Stagecoach Buckaroo (1942)

Stagecoach Buckaroo: Directed by Ray Taylor. With Johnny Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, Nell O’Day, Anne Nagel. Saved from a lynching party by a pair of young women, an itinerant cowpuncher signs on as a stagecoach guard to protect a shipment of gold.

“The plot is formula, but more than the usual amount of imagination went into the storyline. As a former Front-Row kid, Iu0026#39;ve seen hundreds of these Saturday afternoon horse operas. But this is the first time Iu0026#39;ve seen a stagecoach turned into an armored car, courtesy of metal plates. So, the bad guys get a big surprise out of that western cliché, the stage hold- up, thanks to an imaginative screenplay.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill, the bad guys could have triumphed had they broken a paramount taboo—they could have shot one of the stagecoach horses and ended the chase right there. But then thousands of us Front Row kids in 1942 would have stormed the screen and ripped it down. Itu0026#39;s okay to shoot as many guys as needed, but shoot a horse and Americau0026#39;s kids would come after you, no holds barred. Okay, I exaggerate, but not much. Nor was this taboo confined to kid westerns. Check out John Fordu0026#39;s epic A-western, Stagecoach (1939). There youu0026#39;ll see the same set-up—Indians chasing a stage, taking big casualties, but never once shooting a horse. Some things, it seems, are just too sacred to do, regardless of budget size.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI digress, but the taboo remains an interesting point, and on clear display in this 60-minutes. Anyway, the movieu0026#39;s a pleasant mix of action, song, and bad guy intrigue. Watch for hulking Glenn Strange, the bartender from the Gunsmoke TV series (1955-1975), as the chief henchman. I also like the actress Nell Ou0026#39;Day who has maybe the best name for a western belle that Iu0026#39;ve seen. Anyhow, this Johnny Mack Brown special remains an hour of old time fun for this now Front Row geezer.”