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!

kdv-5 Nice movie to watch when you wake up too early on a weekend morning.There IS a stampede! Contrary to what the earlier commenter implied, there is a stampede, it just involves humans acting as animals instead of sane, rational beings. Humans running out of control causing damage is as much a stampede as any by cattle. :-)I like these short Wayne and pals flicks. Thanks to cable TV we have so many choices and I am glad these oldies get shown. This was a typical good guys fight the bad guys and should be watched carefully with children. As the movie notes mention there is a "movie first" in it so be aware and discuss the movie with your children.

classicsoncall Kids in Westerns were fairly common as far back as the 1930's, but it's always surprising to me when a youngster is killed or allowed to die like you find here in "Santa Fe Stampede". Young Julie Carson (Genee Hall) and her father Dave (William Farnum) are snuffed by henchmen of Santa Fe Junction's mayor, Gilbert Byron (Le Roy Mason). Though you only see their buckboard crash over a small cliff, this viewer was left wondering if there was some way to have the young lady saved from the wreckage, but that wasn't to be. Considering that a lot of these programmers were meant for Saturday afternoon matinée crowds catering to youngsters, I tried to imagine how kids of the same age might have reacted to the scene.For his trouble, Stony Brooke (John Wayne) is framed for the murders, and it's up to his partners Tucson Smith (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune) to come to the rescue. Together, the trio is The Three Mesquiteers, summoned by Dave Carson for their help in securing his gold claim before things go horribly bad. With virtually every authority figure in town in the pocket of crooked Mayor Byron, it won't be easy for the boys to pull off their heroics. But don't worry, the Mesquiteers will wrap this up in under an hour like they always do.For John Wayne, this was his third appearance for Republic Pictures as a Mesquiteer, replacing Robert Livingston in the series who was promoted to feature films. Wayne appeared in six films with Corrigan and Terhune; in the final two Terhune was replaced by Ray Hatton. The Mesquiteers series was somewhat of a merry-go-round for the principal players, who found themselves trading off partners over the course of fifty one pictures. Other 'B' Western greats who appeared in the series included Duncan Renaldo, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis, and Tom Tyler, along with a handful of others who appeared in a limited number of stories. Of those I've seen, the pictures with Wayne seem to be the ones where the boys have the most fun in between corralling desperate outlaws.Here's something that caught my eye while watching this flick - this is the ONLY 'B' Western I've seen to date in which a cowboy, in this case a villain, uses a rifle with a scope! I don't know when they were invented and first used, but it seemed unusual here, I guess that's why I noticed it.Thinking back on some of the other Mesquiteers movies I've seen, I can't remember if the female lead ever became a serious romantic interest for the members of the trio. Wayne and Corrigan seemed to be jockeying for position to romance June Martel's character in this one, but nothing comes of it. Contrast that with virtually all of Wayne's pictures for Lone Star in the early 1930's; in those he closed out each story in a clinch with a pretty lady.

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.