Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Almost the Truth—The Lawyer's Cut

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Riders of Death Valley – Chapter 15: The Harvest of Hate



OUR STORY SO FAR:  Jim Benton, in order to get his high grade ore to the Panamint smelter, resorts to a clever ruse to get Wolf’s pack and Kirby’s henchmen out of town.

Kirby discovers Benton’s trick and sends Trigger posthaste after Wolf with orders to attack Benton’s expedition at Funeral Pass.

During the terrific onslaught, Jim climbs a cliff from which to fire down on the attackers.  Wolf spots him, starts after him and…

This is the final chapter in our Serial Saturdays presentation of Riders of Death Valley (1941)…and I’m not going to lie to you.  I will not miss it in the slightest.  I will not miss the silly recaps (“Terrific onslaught?”  Bitch, please…) nor the endless choruses of Milton Rosen and Everett Carter’s Ride Along that open each installment.  (And don’t even get me started on Fingal’s Cave.)  As for this week’s title, “The Harvest of Hate,” your guess is as good as mine as to what the hell it means.  (I first thought it was Edward R. Murrow’s legendary CBS documentary, but that’s The Harvest of Shame.)


Anyhoo, as you might have already guessed…Jim Benton (Dick Foran) and Wolf Reade (Charles Bickford) do not die a hero’s/villain’s death tumbling off that cliff in Chapter 14…there’s a body of water underneath, and Jim soon makes his soggy way to dry ground with a fierce sidestroke.  But henchman Trigger (Jack Rockwell), despite not actually having fired a shot (they lead you to believe he did, but they are liars), makes his way back to where second-in-command Butch (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and the rest of the “pack” are stationed as they continue to waste ammo shooting at Jim’s Riders.

TRIGGER: Wolf got Benton…
BUTCH (with undisguised glee): Good!
TRIGGER: It ain’t good…Benton got the Wolf!

“You mean…they got each other?”  And an inconsolable Butch starts to weep.

BUTCH: Hey, waitaminnit…whaddya talkin’ about?
TRIGGER: They were fightin’ on the cliff!  Benton fell off and dragged the Wolf with him!  Musta killed the both of ‘em…
BUTCH: Well, we gotta see about that

Oh, yeah…Butch is going to make one heck of a replacement.  He calls over to Dirk (Roy Barcroft), and I can’t say this forcefully enough—it is an indignity that The Baddest Villain in All of Serialdom is having to play a low-level flunky in this…but I guess you have to start somewhere.

DIRK: Yeah?
BUTCH: We’re pullin’ out…Trigger and me’ll meet you at Daggett’s…
DIRK: Why?  What’s the matter with Wolf?
BUTCH: Well…Trigger says he’s dead…I’m gonna find out…you guys hightail it to the hideout, we’ll meet ya there…

So with Butch making the decision of another “tactical retreat,” a bewildered Pancho (Leo Carrillo) and Borax Bill (Guinn “Big Boy” Williams) begin another of their riveting philosophical discussions.

PANCHO: I guess the fight is over for sure…they all run away…
BORAX: Why don’tcha stick your head up and find out?
PANCHO: Why don’t you take your own head up?  My hat’s a good hat!
BORAX: One more hole and mine’d fall apart—what’s the difference?

The two men continue to argue about who will “stick their head up” until they find themselves standing and…


…both of their hats “have went,” as Pancho so colorfully puts it.  Meanwhile, Jim emerges from the river, his clothes a tad damp.  The scene then shifts back to where Mary (Jean Brooks) and Tombstone (Buck Jones) have taken cover under the wagon, along with Ghost Smokey (Noah Beery, Jr.)…

MARY: Tombstone…where’s Jim?
TOMBSTONE: He just went up on the hill to pull the Wolf’s fangs…and from the looks of things, he’s doin’ all right!
MARY: Well, I’m worried about him…
TOMBSTONE: You’re worried?  Jim told me just before he left here if I ever get back to here alive…
MARY (interrupting): Now, look Tombstone…this is no time for quibbling!
SMOKEY (to Tombstone): Hey, what’s quibbling?

Sweet baby carrots, Smokey’s alive!  But this chapter play miracle doesn’t upset Tombstone in the slightest, since he responds with a comical “Quibbling?  I don’t know…”  (Well, I suppose after the attempt by the Serial Gods to smote him with a lightning bolt nothing fazes this guy now.)

