time fairly evenly between Starrett and second-billed Russell Hayden. The plot concerns a Texas Ranger named Collins (Starrett) and his lookalike, notorious outlaw Langdon (also Starrett). When his wife is killed by Langdon's minions, Barton (Hayden) vows to avenge her death.

Medico of Painted Springs was the first of western hero Charles Starrett's appearances as frontier doctor Steven Monroe. Riding into a small town, Dr. Monroe finds himself smack-dab in the middle of a range war between cattlemen and sheepmen.

Western star Charles Starrett makes one of his periodic forays into the Great White North in Columbia's Royal Mounted Patrol. When villainous lumberman Frenchy Duvalle (Donald Curtis) refuses to limit his wood-chopping activities, he inadvertently touches off a forest fire. Trapped in the middle of the conflagration, Frenchy's only hope for rescue is mountie Tom Jeffries (Charles Starrett), presently scouring the countryside in his scout plane. Jeffries' reasons for bringing Frenchy out safely are twofold: he must deliver the renegade lumberjack to the authorities, and he happens to be in love with Frenchy's sister Betty (Wanda McKay).

Outlaws of the Pandhandle was the last of Charles Starrett's "formula" westerns for Columbia: hereafter, Starrett would be seen only in the guise of frontier medico Steven Monroe or masked do-gooder The Durango Kid. For the moment, however, the star is cast as Jim Endicott, bound and determined to put an end to the underhanded activities of gin-mill operator Faro Jack Vaughn (Norman Willis). The villain's strategy is to get the local cowpunchers tanked up on rotgut that they'll prove to be easy pickings for a gang of rustlers-and will be unable to complete work on a railroad spur which will bypass the outlaws' hideaway.

Charles Starrett is once more cast as frontier doctor Steve Monroe in Columbia's Prairie Stranger. In the company of his comic sidekick, mail-order intern Bones (Cliff Edwards), Dr. Monroe sets up his shingle in a small Nevada town. When business is slow, Monroe and Bones take jobs as ranch-hands on a cattle spread, and while thus employed try to solve a series of mysterious livestock poisonings.

Thunder Over the Prairie was the second of Charles Starrett's "Dr. Steve Monroe" westerns. The unorthodox plot is set in motion by an evil land baron (Donald Curtis) who uses the local Indians as laborers, then finds legal methods to cheat them of their pay. Dr. Steve Monroe (Starrett), the reservation physician, does his best to thwart the villain by peaceable methods.

Pinto Kid was one of Charles Starrett's last "formula" westerns before he permanently assumed the screen guise of the Durango Kid. The story takes places just after the Civil War, with hostilities between Yanks and Rebels still in effect between Kansas and Texas. The villain, cattle rustler Vic Landreau (Paul Sutton), intends to play both factions down the middle for his own benefit. But Landreau meets his match in the form of wandering do-gooder Jud Calvert (Charles Starrett).

Frontiersman Tom Garfield (Starrett) and his pals endeavor to save their land from the clutches of slimy easterner Forsyth (Don Beddoe). The villain hires a bit of local muscle in the form of brutish Chris Matson (William Pawley), but he's no match for our hero.

The story revolves around a valuable silver deposit, located between two ranches. Villain Lash Bender (Dick Curtis) cooks up a scheme to gain control of both ranches so that he may have a clear field to the silver lode.

After a handful of non-formula westerns, Charles Starrett returned to the mixture as before in Thundering Frontier. Starrett plays Jim Fillmore, kind to old ladies, small animals and heroine Norma Belknap (Iris Meredith). In contrast, the villains are kind to no one, least of all struggling building contractor Square Deal Scottie (Alex Callam), whose projects are continually targeted for demolition and his payroll is forever being stolen at gunpoint. A good 25 percent of the film's running time is given over to Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, whose C&W croonings are pleasant but a bit much. One of the film's few surprises is that Starrett's perennial screen sparring partner Dick Curtis isn't one of the bad guys.

