You won't be disappointed!

As Good As It Gets

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The Three Mesquiteers find themselves in Ghost Town Gold trying to save the reputation of the mayor and bank president of a small boom town. After the bank is held up during a night robbery Burr Caruth's reputation is on the line. There's a big prize fight being held that night and the bet money is being held by the bank.Speaking of the prize fight Ray Corrigan has to get into the ring as one of the fighters backs out. That makes it real personal for the Mesquiteers.The key to the whole situation is desert rat Milburn Morante who holds up in a nearby ghost town. The bad guys hide the loot, but he finds it. It all makes for a bit more plot than one usually finds in a B western.Best part of the film is the climax race back to town with the stolen money before the bank is supposed to open. I do love some of the tactics employed by the Mesquiteers to slow down the pursuing robbers.I think you'll enjoy it too.

Ghost Town Gold (1936) ** (out of 4) After being thrown out of a city, some men rob the local bank so that its president (who is also the Mayor) will come under fire of the locals. The Three Mesquiteers end up coming to his rescue by trying to track down the real crooks. Republic made fifty-one films in this series and GHOST TOWN GOLD was actually the second of the long running series. Outside the nice title, there's very little going on in this "B" Western, which features pretty much nothing but one cliché after another. If there's a prime example of a by-the-numbers Western then this here is probably just that. I think it's safe to say that this here is one of the least interesting entries in the series for a number of reason. The biggest is that Robert Livingston, Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune just weren't at their full strength in regards to their chemistry. I think the three of them lacked any charm as they went from one scene to the next and it really did come across as the trio trying to find the right touches. I thought the three of them delivered fine performances on their own but they just weren't quite clicking when it came time to have the three acting together. Another problem is that the story itself is just pretty much dead on arrival. Not once do you really care about the banker so you don't care if his name is cleared or not. You really don't care about the town and its people so again, you really don't care if their problem gets solved. The action is also pretty lacking in regards to excitement. GHOST TOWN GOLD is a film that's only going to appeal to fans of the genre but I doubt even they will find it too entertaining.

"Ghost Town Gold" was the second film in the Three Mesquiteers series from Republic Films, but if you're keeping score, it was the first to feature Max Terhune in the role of Lullaby Joslin. The simply titled "The Three Mesquiteers" appeared earlier the same year and was the only 3M story to use Syd Saylor (as Lullaby). The Livingston-Corrigan-Terhune team would make a total of fourteen films together before the group would start trading off partners for an eventual string of fifty one oaters.Right out of the box, it was in this story that Lullaby picks up his ventriloquist dummy Elmer by virtue of hoodwinking a three card monte scammer. It's a funny scene, right after we're introduced to Lullaby as a card sharp trickster and sleight of hand artist.The 'ghost town gold' connection at the center of the story employs an old timer named Jake (Milburn Morante) who 'finds' some sacks of gold stolen from Prospect, the next town over from Nemesis. In an unbelievable set of circumstances that probably wouldn't have worked in any other picture (except maybe for the Bowery Boys), old Jake uses an eerie sounding bullhorn and a set of levers rigged to make the rest of Nemesis fall apart as both the good guys and the villains attempt to recover the stolen gold. By the way, I should also mention that Jake rides the sorriest excuse for a horse you'll ever see, first appearing on screen as he trots out of the Nemesis town council meeting.Robert Livingston got top billing in the 3M films, but Ray 'Crash' Corrigan had more screen time in this episode, and he actually looks more like the guy who should have been the lead player. Taller and more ruggedly handsome than Livingston, he also got the choice role of opposing boxer Wild Man Kamatski in the saloon ring. Not quite sure how the whole boxing motif fit in with the rest of the story other than to provide some more offbeat action in the fisticuffs department. For some reason, the main event between Kamatski and champion Thunderbolt O'Brien never played out. Maybe a good thing, I think the champ might have had his phony mustache knocked off.Oh yeah, there's also a pretty female lead in the story, Kay Hughes as the daughter of the bank president who's safe was robbed. Still a mystery to me how the money was stolen unless the safe was left unlocked, but audiences of the Thirties didn't seem to require much in the way of a believable story line. Anyway, Sabina (Hughes) helps make the save in the finale by leading the good guys to Uncle Jake's Mine #6.'B' Western fans will also spot a lot of the familiar character actors of the era here, chief among them LeRoy Mason as fight promoter Barrington, Yakima Canutt as his main henchman Buck, and Earle Hodgins as the ring announcer and referee. The uncredited cast list contains just about every other Western character actor you'd ever hope to see all in one place, the trick being not to blink too often, or you might miss one of them.

Played to death on New York's Channel 13 cowboy theater shows in the 1950's, "Ghost Town Gold" became one of my favorite "Three Mequiteers" westerns...right up there with "Riders of the Whistling Skull." Typical Robert Livingston - "Crash" Corrigan - Max Terhune fare with lots of action and shoot 'em up, made even more appealing with the addition of Kay Hughes as the love interest and a crazy old miner that "haunts" the ghost town using ghostly booby traps and weird sound effects to protect "his" gold. I loved it as a kid and tried to locate it for years...finally finding the videotape...and re-living my misspent youth!