Tag Archives: Jack Randall

Gun Packer (1938, directed by Wallace Fox)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Someone is holding up stages and making off with a fortune of gold bullion.  The government decides to send in a gun packer.  Jack Denton (Jack Randall), the son of a legendary lawman, is sent to investigate, along with his sidekick Pinkie (Ray Turner) and Rusty the Wonder Horse.  Jack goes undercover, telling an elderly ex-con (Barlowe Borland) that he’s a former partner of his, which leads Jack to the leader of the robbers, Chance Moore (Charles King).

There are a lot of familiar faces in this western.  Not only does Charles King play yet another villain but Glenn Strange shows up in his customary role as the town sheriff.  Lloyd Ingraham, Forrest Taylor, Victor Adamson, George Hazel, Dave O’Brien, and Tex Palmer all have roles.  It’s interesting that the same actors showed up in these movies and almost always seemed to be playing the same roles.  The only thing that changed was the hero.  In this case, it’s Jack Randall, who may not have been a great actor but who was a believable western hero.  His sidekick here is Ray Turner, a black actor who began his career during the silent era and who had a long career in the westerns.  While Turner plays a subordinate character, the role still avoids a lot (though not all) of the demeaning racial stereotypes that were very common in most films from the 1930s.  Jack treats Pinky with respect and they’re clearly friends outside of work.  That may not sound like a lot but it was a big deal for a 1938 Poverty Row western.

The real hero here is Rusty the Wonder Horse.  Rusty’s best scene?  Jack, needing to climb a mountain, calls for Rusty to drop his lariat.  Jack grabs the rope and Rusty pulls him up.  Rusty truly earns the right to be called a wonder horse.

Man’s Country (1938, directed by Robert F. Hill)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When his innocent son, Ted (David Sharpe), is accused of committing a murder, Lex Crane (Walter Long) turns him over to Texas Ranger Jack Haile (Jack Randall) because he knows that Jack will make sure that Ted gets a fair trial.  Lex says that he and his men are accused of every crime that happens in the area, even though they’re always innocent.  Jack understand and respects Lex as a man and a father.  But when someone shoots and kills Ted, Lex and his men set out for revenge.  The twist?  Lex has a twin brother named Buck (also played by Walter Long) and the two brothers hate each other.

Most poverty row westerns blend into each other but Man’s Country stands out as an intelligent and well-acted western.  Even though the twin twist is undoubtedly an overdone one, Man’s Country does a good job with it and Walter Long gives such a good performance that both Lex and Buck emerge as individual, identifiable characters.  Jack Randall may not have been the greatest of the old western actors but he’s believable as the tough but fair Texas Ranger.  There’s enough western action for fans of the genre but, for once, the plot is interesting enough that it might hold the attention of other watchers as well.

Of course, this is a Poverty Row western so Charles King does appear as one of the bad guys.  He gets into a fist fight, like he almost always did.  I wonder how many onscreen punches Charles King actually threw over the course of his career in the westerns.  It had to have been a lot.

Overland Mail (1939, directed by Robert F. Hill)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Jack Mason (Jack Randall) has the most important job on the frontier.  He delivers the mail.  After he’s chased by the members of the local Indian tribe, he learns that an uprising is imminent because a young brave has been murdered and the tribe blames the citizens of a nearby town.  Of course, the murder was actually committed by a gang of counterfeiters led by saloon owner Pollini (Tristram Coffin).  Pollini is not only a counterfeiter but he also lies to sweet Mary Martin (Jean Joyce), telling her that he’s hiring her to be a waitress when he’s actually looking for a dance hall girl.  Jack has to bring Pollini to justice before a full scale war breaks out.

This is not a bad B-western.  It’s short and quick but the story is slightly better than the average Monogram oater and Jack Randall and co-star Dennis Moore are both believable as cowboys and gunslingers.  Fans of the genre will be happy to see Glenn Strange as the sheriff and Iron Eyes Cody as the chief of the tribe.  I’ve always liked westerns where the heroes were just trying to keep the peace so that they could deliver the mail.  We take mail for granted nowadays but in the 1800s, delivering mail was almost as dangerous as delivering money.  If you’re not into westerns, Overland Mail won’t change your mind but, if you’re already a fan of the genre, Overland Mail makes for an entertaining 50 minutes.

 

Across The Plains (1939, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In the old west, a group of outlaws attack a wagon train, killing a husband and wife but sparing their two children.  One child is taken by the outlaws, who tell him that they have saved him from an Indian attack.  He grows up to be The Kansas Kid (Dennis Moore), a wagon master who still works for Gordon (Bob Card), the outlaw who raised him.  The other child is adopted by a Native tribe and grows up to be known as Cherokee (Jack Randall).  Cherokee has been hired to protect a gold shipment that Kansas and Gordon are determined to steal.  How long until the brothers come into conflict?

Across The Plains is a pretty good programmer.  Dennis Moore and Jack Randall are convincing as two men on opposite sides of the law who don’t realize that they’re brothers and director Spencer Gordon Bennett captures the scenery of the old west.  This is a western where the frontier really feels and looks like an untouched frontier!  The gunfights are effectively choreographed and directed and the family aspect is a good spin on a simple story.  For fans of westerns, Across The Plains is an enjoyable example of the genre.

Dennis Moore and Jack Randall were both B-western mainstays.  Moore occasionally played a hero but was usually cast as a villain.  Across The Plans gives him a chance to play a more complex role than usual and he takes full advantage of the opportunity.  The Kansas Kid may be an outlaw but he’s not so much bad as just misguided.  Jack Randall was one of the many stage names used by actor Addison Randall.  He started out as a singing cowboy before playing more traditional heroes, like in this film.  In Across The Plans, Randall was as tough and convincing a western hero as he always was.    Tragically, he died six years after making this film when he fell off a horse while filming a Universal serial called The Royal Mounted Ride Again.  He was only 39 years old.