The Night Riders ** (1939, John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune) – Classic Movie Review 11,669

Director George Sherman’s 1939 American Three Mesquiteers Western film The Night Riders stars John Wayne, Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan, and Max Terhune.

The Three Mesquiteers become mysterious night riders to fight Talbot Pierce (George Douglas), who is using a phony land grant to rule 13,000,000 acres, taxing everyone cripplingly and evicting those who will not or cannot pay.

The villain Talbot Pierce is based on a real-life Old West character, James Reavis, also known as The Baron of Arizona, the title of the 1950 film The Baron of Arizona with Vincent Price.

The cast are John Wayne as Stony Brooke, Ray Corrigan as Tucson Smith, Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin, Doreen McKay as Soledad, Ruth Rogers as Susan Randall, George Douglas as Talbot Pierce, aka Don Luis de Serrano, Tom Tyler as henchman Jackson, Kermit Maynard as Sheriff Pratt, Sammy McKim as Tim Randall, Walter Wills as Hazleton the forger, Ethan Laidlaw as henchman Andrews, Edward Peil Sr. as Rancher, Tom London as Rancher, Jack Ingram as Henchman Wilkins, Bill Nestell as Brawler, Hank Worden as Rancher, Horace Murphy as Riverboat Captain Asa Beckett, Yakima Canutt as Mob Member at Gate, Bob Card as Rancher, Allan Cavan as Judge, and Dick Dickinson as Henchman Rent Collector.

Wayne played the lead in eight of the 51 films in the Republic Pictures Three Mesquiteers series as Stony Brooke: Pals of the Saddle, Overland Stage Raiders, Santa Fe Stampede, Red River Range, The Night Riders, Three Texas Steers, Wyoming Outlaw, and New Frontier. Stony Brooke was played by Bob Livingston in 29 films and Tom Tyler in 13 films.

The Three Mesquiteers series was released between 1936 and 1943. The name mixes mesquite, a plant common in the Western states, with The Three Musketeers.

Previously, Powdersmoke Range (1935, RKO Pictures) had starred Harry Carey as Tucson Smith, Hoot Gibson as Stony Brooke, and Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams as Lullaby Joslin. Then Republic Pictures started up with The Three Mesquiteers (1936) with Bob Livingston.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,669

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