There was a time I was on a roll with Roy Rogers films when I watched and reviewed a little over fifty of them here on IMDb, but I just discovered a whole slew of them courtesy of tubi.tv and grabbed a look at the first one I came across. So it was with some surprise to see Dale Evans in an opening song number at a night club in which she's probably the sexiest I've ever seen her. Dancing on a table top in what might have been the shortest skirt allowed for the 1940's, she cuts quite an impressive figure right before we learn that she's a reporter for 'Spread' magazine. Hoodwinked into thinking her boss is sending her on an expense paid vacation, Toni Ames (Dale) heads West to investigate a story on an outlaw who supposedly died forty years earlier, but who's alive and kicking in the person of Gabby Hayes, alter-ego of former bad guy, Wildcat Kelly.
Humorous moments abound in this story, as Roy's first meeting with Dale's character gets off on the wrong foot, and he sends her off in the boot of a stagecoach in which he's thrown a brick of limburger cheese. She gets her revenge by pushing Roy into a swimming pool in the next testing of their relationship. Probably the most entertaining moment of the picture occurs when Roy has his horse Trigger do some high stepping and dancing to the delight of onlookers at his dude ranch. There's a reason they call Trigger the 'Smartest Horse in the Movies'!
The story gets a little convoluted when someone takes a potshot at Gabby when news breaks that he's the original Wildcat Kelly, thought dead for the longest time. Gabby fakes his death and does a coffin scene, all the while one has to wonder how no one could have noticed. Roy and the sheriff (Tom London) come up with a scheme to smoke out the attempted killer, and you know it has to work since this is a Rogers flick.
I'm somewhat surprised to read how many reviewers here consider this to be the best Roy Rogers movie they've ever seen; for this viewer it was about average, with most of my ratings coming in at a '6', kind of my standard for a B Western. If I can direct you to some of the better Rogers films, I'd suggest "Song of Nevada", "Dark Command", "The Golden Stallion" and "My Pal Trigger". This one has the benefit of a Cole Porter title tune which opens and closes the picture, with Dale joining Roy to sing it at the finale, much like she did in her very first picture with Roy, "Cowboy and the Senorita".
Humorous moments abound in this story, as Roy's first meeting with Dale's character gets off on the wrong foot, and he sends her off in the boot of a stagecoach in which he's thrown a brick of limburger cheese. She gets her revenge by pushing Roy into a swimming pool in the next testing of their relationship. Probably the most entertaining moment of the picture occurs when Roy has his horse Trigger do some high stepping and dancing to the delight of onlookers at his dude ranch. There's a reason they call Trigger the 'Smartest Horse in the Movies'!
The story gets a little convoluted when someone takes a potshot at Gabby when news breaks that he's the original Wildcat Kelly, thought dead for the longest time. Gabby fakes his death and does a coffin scene, all the while one has to wonder how no one could have noticed. Roy and the sheriff (Tom London) come up with a scheme to smoke out the attempted killer, and you know it has to work since this is a Rogers flick.
I'm somewhat surprised to read how many reviewers here consider this to be the best Roy Rogers movie they've ever seen; for this viewer it was about average, with most of my ratings coming in at a '6', kind of my standard for a B Western. If I can direct you to some of the better Rogers films, I'd suggest "Song of Nevada", "Dark Command", "The Golden Stallion" and "My Pal Trigger". This one has the benefit of a Cole Porter title tune which opens and closes the picture, with Dale joining Roy to sing it at the finale, much like she did in her very first picture with Roy, "Cowboy and the Senorita".