Best Western Movies of 1943

Cowboy Dan Somers and oilman Jim "Hunk" Gardner compete for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the favors of schoolteacher Cathy Allen.

A city girl on a bus tour of the West encounters a handsome rodeo cowboy who helps her forget her city suitors.

Popular mailcoach driver Uncle Willie is in fact in league with the town's crooked banker. They plan to have the bank robbed after emptying it, and when Willie's choice for this doesn't show in time, he gets some local boys to do it. When his man does turn up he decides to stick around, as he is pals with the sheriff and also takes a shine to Willie's daughter Allison. This gives the bad men several new problems.

Fur thieves, who murder trappers when they refuse to give up their pelts at a low price, occupy the attention of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. The leader of the gang is Victor Renaud, also the mayor of the small Canadian town where the gang is headquartered. Lucky Kerrigan is broken from the mounted service for apparent disobedience to orders, which results in the death of a fellow Mountie. Lucky, working undercover, aids the Mounties in rounding up the gang and gains back his uniform, and also the love of Gabrielle Renaud, Renaud's sister who was unaware of his criminal activities.

Newly appointed sheriff Pat Garrett is pleased when his old friend Doc Holliday arrives in Lincoln, New Mexico on the stage. Doc is trailing his stolen horse, and it is discovered in the possession of Billy the Kid. In a surprising turnaround, Billy and Doc become friends. This causes the friendship between Doc and Pat to cool. The odd relationship between Doc and Billy grows stranger when Doc hides Billy at his girl Rio's place after Billy is shot.

The Governor sends Ken and Hoot to clean up the town of Willow Springs.

When territorial governor Steven Nichols (Herbert Heyes) terrorizes the population with violence and heavy taxes, the Culver family stands up to him, but after the family patriarch is murdered, wandering gunslinger Wild Bill Elliott (Wild Bill Elliott) is falsely accused of the crime.

Set in the old west, the stooges are three tramps wanted for vagrancy. After ruining a medicine peddlers show, they arrive in Peaceful Gulch where a picture has been printed declaring them to be three famous lawmen coming to clean up the town. Assigned to guard the bank, the boys have the local gang scared at first, but when the gang learns who the stooges really are, they rob the bank. The boys go in pursuit, find the bad guy's hideout, subdue the bandits and recover the money. Written by Mitch Shapiro

As rustled cattle have mysteriously disappeared, Johnny sends for his friend Hoppy, Hoppy arrives and immediately suspects Dan Slack. Realizing his telegram about Slack was intercepted, he locks up the operator Lafe knowing he can escape. Tailing Lafe he finds a secret entrance to a mine and inside finds the missing cattle. But Slack's men also find him just as the cattle are stampeded through the mine shaft.

When a fed-up businessman tires of watching gold shipments disappear without a trace, he calls in the Trail Blazers (Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele) -- a legendary trio of law enforcers -- to find the gold and figure out who's behind the thefts.

When a band of American Indians breaks a treaty with the federal government, U.S. Marshals Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson hit the trail with captured outlaw Duke Dillon (Jack La Rue) to find out what sparked the uprising. They discover clues that point to corrupt Indian agent John Hampton (Kenneth Harlan), but meanwhile, the bandit Dillon pulls a fast one on the marshals, and soon everybody's getting ready for a showdown.

When three Texas Rangers try to investigate kidnapped Mexicans being used as forced labor in the mines of Silver Bullet, they are framed for murder by the town's corrupt sheriff.

A railroad man and the owner of a freight line battle for control of a crucial mountain pass.

Billy the Kid and Fuzzy Jones are on their way out of Arizona being chased by some riders who hope to cash in on the reward money for their capture. They are warned in time by Ed Dawson, but Ed is wounded in the getaway. They get a doctor to attend to Ed. The latter tells them there is a range war in progress across the border and that he is looking for men to help make a cattle drive to the rail junction.

