''Prairie Justice'' is a 1938 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

"B" movie directed by George Waggner and starring Bob Baker as a

singing cowboy A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western (genre), Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier. The original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, ...

Plot

Baker plays an undercover marshall investigating a series of stage coach robberies. After his father is killed, he determines to get justice, pretending to be a drifter while gradually gathering clues to the identify of the killers. Early in the story Bob meets Anita, who is trying to save her ranch after all her cattle have been stolen. Bob woes Anita with his guitar. Finally he goes after the bad guys in a shoot-out. After justice had been done, Anita agrees to marry Bob.

Cast

* Bob Baker as U.S. Marshal Bob Randall * Dorothy Fay as Anita Benson * Hal Taliaferro as Alfalfa * Jack Rockwell as John Benson *

Forrest Taylor Edwin Forrest Taylor (December 29, 1883 – February 19, 1965) was an American character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from Silent film, silents through Sound film, talkies to the advent of Color motion picture fil ...

as Sheriff Pop Randall * Carleton Young as Dry-Gulch Baker *

Glenn Strange George Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who appeared in hundreds of Western (genre), Western films. He played Sam Noonan, the bartender on Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS's ''Gunsmoke'' televisio ...

as Hank Haynes (Express Agent) * Jack Kirk as Henchman Boots * Dick Dickinson as Committeeman Doc (uncredited) * George Hazel as Townsman (uncredited) * Murdock MacQuarrie as Stage Line Agent (uncredited) *

Slim Whitaker Charles Orbie "Slim" Whitaker (July 29, 1893 – June 27, 1960) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 340 films between 1914 and 1949. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and died in Los Angeles, California, from a heart attack ...

as Bert – Stage Guard (uncredited)

Production

Director George Waggner wrote the script, using the pseudonym Joseph West.

Fleming Allen Fleming Allan (February 2, 1904 – February 2, 1965)''California, Death Index, 1940-1997'' was an American composer of Western music, who helped make that genre popular in the 1930s. Fleming Allan was born in California On February 2, 1904. His m ...

wrote several of the songs, including "Starlight on the Prairie", "40 Miles From Water", "High Falutin' Cowboy" and "Trailin' My Way To You". Dorothy Fay, who shortly after filming ended married

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a singer, and an actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s. He was the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John Ritter, grandso ...

, another singing cowboy, provides the love interest. The film is one of the first to introduce a faithful dog as the cowboy's companion.

Critical reception

One reviewer said of Baker's performance: "Baker has good looks, a pleasing personality, and seems to have the intelligence to do better acting than most of the western heroes." Another said, "Baker is so overconfident in this role, it hurts, but then, this was just one of 10 films he made in 1938."

Notes and references

Citations Bibliography * *

External links

{{George Waggner 1938 Western (genre) films Universal Pictures films American Western (genre) films Films directed by George Waggner 1938 directorial debut films 1938 films American black-and-white films 1930s American films Films scored by Frank Sanucci