Butch and Trigger ride down to the river, and Trigger guesstimates at the spot where he saw Wolf tumble.  A quick scene shift finds the moist Jim rejoining the wagons.

MARY: Well, Jim—where in the world have you been?
TOMBSTONE: Looks like you sneaked off to take a bath with your clothes on…
BORAX: You get the Wolf?
JIM: You don’t have to worry about him…but his gang may come back…we better get out of here…
BORAX: Can’t move that last wagon…the axle’s busted…
JIM: All right, leave it here…we’ll send out a new one from town…

In a serial where a man previously thought dead for several chapters has returned from the dead, the audience should therefore not be surprised that rumors of the Wolf’s demise have been greatly exaggerated as well.  (It’s just like TV’s Resurrection!)  A slightly damp Reade staggers out of the creek to the amazement of his boyfriend Butch.

BUTCH: Wolf!  Trigger told me you were a goner!
WOLF: Not yet…

“You have to get up pretty early in the morning to send Wolf Reade to Hell!”

BUTCH: What happened to Benton?
WOLF (still choking on water): He got away… (Pause) I don’t hear any shootin’
BUTCH: Aw…there were too many of ‘em…we had to quit…

Oooh, you big fibber.  Butch tells Wolf that he instructed the gang to meet them back at the hideout, so let’s see how things are going with Jim and his Merry Men:

TOMBSTONE: Gettin’ back to the Wolf…you can’t make me believe he cashed in his chips without me seein’ it…
JIM: Oh…you won’t take my word for it, huh?
TOMBSTONE: Nope…I got a hunch…

Well, throw a shawl over it and no one will notice.  (Rimshot!)

JIM: Well, I’ll give you ten to one your hunch is wrong
TOMBSTONE: I’ll just take forty bucks of that!
JIM: It’s a bet!

And so the troupe heads back to Panamint.  The scene shifts to the Wolf’s hideout, and we find his Lupineness comically lying on his back in some sort of bunk, staring off into space.  Here is where our serial is going to take an unfortunate turn.

BUTCH: Trigger just told me something I think you oughta hear…
WOLF: Well, tell it…
BUTCH: I think you’re gettin’ a double-cross…
WOLF: Why?
BUTCH: It’s about Kirby… (Wolf sits up suddenly and faces Butch) Trigger heard Kirby tell Davis that they’re cuttin’ you out…looks like your fifty-fifty deal is off…
WOLF: That right, Trigger?
TRIGGER: Every word of it…
WOLF: Good work, Butch…I won’t forget this…

“So that’s the way Kirby wants it, is it?” Wolf asks rhetorically.  “That’s the way he’ll get it,” he answers himself…also rhetorically.  Except…well, here’s the problem: I don’t recall where in this serial that chief administrative villains Joseph Kirby (James Blaine) and Rance Davis (Monte Blue) called a meeting to discuss screwing over Wolf and the Wolfettes in the manner described by Trigger.  Now I’ll admit—my memory is not what it once was (granted, I was kind of away from the serial for a while…plus I’m too lazy to go back and see if I did write about this and just forgot) but I’m going to have to go with my gut on this one: writers Sherman L. Lowe, George H. Plympton, Basil Dickey and Jack O'Donnell got to the last chapter and said amongst themselves “Hell, let’s wrap this up and start working on the next one.  It’s kids, ferchrissake—storyboards and meticulous plot planning are for fops and popinjays!”

Wolf calls in the rest of the gang: Dirk, Rusty (Ethan Laidlaw) and Pete Gump (Dick Alexander).

WOLF: Just wanna tell you I’m callin’ in a new game…from now on, I’m playin’ a lone hand…
PETE: Whaddya mean, Wolf?
WOLF: I’m declarin’ Kirby and Davis out
RUSTY: Whaddya aimin’ to do?
WOLF: I’ll tell ya in a minute…now anybody who don’t wanna follow my lead, he’s welcome to cut out right now…

One of these days, there’ll be a movie where the entire gang walks right out the door.  I’m that optimistic.

DIRK: Well, I’d like to know what stakes we’re playin’ for…
WOLF: All right—the stakes are high and the payoff for you men will be plenty!
BUTCH: That’s good enough for me!

Oh, Butch…you are a kiss-up among kiss-ups.

WOLF: All right…now here’s the play…we’ll let Benton get that ore into Panamint…
BUTCH (banging his fist on the table): Yeah, but we gotta hurry!
WOLF: I’m doing the talkin’…

You should think about changing your name, Butch.

