Underground Rustlers
Cast & Crew
S. Roy Luby
Ray "crash" Corrigan
John "dusty" King
Max "alibi" Terhune
Gwen Gaze
Robert Blair
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1869, the national treasury is suffering a lack of gold due to the war, and Wall Street profiteers are attempting to corner the gold market. President Ulysses S. Grant has ordered the Western states to speed up their gold mining operations, but invariably the bullion is robbed before it ever gets to the Denver mint. After "Crash" Corrigan, "Dusty" King and "Alibi" Terhune, lawmen known as "The Range Busters," are hired by the government to investigate some bullion robberies centered near Gold Butte, Alibi rides ahead of his partners to gather information while posing as a traveling salesman. He later meets up with his partners at a relay station, and there, Dusty befriends Irene Bently, whose father, Jim Bently, owns the smelter. Refusing to allow Dusty to get the upper hand with a pretty woman, Crash follows him onto a stagecoach headed for Gold Butte, while Alibi follows with their horses. Unaware that Irene is Bently's daughter, Crash makes disparaging remarks about Bently, whom he suspects of engineering the robberies. Irene is offended, but The Range Busters get off the stagecoach when they see a buckboard being attacked by a trio of bandits. The Range Busters capture one bandit, Joe, while the others escape, one of them losing his hat. The gold, which was hidden in potato sacks, is saved and the Range Busters take Joe to the Gold Butte jail. In the saloon, Alibi becomes suspicious of mine owner Tom Harris because he is missing his hat. Unknown to The Range Busters, their government contact mine engineer Martin Ford, is working with Tom, and reprimands him for bungling the robbery. Tom and Ford become anxious when Alibi snoops around their mine, as they are digging a tunnel from the mine to the smelter so they can rob the gold vault. Later, the sheriff arrests Bently after Joe accuses him of being the mastermind behind the robberies. Joe then threatens to expose Ford unless he gets him out of jail, but Ford instead kills Joe and tells Tom that Bently has resigned his commission because of his arrest and given him the combination to the vault. That night, Tom and his comrade, Jake, attempt to rob the vault, but they are stopped by Alibi, who has been following them. Tom shoots at Alibi, and when Crash, Dusty, Ford and the sheriff come running, Crash declares that Alibi is dead. Ford blames Alibi for the attempted break-in, lying that Tom and Jake were guarding the safe. Unknown to Ford, Alibi is alive and unharmed, but continues to play dead until the inquest. The tunnel digging resumes, but Tom and Jake are captured by Crash and Dusty when they finally enter the smelter from the tunnel entrance. Alibi terrifies the crowd when he arises during the inquest to point an accusing finger at Ford, who is then arrested. Before The Range Busters leave Gold Butte, they receive a congratulatory telegram from President Grant, informing them that they have contributed to the break-up of the Wall Street pirates.
Director
S. Roy Luby
Cast
Ray "crash" Corrigan
John "dusty" King
Max "alibi" Terhune
Gwen Gaze
Robert Blair
Forrest Taylor
Tom London
Steve Clark
Bud Osborne
Crew
Elizabeth Beecher
Roy Claire
Robert Cline
Mickey Ford
Jean George
Glen Glenn
Roy Ingraham
William L. Nolte
John Rathmell
Frank Sanucci
Harry Tobias
Bud Tuttle
John Vlahos
Anna Bell Ward
George W. Weeks
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Bullets and Bullion. A modern source adds the following actors to the cast: Dick Cramer, John Elliott, Tex Palmer, Edward Peil, Sr., Carl Mathews, Tex Cooper and Frank McCarroll. For additional information on the "Range Busters" series, see the entry for The Range Busters in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.3620, and consult the Series Index.
