Harkness controls Boulder Pass and his men are overcharging the ranches for its usage. When Tom Cameron steps in to rob the tollgate keepers and return the money to the ranchers, he gets caught.
Not quite as memorable as his previous Riders in the Sky, Gene Autry's Sons of New Mexico is still well up to the star's standard. This time, Gene tries to reform Randy Pryor, a would-be juvenile delinquent, played by Autry-protégé Dick Jones (who later starred in the Autry-produced TV series Range Rider and Buffalo Bill Jr). To this end, Pryor is enrolled at the New Mexico Military Institute, where much of this film was lensed. The kid chafes at the school's regimen and escapes, heading back to his criminal mentor Pat Feeney (Robert Armstrong).
In this western, a young cowboy rides out to avenge his father's killer. Eventually, he finds the scoundrel, but by this time opts not to kill him for the cowboy has fallen in love with the outlaw's niece. Later, the killer ends up killed and the hero is blamed for the crime.
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.
In his final Western for Poverty Row's Metropolitan Pictures, Bob Steele played Bob Hall, a lawman looking into a series of cattle rustlings. The leader of the rustlers, rancher Farley (Ted Adams), hires killer Pete Childers (George Cheseboro) to impersonate a deputy sheriff and gain Sheriff Hall's confidence.
Gene Autry is back near the saddle, trying to help out a crippled jockey. Gene is certain that the jockey can ride in the Big Race if the lad can regain his self-confidence. Meanwhile, Gene and comical sidekick Sterling Holloway have another problem on their hands: A rogue stallion has "kidnapped" Gene's prize mare. Piloting a plane, Autry seeks out and locates the stallion.
Autry is drawn into the plot when he's given power of attorney in a property settlement involving his old pal and a gang of land swindlers. The pal then goes on an extended vacation, leaving Autry to sort things out.
Tex arrives on the Parker ranch on Christman eve and is given the job of being Santa Claus. Also dressed as Santa Claus, Blackie robs Parker and kills a man. When Tex is arrested for the murder, he escapes and joins up with outlaw Becker and his gang. He finds Blackie's Santa Claus suit but is soon made a prisoner.
Overland mail riders Jack Mason and his pal, Porchy, learn that an Indian uprising is imminent because one of the tribe has been murdered by a gang of outlaws. The primary town of the mail route is also being used as a hideout and base of operations for a gang of counterfeiters led by Joe Polini. Jack and an undercover federal agent, Duke Evans, round up the counterfeiters and turn Polini over to the Indian Chief as the killer of the brave.
Cartwright's racket is to sell a ranch and then have Mason and his men drive the ranchers away so he can resell it. If they want their money back he gives it to them and then has them killed. Jack arrives and learns that Mason and his men are the culprits but that they have a boss. He suspects Cartwright and sets trap to expose him.
Set in Montana in the year 1934, a half-breed rancher and his wife are harassed by a ruthless land robber, who forces them to stand tall and defend their land, life and dignity.
Gene Autry heads a cattlemen's association and calls on the inexperienced Jim Agnew to negotiate the sale of five hundred heads of cattle. Jim ends up losing the cattle in a crooked poker game, however, and Gene and his sidekick Frog set out to find the cheating gamblers. It soon becomes clear that the leader of the gamblers is none other than Asa Lock, the dastardly father of Gene's romantic interest Stephanie.
A rancher caught in the middle of a bank robbery shoots one of the robbers. However, the dead bandit turns out to be a former ranch hand who was suing him. The rancher is arrested for murder.