The Bandit Trail (1941) User Reviews

Solid Western

[Panamint · 7/10 · 14 September 2010]

If you are a western fan, be sure to see this one. It has a good story, is well-directed at a good pace. At this point in his career, Tim Holt had charisma and was a perfect choice for western movies. He is into what he is doing here and doesn't appear to approach this as just another formula production to be cranked out (sometimes later in his career he approached his endless series of western roles in a formula manner).

Roy Barcroft is fine of course as a rotten businessman. Versatile movie veteran Morris Ankrum is excellent as Holt's uncle "Red", who keeps applying the tension to an underlying storyline throughout the entire movie. In fact the whole movie is better written and more layered than you might expect for an ordinary B western of this era.

Perfect casting of female lead, sidekick, the Sheriffs, and all characters contribute to this watchable, solidly made yarn.

Another great cast with pretty good script

[morrisonhimself · 7/10 · 14 September 2010]

From a story by Arthur T. Horman, the screenplay by Norton S. Parker gives us, without being blatant or obvious, an unusual opening that summarizes the reason for the upcoming action.

A rancher's brother is battling the sheriff who is coming to foreclose (shades of today's economy!) but the rancher himself puts a stop to the shooting. His son, played by Tim Holt, is returning home and the rancher wants peace for his arrival.

The brother-uncle is played by Morris Ankrum, more often, too often, relegated to being a with but here in a pivotal role that showed he should have been given more bigger parts.

His partner in the shooting is "Whopper," a name over-used in Tim Holt westerns, and here played by Lee "Lasses" White, a very capable actor but given some pretty lousy lines. As is also unfortunately common in Tim Holt westerns, the "humor" isn't funny.

However, the story is a good one, and, with the great Roy Barcroft and the great Glenn Strange, it is well presented, and thus overall "The Bandit Trail" is worth watching.

A Solid And Prosperous Citizen

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 September 2011]

The Bandit Trail casts Tim Holt as a young man who loses his father Eddy Waller to a gun battle between his family and the law representing the town banker who has taken over the family ranch. When Holt arrives from the east, his uncle Morris Ankrum persuades him to join in robbing that selfsame bank.

After they flee the territory the newly minted outlaws decide to rob this other town where boss Roy Barcroft rules. The plan is for Tim to take the loot from the previous robbery and deposit it in this town bank to win the confidence of the people in the town that he is has the makings of a solid and prosperous citizen as he surveys the lay of the land.

Unfortunately Tim does become a solid and prosperous citizen, so much so that he gets made town marshal after helping out the original marshal in a blazing gun battle with road agents. Holt also starts falling for Janet Waldo, daughter of the new town banker.

The Bandit Trail which Tim Holt is trying not to be on is a nice well played western with believable characters and a good story.

Complex Plot and Characters

[dougdoepke · 11 October 2017]

Complex Holt western with lots of hard riding and fast shooting, but no flying fists. Locations are mainly from familiar LA area scrublands. The plot's a layered one, involving several gangs and different degrees of bad-good guys. Holt starts out as bank robber stealing what he and brother Ankrum believe is their money defrauded from them by a bank. This leads to a series of encounters whose shifting details I leave to other reviewers.

Though Lasses White supplies humorous episodes, there's not the lighter tone of the later Chito- Holt entries. It's a fine cast of baddies, including toughie Roy Barcroft in a suit no less, and commanding Morris Ankrum who later saves the universe in 50's sci-fi. But pity poor Janet Waldo of radio fame. When not standing around nicely dressed, she gets all of one close-up, at movie's end. Oh well, there was always Corliss Archer on the radio dial.

All in all, having hero Holt undergo some value changes is unusual for an oater, and is the hour's main point of interest. (And see if you agree, Holt looks like a young Roy Rogers here.) Anyway, it's a well-cast and acted western if a somewhat complicated plot.

"Alright boys, they're askin' for it".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 29 April 2016]

It's not unusual for these B Westerns to offer up a song that mirrored the title of the picture, however the campfire tune sung here had to do with 'The Outlaw Trail'. So naturally I'm wondering why they didn't change either the name of the picture or the song lyrics to match each other. With all the oaters that came out of the era I knew there had to be one with that title so I checked the IMDb database and there was a 1944 flick with Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele going by "Outlaw Trail". I guess I'll be on the lookout for that one now.

I don't think I've seen a Tim Holt Western where he wasn't seconded by Richard Martin as Chico Rafferty. Martin hooked up with Holt a few years later in another string of pictures, in this one his nominal partner is a grizzled character named Whopper portrayed by Lee 'Lasses' White. The comedic aspect of his character doesn't come into play until later in the picture, by which time he handcuffs himself to a storefront dummy along with some other animated hi-jinks. That dummy by the way, seemed to have a bit of a Clark Gable vibe going for him except for being on the short side.

