Stagecoach Outlaws

"Stagecoach Outlaws" was one of a series of "B" westerns made by poverty row studio PRC during the 1940s. The series started out in 1940 as a "Billy the Kid" series with Bob Steele. In 1941 Larry "Buster" Crabbe took over the role. Later on the name of the character was changed to "Billy Carson" for some reason.

I single this particular entry out for a couple of reasons. The film showcases the talents of Al "Fuzzy" St. John and contains a good part for the unrepeated and often overlooked Kermit Maynard. And, this one of the few films in the series which did not feature Charlie King as one of the bad guys.

St. John, PRC's perennial sidekick, had been a member of Mack Sennett's comedy troupe in the early silent days. In fact, he was one of the original Keystone Cops. In this film he gets to display his slapstick talents a number of times, performing several Sennett type pratfalls as he tries to slow up and confuse the outlaws.

Kermit Maynard was of course the brother of the more famous Ken Maynard. As such, Kermit always seemed to be in the shadow of his more famous brother. He starred in an independently produced series in the 1930s but never did come close to achieving the fame of his brother. After his starring series he was usually relegated to featured "one of the boys" type roles. At least in this picture we get to see him in a decent role as the bad guy's chief hench man.

The story has Billy Carson (Crabbe) rescuing Linda Brown (Frances Gladwin) from the clutches of stagecoach outlaws Maynard and John Cason. It seems that they were sent out by boss Steve Kirby (I. Stanford Jolley) to kidnap her to force her father Jed (Ed Cassidy) to sell his express business.

With his henchmen having bungled the job, Kirby decides to send for gunman Matt Brawley (Bob Kortman) to bolster his gang. Brawley is in jail but escapes before Kirby's gang can spring him. He overpowers deputy Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) and places him in the cell. Kirby's gang arrives, knocks out the sheriff (Steve Clark), mistakes Fuzzy for Brawley and take him to their hideout. It remains for Fuzzy to continue the masquerade until Billy can learn the identity of the boss of the gang and move in to arrest them. Of course the real Brawley shows up and............

Buster Crabbe is best remembered for his serial roles in the 1930s as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. John Cason (appearing as Bob Cason here) stands out among the "B" western villains because he was left handed. Bob Kortman had been around since the silents and appeared in several serials and "B" westerns during the 30s and 40s.

Not at all dull, "Stagecoach Outlaws" is still a pretty entertaining Western outing for PRC, a studio known for the lowest of low production values. Much of this is thanks to the charisma of star Buster Crabbe and the silent era antics of sidekick Al St. John. "Stagecoach Outlaws" is light-hearted, anything but "serious" and fairly well-written. There is some unintentional humor, such as in the stony faced performance of the female lead, who sits non-plussed as all the action goes down around her. Also Buster Crabbe at one point bumps into a "wall" which turns out to be no more than a curtain. But in this case PRC got a lot more onto the screen than what they spent. Part of this is due to good location scouting and well-chosen sets: a shabby hotel which serves as the gang's hideout is convincing as a "shabby hotel," rather than a hotel which looks shabby because it is, in reality, a PRC set. While "The Wild Bunch" it ain't (and oddly, there is one detail which this film may have inspired the much later Peckinpah classic) "Stagecoach Outlaws" is definitely a decent way to spend an hour.

I. Stanford Jolley and his henchmen are having a swell time robbing stagecoaches and using the proceeds to buy up local businesses. When Buster Crabbe and Al St. John head over to investigate, Jolley finds out and sends the hench people to break killer Bob Kortman out of prison to take care of them. Instead they grab St. John annd think him Kortman.

Usually in this PRC westerns, it's the leading man who is mistaken for the bad man. This allows more screen time. Making it St. John allows a more comic episode than usual. It's clear that St. John had a lot of input into the goings-on and while he's past his prime, his gag construction is good. Still, watching Crabbe try to do a double take is not a high point in movie comedy. With Frances Gladwin and Kermit Maynard.