Arizona Legion
1939 film by David Howard

Arizona Legion is a 1939 American Western film directed by David Howard from a screenplay by Oliver Drake, based on Bernard McConville's story. Produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, it was released on January 20, 1939, and stars George O'Brien and Laraine Day (billed under her earlier stage name of Laraine Johnson).
Plot
Boone Yeager has sold his ranch and cattle, and now spends his days drinking, gambling, and hanging around a gang of very disreputable individuals. His fiancée, Letty Meade, is distraught over his sudden change in behavior and breaks off their engagement. In addition, his longtime friend Bob Ives, a lieutenant in the local army troop, also severs his relationship with Yeager in response to Yeager's recent activities. However, it is revealed that Letty's father, Judge Meade, has empowered Yeager to infiltrate the local gang and hunt down its leader, while at the same time organizing the Arizona Rangers.
Yeager gets in good with the gang, but cannot get them to reveal who their leader is. Finally, he participates in a stagecoach hold-up with the gang, along with his friend, Whopper Hatch. However, during the hold-up Yeager, Hatch, and two of the gang members are captured and thrown in jail. While behind bars, Yeager finally learns the true identity of the gang leader, who happens to be the local commissioner, Teagle.
“Arizona Legion” enters the record as 1939 film by David Howard. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Arizona, Legion and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18148662. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arizona Legion” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.