Here we are, halfway through the 24 films of The Range Busters (what, already?!), and…we…I really don’t have much to say. These movies are moving along swimmingly enough, with an absolute minimum of variation or creativity between entries. This is far beyond formula, folks, well into the realm of engineered stagnation. But after all, television-like afternoon B-western programming was intended to be that way. Consider, audiences in the day were expected to wander the theater rather freely, a form of 40s assholism making up for the lack of texting technology. Films couldn’t be too complicated, or require too much attention for those who wander in at the middle, Donnie-like. In that way, I guess The Range Busters operates to a Bar T.
Again, there is a movie I have not found. So put up with a brief passing over of…
Thunder River Feud (1942) – In ever Buster entry, “Dusty” King and “Crash” Corrigan (themselves…maybe) run through a love triangle with the one-off love interest. This time, it’s the A-plot! And it takes something of a sitcom tact, with each man individually falling for the girl (one Maybelle Pembroke) from a photograph, then traveling out to her ranch. Then, Bad Boys like, they somehow get mistaken for each other. Shenanigans ensue, and “Alibi” Terhune (himself…maybe) at some point implicates himself in the story. (Also, there end up being villains.)
To be found in Thunder River Feud is a henchman named Taggert…which is exactly what the henchmen in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles was called! WHOO for knowing spoofs!
The following entry, Rock River Renegades (made all of 2 weeks later), takes a similar approach to examining the love triangle element. I love it when a franchise gets creative and experimental with their own formula. Let’s see how it works out here…
Let me start en media res, in order to immediately address the love triangle right out of the gate. We’re gonna need a blandly young attractive woman in this otherwise sausage festival franchise. Today “personality-free love interest” shall be played by Christine McIntyre, in the role of Grace. Now, looking over the cast list, one thinks “Yeah, she’ll be fending off Dusty’s songs, and Crash’s…whatever. Ho hum!” Ah hah, gotcha! She has two men fighting for her affections, but it’s not the Range Busters. Already in place, a priori to the Busters’ bursting in, we have the dual romantic interests of Marshal Luke Graham (Kermit Maynard) – the lawman in over his head with other plot distractions – and Jim Dawson (Weldon Heyburn appearing as Phil Sanford – must be his maiden name) – Dawson is both a well-to-do businessman, and he wears a black hat. Bingo! He’s our villain!
Of that villainy: The idiot town of Rock River (which is itself but a few letters away from Brooks’ Rock Ridge – all hail Blazing Saddles!) is beset by an exceedingly generic gang of all-purpose renegades. They merely shoot guns randomly, rob on occasion, go “Whoo!,” and overall just resemble college freshmen. When you’ve put so much effort into your love triangle (“effort” here being “telling the same story as usual, but with different characters”), naturally the villain’s plotline is gonna be a little stale. Well, staler, really, they’ve never exactly been fresh.
Wherever bland, uninteresting varmintism is running rampant, the Range Busters will be there. Wherever Marshals are overrun by the henchmen of dirty businessmen, the Range Busters will be there. Wherever a pretty woman of birthing age is not in wedlock, the Range Busters will be there. Eh, them or the Three Mesquiteers…or the Rough Riders…or the Trail Blazers…or Texas Rangers…There’s a lot of “trigger trio” franchises!
But first, let’s waste several minutes, and get ever closer to that elusive “The End” title card, by letting Dusty belt out another public domain song. That’ll be “My Darling Clementine,” a song eternally wedded to early westerns…see, well, My Darling Clementine. That’ll do, Dusty, that’ll do.
Out ride Crash and Dusty, Alibi choosing to do his regular Range Buster schtick and not be a part of the plot. Their journey to Rock River puts them in contact with Grace, in a non-starter of a scene – Noteworthy only because a contrived stagecoach robbery scenario allows Crash to perform some of his patented stunt work. If only the scenarists could do something interesting with what are, in isolation, interesting feats. (See the better Three Mesquiteer movies for an example of just this.)
Our duo of Busters (Crash and Dusty are a duo so often, my notes use “duo” to mean only that) meets with Luke, Jim, Grace, et al. Also here is Grace’s father, Dick – whose name also indicates his personality. This old fogey is unreasonably opposed to Luke’s political office for purely selfish, narrow-minded reasons (ah, politics) – and Dick will be a loud, useless “voice of the common man” irritant throughout this tale. Let us speak no more of him.
Naturally, the instant the Range Busters are charged with helping Luke clean up the scum in his fair city, they immediately rush off to go woo Grace. Did they not grok the fundamental shift in formula here? No matter, our humble love triangle is now a love pentangle – approximately three guys are gonna come out of this disappointed. But in a rare act of teamwork, the Range Busters choose to team up to attempt mutual wooing, meaning…for some damn reason, they have Crash lip synch to one of Dusty’s songs (“Prairie Serenade”), which just sort of increases the confusion for everyone. But just like in sitcoms, let us never bring in common logic to examine the biology of farce.
