Boss of Hangtown Mesa
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Joseph H. Lewis
Johnny Mack Brown
Fuzzy Knight
William Farnum
Rex Lease
Helen Deverell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
While on the way to Hangtown, Colorado, the Utah Kid robs Steve Collins, the special representative for the Rocky Mountain Telegraph Company, of his horse, clothes and legal papers. The papers include a letter of introduction to John Wilkins, who is running the company's telegraph construction headquarters, which mentions that Steve should receive a $25,000 advance. The Kid then goes to Wilkins posing as Steve, but when the superintendent refuses to give him the advance and accuses him of being an impostor because he shows no knowledge of telegraphy, the outlaw kills him. John's niece Betty finds her uncle dead, and the foreman, Bert Lawler, seeing the letter with Steve's name on it, deduces that a man named Steve Collins has murdered John. As the Kid escapes, Betty shoots and wounds him. In the meantime, Steve meets the harmless shyster Dr. J. Wellington Dingle, and the two travel together to Hangtown. In their office there, crooked Judge Ezra Binns and his henchmen, saloon owner Flash Hollister and attorney Clint Rayner, have sent for the Kid to assist in their plan to stop the construction of the new telegraph line. The crooks realize that if they can delay the construction and cause the company to fail to get the line to Hangtown by their deadline, the line will be re-routed through the judge's land, making each of them a large profit. When Steve enters town wearing the outlaw's clothes, he is mistaken for the Kid and immediately arrested. Fortunately, Judge Binns also thinks that Steve is the Kid, and quickly obtains Steve's release. The gang arranges for their cohort Lawler to employ Steve on the telegraph construction crew in order to cause trouble from the inside. Steve continues the ruse in the hopes of discovering the leaders behind the sabotage, and convinces Betty, the new construction supervisor, that he should lead the project. With Dingle's aid, Steve is able to thwart most of the sabotage plots, which include an attempted high-jacking of a utility pole shipment. As soon as the real Kid recuperates, however, he finds the judge and his men and informs them that Steve is an impostor. The Kid captures Steve, but again Dingle comes to the engineer's aid and releases him. The rest of the thieves leave to attack the construction site, but they are met by Steve, Dingle, Betty and her loyal workmen. After a gunfight, during which Steve chases after the Kid and Lawler and ropes them both, the construction workers successfully defend their outfit. The telegraph line is completed just in time to receive the message that the company has won the contract to finish the line all the way to Denver.
Director
Joseph H. Lewis
Cast
Johnny Mack Brown
Fuzzy Knight
William Farnum
Rex Lease
Helen Deverell
Hugh Prosser
Robert Barron
Michael Vallon
Henry Hall
Fred Kohler Jr.
[scotty Harrel]
Art Wenzel
[roy H. Jackson]
Nora Lou Martin
Mickey Simpson
Frank Hagney
Jack C. Smith
John Bose
Casey Macgregor
Crew
Bernard B. Brown
Everett Carter
Ralph M. Delacy
Oliver Drake
Oliver Drake
Oliver Drake
R. A. Gausman
Jess Moulin
Jack Otterson
Milton Rosen
H. J. Salter
Gilbert Valle
Charles Van Enger
Jimmy Wakely
Ira Webb
Maurice Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to an April 1941 Hollywood Reporter news item, writer Victor McLeod was assigned by Universal to write a screenplay for this production, but the extent of his contribution to the released film has not been determined. Hollywood Reporter also reported that director Joseph Lewis was inducted into the U.S. Army just two days after the completion of shooting on the film. Modern sources credit Will Cowan as producer and include Jimmy Wakely in the cast. Wakely's appearance in the film has not been confirmed. Though the film is entitled "Boss of Hangtown Mesa," throughout the film the town is only referred to as "Hangtown."
Miscellaneous Notes
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