Timber Stampede (1939) User Reviews

O'Brien, Wills and Reynolds Rise Above The Material

[samgrass-3 · 6/10 · 1 August 2012]

George O'Brien stars as Scott Baylor, a cattleman tending his herd in the rich timberlands. (This is certainly one on me. I thought cattlemen raised their herds on the prairie, not in the woods.) Con men Jay Jones (Poverty Row stalwart Guy Usher) and Foss Dunlap (Morgan Wallace) are plotting to strip the town of Wagon Wheel (Another great name!) of the timberland by promising to build a railroad, but in reality they're stripping the land of its trees. In tow with the baddies is reporter Anne Carr (Marjorie Reynolds), whom they duped into glorifying their efforts to "further the progress of the West." When Scott's Uncle Henry (Earl Dwire), who owns the town's newspaper, "The Wagon Wheel Clarion," (Must reading in Wagon Wheel.) publishes articles accusing the railroad of legalized larceny, Jones and Dunlap buy the paper out from under him and install Carr as Editor-In-Chief so she can write flattering articles about the progress the railroad is making. In addition, Jones and Dunlap take over the local saloon and hang a sign out front reading "Cowboys Not Welcome." It doesn't get any more obvious than that. Jones is also paying drifters and his loggers to claim additional acres of land under the Homestead Act and then sign their claims over to him. When the Sheriff Lyman (Bob Burns) investigates, Jones's hired gun Matt Chaflin (Robert Fiske) murders him and then is appointed sheriff by Jones. Anne, for her part, refuses to believe any of Scott's accusations, so he and sidekick Whopper Hatch (Chill Wills) pose as potential homesteaders and snap a photo of Jones paying the drifters. Showing the evidence to Anne, she joins them, and with the help of Uncle Henry, she publishes an edition of the Clarion with the photo and accompanying article exposing the fraud. Chaflin forms a posse to arrest Scott for the murder of Sheriff Lyman, and Scott holds them off at the newspaper office while Whopper rides for help among the other cattlemen. They arrive in time to save Scott's bacon, and Scott outduels Chaflin as well. The town and the forest are saved, and Jones and Dunlap are carted off to the hoosegow. But as Whopper notes, Scott is also going to serve a life sentence, but with Anne. While the plot has the usual holes one would expect in a B movie, the acting is uniformly good and Reynolds stands out as the most beautiful of O'Brien's leading ladies. It was only a matter of time until she would get her big breakthrough. Watch for Billy Benedict in a small role as the printing devil of Uncle Henry.

No regard for natural resources

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 25 June 2020]

In this western from RKO George O'Brien leads the cattleman against eastern logging interests as personified by Morgan Wallace. Wallace is your typical robber baron of the era.

Wallace however does know the value of publicity and he even brings along a Nellie Bly type reporter Marjorie Reynolds to insure he's portrayed favorably in the press. Another of his hires is gunfighter Robert Fiske for dirtier work.

Basically Wallace is fraudulently using the Homestead Act to have his loggers take out claims and sign over water and timber rights to him. The idea is strip the land of its resources and skedaddle. Fiske is around t take care of complainers.

Chill Wills has some good moments as O'Brien's sidekick. This will be a popular western with environmentalists.

You're Barkin' Up the Wrong Tree Pardner!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 5 May 2018]

Another action packed entry from George O'Brien's RKO series. This one has a ton of extras, beautiful scenery and even tall trees lining the main street of the town.

Two "businessmen", Jay Jones (Guy Usher) and Dunlap (Morgan Wallace) have a plan to take the lumber under the ruse of building a railroad, from a stand of trees near the town of Wagon Wheel which just happens to be next to cattle country. Rancher Scott Baylor (O'Brien) is a cattle rancher who becomes suspicious of the venture.

Jones and Dunlap along with reporter Anne Carr (Marjorie Reynolds) arrive at Wagon Wheel. Baylor's uncle Henry (Earl Dwyer) is the local newspaper editor who is wise to their scheme. Dunlap buys up Henry's mortgage and forecloses on him. Anne takes over.

Scott discovers that the so-called railroad has a 20 mile right of way and that his cattle are being slaughtered on the right of way to feed the lumbermen. The lumberjacks set up their own saloon in town and bar the cowboys. Scott rides his horse through the front window of the saloon in order to confront Jones and Dunlap. They have devised a scheme whereby drifters posing as settlers, register homesteads under the Homestead Act, and sell their timber rights to Dunlap and Jones thereby giving them a monopoly on the timber.

