In Santa Fe Stampede,The Three Mesquiteers find themselves coming to the aid of Dave, an old friend. It seems that Dave, his grown daughter Nancy, and his two younger children are working on a mine claim. Dave is so paranoid about getting claim jumped that he's even armed his youngest with shotguns to ward off trespassers. While The Mesquiteers talk with Dave about how they can help him, a pair of thieves ride off on two of Dave's horses. The Mesquiteers are off like a shot after the bandits and after a thrilling chase and a knock down, drag out fight, they apprehend one of the horse thieves. It turns out that it wasn't horses that they were after, as the other bandit gets back to the crooked Mayor Byron with a sample of Dave's gold.

The Mesquiteers bring their "horse thief" into town to be arrested, but the Mayor refuses, instead preparing a quick trial in which he brings his own jury. With events quickly turning into an abbreviated Law & Order episode, the case is dismissed and a fistfight breaks out. The Mesquiteers decide their going to clean up the town, and do so in classic Old West fashion… by starting a petition which will be taken to the Governor to have Mayor Byron ousted. Dave and his youngest Daughter are entrusted to deliver the signatures for the petition to the Governor, while Wayne heads to the nearest town in order to file his friend's mine claim. Along the way, Mayor Byron's goons run Dave's wagon off the road, killing him and his daughter. Seeing an opportunity to get The Mesquiteers out of the picture, the Mayor frames Wayne for the deaths.

The US Marshall that brings Wayne back to town turns out to be another old friend, and makes sure to keep him safe until his innocence can be proven. Realizing that if Wayne goes on trial his web of evil and corruption would be exposed, the Mayor incites to townspeople to form a vigilante mob and storm the jailhouse to deliver "justice". Wit the mob quickly overtaking the guards outside the jailhouse, the Marshall tells Nancy to let Wayne out the back. Unfortunately, she's knocked unconscious by an errant rock thrown through a window. With the mob setting fire to the jail, and some lunatic hurling sticks of dynamite into the building, things don't look too good for our hero.

I guess I won't spoil the ending, but I'm sure that you have an idea how everything turns out. Suffice it to say that this was a very fast-paced and enjoyable Western, even if the other Two Mesquiteers (Corrigan and Terhune) were underutilized compared with Wayne. Terhune was there more for comic relief than anything else, and is possibly one of the WORST on-screen Ventriloquists I've ever seen. Whether he has his head or back turned, or just flat-out moves his lips, he's terrible. Thankfully, these antics are kept to a minimum with the emphasis firmly on the action.

The DVD:

Picture: This movie is presented in a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio, with some minor edge enhancement. The transfer is rock solid with a crisp B&W picture.

Audio: This film is in 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono.

Extras: There are no Extras on this DVD.

Conclusion: Lions Gate Films have done a great job in bringing us John Wayne's Santa Fe Stampede, but I can't help but feel a little let down with this DVD. I guess I was spoiled by Roan's John Wayne: The Early Years Collection which contained 5 of Wayne's early works on one disc. It's true that the picture and sound quality is better on this disc, but with a running time of just under an hour and not an extra in sight, that's not hard to believe. With a total of 8 Wayne "Mesquiteer" films out there, this could have been a partial collection or I would have even been satisfied with at least a Double Feature. If there had been SOMETHING to justify the cost of this DVD I could have recommended it. As it is, it might make for an enjoyable rental.