FORBIDDEN TRAILS is the third (of eight) B-Westerns in the Rough Riders series, starring Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton as U.S. Marshals who often operate undercover. In this one, which also happens to be the final film directed by the prolific Robert N. Bradbury (father of B-Western star Bob Steele), Buck is targeted for revenge by two outlaws he sent to the pen (played by the ubiquitous and always entertaining Charles King and Bud Osborne). The bad guys' scheme nearly works, and as a result Buck is laid up for a while, but the other two Rough Riders pitch in to save the day and keep villainous Tristam Coffin from taking over the freight line run by stalwart young Dave O'Brien.
The script is kind of muddled, but the real appeal of these movies is watching all the old pros at work, playing off each other and appearing to have a genuinely good time. Buck's heroism, Tim's gravitas, and Sandy's comedy relief mesh well most of the time. And all three of the Rough Riders have great hats. I'm slowly working my way through this series and eventually will watch all of them. They may not be the Three Mesquiteers, but they'll do.
Growing up, I was never a fan of Tim McCoy's Western movies. They didn't show up very often on the local TV stations, and anyway, I was too busy watching Roy, Gene, and Hoppy. But now that I'm older, I've come to appreciate McCoy's work. A former military officer, Wild West showman, and Indian expert, McCoy was a little on the stiff side as an actor, but with his jutting chin and enormous hat, he always projected plenty of strength and gravitas.
The 1933 movie SILENT MEN finds him playing a respected range detective and brand inspector in Montana, but the character has a secret: he's really an escaped convict who was sentenced to life in prison in Arizona for a crime he didn't commit. His old cellmate (who happens to have been a member of the gang that framed McCoy's character) shows up and tries to blackmail him into overlooking the rustling that's going on in the area. McCoy, who blames a pair of shady brothers played by Wheeler Oakman and J. Carrol Naish for the rustling, is too upright to go along with that, of course, so the gang frames him for a killing and he winds up in jail.
From there, however, he gets some help from an unexpected source and escapes to track down the real mastermind behind the cattle thefts and the murder. There's some fightin' and ridin' and shootin', naturally, but not really a lot for a B-Western.
You can really tell that this movie is based on a pulp story by Walt Coburn. (Unfortunately, I don't know which one.) It's just packed with back-story, plot twists, and characters who don't turn out like you might expect them to. The acting is generally pretty good, especially Naish and Oakman, and Glenn Strange, a welcome presence in any Western, shows up in a couple of scenes as a cowboy. One of the scripters was Gerald Geraghty, who went on to write some of those good Roy Rogers movies directed by William Witney.
If you've never seen a Tim McCoy movie, SILENT MEN wouldn't be a bad place to start. It's a good solid B-Western, and I'm glad I watched it. A tip of the enormous Stetson to Steve Mertz, who made that possible.
