Best movies like Texas City

Johnny Mack Brown was recruited by Chet Norman, the owner of a stagecoach line, to end the heist perpetrated by a mysterious knight who plays strange notes with a hiss of money before robbing them.

Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a lady bank robber in this average Mack Brown series late-entry from Monogram. The lady, played by Barbara Allen, is of course called "Ma." In order to get the goods on "Ma" and her "brood," Mack Brown must masquerade as a lone bandit.

Dusty Gardner, and other Texas ranchers, are driving a herd of cattle to Abilene, Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. Desperate need of water takes them to the Turner ranch, where Belle Turner demands exorbitant prices for the water. Dusty learns that Belle is also trying to oust Mary Lee and Montana Smith from the trading post Mary operates. The sheriff sides with Belle following a fight between the two women. Belle knows there is artesian springs under the land the trading post occupies and intends to get the property by any means.

Back Trail is one of the livelier entries in Monogram's Johnny Mack Brown western series. Brown rides into a small town where he becomes embroiled in a blackmail scheme. The town's banker (Ted Adams), a pillar of respectability, once served a jail term. Outlaw leader Pierce Lyden threatens to reveal Adams' secret if the banker doesn't let him know in advance when the gold shipments are going through. Adams tearfully tells Brown the whole story, whereupon Johnny rides shotgun on the next shipment himself. Back Trail was one of the last films directed by workhorse Christy Cabanne, whose career stretched all the way back to the D.W. Griffith days.

Jim Waters arrives at Ed Parks' ranch to find Parks' cattle herd mysteriously increased. Hamp Harvey has been losing cattle and he suspects Parks. But the culprit is Harvey's foreman Brent who gets his orders from the town's leading citizen Sig Barstell. Barstell wants Harvey's ranch and after trying to frame Harvey by killing Parks, Waters takes over and goes after both the killer and the rustlers.

Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.

The first of a long-running series of Monogram-produced westerns starring Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton that replaced the Rough Riders series following the death of Buck Jones in the Boston night club fire. Though the next three years featured Brown (as Nevada Jack McKenzie) and Hatton (in his Sandy Hopkins role from the Rough Riders series) as undercover marshals in some form or another, this initial entry had Brown as a lone rider seeking vengeance and he and Hatton's characters were unknown to each other through most of the film. Hopkins offer McKenzie a marshal's job at the end of the film, which the Brown character declined and rode off alone on his quest. This quest didn't take long as by the next film in the series Nevada Jack McKenzie was a full-fledged U. S. Marshal.

Wayne Morris' B-western series was the last of its kind to be produced in Hollywood. Texas Bad Man casts Morris as a sheriff who happens to be the son of inveterate thief Frank Ferguson. Knowing full well that Ferguson's gang intends to steal a shipment of gold, Morris must stay up nights trying to second-guess his crafty dad. While there's no shortage of action, the resolution to the story relies more on brawn than brain. Western "regulars" Sheb Wooley, Myron Healey and Denver Pyle do their usual in secondary roles, as does Elaine Riley as the requisite (but hardly crucial) heroine.

A Texas Ranger goes up against the Morrow outlaw gang.

A marshal searches for stagecoach robbers.

A lawman sets out to disrupt the operations of a crooked town boss.

Magician-turned-actor John Calvert, previously the suave leading man of Film Classics' "Falcon" series, is a curious choice to star in the rough-and-tumble western Gold Fever. John Bonar (Calvert) and grizzled old prospector Nugget Jack (Ralph Morgan) strike it rich, whereupon they are besieged by Bill Johnson's (Gene Roth) outlaw gang. Heavily outnumbered, our heroes are forced to rely on brain rather than brawn.

A singing territorial ranger (Gene Autry) spots his younger brother in an outlaw gang.

Marshals Nevada and Sandy are after Scully and his gang who have been robbing stage-coaches. The Texas Kid is part of the gang and Sandy thinks he is bad but Nevada knows him and thinks he may be good.

