weezeralfalfa
One of 51 westerns by Republic in the late '30s and early'40s, under the banner of The Three Mesquiteers. The identity of the 3 players varied. John Wayne is involved in only 8 of them, and this is one of those. With a run time of only 55 min., it packs in a lot of scheming and action. Incidentally, although this is scripted as taking place in New Mexico Territory, the Santa Fe in the title refers to the small town of Santa Fe Junction, not to the capital! Also, the closest thing to a stampede is the mob milling around outside the jail where John Wayne, as Stoney Brooke, is being kept. This was early in director George Sherman's career at Republic. Later, he would move to Columbia, and then to Universal. Each time, he would direct B westerns, nearly exclusively. Luci Ward and Betty Burbridge combined to develop the screenplay, both writing the screenplays for primarily B westerns from the late '30s through the '40s.......Here, Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Max Trehune were the 3 Mesquiteers. The latter occasionally got out his Elmer puppet to practice some ventriloquism. Petite June Martel played Stoney's quasi-girlfriend. Her small sister, Julie Jane, was played by Genee Hall, while her small brother Billy was played by Martin Spellman, whose film career was limited to juvenile roles. William Farnum played their father, Dave Carson. LeRoy Mason played the kingpin villain Mayor Gil Byron. Ferris Taylor ,as Judge Hixon, and Dick Rush, as Sheriff Tom, were his two main accomplices in obstructing law and order in the town......It was a gold vein that the Carsons discovered that forms the basis of the story. Mayor Byron and his cronies and henchmen want to take the mine away from the Carsons. To do so legally, they must obtain an ore sample. Toward this end, Byron sends 2 men out to sneak into the mine to get a sample. As they leave on 2 of Carson's horses, Billy shoots at them, alerting the others, who chase them. One is caught, but the other has the ore sample. Stony and bunch take the one to the sheriff, who tells them they need a court order to put him in jail. So, they go to the judge, who obliges them. However, he says there is be a trial right away. The sheriff brings the prisoner over, with a bunch men. One of the men says he couldn't be the thief, since he was working with the defendant at the time. Based on this flimsy evidence, the judge dismisses the case. Stony pipes up "This isn't a court. It's a three ring circus", and is fined for contempt of court. Soon, Stony starts a petition to be sent to the governor, that these corrupt officials be fired. Dave Carson is selected to take this to the governor while, at the same time, Stony takes his ore report to the claims office , in another town. The mayor sends two men to kill Carson, and return with the petition. This they do. However, little Julie Jan was also in the buckboard(why?), which went over a cliff, without a driver. It was assumed she died. Her reported death incensed the town people. Meanwhile, the mayor decided to charge Stony with the crime, since he was away from town at the time. He was jailed on this flimsy evidence, and a mob gathered, demanding that he be lynched. When the sheriff opened the door, Nancy slipped in but, mysteriously, fainted before reaching Stony. The impatient mayor ordered that the jail be set afire. There soon were several big fires within the jail. Then, several sticks of dynamite were thrown into the jail, One blew out a wall allowing Stony to escape, with Nancy in his arms, surviving the fire and smoke inhalation. This whole sequence, beginning with Nancy's fainting, is totally unbelievable. Other than this last part, I enjoyed the film , which was based on a good screenplay. See the ending of the film, at YouTube, for instance.
MartinHafer
Republic Pictures made 51 Three Mesqueteer movies from 1936-1943. Oddly, however, the actors playing these three heroes changed often and there were apparent nine different combinations of actors to play these parts! By far the most famous of these actors was John Wayne, who starred in eight of the films--and "Santa Fe Stampede" is one of them.The plot is pretty typical of any B-movie of the period as well as the rest of the Mesqueteer films. There is a gold mine and a baddie wants to take it away from the good guys. On top of this, the baddie pretty much controls the entire town--from the mayor to the judge to the sheriff. As a result, crimes are routinely ignored and the rights of the settlers are trampled upon routinely. The Mesqueteers, being much like traveling social workers and heroes of the old west, spring into action and try to deliver a petition to the governor for help. But, not surprisingly, the mine owner carrying this petition is killed along with his rather annoying young daughter. Everyone was sad, but I was just happy that child was no longer in the film! The baddies know that unless they do something to distract the dumb people of the town that the governor is bound to notice the crazy stuff happening there. So, to divert suspicion from the murder to the two folks, they frame John Wayne for the crime and the town of dumbbells amazingly fall for this!! Think about it--just moments ago they were signing a petition for the governor and now they believe these same men are telling the truth when they say Wayne killed his own friend and his bratty daughter! Duh.In addition to the story, you have Max Terhune on hand as the creepy weird member of the Mesqueteers. That's because he inexplicably whipped out a ventriloquist's dummy--and doing a rather poor job of hiding the fact that his lips were moving! Bizarre--and yet Terhune did this same thing in other films as well! Weird.Overall, despite the very familiar plot and the meaningless addition to Terhune's 'friend' Elmer, it's a pleasant little B-movie--the sort that is just a bit different from the average film in this very crowded genre. Well done...but odd!