WOLF: When he gets to the smelter, we take it over…smelter and all!
BUTCH: Yeah…but how about that money that Davis has got in the bank?
WOLF: We’re takin’ over the bank, too!  And anything else in town that’s worth takin’ over!

I don’t know about you…but if he can make the stages run on time, he’s got my vote.  Butch is dispatched to Salt Creek, where he’s to get as many men as “Slate” can round up.  Dirk will go to Bad Water Wells, and the rest will meet at Pyramid Rock, with Rusty in charge of looking over the horses.  So with the “no-honor-among-thieves” conclusion set in motion, we shift scenes to the Panamint Smelter, where Jim, Mary and Tombstone come a-ridin’ into view…followed by Pancho, Borax Bill, Tex (Glenn Strange), Smokey, Annette, Darlene, Karen and Cubby.  Jim lets Tombstone know that he and Mary will be out in a minute—they’re going inside to square things with Mr. Wilson (Alonzo Price).

WILSON: Well…is the stuff in yet?
JIM: You betcha…three loads of high-grade right outside the door and the fourth will be in as soon as we get an axle…
WILSON: The assayer’s report will be ready in about an hour…

“Along with your dry cleaning, Mr. Benton.  We now have Martinizing!”  Jim tells Wilson to send the report over to the bank…and now it’s time for more prime comedy from Pancho and Borax Bill.


PANCHO: Now that the Wolf is finished…everything is chili con carne, eh?  Now we’re going to celebration…
BORAX: How ya gonna celebrate?
PANCHO: Well…I’m gonna buy myself a nice new sombrero…some new clothes…then I will be a very pretty fellow…you know, it’s too bad you can’t be a pretty fellow, too, you know?
BORAX: Well, if I wanted to doll myself up in all them fancy duds, I’d make you look like a plug peso…
PANCHO: Hmm…who you toling me…all the clothes in the world they can’t make you a pretty fellow…with those face…
BORAX: Well, the only way I can celebrate is to get drunk…
PANCHO: That’s right…you don’t have to have a pretty face to get drunk…
BORAX: Mm-hmm…huh?  Ah, you chili picker

How Universal missed the opportunity to make a series of buddy films with these two wacky characters is a mystery for the ages.  As Borax and Pancho stroll out of the bank, a man named Richards (Jerome Harte) passes them on the way to the office of Judge Knox (James Guilfoyle).  They exchange pleasantries, and Richards hands His Dishonor the assayer’s report…

KNOX: Are you bringing good news?
RICHARDS: So good I’d like to have a hunk of that ore myself, Judge!

“So everybody reach!”  No, I’m just kidding—Richards is an honest man.  Knox, on the other hand, remarks “I don’t blame you” because he’s looked at the report…and now realizes he’s got two new rich residents to suck up to come election time.

KNOX: Jim…your note to Kirby is as good as paid…
JIM: Well…are you sure you have enough cash?
KNOX: More than enough!  It’s coming in from Berdoo…enough to pay Kirby and finance the operation of the mine…

“Not to mention a Senatorial campaign for yours…er…well, for anyone with aspirations to hold higher office…heh heh heh…”  Jim goes with Richards back to the smelter, and Mary agrees to wait for him in the judge’s office.  Meanwhile, at The Zero Tolerance Saloon, our old pal Rance Davis makes his usual stroll through the establishment and into Boss Kirby’s chambers.  Trigger happens to be seated at one of the tables, and when Davis enters Kirby’s sanctum sanctorum, he listens in at the door.  This is kind of what I meant earlier when I stated I didn’t recall any similar shenanigans previously…but strict adherence to the rules of the plot is just liberal media bias.


KIRBY: Do you think the bank has enough money to advance Benton on that ore to pay off my note?
DAVIS: Not if I draw out what I’ve got in there…
KIRBY: I’ll do the same…we can keep it right here in my safe…
DAVIS: Which will give us a chance to close in on Benton…

Trigger exits the bar, clearly because he’s got to convey this information to Wolf.  The scene shifts back to the bank, where we find courtly Judge Knox accompanying Mary to his office.  (Hey, he’s serious about that Senate race.)  He’s stopped by Kirby, and Mary tells Knox she’ll wait for him in his office because the mere sight of Kirby gives her an oopsy-tummy.