Steve Beaumont, an operative for the Cattleman's Protective Association, is assigned the difficult task of breaking up a murderous gang of rustlers led by Ed Brock and Strang. He takes Sheriff Webb, Judge Baxter, and rancher Ann Houston into his confidence, and works his way into the rustler stronghold and confidence by "turning rustler" himself.

The Kinkaids and the Harpers both run stage lines and are friendly competitors. Appleby is after the stage line and convinces the two owners to build a spur line to the same town. Then he has both projects sabotaged pitting the friends against each other and running them out of money.

Hero Jeff Strong (Starrett) comes to the rescue of a group of victimized ranchers. The villains are a gang of crooked gamblers, who demand a valuable dam as payment for a $50,000 debt. The ranchers hope to earn the money by getting their cattle to market on time, but head bad guy Cash Fenton (Kenneth MacDonald) and his flunkey Lobo (Dick Curtis) intend to prevent this.

Things get under way when US marshal Tom (Starrett) finds himself in the midst of a range war. The villains are a band of rustlers who play both sides of the confrontation against one another, the better to move in and claim all the livestock.

Sheep raisers, resentful of old injuries from the cattlemen, bar the way to water when dry ranges force the cattle ranchers to drive their herds into the lowlands.

Former Texas Ranger Wade Patterson (Starrett) returns to his home town, only to find that the territory is in the grip of cattle rustlers. For a while, it looks as though heroine Linda Holden (Meredith) is in cahoots with the bad guys, but Patterson quickly clears her name and takes on the crooks himself.

A caravan of settlers is arriving and the ranchers intend to keep them out. It looks like a range war but Sheriff Jim gets the ranchers to accept the settlers. Kohler re-ignites the feud by making settler Winters appear to be a rustler and then by killing Winter's son. Once more the two sides appear headed for a war and Jim is caught in the middle.

In this North western, a brave Canadian Mountie pursuing a gang of fur thieves finds himself drummed out of the RCMP and forced to run a gauntlet of Mountie whips. When the gang learns of this, they convince him to join them.

The hero, Texas Ranger Larry Whalen (Charles Starrett), is on the trail of a mysterious outlaw leader.

In this adventure, a courageous Canadian Mountie must bring peace an embattled miner and an unscrupulous trader whose price mark-ups are beginning to hurt the community. They fight so frequently that when the avaricious proprietor is killed, the young man becomes the prime suspect.

Thad Lawson arrives in Oak Valley to avenge the murder of his brother, the local sheriff. He learns that Jack Rand, powerful overlord of the town is to blame. After Rand murders newspaper publisher Jordan Webster, Thad sets out to put him behind bars.

In this western a traveling gun ends up in a small town and rescues an important rancher. Out of gratitude the rancher hires him to protect his land and cattle from his violent rival. It is revealed that the gunman is the son of the ruthless rival; he therefore, loses his job and finds himself entangled in the midst of a range war. He must eventually face his father when the bad guy takes over the only trail to the market.

After retiring from movies to get an education, a man discovers his ex-staff is trying to have him expelled.

US marshal Lawlor (Starrett) takes on a gang of cattle rustlers headed by Taylor (Dick Curtis). His reasons are partly personal: Conway (Edward LeSaint), the cattle-baron father of Lawlor's sweetheart Madge (Meredith), has been murdered by Taylor's minions.

No relation to the 1950 John Ford classic of the same name, Rio Grande is yet another rubber-stamp Charles Starrett western from the Columbia assembly line.

Two Gun Law perpetuated the cinematic winning streak established early in 1937 by western star Charles Starrett and director Leon Barsha. The action never lets up as hero Bob Larson (Charles Starrett) takes on an impressive triumvirate of villains (Charles Middleton, Alan Bridge and Dick Curtis).

