Red Ryder

Redwood Valley residents raise $50,000 for blasting a mountain tunnel to bring a new railroad there. Town leader Bidwell (James Craven) engineers a plot to steal the money and to blame it on the Reno Kid (Bob Steele) who has recently broken out of prison in order to clear himself of false charges that sent him there and caused him to lose his ranch. The badly-wounded sheriff turns his badge over to Red Ryder (Bill Elliott). Reno visits his wife, Molly (Peggy Stewart) and their ailing son Johnny (John Wayne Wright), and Red, also wounded, is brought there by Little Beaver (Robert Blake. There, Red begins to believe Reno's story about being innocent.

One of two towns will be selected to be the County Seat and Editor Palmer has a gang working to make sure his town is chosen. Investigating the lawlessness, Red Ryder poses as an outlaw to get into the gang hoping to find out who the boss is. But Palmer knows Red and exposes his true identity when he arrives and Red and Gabby then find themselves prisoners of the gang.

The discovery of gold converts Cripple Creek into a boom town, and a wave of lawlessness follows. The town Marshal is murdered and Red Ryder, foreman of his aunt's ranch, is appointed to take his place. Ryder sets out to eliminate the hijacking of bullion wagons and does this by capturing one-by-one the underlings of the gang of swindlers. He then seeks out, exposes, beats up and jails the gang leader, who has posing around town as an honest businessman.

Lambert has the stagecoach wrecked killing the Commissioner so his phony replacement can alter Coonskin's land survey. When Red Ryder exposes the survey hoax, Lambert has his stooge Sheriff put Red in jail.

A geologist has found oil on the neighboring ranches and teams up with Ace, who has his gang create a reign of terror to get the ranchers to sell out. But to get rid of Red Ryder, Ace sends for the San Antonio Kid. On arrival the Kid has a freak accident and Red comes along to save his life. When the Kid later meets with Ace, he learns that Red is the man he has been paid to kill.

In Elliot's initial appearance as Red Ryder, he finds himself framed for murder. Little Beaver then foils the crooked Sheriff's attempt to have Red killed excaping jail. When Hannah Rogers gives the Sheriff a note, Red sees her give him a signal. Gabby lifts the note and Red decodes it. The Duchess then gets a confession from Hannah enabling Red to set out after the outlaws.

Red Ryder gets a telegram from his old friend Dan O'Connor asking for help in his fight against Faro Savage and his gang of rustlers. A gun dropped by Faro during a rustling raid makes Red and Sheila O'Connor, Dan's daughter, think they have ample proof against Faro but they are stymied by the law. Buckskin Blodgett and the Duchess, Red's aunt, find the body of O'Connor who was killed when Faro's men sent the sheriff out on a ruse. Sheila, discovered while rifling Faro's office for evidence, escapes but not before she is recognized. Faro kills one of his own henchmen and then frames Sheila for the murder. Red and Little Beaver set out to clear Sheila and to try to find evidence against Faro and his gang.

Two men are partners of the town bank. When one learns the other has cashed in bonds and replaced them with forgeries, he is murdered. The murdered Banker's adopted daughter takes his place and tries to keep the townspeople from losing their money. She will need help from Red Ryder who in turn will need help from Little Beaver when he gets into trouble.

Red Ryder (Bill Elliott) and Little Beaver (Robert Blake) arrive on the scene too late to prevent the hold-up of the freight coach and the theft of a big bank shipment. Red's aunt, the Duchess (Alice Fleming), operates the freight line and is unaware that banker Luther Jennings (LeRoy Mason) wants to scare her into selling him the freight line at a low figure. Jennings has Red's herd of horses stampeded, and makes it appear that Red staged a fake stampede in order to defraud the government. Captain Glover (Steve Barclay (I)') arrests Red, who maintains his innocence and persuades General Wingate (Stanley Andrews) to allow him to go after the real crook. Little Beaver accidentally finds the gang's cave-hideout and Red and Captain Glover find evidence proving Red's innocence and incriminating Jennings.