When two outlaw gangs team up to rob gold shipments, the U.s. Army sends their ace-troubleshooter, Dan Parker, to the area. Sam Casey, the mystery-man behind the gangs, kills Parker's father, and this induces his sweetheart, Rita Starr, to side with the law-and-order faction. An attempt by Casey to kill Rita is foiled by Parker, which leads to a widespread gun-battle. Written by Les Adams

U.S. Marshals "Nevada Jack" McKenzie and "Sandy" Hopkins, working undercover, investigate a plot to rob a widow and her daughter of a mine which they know to be filled with gold-laden ore, but the widow believes it has played out. A hermit, hanging around the mine and killing, impartially, anyone who enters the mine, impedes the investigation somewhat.

The beautiful owner of a silver mine in Mexico asks an employee for help when bandits keep robbing her shipments.

U. S. Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie and Sandy Hopkins come upon an overturned stagecoach with the driver and the passenger dead. They learn that the passenger, Hinkley, an archaeologist, has discovered an old Indian site that contains gold relics, and a gang has robbed him of the relics he was carrying. Jane Condon, daughter of Hinkley's partner who was also murdered, tells Nevada that an old Indian guide, Shag, is the only one who knows where the site is. The outlaws find Shag first, and kill him after forcing the information from him. Hinkley's son, Joel, arrives and knows where the site is and leads Nevada and Sandy there ahead of the outlaws.

Marshal Landry captures outlaw Girard and bringing him in finds a woman and two children, the only survivors of an Indian attack. Later, transferring the prisoner his brothers free him. Then a stage is robbed of a silver shipment by Girard and his brothers. Examining telegrams gets Landry a confession from Girard's girlfriend. The telegraph line has been tapped and the telegrapher is the supposedly dead husband of the woman he brough in. Now knowing Girard's location he sets out after him.

The Range Busters are investigating a gold robbery from the Denver Mint in a supposedly deserted ghost town, but they soon find they're not the only town resident with a nose for gold.

To fully appreciate the western comedy The Marshal's Daughter, one must be aware that its star, a zaftig, wide-eyed lass named Laurie Anders, was in 1953 a popular TV personality. A regular on The Ken Murray Show, Anders had risen to fame with the Southern-fried catchphrase "Ah love the wi-i-i-ide open spaces!" Striking while the iron was hot, the entrepreneurial Murray produced this inexpensive oater, which cast Anders as Laurie Dawson, the singing daughter of a U.S. marshal (Hoot Gibson). Teaming with her dad to capture outlaw Trigger Gans (Bob Duncan), Laurie briefly disguises herself as a masked bandit. Amidst much stock footage from earlier westerns and a plethora of lame jokes and dreadful puns, The Marshal's Daughter is a treat for trivia buffs, featuring such virile actors as Preston S. Foster, Johnny Mack Brown, Jimmy Wakely and Buddy Baer as "themselves."

In this Western, comprised of 12 chapters from a serial, Kit leads a group carrying a large gold shipment across the wild West. When the Mystery Riders attack and steal the gold, Kit is the only survivor. He later joins forces with the cavalry to retrieve it.

Texas Ranger Johnny, poses as a hired gunman called The Dog Town Kid in order to infiltrate the outlaw gang, to uncover a plot by a crooked lawman, Sheriff Bradley, and a large landholder, Jim Morgan against the smaller ranches and the homesteaders.

Johnny Brownell, former Confederate officer turned Federal agent, is sent to Texas during the reconstruction years to obtain evidence against a gang of raiders who have been making life difficult for the local carpet-baggers. He saves the life of Shorty Kendall, an unreconstructed rebel about to be hanged, and this wins him the gratitude of Belle Chambers, a widow whose husband was killed in the Civil War who hates all Yankees with a fever.

Substituting for Allan Lane, who'd been called away to active military service, Bill Elliot stars in the Republic "Red Ryder" western Marshal of Laredo. This time, Red comes to the aid of a frontier lawyer, who is suspected of being an outlaw

Johnny Mack Brown is back as Nevada Jack McKenzie in Frontier Feud. Once again, Nevada and his grizzled sidekick Sandy (Raymond Hatton) are US marshals posing as drifters. Rancher Joe (Dennis Moore) is accused of a series of murders, but Nevada and Sandy manage to prove that another man is the guilty party.

Burly Johnny Mack Brown once again plays undercover U.S. Marshal Nevada McKenzie in this overly complicated series oater from low-budget Monogram. This time, McKenzie, who goes under the alias of Roy Ferris, is waylaid by would-be stage robber Cy Manning (John Merton) en route to the Bar X Ranch.