Another of the Charles Starret westerns that was billed above the title as a "Peter B. Kyne Production" and story in which Kyne had nothing to do with the production or the story other than allowing his name to be used for selling purposes. This is a remake of Columbia's 1932 "Cornered" that starred Tim McCoy. Bob Pearson (Bruce Lane, also known as Yancey Lane)saves the life of his friend, Sheriff Dick Houston (Charles Starrett), who has captured two stagecoach bandits and is about to be shot from ambush by a third. Bob is found a few days later near the murdered body of cattleman Herrick (Dick Rush) with a gun in his hand.

Charles Starrett plays two-fisted frontiersman Dart Collins in this slick Columbia "B" western. Collins wants to find out who's behind a series of gold-shipment robberies. So does heroine Judy Garfield (Iris Meredith), whose stage transport business faces foreclosure if the holdups continue. It comes as no surprise that the crimes are being orchestrated by the very people who want to force Judy out of business.

In an effort to compete with Republic's popular songfest Westerns, fours music numbers -- including Tumbling Tumbleweeds -- were added to The Old Wyoming Trail, an otherwise average Charles Starrett vehicle. No singer, Starrett left the vocalizing to his sidekick Donald Grayson and the popular Sons of the Pioneers. En route to purchase a herd of cattle, Bob Patterson (Starrett) and his sidekick Sandy (Grayson) get in the way of a scheme to defraud the local ranchers of their possessions.

The shop girl Emmy Grant meets the handsome doorman John Patrick O'Ryan outside of a theater and she is convinced that he is her true love. O'Ryan is a zealous medical student, soon to be a pediatrician, and is oblivious to Emmy's frantic attempts to gain his attention. O'Ryan is totally focused on babies. Undaunted, she 'borrows' a baby and a buggy, determined to catch O'Ryan.

Texas Ranger Ranny Maitland's father is feuding with his neighbor Lockhart. Pretending to be on Lockhart's side in the feud, Ranny goes to investigate. Meanwhile is father is murdered and Lockhart arrested.

With the increasing popularity of Republic's sagebrush crooner Gene Autry, rival company Columbia found it necessary to add a musical element to this Charles Starrett Western released in early 1937. As Starrett himself was no singer, the studio hired Donald Grayson to warble Lonesome River, Out in the Cow Country and Pancho's Widow, all by Ned Washington and Sam H. Stept.

Tired of being a cowboy movie star, Yorke quits the movies and buys a ranch so he can be a real cowboy. But just as in his films trouble arrives. This time it's bank robber Sampson and his two cronies.

RCMP Alan Barclay is sent to investigate the presumed murder of his friend and fellow RCMP Gene when Gene's horse is found riderless.

A department store clerk, wrongly accused of stealing by her lecherous boss, becomes involved in a romantic relationship with the boss's son.

Munro and his gang control the valley and are driving away all nesters. Johnny arrives, and taking an interest in Barbara McGrail, decides to help the nesters. He receives unexpected help from Barbara's uncle who is posing as Salty Smith, one of Munro's hired guns. Salty thinks Munro killed his brother and is out to get proof.

An amateur criminologist and his college student son work together to solve the campus murder of the brother of the son's girlfriend, and thereafter two other students as well.

SO RED THE ROSE is King Vidor's quietly affecting Civil War romance, starring Margaret Sullavan as a Southern aristocrat, the mistress of a Southern plantation, whose sheltered life is torn apart by the War between the States. During the war's darkest days she is sustained by her love for a distant cousin, a Confederate officer, played by Randolph Scott.

Foxhall Ridgeway, arriving in New York City from the West, stumbles onto a murder in the hotel room next to his. He gets tangled up into the affair, and with the aid of Phoebe, the hotel telephone operator who takes a liking to him, and also Countess Louise Browssiloff, who innocently had left some personal belongings in the murdered man's room and is most anxious to recover the incriminating evidence, Foxhall solves the murder mystery.

