The best Edward Gargan’s western movies

Embezzler, shill, all around confidence man S. Quentin Quale is heading west to find his fortune; he meets the crafty but simple brothers Joseph and Rusty Panello in a train station, where they steal all his money. They're heading west, too, because they've heard you can just pick the gold off the ground. Once there, they befriend an old miner named Dan Wilson whose property, Dead Man's Gulch, has no gold. They loan him their last ten dollars so he can go start life anew, and for collateral, he gives them the deed to the Gulch. Unbeknownst to Wilson, the son of his longtime rival, Terry Turner (who's also in love with his daughter, Eva), has contacted the railroad to arrange for them to build through the land, making the old man rich and hopefully resolving the feud. But the evil Red Baxter, owner of a saloon, tricks the boys out of the deed, and it's up to them - as well as Quale, who naturally finds his way out west anyway - to save the day.

Cowboy Dan Somers and oilman Jim "Hunk" Gardner compete for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the favors of schoolteacher Cathy Allen.

Ted Daniels, a ranch hand working for a rodeo, captures a magnificent wild horse that he tames and trains. As Ted is recovering from an accident that happened during a rodeo, the rodeo owner cheats him out of his horse. Ted must decide whether to pursue him and try to recover the horse, or whether to settle down with the doctor's daughter who is nursing him back to health. Written by Snow Leopard

Saddle Pals hits a new low for Gene Autry's postwar Republic westerns, containing literally no action at all. Autry is drawn into the plot when he's given power of attorney in a property settlement involving his old pal (Sterling Holloway) and a gang of land swindlers. The pal then goes on an extended vacation, leaving Autry to sort things out.

The setting is a small town in 1870s Pennsylvania. Sally Waterson and her father have stopped in town with their traveling medicine show, but when their wagon catches fire, they find themselves stranded. They're taken in by Mrs. Cortlandt and her grandson, Peter, who is trying to set up a pipeline that will supply oil throughout the state. Sally and Peter soon fall in love and marry. Neither their marriage nor Peter's pipe dreams flow too smoothly.

A ranch owner fires his ranch hands and brings in women to replace them. The owner's daughter wants the male hands back and comes up with a plan to do it.

This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early 19th Century, Congress appropriated the money to build the school, but opponents who believed it to be an illegitimate expansion of the powers of the federal government decided to sabotage the school. They put the hard-as-nails Major Sam Carter in charge of the academy, and he ruthlessly put the recruits through grueling training -- until only ten prospective soldiers remained. They include Dawson, a patriotic farm boy and Howard Shelton, a selfish playboy who has come to West Point only because of its prestige. The two vie for Carolyn Bainbridge, while they, along with the other eight, try convince Carter that the school is worth keeping.

When a Texas playboy is murdered in a New York City nightclub the Falcon investigates. When he learns that the victim was slipped rattlesnake venom, the trail leads to Texas, his own kidnapping and near death.

When not drinking and fighting, three wildcatters in search of a gusher are enthusiastically drilling for black gold. The trouble begins when one of them grows dissatisfied with their lifestyle and quits so he can be with his new wife. Unfortunately for him, soon after he leaves, the other two find their gusher and become filthy rich. The impoverished quitter is envious and begins looking for an obscure law that will force his pals to share.

Wealthy Kip Artmitage III (Robert Rockwell) honors his late wartime friend's request to look after the friend's "little sister."

Radio star Jack Benny, intending to stay in New York for the summer, is forced by the needling of rival Fred Allen to prove his boasts about roughing it on his (fictitious) Nevada ranch. Meanwhile, singer Joan Cameron, whom Jack's fallen for and offended, is maneuvered by her sisters to the same Nevada town. Jack's losing battle to prove his manhood to Joan means broad slapstick burlesque of Western cliches.