Brown's principal antagonist this time is the town boss, an outlaw who has killed the community's leading citizen. The dead man's grown children want to investigate the killing, but the outlaw puts a stop to this by hiring a dance-hall dame to pose as the kids' long-lost mother. Johnny isn't fooled by this subterfuge nor is his sidekick.

The old bromide about the western town run by outlaws as a hideout for their fellow crooks makes a return appearance in Monogram's Land of the Outlaws. Since the crooks include such reliable disreputables as Charles King and John Merton, the good guys really have their work cut out for them. But not to worry! The heroes are Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton, whose B-western track record is unbeatable. Land of the Outlaws was directed by Lambert Hillyer, whose sense of rhythm and pace had saved many another inexpensive oater.

As other "B"-western series kept dropping like flies in 1952, Johnny Mack Brown kept grinding 'em out for Monogram. In Man From Black Hills, Johnny tries to help locate his saddle pal Jim Fallan's (James Ellison) long-lost father. Arriving in a small mining town, Johnny and Jim discover that Jim's father has established a financial empire--and that a local opportunist (Randy Brooks) has capitalized on this by claiming to be the old man's son.

Veteran cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown plays a cattle buyer turned prairie sleuth in this low-budget oater from Monogram, which co-stars perennial old-timer Raymond Hatton as a retired U.S. Marshal assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a rancher. As the two old friends soon learn, a gang of smugglers headed by the town's banker (Frank LaRue) needs the use of the Flying Arrow Ranch for their nefarious purposes.

A mysterious masked rider and his gang are murdering ranchers and robbing stages. Government Agent Johnny Mack Brown has been called in to help the Sheriff.

Johnny Mack Brown's Universal western series was drawing to a close when Cheyenne Roundup was released in mid-1943. Brown is herein cast in a dual role, as honest Gils Brandon and his less-than-honest brother Buck. Pursued by lawman Steve Rawlins (Tex Ritter), Buck tries to pass himself off as the upright Gils.

With the railroad coming, Nixon is after the ranchers land. Using a stooge land agent, his method is to claim the person they bought their ranches from never had title to the land and their deeds are worthless. Fereral Agent Johnny Mack arrives posing as a gunman. He is quickly onto the henchman and Land Agent and eventually suspects Nixon is the big boss. But he needs the help of ventriloquist Alibi to bring them in.

Saved from a lynching party by a pair of young women, an itinerant cowpuncher signs on as a stagecoach guard to protect a shipment of gold.

Johnny Mack Brown was nearing the end of his starring career when he appeared in the Monogram oater Dead Man's Trail. Brown and his youthful sidekick Jimmy Ellison come to the aid of imperiled Barbara Allen. At this point, Johnny was too long in tooth and thick around the middle to qualify as a romantic lead, hence the presence of Ellison.

U.S. Marshals "Nevada" Jack McKenzie and "Sandy" Hopkins go undercover to bust a gang of stagecoach robbers in this vintage Western serial. Nevada infiltrates the gang, while Sandy works as a cobbler in town, keeping an ear open for local gossip as they try to flush out the inside man tipping off the crooks.

Someone stole Johnny Mack Brown's horse. If he can locate his missing horse, then he can prove they are also robbing the stagecoach.

Johnny Mack Brown follows his tried-and-true western formula in Law of the Panhandle. This time, U.S. Marshal Brown backs up Sheriff Tom Stocker (Riley Hill) in an ongoing battle against a marauding outlaw gang. The thieves, led by snarling Henry Faulkner (Myron Healey), hope to scare all the local ranchers off the land that will soon be purchased by the railroad that's coming through the territory.

Ambushed by the Vigilantes, a dying friend gets Johnny who was only passing through to take up the fight. To get in with the gang, Johnny poses as an outlaw and then beats them to a gold shipment by robbing the train ahead of them. This gets him invited into the gang. They are all masked and unknown to Johnny, one of them is his brother.

Range Law stars Johnny Mack Brown as "Nevada" and Raymond Hatton as "Sandy", the same characters they played in most of their mid-1940s Monogram westerns. This time, Nevada and Sandy, US marshals both, set out to collar some renegades who've been driving out the local ranchers. It's just possible that one of said ranchers is behind this land-grabbing scheme.