A college economics professor's "radical" ideas about capitalism get him fired. When he decides to put those ideas into practice, he finds that they actually do generate him huge amounts of money. Soon a local banker and others who scoffed at his ideas see the amount of money he's making and try to cheat him out of his system.

Wealthy but unhappy Patricia Belmont meets fun-loving insurance salesman Bill Smith (and his fun-loving friends Sam Ragland and Betty Harkness)on a ship cruise and falls in love, much to the annoyance of her high-society, fortune-hunting fiance Barrington Thorne.

Chadburne Steel is run by two brothers, old men. They each have different plans for their sons. Curtis (Holmes Herbert) has put Ronald (William Blakewell) through college in style...

A well-cloistered and protected-against-reality group of college students get their diplomas in the heart of the Great Depression, and quickly learn that the piece of paper the diploma is written on is worth about eighteen-dollars-a-week in the job-market...for the lucky ones. Some of them fare even worse.

The seemingly happy relationship between Tony and Jim is threatened when his manipulative, drama-queen ex-wife visits.

For showing cowardice during a holdup, bank teller Bob Hunter is fired. He joins the Mounties and is assigned to look for those robbers. To have him work undercover, the Inspector's scheme is to have Bob supposedly kicked out of the Mounties.

A man meets the daughter of his lover and they begin to fall in love.

This romantic comedy takes place on an ocean liner. One of the few unattached passengers is heiress Joan Foster. Joan finds herself in the arms of the ship's second officer. Little does she know that he has been hired by her father to keep other men away from her.

A high-speed train becomes the star of the film as it rushes from Chicago to Hoover Dam to transport an iron lung to a needy patient.

A London taxicab driver cashes in on a big sweepstakes ticket and becomes the prey of a confidence-gang that sells him a nag of a cavalry horse on the claim that it is a brother to a current Derby winner.

Although the British upper class may be thought our betters in society, they are certainly not our betters, and perhaps are our equals, in morality.

A campus flirt who has been "pinned" by most of the boys of Sigma Chi fraternity falls for a no-nonsense athlete who doesn't have time for such diversions as women.

After losing their Missouri home during the Great Depression, the Skitch family pulls up stakes and heads west to California to begin life anew. Comedy, released in 1933.

Barnstorming pilots Speed Condon, Bill Adams, and Eddie Smith travel the country with their manager, Alec Dugan, performing at fairs and air shows and hawking rides for the locals. But when Speed's rambunctious flying results in tragedy, he gives up flying in despair and guilt. Alec tracks him down and hopes to get him back on his feet and back in the air.

Fresh young boxer Buzz Kinney is just out of college. He's able to knock out Stag Bailey when the veteran becomes over confident. Later Buzz is a worn out wreck with a broken nose and cauliflower ear.

Football coach Dan Curtis is eager for his small college team to win at all costs.

A gray-haired convict, within the shadows of the gallows, tells his story to the prison chaplain beginning twenty years earlier when he was sent to prison for a crime he did not commit.

Damaged Love (1931)

A comedy-drama about marriage and divorce.

Julie Cavendish comes from a family of great Broadway actors. Her mother Fanny staunchly continues acting. Her boisterous brother Tony is fleeing a breach of promise suit in Hollywood. Her daughter Gwen must decide between going on stage, or settling down in a conventional marriage. Julie is just thinking that it would be nice to retire and get married, when who should turn up but her old beau, Gilmore Marshal, the platinum magnate from South America.

A wealthy family is thrown into turmoil when the daughter falls for the family chauffeur and the son begins to keep company with a chorus girl.

Elmer Stone, quarterback of the 1899 Colton College football team vows to remain a student until Colton beats its biggest rival, State University. Twenty-seven years later, Elmer is still in school and is a classmate of his son, Jack. Other than driving a milk wagon in his spare time, Jack is also the quarterback of the football team. A matter of his eligibility comes up but he is cleared and goes out to do-or-die for Colton against State University. Maybe they will win The Big Game, and Jack's father can get a life...and a job.