Michael_Elliott
Santa Fe Stampede (1938)*** (out of 4) In 1935 Republic Pictures started their low-budget western series featuring The Three Mesquiteers with Powdersmoke Range and would end it with 1943's Riders of the Rio Grande. Various actors graced the screen as the trio but the best known films are those with John Wayne whose first appearance was in 1938's Pals of the Saddle. Wayne would make a total of eight Mesquiteers films with Santa Fe Stampede being the third.The Three Mesquiteers--Stony (John Wayne), Tucson (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby (Max Terhune)—are asked by a friend (William Farnum) to help keep some bad guys off his property. These bad guys are being controlled by the town's greedy Mayor who knows that a gold mine is on the property. When the local Judge offers no help it's up to the Mesquiteers to help but after the friend is murdered the Mayor makes it appear that Stony killed him in order to take over the mine. Now the boys must try and solve the case before the town folks kill Stony and let the guilty go free.You certainly shouldn't go into this film expecting anything like The Searchers or Once Upon a Time in the West because films like this were made cheaply, at a fast rate and their purpose was to entertain for an hour and nothing more. If you have a fondness for the "B" pictures of yesterday then you'll know what to expect here and the film pretty much delivers on all grounds. There's certainly nothing original or new here story wise but that's fine since the entertainment level is high and the running time short.Typical of a "B" Western, the title has absolutely nothing to do with the actual film so if you're expecting any sort of stampede then you'll be in for a big letdown. I'm sure that word was just added for an added boost to get people in the theater but either way you do get the typical "B" Western action. This ranges from various fist fights that break out at any moment including one hilarious scene where the heroes battle the bad guys right inside a court room, which lands them in contempt of court. We also get various shoot outs, which contain some mild excitement even though they are as fake as possible. The biggest highlight to a film like this is a dramatic ending, which usually contains the biggest stunts and here we get Wayne stuck inside a burning building trying to make an escape.Another key to these films are the main cast members, which always adds a few chuckles and gives the viewer a reason to watch them. There were thousands of these types of films made during the decade yet the one's with Wayne are certainly the most memorable and while the debate of Wayne as an actor will always continue there's no denying his visual impact on any film. You can tell Wayne is having a lot of fun here including a wonderful scene where his friends young daughter shares her thoughts about marrying him. Wayne has all the vibrant energy to carry the film but his two co-stars also add a lot as well. Silent screen star William Farnum is a bit too wooden and over the top but this actually ads more charm to the film.Santa Fe Stampede also contains a rather shocking and violent scene where the friend is actually killed. The final death sequence was trimmed back when the film was released due to it being too graphic for viewers back then but it's restored here and it's easy to see why so many would have objected to the scene back in its day. The film itself is nothing groundbreaking but fans of the "B" Western or John Wayne should get a kick out of the movie nonetheless.
whpratt1
This was a definite look back at the past when John Wayne was very young and starting out on a great career in films. There really is no stampede, except the bad guys trying to blame Stony Brooke, (John Wayne) for a crime he did not commit. However, the local town people want justice and are convinced that Stony is responsible for this crime and must pay for it. Stony is put in jail and his lady friend, Nanvy Carson visits him while the jail is set on fire and they are both destined to die in the blaze. Tucson Smith,(Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin, (Max Terhune) try to come to his rescue. Lullaby Joslin is also a ventriloquist and there are some funny scenes with his dummy talking and making jokes. If you look real close, you will see the famous villain of all Western Films, Charlie King. Great John Wayne Classic film, enjoy.
