Franchot Tone is Tim Mason, a special investigator envisioning a trip to New York when he’s convinced to head in the opposite direction.
Seems a reporter for the Kansas City Press was killed while researching a story on vigilante activity against rustlers out West.
Now the newspaper’s editor wants Mason to travel to Peaceful Valley to find out what happened to the reporter and who’s behind the masked vigilantes who dole out their own form of justice in the dark of night.
Mason quickly learns Peaceful Valley isn’t so peaceful. He also quickly strikes up a friendship with a hard-drinking cowboy named Swanee (Broderick Crawford) and his partner Meadows (Andy Devine).
They convince their cattleman boss John Thornton to hire Mason as their new rider. And since he’s from Kansas City, he’s nicknamed “Kansas.”
Mason learns that Thornton and most of the other ranchers are paying protection money to a man named Dawson, head of the cattleman’s association.
Those who don’t pay protection money are much more likely to have their cattle stolen.
But suspecting Dawson is one thing. Proving one of the most respected men in the area is the one behind both the rustling and the vigilantes will prove more difficult.
Broderick Crawford as Swanee and Andy Devine (right) as Meadows welcome Easterner Tim Mason to the West in Trail of the Vigilantes (1940)
Review:
Ever want to see Broderick Crawford in a comedy Western? If so, here’s you’re chance, because this is principally a comedy in spite of a title that sounds deadly serious.
Unfortunately, Franchot Tone’s wry sense of humor and boasting about Eastern brains topping Western brawn doesn’t make for a very sympathetic lead character.
But that doesn’t keep 16-year-old rancher’s daughter Barbara Thornton from shamelessly chasing him, in spite of Mason’s repeated declaration that he doesn’t “have time for dames.”
Surprisingly, not much of the comedy focuses on Mason’s adjustment to life in the West, though he never does master a leaping mount of a horse.
Instead, a fourth “friend” joins the fold in the form of Bolo (Mischa Auer), who tires of pretending to be a tomahawk-throwing Indian for a snake oil salesman. He decides he can better use his bull-fighting and trick-riding skills working with Crawford, Tone and Devine on the ranch.
Warning: You’d better be in the mood for lots of silliness when you settle in to watch this film.
Oh, and Franchot Tone certainly had time for women in real life, marrying four actresses, beginning with Joan Crawford. It’s his romance with third wife Barbara Payton for which he’s best remembered. That’s because Tom Neal, another of her suitors, knocked Tone unconscious, breaking his nose and cheek in a scandalous Hollywood incident.
Franchot Tone as Tim ‘Kansas’ Mason with Dawson (Warren Williams), the man he suspects of being behind the trouble in Trail of the Vigilantes (1940)
Directed by:
Allan Dwan
Cast:
Franchot Tone … Kansas (Tim Mason)
Warren William … Dawson
Broderick Crawford … Swanee
Andy Devine … Meadows
Mischa Auer … Bolo
Porter Hall … Sheriff Korley
Peggy Moran … Barbara Thornton
Samuel S. Hinds … George Preston
Charles Trowbridge … John Thornton
Paul Fix … Lefty
Harry Cording … Phil
Max Wagner … Joe
Runtime: 75 min.
Peggy Moran as rancher’s daughter Barbara Thornton using her charm on Tim Mason (Franchot Tone) in Trail of the Vigilantes (1940)
Memorable lines:
Tim Mason: “You take a gun away from a bully and you’re pretty apt to find a yellow streak underneath.”
Tim Mason: “One good set of Eastern brains can make any floor-flushing desperado they got out West take to cover.”
Meadows, during a barroom brawl: “How come you’re fightin’ with us, Kansas?”
Tim “Kansas” Mason: “How can I get even if you’re in jail?”
Barbara Thornton: “The rustlers! Come on, Kansas, let’s capture them!”
Tim “Kansas” Mason: “No thanks.”
Barbara: “But you’d be a hero.”
Kansas: “I’d rather be healthy.”
Barbara Thornton: “Why do I have to walk behind you, Kansas?”
Tim “Kansas” Mason: “Because that’s where you keep temptation.”
Barbara Thornton, passenger in Dawson’s buckboard, unaware of why the cattlemen are chasing him: “Better slow down, Mr. Dawson. They may want to see us about something.”
Franchot Tone as Tim ‘Kansas’ Mason showing Swanee (Broderick Crawford) a wanted poster to help prove his point in Trail of the Vigilantes (1940)
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