Best movies like The Cariboo Trail

Richard Dix stars as Pecos Smith, a strong, silent Westerner suspected of cattle rustling.

It's the start of WWII in Northern Australia. The Japanese are getting close. People are evacuating and burning everything in a "scorched earth" policy. Rather than kill all their cattle, a disparate group decides to drive them overland half way across the continent, from Wyndham in Western Australia through the Northern Territory outback of Australia to pastures north of Brisbane, Queensland.

When her husband dies en route to America, Martha Price and her daughter Hilary are left to carry out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West. They enlist Sam "Bulldog" Burnett in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford named Vindicator, to a breeder in Texas, but the trail is fraught with danger and even Burnett doubts the survival potential of this "rare breed" of cattle.

Saunders with his Cattlemen's Protective Agency is running roughshod over the ranchers. Lawyer Larry Kimball is fighting him but he needs a rancher that will stand up with him against Saunders. He finds him when Lou Gehrig retires from baseball to take up ranching. Lou expects to relax on his ranch but quickly joins Larry in the fight.

Headstrong Thomas Dunson starts a thriving Texas cattle ranch with the help of his faithful trail hand, Groot, and his protégé, Matthew Garth, an orphan Dunson took under his wing when Matt was a boy. In need of money following the Civil War, Dunson and Matt lead a cattle drive to Missouri, where they will get a better price than locally, but the crotchety older man and his willful young partner begin to butt heads on the exhausting journey.

Down-and-out cowhand Jim Garry is asked by his old friend Tate Riling to help mediate a cattle dispute. When Garry arrives, however, it soon becomes clear that Riling has not been entirely forthright. Garry uncovers Riling's plot to dupe local rancher John Lufton out of a fortune. When Lufton's firecracker of a daughter, Amy, gets involved, Garry must choose between his old loyalties and what he knows to be right.

A young man without surname inherits a big indebted ranch and has to prove his worthiness managing a cattle drive.

Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love.

Chicago hotel clerk Frank Harris dreams of life as a cowboy, and he gets his chance when, jilted by the father of the woman he loves, he joins Tom Reece and his cattle-driving outfit. Soon, though, the tenderfoot finds out life on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been looking for...

When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage; however, neither Andersen nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

Jim Killian arrives in a small Arizona town hoping to establish a peaceful life as the local preacher, but he soon finds himself in the middle of a feud between sheep ranchers and cattlemen. Leloopa, a young Native American woman, pleads for Killian's help after her shepherd father is hung by Coke Beck, the vicious son of the head cattle rancher. Killian must weigh his actions carefully lest he perpetuate the cycle of retribution and revenge.

With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.

Working as an assistant on a long cattle drive, the young Ben Mockridge contends between his dream of being a cowboy and the harsh truth of the Old West.

The spoilt young son of a wealthy railroad owner manages to get himself lost in the middle of nowhere. He is found by a cowboy on a cattle drive and the lad must start learning the hard lessons of working in a team if he wants to make it to San Diego.

Fighting in the Civil War a man accidently kills his friend. Returning to Abilene after the war he finds his former sweetheart about to marry the brother of the man he killed. To pay his debt he not only refuses to win her back but takes the job of Sheriff, a job he doesn't want, when the brother asks him. Still haunted by the killing he refuses to carry a gun. But there is trouble between the ranchers and the farmers and when he finds the brother murdered he straps on a gun and heads after the killer.

Back home in Texas following the Civil War, former Confederate officer Chad Morgan (Alan Ladd) leads a cattle drive to Missouri, assuring fellow ranchers that their stock will bring $10 a head at auction. Instead, ruthless cattle baron Brog (Anthony Caruso) has scared off all competition and offers much less.

Sierra Nevada Jones must fight a villainous rancher to regain the land that is rightfully hers.

An Australian sheep man comes to Montana looking for grazing space, is opposed by local ranchers and a wealthy cattle-woman.

Shadrach Jones, ex-Texas State Policeman, has the ruthless determination to find and kill the man who shot his brother in the back and stole the money with which he was to buy a ranch for the two of them. At the saloon-hotel run by Adelaide, Shadrach is convinced that one of the cowhands on the Captain McKellar cattle drive to Montana is his man. He takes the job of trail-herd boss to find the killer. McKellar preaches to Jones that he should forget revenge and let the law of retribution take care of the killer. Shadrach's hard driving of the men and his hunt for the killer makes him bitterly hated, and his retribution quest ends in a manner he did not anticipated.