Jones and Dunlap hire gunman Matt Chaflin (Robert Fiske in a chilling performance) to back their play. He murders the sheriff (Bob Burns) and takes over as Sheriff. He tries to pin the murder on Scott. He then tries to arrest him and........................................................................................

There's plenty of blazing action in this one. Hoards of galloping riders, both good and bad, abound. There's a terrific shoot out and a ride to the rescue at the film's climax.

Chill Wills is back as Whopper Hatch, O'Brien's talky sidekick. Curiously enough, Wills played the same character in his appearances while O'Brien's characters always had different names. Unlike many of his contemporaries, O'Brien was able to get the girl and fade out at the end with a romantic embrace.

Also appearing are veteran bad guys Bud Osborne, Bob Kortman and Tom London as well as, Hank Worden as a photographer and Billy Benedict as Tiny Tim the newspaper's typesetter.

Good Production

[dougdoepke · 3 August 2012]

RKO certainly didn't stint on hiring extras for this horse opera. More crowds emerge here than many A-productions, and the guys do look like roughnecks. It's a better-than-average oater, with towns and countryside not seen in a hundred other matinée westerns. Also, the plot has topical relevance since the baddies use subterfuge to destroy the forest ecosystem for sneaky profit. On the other hand, Scott (O'Brien) and the cowboys want to keep the forest so their cattle have grass to graze.

I really like Robert Fiske as gunslinger Matt. His hard-eyed stare and deadpan demeanor are striking to see and bespeak a lifetime of casual cruelty. Chill Wills too does well with comedy relief without being silly, some of his tall tales being a real hoot. Then too O'Brien gets to sport some of the biggest Stetsons on record, at the same time, he's pushing a bit on the waistline, but then he is a middle-aged 40. It hasn't slowed him down, however.

All in all, it's a colorful and well-produced programmer with a good positive message.

A baddie trying to steal the ranchers' land...as usual.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 29 July 2022]

George O'Brien was a rather unlikely cowboy star, though he made a ton of B-westerns in the 1930s and into the 40s. Why was he so unlikely? Well, in the silents, he was seen as a leading man...not a cowboy, and starred in such classics as "Sunrise" and "Noah's Ark". He also was unlikely because he just didn't look like a pretty cowboy but just some ordinary guy. None of these are complaints...just observations about his career.

In "Timber Stampeded" some very unscrupulous railroad tycoons are using the law to steal. They're creating a railroad only in order to get a right of way...and they are clear-cutting the land to make a fortune off the lumber. Now with the law behind them, these railroaders and lumbermen are trying to chase all the ranchers off their land. So, it's up to Scott Baylor (O'Brien) to investigate and put everything right.

The western about some baddie trying to steal the ranchers' land is very familiar...probably the most familiar B-movie plot. Because of this, I wouldn't exactly call "Timber Stampede" original...though it is well made and lacks many of the usual cliches of B-westerns. You'll see no singing cowboys nor pretty boys in this one. Because of this and the general high quality of the movie, I think this one earns a 6.

cutting down the trees

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 15 August 2022]

Some similarities to big trees from 1952, and valley of the giants in 1938. Clearly, the one from 1938 was first! Each film highlights groups wanting to cut down the timber on land, owned by the U. S. or by someone else. In timber stampede, the "business men" want to sell the trees for lumber, and start out by using fake homesteaders. Of course, the local ranchers don't like this plan, since they graze their cattle on that land. Now it's a showdown over the land. With twenty two year old marj reynolds along for fun. She will go on to co-star with abbott and costello in time of their lives. It's exactly what we expect from a western. Good guys against the bad guys. It moves right along, since it's under one hour run time. George o'brien had started way back, in silents. Early-ish role for chill wills. Directed by david howard. He died quite young at 45, just a couple years after making this film. It's okay.

Timber Stampede

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 24 March 2024]

The cattlemen graze their cattle in the big pines, but the railroad wants to clear cut the land and sell the timber for profit. Then they can sell the land to another railroad and make a lot of money while destroying the wilderness. Scott and Henry are against them and try to show that Jay and Dunlap are robber barons. First they must stop the phoney homesteading scam and convince Anne, that her glowing tributes to the railroad are unfounded by their greed.

A slam bang finale rounds up a lively western starring George O' Brien. Here, he tackles a scam concocted by some bigwigs and there's plenty of hard riding, schemes and gun smoke before the dust settles. There's some impressive stunt work - Riding through a windows, horses leaping over the wagon and leaping on top of two guys on a horse. It's a fun western with a strong story and grand scenery.