Pioneer Days is a surprisingly charming b western picture from 1940 starring Jack Randall and directed by Harry S. Webb. The film has just the right mix of action, humor, and heroics to satisfy most fans of low budget western movies from that era.
The story opens with a trio of would be stagecoach robbers saving a beautiful young lady from a gang of other stagecoach robbers who beat them to their holdup. From that point on, the less than honest trio go out of their way to help the lovely girl after she is swindled out of her inheritance by an even more dishonest man than them.
If that summary seems a bit vague to you, I do apologize, but I think this works better the less you know about it. Also, the bare bones nature of the story is very similar to many other movies, but it plays out in some surprising ways here.
Jack Randall is suitably heroic in the lead, he carries himself with the right amount of swagger, and has enough charm to cover for his slightly wooden performance. Sadly, he was killed in a stunt accident five years after this movie, he was only 39 years old. That's a real shame, because I see enough potential in his performance here to show the makings of someone who could have been a genuine b-western legend along the lines of many less talented, but better known stars.
Director Harry S. Webb worked a lot in the western genre. His direction is generally quite efficient here, he keeps things moving at a fairly decent pace, handles the comedy well enough, and delivers the goods at the end of the day. This might serve as an interesting piece of trivia for some people; this film was his final directorial effort.
Pioneer Days is not the kind of picture that will stick with you, but I still found it mildly entertaining. Do I recommend it? Sure, for the right viewer. I trust my readers well enough to think that you should know whether or not you fit into that crowd. If it sounds like something you might enjoy, give it a try, it's short enough to not be considered much of a time investment.
-W. Jay Pinto
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