20 best movies like Out California Way (1946)

In this Western, Ken Curtis, Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to Gene Autry, romanced one of the studio's most beautiful starlets, Rita Hayworth-lookalike Dusty Anderson. She played Helen Wyatt, whose father (the rotund Guy Kibbee) loses his ranch to the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, the Hot Shots have been swindled by a couple of Eastern crooks (Ian Keith and Matt Willis) and consider themselves the lawful owners. Chased by the irascible Wyatt, the band members seek protection from aspiring singer Curt Stanton (Curtis), who they mistake for a gunslinger.

In this western, two cowboys ride to the rescue of ranchers who are fighting to keep a land-grabber from taking their land and selling it to the railroad

Rancher Blaze Barker returns to Dead Falls after being framed by land-grabbers and spending two years in jail. Paroled, he can't wear a gun, but is aided by Marshal Fargo Steele. The gang is out to gain control of all of the valley land before a dam is constructed. When Blaze raises the money to pay off the taxes on his ranch, he finds it has been marked to incriminate him.

Two deputies go undercover to save a scientist from his evil kidnappers.

A singing cowboy (Gene Autry) and his partner (Bill Henry) thwart a foreman who wants their mine.

Charles Starrett stars in the lightning-paced Columbia western Riding West. Somebody is planning to sabotage the new Pony Express mail service, and hard-ridin' Steve Jordan (Charles Starrett) aims to find out who.

Tom Weston arriving in town just as the Doctor announces his father's death a suicide, sees the gun is in the wrong hand. When the Bank Examiner announces the bank has no money and Tom's identity becomes known, the townsmen attempt to hang him. Escaping he finds the phony examiner and gets a a confession. Then he plans a trap for the murderer. -IMDB

US cavalry officer James Laurence (Nelson Eddy) arrives at one of the Russian colonies to pave the way for the eventual American takeover of the territory. He faces resistance in the form of Prince Nikolai Balinin (Hugo Haas), who has no intention of weakening his despotic hold over the local peasants. The plot thickens when Laurence falls in love with Natalie Alanova (Ilona Massey), the wife of disgraced nobleman Count Igor Savin (Joseph Schildkraut).

With the increasing popularity of Republic's sagebrush crooner Gene Autry, rival company Columbia found it necessary to add a musical element to this Charles Starrett Western released in early 1937. As Starrett himself was no singer, the studio hired Donald Grayson to warble Lonesome River, Out in the Cow Country and Pancho's Widow, all by Ned Washington and Sam H. Stept.

The Caravan Trail stars PRC Pictures' resident singing cowboy Eddie Dean. This time around, wagonmaster Dean is appointed sheriff of a lawless frontier territory. Immediately getting down to business, our hero goes after a band of land-grabbing outlaws who've been terrorizing the homesteaders. The film is stolen hands down by supporting play Al LaRue, who as "Lash" LaRue would eventually be awarded a western series of his own. Like most of Eddie Dean's 1946 releases, The Caravan Trail was lensed in the two-hued Cinecolor process. Read more at http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-caravan-trail-v8165#ome2SWX8mH31k9yd.99

In one of his better Monogram Westerns, Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a crooked saloon owner with more than one murder on his conscience. Steve Corbin (Tristram Coffin) and his gang of cutthroats are terrorizing the townspeople of Rimrock, who in self-defense hire Johnny Macklin (Mack Brown) as new town marshal.

Roy is put in charge of a highway construction project. A rancher tries to stop Roy from putting a highway across his land because he fears that the authorities are going to discover the unscrupulous manner in which he got it.

The election to determine if Texas will become a state is near and men opposed are running contraband across the border. Sunset and Frog are Border Patrolmen and have an agent that tips them off by carrier pigeon. The Army arrives and the commander is Sunset's brother. When the agent is found out and murdered, his fake replacement then leads the soldiers astray.

Steve arrives looking for the person printing counterfeit bonds. He finds his man in Pop Ryland who has two sons and a stepson. The stepson doesn't want to be an outlaw like the other sons and helps Steve out by posing as the Durango Kid when needed and then leading him to the evidence he is looking for.

Johnny Mack Brown essays the title role in Universal's Fighting Bill Forgo. Returning to his home town, Bill Fargo takes over the operation of his late father's newspaper. He quickly gets swept up in political intrigue fomented by political boss Hackett (Kenneth Harlan), who has a cute habit of rubbing out any and all honest candidates for the sheriff's office.

Roy Rogers takes on crooked wartime profiteers in the musical western Ridin' Down the Canyon. Posing as solid citizens, the crooks spend their evening hours stealing horses from local ranchers, then selling the steeds to the government at exorbitant prices. The head of the bad guys runs a dude ranch where Rogers and his pals (The Sons of the Pioneers) are employed.

A masked bandit being chased by a posse is wounded but manages to lose them. He is taken in by a female saloon owner and nursed back to health.

A federal agent infiltrates an outlaw band that's taken over a western town.

In this western, a community revives the legend of Billy the Kid after robbers attack a stage coach. The deputy marshal believes the Kid is dead and even goes to the cemetery to exhume his body. Unfortunately, the grave is empty and as the marshal ponders the mystery, a masked rider shoots at him. The eagle-eyed lawman recognizes the man's horse and realizes that he is a prominent businessman in town.

The bank has been robbed, the night watchman killed and the safe opened. The townspeople want John as he was the only one with the combination. Clint gets John out of town but before the mob turns ugly but the deputy is shot when he and Clint go to get John at the shack. Things look bad for John, but Clint does not believe that John did the robbery and he will look for the real crooks.

An outcast gambler hijacks a wagon train of eligible women taken west by a mayor.

This late entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" series stars Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmy Dodd as, respectively, Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Johnson. This time out, the Mesquiteers try to help young Tim Clay (John James), who's been framed for murder by villains who want to gain possession of Clay's ranch property.

Autry and his buddies have a horse selling business which is threatened by a tractor company which claims horses are out of date.

To fully appreciate the western comedy The Marshal's Daughter, one must be aware that its star, a zaftig, wide-eyed lass named Laurie Anders, was in 1953 a popular TV personality. A regular on The Ken Murray Show, Anders had risen to fame with the Southern-fried catchphrase "Ah love the wi-i-i-ide open spaces!" Striking while the iron was hot, the entrepreneurial Murray produced this inexpensive oater, which cast Anders as Laurie Dawson, the singing daughter of a U.S. marshal (Hoot Gibson). Teaming with her dad to capture outlaw Trigger Gans (Bob Duncan), Laurie briefly disguises herself as a masked bandit. Amidst much stock footage from earlier westerns and a plethora of lame jokes and dreadful puns, The Marshal's Daughter is a treat for trivia buffs, featuring such virile actors as Preston S. Foster, Johnny Mack Brown, Jimmy Wakely and Buddy Baer as "themselves."

Mortimer builds a fence for the cattle brought by Ken Morley. To retaliate, Slater who wants access to the land, builds a dam cutting off Mortimer's water supply. When Ken confronts Slater, he is captured. Then lightning destroys the dam and Ken, imprisoned in a shack, is in the path of the oncoming water.

In this wartime western, an evil Nazi and his partner endeavor to sabotage a western gunsight plant.

A masked outlaw steals from bank robbers to help the poor.

Hanson is using Bobby's carrier pigeons to receive messages. His man Slim shoots them down before they reach Bobby. When Slim is injured, Ranger Daniels posing as a drunk gets the job. He misses the next pigeon on purpose and gets the message from Bobby. But his identity has now become known and the gang rides to get him.