A cowboy tries for easy money with his partner, then tries ranching with a saloon hostess's money.

Mitch Barrett becomes embittered because his wife is allowed to die when he can't pay for the medicine she needs. The remorseful townspeople hire Mitch to be a deputy sheriff, thereby enabling him to plot an elaborate bank robbery with the help of an artist, a pickpocket, a gunslinger and a bar-girl.

A federal agent goes undercover in order to capture a gang that's been smuggling munitions and horses near the Texas border.

Outlaws of the Pandhandle was the last of Charles Starrett's "formula" westerns for Columbia: hereafter, Starrett would be seen only in the guise of frontier medico Steven Monroe or masked do-gooder The Durango Kid. For the moment, however, the star is cast as Jim Endicott, bound and determined to put an end to the underhanded activities of gin-mill operator Faro Jack Vaughn (Norman Willis). The villain's strategy is to get the local cowpunchers tanked up on rotgut that they'll prove to be easy pickings for a gang of rustlers-and will be unable to complete work on a railroad spur which will bypass the outlaws' hideaway.

A hired hand gets caught between a noble rancher and ruthless land grabbers.

The governor of Texas sends a cowboy to keep the peace between ranchers and a land baron.

Arthur Moore, a missionary preacher, attempts to fit into the cowboy community so he can set up a church in the local saloon. Gwen, daughter of the "Old Timer," is injured in a stampede and loses her ability to walk. Though rejected by the townsfolk, the preacher's wisdom and love are needed if the young girl is to be healed. Shot in 'Vidor Village', Vidor's ill-fated studio property in California's High Sierra.

A rancher finds that his stock of horses is mysteriously being depleted, and discovers that a ranch near him has had a sudden upsurge in its horse population.

With the increasing popularity of Republic's sagebrush crooner Gene Autry, rival company Columbia found it necessary to add a musical element to this Charles Starrett Western released in early 1937. As Starrett himself was no singer, the studio hired Donald Grayson to warble Lonesome River, Out in the Cow Country and Pancho's Widow, all by Ned Washington and Sam H. Stept.

Jim West, foreman of John Calhoun's ranch, falls in love with Helen, the boss's daughter, after rescuing her from a runaway horse. Her brother, Ted, falls into the companionship of Bill Jackson, a notorious gambler and saloon keeper, who persuades Ted to sign I. O. U.'s while under the influence of alcohol. Jim, in company with Red Irwin, a tough deputy sheriff, confronts the gambler and forces a confession. Jackson plans a raid on the Calhoun cattle, forcing Ted to be his ally. Dolores, a dancehall girl, overhears the plot and tells Jim, causing Helen to misunderstand his motives.

A Chickasaw man survives great hardships and tragedy to establish a vast ranching empire along the famous cattle highway of the American West.

An ex-gunslinger shunned by townsfolk is the only one who knows how to stop a ruthless cattleman.

When his ward seeks protection with rival cattleman John Stewart, embittered, jealous rancher Wick Campbell hires ten outlaws to help him seize power in the territory.

A cowboy sets out to help a pretty young girl who is about to lose her ranch when crooks plan to foreclose on it because she doesn't have enough money to make her mortgage payment. He puts together a cattle drive in order to sell the herd to raise the money to pay off the note, but when the crooks hear about this, they make plans to stampede the herd along the way.

A group of young adults struggle to run the biggest cattle ranch in the world amidst World War II.

In order to find out who's behind a cattle rustling operation that's hurting ranchers, a detective for the Cattleman's Protective Association pretends to be a tenderfoot from back east who's just arrived in the area and doesn't know how to ride, rope or shoot.

Easterner Madeline Hammond buys a ranch not knowing Hayworth is using it to smuggle ammunition across the border. When trouble starts, she brings back Gene Stewart ex-foreman who left the country after fighting with the Sheriff.

A rancher's foreman schemes against him on a cattle drive from Oregon to Wyoming.

Driving a herd of cattle to market, Jimmy finds the trail has been fenced off by an old friend of his. While the two sides try to settle the matter peaceably, a man from each outfit get together to try and start a range war between them figuring they will end up with the cattle. When cattle are rustled, Jimmy finds the clue, horses with shoes that make tracks that look like cattle.