Against his better judgment, Holt's character turns bank robber at the beginning of the story in line with his Uncle Red's (Morris Ankrum) wishes, following the death of Steve Haggerty's (Holt) father. Even with slow communication in the Old West I had to wonder why Banker Grant (Joseph Eggenton) in Remington didn't see the coincidence in Steve depositing twenty thousand dollars in his bank, a sum that matched what was robbed from the nearby bank in Cedar Fork. I don't think matinée fans of the day would have questioned it.

Well Steve's not a bad guy for long if he ever was one. By helping to thwart a bank robbery by an opposing gang of outlaws, he's made town marshal of Remington with Whopper as his deputy. Now all he has to do is get the goods on villain Joel Nesbitt (Roy Barcroft) after withdrawing the original twenty grand and returning it to the sheriff of Cedar Fork. This might sound a little more complicated than it needed to be but it made for an interesting story.

The biggest head scratcher for me though was the final shootout back in Remington when Steve decides to confront Nesbitt and his henchmen. With Uncle Red deciding that blood is thicker than whiskey, he helps nephew Steve take out the bad guys. Which was a minor miracle seeing as how Steve and Red walked right out in the open and took out six concealed outlaws to save the day. How'd they do that?

tim holt western from 1941

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 20 January 2022]

Stars tim holt as... a cowboy! Although in this one, he's not playing himself. Kind of an overly-complicated plot. Steve's family has been fighting the bank to avoid losing their land. Somehow, steve's dad has just been shot. Steve gets caught up in the drama of fighting for his land, and his own family politics. Now throw in a love for the banker's daughter (janet waldo). Singing cowboys. Ray whitley was musician, cowboy, manager, band leader. Whitley had written the song back in the saddle again, the song used by gene autrey for years. And appeared in thirteen of tim holt's films. Lots of horse galloping chases. Bank robberies. Gun fights. It's pretty good. All the elements of a good western. The weak link was the corny comedy of lee white, as steve's goofy sidekick; a lot of his jokes fall flat, and take away some the seriousness of the film. Directed by ed killy. Nominated for best assistant director, 1934. No film listed. Story by art horman. Wrote many stories and screenplays in the 1930s, 40s, 50s.

Tim Holt B Western featuring his silly sidekick Whopper (Lee 'Lasses' White)

[jacobs-greenwood · 6/10 · 15 December 2016]

Tim Holt stars in this "B" Western, haunted by his usual (and unfunny, IMO) silly sidekick Whopper, played by Lee 'Lasses' White.

The film opens with a shootout between the law and Red Haggerty (Morris Ankrum) and others from his brother's ranch that's being repossessed by the bank. Resigned to his fate, the brother (Eddy Waller) shows up in time to stop the fight, but is shot in the process. Before he dies, he makes Red promise that when his son Steve arrives the next day, that he'll not lead him astray. But, when Steve (Tim Holt) gets off the stagecoach, Red bullies him into robbing the bank (with him) of $20,000, the value of the cattle his uncle insisted was their's "free and clear".

They allude their lawful pursuers, but run into an old prison buddy of Red's named Idaho (Glenn Strange, from The Bandit Ranger (1942)) and decide to join forces. Steve is assigned to take the money into Remington, another town, deposit it, and establish "a set of eyes on the inside" that will allow them to know the best time to rob its bank. Whopper goes along with him to get food for the boys. In the bank, Steve meets Ellen (Janet Waldo), the beautiful teller & daughter of the bank's owner, and is infatuated. Later, he meets Joel Nesbitt (Roy Barcroft), the crooked owner of the saloon/gambling house in town. That evening, he attends a party at Ellen's where they get to dance. Upon returning to the hideout, Steve reluctantly agrees to go along with robbing the bank as long as no one inside is hurt.

When the gang goes into town to carry out their deed, they see that a bank robbery is already in progress and they chase the bandits to their hideout, where another shootout begins. Before the Law's posse arrives, Steve makes Red, Idaho, and the others (as yet unknown to the town folk) leave. Whopper stays and takes credit for the situation. Steve and the Marshall sneak up on the building and, though both are shot, finish off the bandits. After two weeks of recovery at Ellen's house, Steve is promoted to Marshall with Whopper as his deputy. Now that Steve is the law, can he clean up Remington, ridding it of varmints like Nesbitt, stave off his uncle Red's gang, and clear his ledger in the town he earlier robbed? What do you think;-)