KNOX: If you want to see me about Benton’s note…don’t worry, Kirby—you’ll get your money in plenty of time…
KIRBY: Well, it isn’t only the money, Judge…I’m drawing out all my cash…
KNOX: I’ll take care of that…and all the money any of your close friends have in the bank…

I doubt Kirby has that many close friends.  Knox explains to Kirby that the transactions will get underway “just as soon as the stage gets in from Berdoo.”  What a dinkerplatz.

We find Wolf and the pack on the outskirts of Panamint when tattletale Trigger rides up.  “Benton and most of his men rode out of town,” he explains.

TRIGGER: Kirby and Davis are takin’ all their money out of the bank and puttin’ it in Kirby’s safe…
DIRK: I got six men from Bad Water Wells—they’ll meet us in town…
WOLF: Good…now we’re moving in…Rusty—you’ll take over the bank…
RUSTY: Right!
WOLF: Butch and I will have a little talk with Kirby…then we’ll all take over the smelter…come on…

Let’s went!  The familiar Panamint montage follows, with our last look at the pipe-smoking guy and the Panamint Federal Savings and Trust sign (Lafe Hogan’s name is still on the bank—how sweet).  Inside the judge’s office, Knox asks Mary how it feels to have all the monies…and instead of something altruistic like promising to reform Panamint and making life better for all its citizens she burbles: “It feels like a lot of new hats…and a lot of new silk dresses…”  Congrats, Mary!  You are now a shallow member-in-good-standing of the one percent.  Wolf and his gang ride into town, and Wolf sends Rusty in the direction of the bank to start his takeover of Panamint.  One of the bank’s cashiers lets the judge know “The Wolf is alive!”  (“It’s the Wolf!  It’s the Wolf!”)

JUDGE: What are you saying?
CASHIER: The Wolf—he’s outside!!!
JUDGE: Mary!  Jim’s got to overtake that stagecoach before it reaches town!


Mary then does an unintentionally funny bit of business where she looks from side to side, then tells Knox “Don’t worry!”  And she’s out the back window faster than you can say Chumbawamba Chuckawalla Charlie.  Rusty then enters the office, all smiles.  “Howdy, Judge,” he greets the magistrate.  “I’ve come to tell ya this ain’t your bank no more.”

Mary has hauled horse’s ass to the smelter.  “Tombstone,” she says, slightly out of breath.  “The Wolf and his gang are at the bank, robbing it!”

TOMBSTONE: The Wolf?
MARY: Yes!  And you’ve got to stop that Berdoo stage before it gets to town, Tomb!  There’s $100,000 on it!

Well, raise my rent!  Tombstone mounts his trusty steed Silver…and no, I’m not going to make the joke you think I’m going to make.  Back at Kirby’s saloon…

KIRBY (frightened): Look, Wolf…what you get here and at the bank is just chicken feed…I can let you in on something worthwhile!
WOLF (growling): Open that safe…
KIRBY: What’re you doing this for, Wolf?  I thought we were partners!
WOLF: I thought we were…come on…
(Kirby turns his chair toward the safe but he’s stopped by Davis)
DAVIS: Don’t you do it, Kirby!  He’s bluffing!
WOLF: I am, huh?
DAVIS: Yes, you are!

Davis reaches for his gun but is outdrawn by Wolf, who fells Davis with one shot.  (“Your mother was bluffing!”)  Kirby, seeing that his pal Davis is now a few ounces heavier thanks to the bullet he’s carrying, continues to open the safe and pull out the money contained within.  “Everything, out on the desk!” barks Wolf.

WOLF: What was it you were going to let me in on?
KIRBY: Put down the gun, Wolf…
WOLF: Sure… (He holsters his gun) Let’s have it…
KIRBY: The stage…from Berdoo…it’s bringing $100,000 to the bank…Graham the messenger’s in charge…
WOLF: How do you know that?
KIRBY: Judge Knox told me!
WOLF: That’s fine…

As Wolf reaches over to grab the large amount of cash Kirby has placed on the desk, Mr. K makes the serious tactical error of reaching into his desk for a gun…and he meets the same fate as the will-not-be-missed-in-the-slightest Davis.

Tombstone meets up with Jim and the rest of the Riders, and clues them in that not only is Mr. Wolfenstein Reade II alive and well, he’s planning to hit that Berdoo stage and make himself a tidy profit.  Jim orders Smokey to take the remaining ore wagon into town…again, not at all questioning his faith as to how Smokey rose like Lazarus.

