Review of Powdersmoke Range

This film begins with three cowboys named "Tucson Smith" (Harry Carey), "Stony Brooke" (Hoot Gibson) and Lullaby Joslin (Guinn Williams) riding out to a small town out west to meet up with their friend "Jeff Ferguson" (Bob Steele). On the way, they happen to notice a stagecoach being robbed so they immediately head that way to investigate. Unfortunately, although they capture the person responsible for the holdup, they also find that he has murdered the driver of the stagecoach in the process. So, being the upstanding citizens that they are, they decide to take their prisoner into the nearest town to face the justice that he deserves. Just prior to that, however, Tucson notices that the mail pouch on the stagecoach has been opened and inside of it is a letter addressed to him. Curious as to what it might say, Tucson opens it and discovers that Jeff has invested $1000 into a ranch not too far away. Not long after they hand over their prisoner to the local sheriff, he also learns that Jeff has been framed for murder by the corrupt mayor named "Steve Ogden" (Sam Hardy) who wanted to prevent Jeff from acquiring the ranch--and he will stop at nothing to get ownership of it. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was the very first movie to have all three characters known as the "Three Mesquiteers" who later gained grade-B fame in several films made by Republic Pictures. And even though I believe this movie is a little better than its immediate predecessor ("The Law of the 45's") made that same year, it still might require some allowances by the viewer due to the limitations of the motion picture industry of the time. That being said, while certainly not a great Western necessarily, I still enjoyed it to a certain degree, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.