Johnny Mack goes to work on "Ma" Curtis' ranch, to the disapproval of his friends, rancher Glenn Hadley and his sister Beth, who are at odds with her. Secretly, Ma's foreman Stoner is plotting with real estate man Ed Dutton to ruin her ranch and acquire it cheaply, with controlling water rights. Johnny stops henchman Dade in an attempt to dynamite the barn and Stoner, supposedly taking him to the sheriff, kills him. Johnny stops Glenn and Beth from tearing down a Curtis fence in order to get their cattle to water, but Glenn refuses to help even after Johnny explains he is helping Ma in order to find out who is behind the attacks on both ranches. Ma pretends to fire Johnny for saving Glenn from an ambush. As the outlaws attempt to rustle Ma's remaining cattle, Johnny, Alibi and Glenn join forces.

Kirk Baxter has been sent to investigate murder and robbery involving gold shipments. Identifying a gang member by his bullets, he uses that man's horse to locate and join the gang. He learns the gang is tipped off to the shipments by a mine employee using carrier pigeons. But the next message reveals his true identity and he is made a prisoner.

After a brief mid-1940s burst of originality, Monogram's Johnny Mack Brown western series settled back into the commonplace with such entries as Flashing Guns. In this outing, Brown tries to save his pal Shelby (Raymond Hatton) from being thrown off his ranch by crooked banker Ainsworth (James E. Logan). To do this, our hero must prove that the banker is in cahoots with the local gambling boss (Douglas Evans).

After Marshal Jordan is honored by Jimmy, Cannonball and others for his forty years as a law officer, the Sawyer mine is blown up by Belle's foreman, Kern, following Sawyer's refusal to sell out. Dan Jordan, the Marshal's son, interested in Belle, secretly the head of the outlaws, is lured by her from scouting the road on which his father guards a ore shipment. Jimmy and Cannonball drive off the outlaws, headed by Kern and Burton, but the Marshal is fatally wounded. The town council appoints Jimmy the new Marshal, which disappoints Dan, but Belle persuades him to become Jimmy's deputy, in order to get information from him about ore and payroll shipments. Dan quits as deputy and fights Jimmy when the latter suspects Belle of involvement in the robberies.

Tom Evans (Jon Dawson), nephew of U.S. Marshal Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton), has just trailed his cattle to Yucca City, where he intends to sell to Ben Crowley (Harry Woods), owner of practically everything in town.Tom loses his money in a crooked game ran by Crowley. "Nevada Jack" McKenzie (Johnny Mack Brown), a U.S. Marshal working undercover, watches the game and secures one of the "fixed" decks of cards. Later, Tom discovers Crowley's men rustling his cattle and is shot. Nevada finds him severely wounded and hides him with Jeff Lewis (Sam Flint) and his daughter Mary (Ellen Hall). Sandy, posing as a dentist, arrives in town after a wire from Nevada. The latter confronts Crowley with the crooked deck and also with the fact that Tom is still alive, and demands a partnership from Crowley. When Crowley learns that Lewis is hiding Tom, he decides to have both Tom and Nevada killed.

Blacksmith Pinto Peters calls on his old friend, Sam "Hurricane" Benton, to help him clear his son, Jimmy, of a murder charge. Hot-headed Jimmy, believes that the best way to cure a man of cheating at cards is to shoot him. He didn't shoot him enough, as the gambler only feigns death as part of a plot to gain possession of land owned by Pinto, as they know there is gold on the land buried there by an outlaw gang years ago.

U.S. Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie and Sandy Hopkins are working undercover to capture a gang stealing horses from the Navajos, and to capture the killer of a Ranger. Nevada poses as an outlaw to get in with the gang and find the leader, while Sandy pretends to be a drunken old horse thief that has knowledge of where the Navajos have hidden their ponies.

In one of his better Monogram Westerns, Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a crooked saloon owner with more than one murder on his conscience. Steve Corbin (Tristram Coffin) and his gang of cutthroats are terrorizing the townspeople of Rimrock, who in self-defense hire Johnny Macklin (Mack Brown) as new town marshal.

Johnny Mack Brown dodges bullets while he tries to figure out who stole the Mexican gold and who killed the newspaper editor.