''Western Racketeers'' is a 1934 American

western film The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...

directed by Robert J. Horner and starring Bill Cody, Edna Aslin and

Hal Taliaferro Floyd Taliaferro Alderson (November 13, 1895 – February 10, 1980) was an American film actor who specialized in westerns. After serving in the Great War, he began his career in the era of silent films, when he frequently used the name Wally ...

It was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

film produced on Poverty Row.Pitts p.175

Plot

In the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

cattlemen A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

form a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

group to protect themselves from a gang who are murdering ranchers who won't pay their

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from vio ...

Cast

* Bill Cody as Bill Bowers * Edna Aslin as Molly Spellman *

as Sheriff Rawlings *

George Chesebro George Newell Chesebro (July 29, 1888 – May 28, 1959) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1915 and 1954. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and died in Los Angeles, California. Partial filmography * ''Mi ...

as Fargo Roberts *

Richard Cramer Richard Earl Cramer (July 3, 1889 – August 9, 1960) was an American actor in films from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. Cramer specialized in villainous roles in many low-budget westerns, but is today best remembered for his several app ...

as The Coroner *

Bud Osborne Leonard Miles "Bud" Osborne (July 20, 1884 – February 2, 1964) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 600 films and television programs between 1912 and 1963. Biography Osborne was born Miles Osborne in Knox County, Texas, ...

as Blackie - Henchman * Frank Clark as Steve Harding / Tiny Harding * Tom Dwaine as Mullins *

Ben Corbett Ben Corbett (February 6, 1892 – May 19, 1961) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1915 and 1956. He was born in Hudson, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California. Corbett was a trophy-winning rodeo part ...

as Mike * Robert Sands as Sam Spellman *

Billy Franey William Gerald Franey (June 23, 1889 – December 6, 1940) was an American film actor. Biography Born in Chicago in 1889, Franey appeared in more than 400 films between 1914 and 1941, mostly playing comedic roles. He was an actor of disheve ...

as The Informer * Gilbert Holmes as Breed Morgan *

Blackjack Ward Jerome Bonaparte "Blackjack" Ward was an American cowboy and Western actor who appeared in over 160 films from 1927 to 1946. Professional career Ward was born in Franklin, Louisiana on May 3, 1891, but found his way to Hollywood during the heig ...

as Henchman *

Wally West Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics as the original Kid Flash and the third Flash (DC Comics character), Flash. His power consists mainly of speedster (fiction), superhuman speed. T ...

as Cowhand *

Gene Alsace In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

as Cowhand *

Budd Buster Budd Leland Buster (June 14, 1891 – December 22, 1965), was an American actor known for B western films. He was sometimes credited as Bud Buster, and as George Selk in his later work. Early life Buster was born either Budd Leland Buster or ...

as Cowhand

References

Bibliography

* Pitts, Michael R. ''Poverty Row Studios, 1929–1940''. McFarland & Company, 2005.

External links

* 1934 films 1934 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Robert J. Horner American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language Western (genre) films {{1930s-western-film-stub