Though no years are actually mentioned the time that the action of this serial takes place is 1821 when Mexico gained its independence from Spain. LeRoy Mason and his chief henchman Duncan Renaldo have been running things for the Spanish government in Santa Fe, but now with a new country and a shift in power, their position is compromised purportedly.
Of course this is of some interest in Washington, DC where the president would have been James Monroe and the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. They send Ray Corrigan on a diplomatic mission to negotiate a trade treaty for Americans in Santa Fe.
Ray Corrigan may have been the most unusual diplomat ever sent on a trade mission by our State Department. Instead of going to Mexico City to negotiate with the government there, he's sent to Santa Fe to deal with provincial officials. And of course every diplomat I know comes not only with letters of credentials, but six guns and buckskins. Six guns, by the way, that Samuel Colt has not invented yet.
Corrigan hooks up with a wagon train headed by wagonmaster Hoot Gibson. Also along for the ride are scouts Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie who never met until the Alamo and also there's young scout-in-training, Kit Carson.
Gibson and Corrigan with the aide of their trusty scouts and a mysterious Indian princess who rides a painted stallion and shoots 'singing' arrows get the wagon train through and then have to deal with the bad guys after getting to Santa Fe.
Every time I see one of these old movie serials I am astounded at how bad they are. Forget Olivier and Brando, the guys who had to say some of this dialog with a modicum of sincerity may be the greatest players the world has ever known. I can't see how the cast kept a straight face.
I guess this only proves one thing, one of the qualifications of a U.S. diplomat back in the day was one's ability with a six gun. And seeing how Ray Corrigan constantly got himself out of one scrape after another, John Quincy Adams would have been proud.
Of course this is of some interest in Washington, DC where the president would have been James Monroe and the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. They send Ray Corrigan on a diplomatic mission to negotiate a trade treaty for Americans in Santa Fe.
Ray Corrigan may have been the most unusual diplomat ever sent on a trade mission by our State Department. Instead of going to Mexico City to negotiate with the government there, he's sent to Santa Fe to deal with provincial officials. And of course every diplomat I know comes not only with letters of credentials, but six guns and buckskins. Six guns, by the way, that Samuel Colt has not invented yet.
Corrigan hooks up with a wagon train headed by wagonmaster Hoot Gibson. Also along for the ride are scouts Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie who never met until the Alamo and also there's young scout-in-training, Kit Carson.
Gibson and Corrigan with the aide of their trusty scouts and a mysterious Indian princess who rides a painted stallion and shoots 'singing' arrows get the wagon train through and then have to deal with the bad guys after getting to Santa Fe.
Every time I see one of these old movie serials I am astounded at how bad they are. Forget Olivier and Brando, the guys who had to say some of this dialog with a modicum of sincerity may be the greatest players the world has ever known. I can't see how the cast kept a straight face.
I guess this only proves one thing, one of the qualifications of a U.S. diplomat back in the day was one's ability with a six gun. And seeing how Ray Corrigan constantly got himself out of one scrape after another, John Quincy Adams would have been proud.