When the Sheriff of Las Vegas is killed in a bank holdup, Red Ryder is made the new Sheriff. His first problem arises when the Judge is shot and the Judge's son framed for the murder. Red knows the son is innocent from the type of bullet used and after hiding him from the lynch mob, sets a trap for the man he thinks is behind both the robbery and the murder.

The killing of young 'Boots' Hollister in this film is one of the most graphic, chilling and stark scenes, even with most of it off-camera, ever seen in a Republic B-western intended for the Saturday matinée crowd. The story has Red Ryder and his aunt, The Duchess, operating a stage line in the 1890's in Blue Springs. Con Hollister, released from prison and reformed, plans to return the $150,000 loot taken in a stagecoach holdup five years previous. Jed Quinlan, the brains behind a lawless gang, persuades Con's brash young son, Billy, to join him in the hold-up of the incoming stage carrying Mr. Hollister. Red breaks up the robbery and the gang gets away but not before Hollister recognizes his son as one of the bandits. 'Boots' Hollister, Con's young daughter, is murdered by Quinlan in cold blood as Quinlan is trying to locate the original robbery loot. And then Quinlan has Red suspected as the killer.

"Iron Mike" Haines (Tom Chatterton), a crooked sheriff, and "Hands" Weber (Roy Barcroft), the town blacksmith, are in cahoots and have been robbing stages, silver mines, etc., and framing innocent ranchers and cowhands with their deeds. They set out to rob the stage and frame Red Ryder (Bill Elliott as Wild Bill Elliott) for it, but the plan backfires and the sheriff is killed. The sheriff's son, Tommy (Jack McClendon), arrives home from college and is given his dad's job, not knowing he was a crook, and swears to get the man who killed him. Weber tells Tommy that Red killed his dad and Tommy sets out to get Red.

Red Ryder and Little Beaver return to Blue Springs and learn that the Duchess, Red's aunt, is going to sell her stagecoach line and marry a snooty Englishman Talbot Champneys, who is really Fancy Charlie, who has the nasty habit of marrying rich women and then killing them for their fortune. The concerned Red thinks everything is okay until he sees Champneys mistreating Red's horse, Thunder, and he then decides to investigate Champneys because, as he tells Little Beaver, no true Englishman would mistreat a horse. Realizing that he doesn't have much time with Red snooping around, the western Bluebeard persuades the Duchess to return to England with him, meet him at the railroad station to be married and, oh yes, bring her money with her.

Red Ryder (Bill Elliott as Wild Bill Elliott) chases and catches a bank robber, but the robber's boss, Denver Jack (Roy Barcroft) has him released by a crooked lawyer, Larry Randall (Robert Grady). Later, Randall decides he wants to reform and tells Denver he is quitting. Denver has him framed on a murder charge and Randall is to be hanged...unless Red Ryder and Little Beaver (Bobby Blake) can uncover evidence to prove his innocence.

In Chicago, Red catches the crook Bull and his two young accomplices. Hoping to reform the boys, he brings them back to the ranch. But upon returning he finds that part of the ranch has been burned and all the hands are quitting.

The Duchess and her nephew Red Ryder set out to pioneer a new stagecoach line through the wild, rough country leading to Desert Springs, a small, isolated town. To ensure the customer base for the new line, they bring with them a wagon train of prospective settlers who want their own land and have the cash to pay for it. Red and the Duchess are unaware that their letter to John Larkin, Desert Springs' hotel owner and land agent, has been intercepted by Dave McKean and his henchmen. McKean has intentions of letting Larkin complete the land deals, then he and his gang will steal the money. Arriving in Desert Springs, McKean and Co. are startled to find the town completely deserted (because of a rumored gold strike elsewhere), with signs that all of the citizens pulled out in a hurry. Seeing this as even a better opportunity, McKean sets up himself and his men as the town's officials and await the arrival of the prospective pigeons. An added subplot involves newlywed Arlie Adams, a member of the wagon train, being blackmailed by Lunsford over an earlier scandal and, while she was innocently involved, still doesn't want husband Bob Adams to learn of it.