Bat Masterson, who after failing to secure a job as a newspaper reporter becomes marshal of Dodge City. Preferring socializing to peacekeeping, Masterson falls in love with Dora Hand, the obligatory golden-hearted chorus girl whose concern for the welfare of her fellow citizens at time reaches Madonna-like dimensions. When Dora is shot down cattle baron King Kennedy, Masterson begins taking his job seriously. After taking care of Kennedy, Masterson determines to enshrine the memory of Dora, whose efforts to clean up Dodge City were largely ignored by the "decent" townsfolk.

In this western, two cowboys ride to the rescue of ranchers who are fighting to keep a land-grabber from taking their land and selling it to the railroad

Texas Rangers Tex Wyatt, Jim Steele and Panhandle Perkins are sent to the district of Rawhide to investigate the killings of several ranchers. Tex enters the town posing as a tramp while the other two Rangers join a troupe of itinerant minstrels.

Hoppy, California and Johnny partner up with brother and sister ranch owners, two of several who are having their access to water blocked by a dam owned by a greedy merchant in town, who is intent on driving them out and taking their land for himself.

A man framed for a series of Wells' Fargo stage robberies and a comical sheriff's deputy join forces to uncover the real robbers, unaware that a U.S. Marshal assigned to the case and the Mayor of the town which is at the center of the robberies, are the leaders of the gang.

One man wants to control all the land in the state to graze all his cattle. His band of outlaws are raiding ranchers and homesteaders, trying to drive them out. Rocky and Fuzzy are brought in to help stop the raiders and keep the land for the small ranchers and homesteaders.

A deputy sets out to prove that a respected judge, who had once been a criminal, is being framed for crimes committed by a crooked saloon owner.

Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette and the Sons of the Pioneers go undercover to help Texas Governor Russell Hicks stop World War II Axis sympathizers from blowing up U.S. warehouses.

Billy the Kid has been wrongfully arrested for robbing a train. In order to prove his innocence, the Kid breaks out of jail and hits the trail to search for the real robbers. Along the way, he discovers that an outlaw band has been impersonating upstanding ranchers.

Unknown to oil company president Ross, his man Quinn is pulling a swindle on the independent drillers. Quinn controls both the Judge and the Marshal. But when the Marshal is accidentally killed, Wild Bill Elliott is brought in as the new Marshal and things begin to change.

Roy returns home to fine a range feud between the cattlemen and the sheepmen. When his friend is killed he finds the rifle had a defective pin. He learns the rifle belongs to a ranch hand named Barker and that a third party has caused the feud. When he captures outlaws trying to blow up a dam, he claims Barker was the killer. But Barker has switched rifles and the outlaws now accuse Roy and Roy finds himself in trouble.

Dorn is after the rancher's land and is trying to stop Banker Brady from helping them. When his man Hammond kills Brady, there is a run on the bank. When Rocky volunteers to ride to the next town for money, he is ambushed by Dorn's men, loses his memory, and is jailed for supposedly stealing the money.

Marshals Nevada and Sandy are after Scully and his gang who have been robbing stage-coaches. The Texas Kid is part of the gang and Sandy thinks he is bad but Nevada knows him and thinks he may be good.

Hammond is after the Craig ranch and has framed Charlie Craig for murder. Mother Craig brings in the Range Busters. They capture one of Hammond's men and Alibi plans to trick him into a confession as to who the real murderer is. Meanwhile, Denny has overheard Hammond's plans for his next move and he and Crash set out to round up the gang.

A feud develops between the settlers and the railroad detectives in Red Rock Valley. Clem Barstow sends for Billy the Kid and Fuzzy Jones to help.

Rancher Blaze Barker returns to Dead Falls after being framed by land-grabbers and spending two years in jail. Paroled, he can't wear a gun, but is aided by Marshal Fargo Steele. The gang is out to gain control of all of the valley land before a dam is constructed. When Blaze raises the money to pay off the taxes on his ranch, he finds it has been marked to incriminate him.

