Tumbleweed Trail (1942) / Outlaws of the Rio Grande (1941)

Tumbleweed Trail (1942): The Frontier Marshals -- Bill "Cowboy Rambler" Boyd, Art Davis, and Lee Powell -- are sent to bring outlaw Vic Landreau to justice. They find him in a town populated entirely by criminals and killers. When Bill tries to arrest Landreau, the town's crooked sheriff has him thrown in jail on suspicion of murder instead. Now Art and Lee must rescue their friend before he falls victim to the hangman's noose...

Tumbleweed Trail was one of six entries in PRC's "Frontier Marshals" series, with Davis, Boyd and Powell playing Western characters using their own names. Multi-talented minions of the law, they ride and fight hard, sing songs at the drop of a Stetson, and even communicate with each other via Morse code by plucking at the strings of a guitar!

Outlaws Of The Rio Grande (1941): U.S. Marshal Tim Barton infiltrates a gang of counterfeiters. But the heroic lawman inadvertently shows his hand when he falls in love with the engraver's pretty daughter, Rita. Tim will have to act fast if he and Rita are to escape from the gang with their lives.

Tim McCoy was a superstar of cowboy films In the '20s and '30s, appearing in scores of early Westerns for MGM and smaller studios. He was an expert horseman, roper and a sharpshooter, renowned for his fast draw. After serving as an officer in World War II he returned to Hollywood to star in "The Rough Riders" film series with Buck Jones and Raymond Hatton.

• western