The Ghost Rider

Plot synopsis:
Over one hundred years ago , The Devil, Mephistopheles, sends his bounty hunter of the damned, the Ghost Rider, to retrieve a document known as "The Contract of San Venganza", a list of a thousand corrupt souls. Seeing that the contract would give Mephistopheles the power to unleash Hell on Earth, the Rider refuses to give him the contract.
In 1986, Mephistopheles reaches out to 17-year-old stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze, offering to cure his father's cancer in exchange for Blaze's soul, to which he hastily accepts. The next morning, Blaze awakes to discover that his father's cancer is cured, but he is killed that same day in a motorcycle stunt in which he falls into the ring of fire he is jumping through. Blaze accuses Mephistopheles of causing his father's death, but Mephistopheles considers their contract to be fulfilled and promises to one day see him again.
21 years later, Blaze has become a famous stunt motorcycle rider known for surviving numerous deadly crashes. Blaze meets his lifelong sweetheart Roxanne Simpson, now a news reporter, whom he abandoned after his father's death. He convinces her to attend a dinner date. Meanwhile, Blackheart, the demonic son of Mephistopheles, comes to Earth, along with three fallen angels who bonded with the elements Air, Earth, and Water. They are tasked to find the lost Contract of San Venganza. In response, Mephistopheles makes Blaze the new Ghost Rider and offers to return his soul if he defeats Blackheart, though he is also told he has no choice in the matter. Blaze is driven straight to the station on his "first ride", where he transforms into the Ghost Rider and kills the Earth Angel Gressil. He also saves a young girl from a mugger and incapacitates him with the Penance Stare (a power that allows the Ghost Rider to make any evil person experience all the pains they caused on their victims) The next day, he meets a man called the Caretaker, who seems to know all about the history of the Ghost Rider. He tells him everything that happened was not a dream and that it will happen again, especially at night when he is near an evil soul.
When he arrives home, Blaze finds Simpson and reveals himself as the Devil's bounty hunter. Unconvinced, she walks away in disbelief. After a brief imprisonment for the murders that Blackheart committed, Blaze kills the Air Angel Abigor, and escapes from The Police, before returning to the Caretaker who tells him of his predecessor, Carter Slade, a Texas Ranger who hid the contract of San Venganza. Blaze returns home to find that Blackheart has killed his friend Mack and has taken Roxanne captive, threatening to kill her if Blaze does not deliver the contract. Blaze tries to use the Penance Stare on Blackheart, only for it not to work since Blackheart has no soul to burn.
Blaze returns to the Caretaker and obtains the contract. The Caretaker reveals that he is Carter Slade. Slade tells Blaze that he is more powerful than his predecessors since he sold his soul for love as opposed to greed. Slade leads Blaze to San Venganza, then gives Blaze a lever action shotgun before fading away.
After killing the Water angel Wallow, Blaze gives the contract to Blackheart. He quickly transforms into Ghost Rider in an effort to subdue Blackheart, but dawn arrives and he is rendered powerless. Blackheart uses the contract to absorb the thousand souls into his body. He attempts to kill Blaze, but is distracted when Simpson uses Blaze's discarded shotgun to separate them. After Blaze tries to kill Blackheart with the shotgun, he moves in and uses his Penance Stare to render him catatonic, burning all the corrupt souls within Blackheart, which is what he had hoped for.
Mephistopheles appears and returns Blaze his soul, offering to take back the curse of the Ghost Rider. Determined not to make another deal, Blaze declines, saying that he will use his power against him, and against all harm that comes to the innocent. Infuriated of being robbed of the power, Mephistopheles vows to make Blaze pay, but Blaze tells Mephistopheles that he is not afraid. Mephistopheles then disappears, taking Blackheart's body with him. Later, Simpson tells Blaze that he got his second chance before sharing a final kiss with him. Blaze then rides away on his motorcycle, turning into the Ghost Rider.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
Action packed Western featuring Franklyn Farnum. This is an action packed western featuring Franklyn Farnum whose entry shows 505 credits and a film career that started in 1916 and which still had another 25years to run.This is one of those westerns where the action continues apace from the fade in to the fade out.It is the usual tale of vengeance with lots of gunfights fistfights and chases.Farnum having wronly been convicted for murder,escapes from prison to set matters to rights and leaves a playing card as a sign of a visit or impending visit.Given that Farnum was nearly 60 when he made this film he looks in pretty good shape unlike many of the older western stars of this era.It is everything you would expect from a B western.. An average "B" western!. The Ghost Rider (1935) starts off most promisingly with a visual singing cowpoke backing up the credits but as soon as the movie itself starts with juvenile Bobby Nelson facing into the camera, interest tends to slip, Fortunately, interest picks up when Anna Lee Carroll enters and moves up another notch when Lloyd Ingraham comes on as the villain. We are then transferred to the State Prison Farm where Franklyn Farnum (who tends out to be the hero of this oater, despite his innocuous fourth billing) makes an impressive escape. But from then on, although the movie offers a fair bit of "B" western action, it's all rather ordinary. One of the problems is that Bobby Nelson keeps surfacing – and he's an indifferent actor at best – but we see very little of Anna Lee Carroll. Instead, Rex Lease attempts to provide us with a hero, but both script and director let him down. In all, it's Farnum's movie but everyone except us seems to be unaware of that fact! Available on a good Grapevine DVD on a double bill with "The Man From Hell".