Texas Ranger Jack Steele (George O’Brien) gets an assignment
from his superior, Major Jameson (Guy Usher): he’s to travel to Pecos City and
bring back a woman named Judith Alvarez (Rita Hayworth), the chief suspect in
the murder of wealthy rancher Sam Dunning.
Dunning’s partner, Ben Sanderson (William Royle), is the county’s tax
commissioner and—not to put too fine a point on it—is crookeder than a dog’s
hind leg.
Sanderson has levied high
taxes on the ranchers in the area—back taxes they can’t possibly pay, and so
the property owners are forced into selling their spreads to meet their
financial obligations.
This is precisely
what happened to Judith, and she’s formed a “gang” for the expressed purpose of
being a constant spur underneath Sanderson’s saddle.
Steele’s original plan was to have fellow Ranger Larry
Corwin (Tim Holt) go after Ms. Alvarez…but after seeing Larry participate in a
barroom brawl, Jameson drums the youngster out of the organization.
(Unaware that Jameson witnessed the fracas,
Larry is convinced that Jack ratted him out.)
In Pecos City, Steele and a Ranger named Happy (Ray Whitley) glean from
some of the locals that Judith might be innocent of the Dunning killing—and when
Alvarez and her gang storm Sanderson’s office to rob the jernt, a fight breaks
out…prompting Jack to save Judy’s life while winding up injured in the
process.
Jack is nursed back to health
and decides to go undercover as one of the Alvarez Gang so that he can take its
leader into custody.
The problem is:
Larry has also joined Judith’s organization—and he’s threatening to reveal Steele’s
real occupation.
Before dancer Rita Cansino got Anglicized by Columbia
Pictures studio head Harry “White Fang” Cohn as glamour gal Rita Hayworth, the
aspiring starlet did
a lot of
B-picture work, particularly in the Westerns arena.
She appeared alongside Tom Keene in
Old Louisiana (1937), the Three
Mesquiteers (Robert Livingston, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Max “Alibi” Terhune) in
Hit the Saddle (1937), and Tex Ritter
in
Trouble in Texas (1937)—
previously
seen in this space in February of 2012.
At the risk of incurring the wrath of Hayworth fans—Rita wasn’t much of
an actress, but she was undeniably a presence onscreen.
She greatly impressed her
Renegade Ranger co-star George O’Brien,
who recalled in later years that the young ingénue took her craft very seriously,
often asking for advice on how to play certain scenes during filming.
"Rita carried herself beautifully,"
O’Brien remembered.
"She walked and
moved with such grace!
Cliché though it
might be, she was poetry in motion."
Variety was also impressed
with Hayworth’s turn in
Ranger,
opining that Rita “turns in one of the finest femme sagebrush performances seen
in a long while.”
The Hollywood Reporter concurred, noting that Ms. Hayworth “is a
pretty eyeful who turns in an endearing performance.”
Rita’s presence in
The
Renegade Ranger makes this RKO B-Western a little better than your average
oater; the film was originally made in 1932 with Tom Keene as
Come on Danger! (1932), and would be
done a third time with that same title (minus the exclamation point) in 1942
starring Tim Holt.
So, it’s rather
fortuitous that Holt appears in the O’Brien version (Holt’s first feature for
RKO) as the hotheaded Larry—and to be honest, I was a lot more impressed with
Tim’s acting than I was Rita’s.
One aspect of Ranger
that left me puzzled was that there didn’t seem to be any attempt to capitalize
on Hayworth’s terpsichorean prowess save a slow dance she does with O’Brien in
a scene where the Alvarez Gang throws a barbecue bash. The big dance number—performed to the strains
of Cielito Lindo—is executed by Cecilia
Callejo, who plays Holt’s love interest in the movie. Ray Whitley, who would play Tim’s sidekick in
a few of his later starring westerns at RKO, also performs a ditty in Move Slow, Little Dogie with Ken Card
and the Phelps Brothers.
Ranger features a
lot of familiar B-Western faces like Monte Montague, Bob Kortman, and Tom
London (homework assignment: how many
Lone Ranger episodes was this guy
in?), with some decent villainy from William Royle (as the despicable
Sanderson) and Jim Mason (as a disgruntled rancher who’s secretly working for
Sanderson).
Directed by David Howard (
Trouble
in Sundown) and scripted by oaters veteran Oliver Drake (from a story
by Bennett Cohen),
The Renegade Ranger
will be of great interest to those classic film fans anxious to get a gander at
the young Rita Hayworth still learning her craft.
(
Ranger
is available on the Warner Archive MOD compendium
Tim
Holt Western Classics Collection, Volume 1…even though George O’Brien
is the star!)
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