Okay, let’s see if I can’t cut to the quick on this one…because I’m running out of jokes.  Jim and the Riders catch up to the Berdoo stagecoach…the driver of which naturally thinks it’s a holdup.  (It happens all the time in westerns.)  Jim explains to Graham (Jim Farley) what the dealio is, that the Wolf is ready to relieve him of that $100,000…and Graham responds (I swear I am not making this up): “The Wolf?  Why, I heard he was dead!”  Bad news does travel like wildfire, I guess.  “If I were you, I’d grab that dough and file out of the stage and stay right here,” advises Jim, and Graham complies with his suggestion.

We then return to Panamint.  Dirk rides up to Wolf on his horse and informs him that the stage is on its way to town.  Wolf tells him: “Get ahold of Butch and tell him to plant the men like I told him.”  Even though Dirk arranged to bring in recruits from Bad Water Wells, by the time the Big Showdown gets underway in this finale it would appear that Wolf still only has just five guys to back him up.


Oh, I thought this was humorous: some random guy walking the Panamint streets comes into Wolf’s view and he practically bites the guy’s head off.  “Get off the street!” he sneers.  (You know, Wolfie—there are some decaffeinated brands that are just as tasty as the real stuff.)

When the stage pulls up, Butch points his six-guns at the driver as Wolf opens the door, welcoming Graham into what will eventually be renamed Wolf City.  Naturally, Graham is not on the stage…and at this point in the action, Jim and the Riders have arrived to put an end to Wolf’s tyranny once and for all.  A shootout commences.  Butch is hit, and dies like a whimpering dog in the dirt.

Wolf saddles up and makes a beeline for the hills with Jim in pursuit.  At the same time, the members of Wolf’s pack—Pete, Rusty, Trigger—all die cowards’ deaths…only Dirk appears to get away unscathed.  (Go, Team Barcroft!)  There is then footage of a spirited chase, with Jim closing in on The Wolf.  He tackles the Wolf from his horse, and there is a few minutes of scuffling.  Wolf is about to shoot Jim when Tombstone dispatches him with his rifle.  So long, Wolf Reade…requiescat in pace.  (You know…they could really use a sheriff in that town.)


PANCHO: Well!  That finishes Mr. Wolf!  I knew I would get that coyote someday!
BORAX: Whaddya mean, you got him?
PANCHO: I suppose you think you did the whole thing, huh?
BORAX: I did as much as you did, and I didn’t do nothin’…
PANCHO: Why you always want to tell lies for?
BORAX: Well, I could have got him a long time ago…

Now he tells us.

BORAX: …but I thought I’d let you shoot him, Pancho…
PANCHO: That’s big!  ‘Cause I only want to do the right thing…you know…with me, it’s always fifty-sixty…
BORAX: Yeah?  Tombstone crossed us both and got him himself…
PANCHO: You know?  You ain’t such a bad fellow after all…I’ve seen worse…
BORAX: Yeah?  Where?
PANCHO: I don’t know…anyhow, let’s bury the hammer, huh?


And this gay badinage continues right through the lame wrap-up, where we find Jim, Mary and the rest at the Lost Aztec pulling out all that rich ore when Pancho and Borax ride up, sporting new duds that they obtained from Cowboy’s Wearhouse.  The two men are slyly backed up to the mine shaft elevator, and sent to the bottom on Tombstone and Jim’s signal.  (Oh, if only this could have happened in Chapter 1.)


Well, since a good cast is worth repeating…


Next week on Serial Saturdays: Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion—be sure to join us!

1 comment:

  1. I have fallen way, way behind on this (you're on chapter 3 of the next serial, that's how bad I am at this "blog reading" thing) but I wanted to catch up on this scintillating tale before moving on to the next one. But I'm not gonna lie, Smokey just showing up not dead gave me such a case of the eyerolls that now I need an Excedrin.

    Davis reaches for his gun but is outdrawn by Wolf, who fells Davis with one shot.

    Nooooooooooo it's too undignified!

    Now that the Wolf is finished…everything is chili con carne, eh?

    Yeah, I'm not gonna miss that.

    You're a stronger man than I, Ivan Godzilla Shreve, Jr. I do not know how you handled this one... but I'm glad you did! Can't wait to dig into the next series!

    ReplyDelete