When asked about the Ghost Riders song he sings, Gene Autry tells this legend: Gene is about to resign as an investigator for the county attorney and go into the cattle business with his pal Chuckawalla Jones but decides instead to help Anne Lawson clear her father, rancher Ralph Lawson, of a false murder charge. He looks for the three witnesses who can testify that Lawson shot only in self defense in killing a gambler, but the witnesses are terrorized by another gambler, town boss Rock McCleary, who shoots witness Pop Roberts Morgan. Fatally wounded, Pop gives Gene the information needed to clear Lawson, then dies crying the "Ghost Riders" are coming for him. Gene then heads for a showdown with McCleary.
A prospector is looking for a lost gold mine and finds aid in his search through the efforts of his friend, Stormcloud, whom he has aided in the past. Stormcloud gives the prospector's son a map leading to the mine in repayment for his past kindness. When a claim jumper learns about the map, he targets the prospector and his son in order to get the treasure.
Diamonds are being smuggled across the border from Mexico in a specially made shoe of a palomino mare. One of the smugglers is killed when the mare runs off. The sheriff blames Trigger for the death. To keep his horse from being destroyed, Roy confesses and goes to jail. The smugglers buy Trigger and put him to work smuggling diamonds. The mare, who had earlier heard a trist with Trigger, foals Trigger, Jr. who Roy, finally out of jail, uses to help capture the smugglers.
Satan's Cradle was the fourth of producer Phil Krasne's "Cisco Kid" programmers for United Artists. This time, Cisco takes on a frontier megalomaniac, shyster lawyer Steve Gentry, who has taken over a mining town. Gentry's confederate is dancehall girl Lil who is as deadly as she is beautiful. When itinerant preacher Henry Lane is beaten to a pulp by Gentry's goons, Cisco and Pancho move in for the kill.
Red Ryder gets a telegram from his old friend Dan O'Connor asking for help in his fight against Faro Savage and his gang of rustlers. A gun dropped by Faro during a rustling raid makes Red and Sheila O'Connor, Dan's daughter, think they have ample proof against Faro but they are stymied by the law. Buckskin Blodgett and the Duchess, Red's aunt, find the body of O'Connor who was killed when Faro's men sent the sheriff out on a ruse. Sheila, discovered while rifling Faros office for evidence, escapes but not before she is recognized. Faro kills one of his own henchmen and then frames Sheila for the murder. Red and Little Beaver set out to clear Sheila and to try to find evidence against Faro and his gang. Written by Les Adams
Finding Indians stealing from his ranch, Gene learns they are suffering from malnutrition. Store owner Martin is cheating them and now he is after the Chief's valuable necklace. When the dying chief is found, having been attacked and robbed, Martin blames Lakhona who would become the new chief. When Gene helps Lakhona they soon find themselves fleeing from the law.
In Roy Rogers' Down Dakota Way, the deadly hoof-and-mouth disease has struck the herd owned by evil rancher H. T. McKenzie (Roy Barcroft). To avoid an expensive quarantine on his stock, McKenzie plans to murder the local veterinarian (Emmet Vogan) before the latter can report his findings to the government. Rogers manages to straighten out the situation by appealing to the sensibilities of the aunt (Elizabeth Risdon) of McKenzie's hotheaded hired assassin (Byron Barr). The film also bears several musical numbers from Roy, Dale Evans, and Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage.
Jim Bannon is back as enduring cowboy hero Red Ryder in Eagle-Lion's Roll, Thunder, Roll. As ever, Ryder's cohorts are Little Beaver and the Duchess, here played by "Little Brown Jug" and Marin Sais. This time, Ryder tries to prove that a series of cattle raids and ranch fires were not the handiwork of masked Mexican do-gooder El Conejo.
Wyoming Dan (Trevor Bardette) returns home after 20 years evading the law for a crime he didn't commit, only to find his son on his deathbed. Seeking revenge for his son's murder, Dan enlists the help of Rocky Lane (Allan Lane), who poses as an outlaw to try to uncover the truth. When the duo manage to track down the killer, they find him armed to the teeth.
Jimmy's father, a rancher, died in suspicious circumstances. To make things worse, Jimmy's disreputable uncle has a plot to take over the ranch. Jimmy turns to his friend Brad, the Marshal, for help.
20 years ago, 3 men robbed a stage and hid $30,000. They were caught and sent to prison by Marshal Steve Autry. 20 years later, the men bust out of prison and return to the ghost town where they stashed their treasure searching. Steve's grandson picks up where Steve left off to foil the plans of the outlaws.
Daring Cabellero was the third of producer Phil Krasne's Cisco Kid "B" westerns. Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo return as Cisco and Pancho, roles they'd carry over into a popular 1950s TV series. Once more stumbling into a dangerous situation, Cisco and Pancho risk their own necks by saving an innocent man from hanging. Eventually, our heroes learn that a corrupt political machine is behind the killing. Leading lady Kippie Valez is cast as "herself," which must have meant more in 1949 than it does today. Unlike the subsequent TV series, Daring Caballero does not end with the leading actors reciting their standard mantra "Oh, Pancho! Oh, Cisco!"
The Cisco Kid and Pancho are mistakenly identified as leaders of an outlaw band. While the cavalry runs them down, they must hunt down the real bad guys.
In 1887 Arizona, in the context of the settler-vs-cattleman struggle, two rancher brothers fall in-love with the same settler girl while crooked businessmen try to swindle both sides.
The bad guys dynamite a fish hatchery. They're trying to put the hatchery out of business so they can get possession of oil underneath the lake. Roy is a game warden investigating the dynamiting.
Gene is hired to be foreman of the Big Sombrero ranch by Jim Garland, who is handling all the business affairs of the owner, Estrellita Estrada, who is more interested in going to America than taking care of her Mexican holdings. Gene, discovering Garland's plan to run all the Mexican rancheros off the ranch, turns against his boss and shortly finds himself in the middle of cattle stampedes and an avalanche started by Garland's men.