Intermission for Crash (or is it Dusty?) to go to the local saloon, get badmouthed by hoods, punch them, leave. There’s an action checklist for these things – shootout, stagecoach robbery, horse chase, saloon brawl, fistfight – which they dutifully work through each time, proudly allowing the narrative seams to show. And in another apparent embrace of comedy’s worst instincts, Crash defends himself with a seltzer bottle for much of the fight. Wakka wakka!
Around now Alibi shows back up, explaining he’s been working for Dick’s newspaper for the past several months. This extreme, unnecessary plot hole is never adequately patched, even though they actively point it out on screen. Also, Elmer the Hell Dummy (From Hell) has somehow once again maxed out his creepiness – the dread homunculus now moves and speaks of its own accord. At least, we see this happening each time Alibi is left alone with the monster. Perhaps it’s just a manifestation of Alibi’s own fragmenting personality, like the hallucinations in The Lost Weekend or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Elmer creeps me out, and I shall say no more of him (for today).
The bad guys have an Evil Shack Lair, which is the exact same Evil Shack Lair as in all the past Range Busters, even as the bad guys themselves are largely the same stuntmen (in the same plots, against the same heroes, etc.). There’s so very much that’s consistent, it’s starting to seem less like variations on a theme, and more “passion play,” with these familiar sights and plot points just stations on the cross. (When I start saying such things, I am officially bored with a series – and we’re but halfway through.)
The Buster duo, Crash and Dusty, what are they doing to resolve the plot? Why, they’re fast asleep in the sheriff’s office!
[Okay, I wait 5 minutes.]
Again, what is the Buster duo doing, plot-wise? Why, following some highly obvious tracks back to the Evil Shack Lair. While I am engaged in the act of questioning why the tracks were so obvious, the duo is just nosing about.
Turns out I had the right idea. It was a trap!, as them dastardly varmints are now gonna pin all them recent crimes on the Range Busters (never mind most of the crimes happened before the Range Busters ever came into town). Oh boy, must every B-western show the baddies framing the heroes at some point? Potentially interesting plots go to waste through sheer repetition.
Jim (the sneerable, hiss-worthy robber baron mastermind behind this rash of general thuggery) speechifies before the assembled idiot rednecks of Rock River. He purports the ouster of Marshal Luke, with his own insertion in Luke’s stead. Actually, Jim doesn’t even have to do dick, as Dick is obediently rousing the rabble for him – and Dick isn’t even aware of Jim’s inherent evilness! I’ll bet Dick votes Tea Party.
So an Old West lynch mob is activated, desirous to hang Crash and Dusty like common minorities. Proving bloodthirsty mobs are even more easily puppeteered than, well, puppets, Alibi leads the morons on their charge straight towards Evil Shack Lair. (How’d everyone suddenly know that’s where Crash and Dusty where?! Plot holes, man.) But as Homer Simpson once hypothesized that by being a part of a mob, he could “lead it in wise directions,” so does Alibi actually misdirect his loyal minions. Alibi uses his mob to rescue Crash and Dusty, then ride off to safety with them. (To again go to the Blazing Saddles well: “You are so talented. And they are sooo dumb!”)
Horse chase time.
Having just escaped from Evil Shack Lair…the Range Busters return to Evil Shack Lair. Ummm, what? Well, all the non-mob ruffians are back here, doing whatever, faces just asking to be punched. The Range Busters oblige, fighting off the 10 or so men – who never had a chance! Looking at the time remaining in the film, and being generally genre savvy, I am so unconcerned with the outcome (obvious victory for the Range Busters), I don’t think I even watched the rest. It’s all starting to blur together now. I can assure you that some villain is stopped at the end of Rock River Renegades.
And Grace is wed. To Luke, naturally, even though a moment ago she was right on the altar with Jim (I neglected that plot point out of pointlessness). Eh, any man ’ll do when you’re of marryin’ age! At the very least, this is the first B-western I’ve yet to see for this blog project which actually allows the female lead happiness! By introducing a non-Buster beau for the bride, the writers didn’t have to worry about “snap back” when constructing the romantic subplot. And bully to them for that!
These little details re: Grace are really the only things separating Rock River Renegades from a B-western so generic, I don’t think it actually exists. It’s minor variation as a sop to the audience, as the actors are just having fun dicking around on “Crash” Corrigan’s ranch. Whatever, it fills a Saturday matinee schedule. Good or bad, we’ll be back (because it’s my stupid compulsion)…
And the film knows it’s not over. Ridin’ off, Alibi issues this final warning: “We’ll be seein’ you folks!” Indeed, this isn’t over yet, Range Busters. We’ll meet again. You haven’t seen the last of me!
Related posts:
• No. 4 Trail of the Silver Spurs (1941)
• No. 8 Fugitive Valley (1941)
• No. 9 Saddle Mountain Roundup (1941)
• No. 10 Tonto Basic Outlaws (1941)
• No. 11 Underground Rustlers (1941)
• No. 16 Arizona Stagecoach (1942)
• No. 17 Texas to Bataan (1942)
• No. 18 Trail Riders (1942)
• No. 20 Haunted Ranch (1943)
• No. 24 Bullets and Saddles (1943)
No comments:
Post a Comment