Santa Fe Stampede

The Three Mesquiteers was the umbrella title for a series of fifty-one B-westerns released between 1936 and 1943. The films featured the characters Stony Brooke, Tucson Smith and Lullaby Joslin as the threesome, played by many B-western stars of that era. In 1938, John Wayne took over for Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke and starred in eight Mesquiteers films between 1938 and 1939, he was joined by Ray Corrigan as Tucson Smith and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin for the first six and Raymond Hatton as Rusty Joslin for the last two. All eight films were directed by George Sherman (Big Jake). John Ford’s Stagecoach was perfectly sandwiched between the eight films, and John Wayne’s portrayal of the outlaw gunfighter, The Ringo Kid, made him a superstar, ending Wayne’s Stony Brooke run. Livingston was rehired as Brooke and went on to make fourteen more Mesquiteers films, for an incredible total of twenty-nine. In Santa Fe Stampede (the third of Wayne’s eight Mesquiteers films), a prospector finds gold and invites his old pals the Mesquiteers to share in his good fortune. But the town’s crooked mayor and his ruthless henchmen have their own ideas. When our heroes arrive, they find their friend murdered and Stony is charged with the crime.