The fourth of 12 singing Westerns starring the "Silvery-Voiced Baritone," Fred Scott, Melody of the Plains begins peacefully enough with Scott, as cowboy Steve Condon, warbling Don Swander and June Hershey's "Albuquerque." The story quickly takes a rather grim turn when one of Steve's colleagues is shot and killed after selling out to a gang of rustlers. Mistakenly believing he fired the deadly shot, a dejected Steve, along with sidekick Fuzzy, goes to work for Bud's father, a rancher nearly forced into bankruptcy by a crooked land developer.

Two brothers discharged from the Confederate Army join a businessman for a cattle drive from Texas to Montana where they run into raiding Jayhawkers, angry Sioux, rough terrain and bad weather.

When his best friend dies of an heart attack due to permanent stress at work, the Japanese businessman Yutaka Soto quits and fulfills himself a dream: he buys a ranch in Montana to live on. However the ranch turns out to be due for demolition and the welcome by the people is less than friendly: Hotel owner Cord Wingate wanted the ranch himself and now sabotages Yutaka. Only veterinarian Jessy and an old Cowboy help him. -- Tom Zoerner

To save an old friend's ranch, the Beaudine brothers round up a gang of misfits to drive a huge herd to market.

Deputy Sheriff John Steele recruits bandit Sonora Joe to help him find out who's been bumping off all the local lawmen and rustling the cattle.

Not long after the Civil War, Texas cattle ranchers realize they have a problem--the Union Pacific railroad is bypassing their state and make it near impossible to get their cattle to market. Many ranchers are being forced to sell their land, and crooked state treasure Marvin Fletcher buys up the land at pennies on the dollar. However, Laguna del Sol Ranch owner Taisie Lockhart and her ranch hands are holding out. Cowboy Dan McMasters returns to the ranch and tries to rekindle his romance with Taisie, but she rejects him because he fought for the North during the war. But what she doesn't know is that Dan is on an undercover mission from the President to investigate Fletcher, and in order to do that he has to pretend to be sympathetic to Fletcher and goes to work for him, angering Taisie even more. Complications ensue.

Sheep raisers, resentful of old injuries from the cattlemen, bar the way to water when dry ranges force the cattle ranchers to drive their herds into the lowlands.

Former bandit Jim Dancer becomes marshal of a Kansas town and cleans up the criminal element - with the help of his old pal, Jesse James.

The brother (House Peters Jr.) of rancher Bill Martin (Bill Elliott) is killed in a stampede started by cattleman. Bill returns to the Fargo country to take his brother's place and is welcomed by law-abiding cattleman MacKenzie (Jack Ingram)) and his daughter Kathy (Phyllis Coates). The leader of the ruthless cattle interests are townsman Austin (Arthur Space) and his henchmen Red (Myron Healey), Link (Robert J. Wilke) and Albord (Terry Frost). Bill has the idea of putting up barbed wire to keep the herds from been driven over the land cultivated by the farmers. He, aided by Tad Sloan (Fuzzy Knight), produces the wire by make-shift methods, but it proves effective. The cattleman charge in court that the wire is dangerous to their herds but lose the case. Austin orders his men to seize Bill, bale him in strands of the wire, and throw him on the stage of the town hall during a fall festival. Bill doesn't take kindly to this and it precipitates open war.

A rich landowner of Wyoming fights to prevent the Texas herds from trampling his rich meadows.

Brothers Mike and Tim McCall own a large ranch in Arizona, using the surrounding lands for grazing cattle. Stanley Cox and LeRoy Stanton sell this land to settlers who arrive to find it bone dry, as a dam on the McCall ranch controls the water. Among the settlers are John Dawson and his daughter Connie. The latter goes to the nearest town to take action, but Sheriff Ball tells him there is nothing he can do. Tim falls for Connie but Mike is unimpressed with her charms. While returning from a town dance, Tim discovers Stanton trying to dynamite the dam, and is killed in the ensuing gunfight. Stanton later sends his men to stampede the cattle while he and Cox blow up the dam. Despite the efforts of Mike and Sheriff Ball, the cattle are wiped out and Mike races to the dam and kills Stanton in a gunfight.

Cattlemen Protective Agent Reb Russell arrives to try and stop the cattle rustling. He gains a friend when he saves Jack Thorn from Lenahan and his men. They hire on at the Lund ranch and when her cattle are rustled and she is kidnaped they follow the trail, It's Lenahan and his gang and Reb soon finds himself a prisoner.