Trigger Trail
Cast & Crew
Lewis D. Collins
Rod Cameron
Fuzzy Knight
Eddie Dew
Vivian Austin
Ray Whitley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the Comanche Trail prison camp road construction project in the Oklahoma Territory, Sheriff Bob Reynolds tries to arrest rancher Tug Catlett, who has been forcibly evicted from his ranch. When Tug runs away, Bob and his deputy Slade chase him and shoot him in the arm. Clint Farrel, who is returning from law school to save his father's Flying F Ranch, races to Tug's aid. When Tug accuses Bob of helping crooked businessman Rance Hudson evict all the area ranchers to make room for the new railroad line, Bob denies the charge. Clint then goes on to the Flying F, where Hudson and his henchman, Waco, are informing Clint's father, Silas, and his father's foreman, Gilroy, that because the ranchers never registered their land claims and therefore have no legal right to it, they will be evicted in thirty days. That night, at a meeting with all of the ranchers, Clint informs them that squatters' rights allow anyone who has lived on a property with a house for twenty-one years to claim ownership of the land. Realizing that they will not reach the twenty-one year limit for five more weeks, Clint draws up a petition asking the government to delay all land right decisions. Just then, young Chip Kincaid staggers in, wounded, and before dying informs them that Hudson's men shot him while attacking his father's ranch. Bob, Clint and ranch hand Echo hurry to Hudson's, where Slade stumps them by insisting that the "accident" occurred while he was trying to evict the tenants. When they leave, Hudson, who is familiar with squatters' rights law, instructs his men to destroy all homestead houses over the next weeks. Just days before the eviction notices are due, Tug's daughter Ann receives a telegram stating that a government investigator, O'Neill, is on his way. As she races to inform Clint, her co-worker Bender tells Hudson, who quickly arranges for Waco and Slade to kill O'Neill in his coach. When Slade comes back, Hudson insists he return to the scene of the crime to retrieve the empty bullet shell. Clint, however, arrives there first, and arrests Slade as soon as he picks up the shell. While Clint brings him to the prison camp, Slade promises to confess, but when Clint runs to get Bob, Waco slips in and kills Slade. Hudson then lies that he saw Clint commit the murder, and Clint is arrested and sentenced to work on the prison camp construction site. A few days later, a telegram reveals that another investigator is working undercover in town, and Echo overhears Bender telling the news to Hudson. Echo follows the two men to Hudson's hideout, where he is captured but soon escapes with the rifle that killed O'Neill. After he rushes the evidence to Clint and Bob at the prison camp, Bob deputizes all the imprisoned ranchers and they ride to the Flying F ranch, where Hudson's men have started a shootout. The ranchers win the fight, but Hudson announces that they will nonetheless lose their land because none of the houses remain standing. Echo shows him the miniature house they have erected on each ranch, and Gilroy, who reveals himself to be the government investigator, awards them squatters' rights to their land.
Director
Lewis D. Collins
Cast
Rod Cameron
Fuzzy Knight
Eddie Dew
Vivian Austin
Ray Whitley
Lane Chandler
George Eldredge
Buzz Henry
Davison Clark
Michael Vallon
Dick Alexander
Jack Rockwell
Budd Buster
Bud Osborne
Jack Ingram
Roy Butler
Crew
Scott Beal
Bernard B. Brown
Milton Carruth
Oliver Drake
Oliver Drake
Russell A. Gausman
John B. Goodman
Abraham Grossman
Albert Hamilton
Patricia Harper
Johnny Marvin
Muriel Mays
Jess Moulin
Ben Pivar
Ed Earl Repp
Milton Rosen
Paul Sawtell
William Sickner
Leigh Smith
Jimmy Wakely
Vera West
Ray Whitley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Modern sources add Artie Ortego to the cast, and identify the Bar-Six Cowboys who appear in the picture as Ezra Paulette, Lem Giles and Charlie Quirk.