Wounded while stopping the James gang from robbing the local bank, a cowboy wakes up in the hospital to find that he's been elected town marshal. He soon comes into conflict with the town banker, who controls everything in town and is squeezing the townspeople for every penny he can get out of them.

Billy the Kid is framed for murder.

Billy joins an outlaw band led by woman to clear his name of their crimes, which are being blamed on him.

Stagecoach robbers take the money Hoppy was going to use to buy cattle so Hoppy, California and Lin go after them.

Two cowboys try to protect railroad workers from rampaging Indians.

No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining engineer Steve Baird, who like Ann has a vested interest in the worked-out mine. With the help of genial counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum (Victor Moore), Steve and Ann are able to peddle mining stock, thus saving her from bankruptcy. The stockholders are in a lynching mood when it appears that they've been flim-flammed, but a last minute "miracle" saves the day. Featured in the cast are Paramount stalwarts Cass Daley and Gil Lamb, the former doing her quasi-Martha Raye act and the latter swallowing his harmonica for the millionth time. Production values are excellent and the songs are exuberantly performed; it's only in its hackneyed plot that Riding High slows to a clip-clop.

When Ranger Hoppy's falsely accused young ranger friend is killed while supposedly trying to escape from jail, Hoppy is blamed and drummed out of the Texas Rangers.

A crooked lawyer and his gang are trying to steal some government land meant for a stagecoach company. The company hires a cowboy to stop them.

Before he was killed by Mark Foster's men, Bud Lawton willed part ownership in his ranch to Hoppy and his two pals. When the three arrive they find a fake posing as Lawton. When they expose the imposter, Foster gets the Sheriff to jail them for Lawton's murder.

In this short western, a U.S. marshal seeks vengeance against the man who killed his father.

Johnny Mack Brown's Universal western series was drawing to a close when Cheyenne Roundup was released in mid-1943. Brown is herein cast in a dual role, as honest Gils Brandon and his less-than-honest brother Buck. Pursued by lawman Steve Rawlins (Tex Ritter), Buck tries to pass himself off as the upright Gils.

Jerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is trying to get a railroad spur right of way. Lucky has a woman come west to marry Jerry to get control of the ranch. After the wedding, Lucky has the owner killed. Roy’s gun is substituted for the murder weapon, so Roy is put in jail.

Krag Sabine has aroused the wrath of all the ranchers by stealing their land with the aid of his henchmen, led by Ace Barco; when Lafe Martin objects, the outlaws shoot him down. Lucky Randall promises Ann Martin he will avenge her wounded father. He sets up headquarters on the Martin ranch and sends for Bob Merritt and his men, the Texas Playboys (Jesse Ashlock, Leon McAuliffe, Cotton Thompson, Junior Barnard and Luke Wills). Krag organizes his remaining men for an attack on the ranch. Lucky's men get the upper hand but Krag escapes with Ann as his hostage.

In this short western, a gang of outlaws plots to gain control of the town of Tulsa.

A young cowboy returns home to help his father fight off a gang trying to take over the family ranch.

This late entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" series stars Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmy Dodd as, respectively, Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Johnson. This time out, the Mesquiteers try to help young Tim Clay (John James), who's been framed for murder by villains who want to gain possession of Clay's ranch property.

A gang of land-grabbers tries to prevent safe passage of the Foster Stage Company through frontier territory.

A horse called Brilliant is the only one who knows the location of a gold mine. When Brilliant's owner is killed, the trio known as the Three Mesquiteers (Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmie Dodd) are mistakenly arrested for the murder.

Rangers Tex Wyatt, Jim Steele, and Panhandle Perkins are en route to Boulder City to investigate the murder of rancher Dan Clark when they happen upon Trigger Farley, a gunslinger hired by Cole Melford, the chief suspects in Clark's murder.