User Reviews

Cast includes Cactus Mack (stage driver), Bobbie Dorree (stunt double for women), Tom Steele (stunt double for Elliott), Fred Graham (stunt double for Curtis and Barcroft).

Director: R.G. SPRINGSTEEN. Screenplay: Earle Snell. Story: Gerald Geraghty. Based on characters created by Fred Harman in the NEA comic, "Red Ryder". Photography: William Bradford. Film editor: Fred Allen. Music director: Richard Cherwin. Art director: Frank Hotaling. Associate producer: Sidney Picker. 6 reels.

Copyright 11 December 1945 by Republic Pictures Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 21 December 1945. Never theatrically released in Australia (even though the comic book itself was so popular it was featured on every news-stand in the country). 6 reels. 56 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Unaware that the town has been taken over by bandits led by the smooth-talking "John Larkin" (Roy Barcroft), a group of settlers, accompanied by Red Ryder, Little Beaver and The Duchess, make their way by wagon train to Desert Springs, Arizona.

COMMENT: An excellent screenplay with a few interesting surprises and plenty of tension, plus some exciting action scenes including a couple of spectacular fist fights (with obvious doubles, but nonetheless…), a suspenseful jail break and an interesting sub-plot involving the lovely Linda Stirling. Acting is of a remarkably ingratiating order, particularly from villains Roy Barcroft, and Tom London. Production values are also surprisingly high.

All the Wild Bill Elliott Red Ryder films have that story book opening where he steps out from behind the cover of a dime novel, gun drawn and ready for action. With this one, Little Beaver (Bobby Blake) steps out with him in a neat introduction to the story. The other regular on hand is Red's Aunt, the Duchess (Alice Fleming), though I can't recall her being referred to by that name this time out.

"Wagon Wheels Westward" plays out as a fairly standard and formulaic story, with Red and company tackling a villainous gang attempting to loot the members of a wagon train load of settlers heading for Desert Springs. When they get there, it looks like "Deserted Springs" - not a soul in sight. The mystery is resolved by the end of the film, it seems that gold fever stampeded everyone out of town!

The bad guys, headed by Dave McKean (Roy Barcroft) posing as land agent John Larkin, attempt to get the drop on the settlers by issuing fake deeds in return for their cash. Naturally they intend to high tail it once they loot the settlers, but Red Ryder smells something fishy and gets busy smoking out the bad guys. The film offers the expected shootout between both sides, and it's the only time in any Western when I heard one of the bad guys complain about wasting ammunition. That was before the quick thinking Little Beaver dropped a pair of bricks on a couple of the baddies knocking them out; his bow and arrow must have been out of commission.

I always get a kick out of seeing young Bobby Blake, whether in the old "Our Gang" series, or backing up the Rocky Lane or Bill Elliot Red Ryder's. Even back then he bore a strong resemblance to the adult Robert Blake of "Baretta" and more recently the celebrated murder trial. Little Beaver's favorite response to a Red Ryder request - "You betchum"!

Wild Bill Elliott has a rather long list of credits with over two hundred films, which included sixteen Red Ryder movies. He also got a lot of mileage out of portraying Wild Bill Hickok in a number of films, and even appeared under his own name in 1943's "Calling Wild Bill Elliott". Pretty amazing actually, if you consider if it were done today, we might have something like "Sylvester Stallone:First Blood".