The Gun Ranger (1936) watch online HD

The semi twist-and-turn plot has Ranger Dan Larsen (Bob Steele), after Wally Smeed (Ernie Adams)goes unconvicted of killing the father of Molly Pearson(Eleanor Stewart), resigning from the Rangers in order to work undercover to track down the leaders of the outlaw band that runs the town. Molly is made a ward of the Judge (Frank Ball)and District Attorney Kemper Mills (John Merton) is appointed her guardian. With the help of Carl Beeman(Budd Buster),Dan escapes from town after a fight with gang member Bud Cooper (Earl Dwire.) Dan follows Cooper to and comes upon the cabin headquarters of the gang, where he listens in as the masked boss of the gang tells Smeed his plans to raid Molly's ranch. Dan is captured and the Boss tells Smeed to kill him, but Smeed lets Dan escape after telling Dan he was not the killer of Molly's father. Dan gets to Molly's ranch just as the guardianship papers are about to be signed and warns her against Mills. He is arrested and is been taken back to town by Mills and the Judge. The latter pair get into an argument, Mills shoots the Judge and Dan escapes. Coming back, Dan finds Smeed near the body of the Judge, and Smeed tells Dan that the Judge was his father. Beeman and a group of riders come along and Dan sends them to Molly's ranch to defend it against the raiders. During the raid, the masked Boss captures Molly, and Dan and Smeed set out in pursuit.

When a mistrial is declared and Ernie Adams is freed, Ranger Bob Steele is fed up. Every time he brings in a law breaker, he walks free on a technicality. He resigns and announced he is going after Adams as a private citizen, and no one can stop him. However there are mysteries within mysteries and he soon discovers the phony outfit just over the hill is central to the goings-on.

This looks like the last film that Robert Bradbury directed Bob Steele in before the contract was sold to Republic Pictures, which wound up distributing it the following year. It's not a particularly enthralling effort for the father-son pairing. Steele doesn't get to do much in the way of his wonted acrobatics, and by the time "the boss" shows up masked halfway through, it's pretty clear what's going on. The rest is a matter of people explaining what they've been doing and a final gun battle. The following year, Republic would begin to bankroll the pictures and the production values would begin to pick up. Inthe meantime, this one looks like a meiocre placeholder for the usually delightful Steele.

Ernie Adams has a very different role here, and he grabs his opportunity with both hands and proves a stand-out!

Budd Buster, here billed as Bud, also plays a very different character from his usual, and again almost steals the entire movie.

Bob Steele is the nominal star, and is, as usual, stalwart, strong, dependable, and full of action. He is such a joy to watch as a cowboy, and especially on horseback -- even mounting his cayuse -- but in his fight scenes, every time I see him battling a villain who is usually bigger than he is, I think, "He could have been a champion boxer."

Very athletic, very watchable, and very much a pleasure to see in action.

The story in "The Gun Ranger" is almost convoluted, there are so many twists, and often the presumed bad guys aren't quite what they seem, and sometimes the presumed good guys aren't either.

Incredibly prolific writer George Plympton is credited as adapter of the story by the not-so-active Homer King Gordon and they have created a good script, crammed full with action and excitement.

Their story is helped immensely by one of the best casts of Western performers, too many of whom don't even get screen credit, such as the talented-far-beyond-his reputation Hal Taliaferro.

There is a fair print at YouTube and I highly recommend "The Gun Ranger."