Down the Wyoming Trail (1939) User Reviews

"We had enough law breakin' around here!"

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 4 June 2021]

I can just about guarantee this film has something you've never seen before, and will most likely never see again. At the beginning of the picture, there's an elk stampede! AN ELK STAMPEDE! When did you ever see more than one elk in one place at the same time? I don't know how the film makers did it, as CGI wasn't available in 1939, and those elk sure looked real enough.

Well, enough of that. But there is another oddity in the story. Our hero, Tex Ritter, is hired by a ranch owner to dress up as Santa Claus for their annual Christmas party. While performing for the guests, a man who's just been shot stumbles into the room and claims that Tex was the one who shot him by virtue of the Santa suit and fake beard! The old codger must have subsequently died because Tex is arrested for murder, even though we never get to see the corpse. It's all pretty awkward as no one believes Tex is innocent except maybe his pal the sheriff (Horace Murphy), who uncomfortably bends to the will of the crowd. In addition to the 'murder', the Parker Ranch payroll is stolen, and the thief, believe it or not, is the father of Candy (Mary Brodel) and Jerry Parker (Bobby Larson), though the siblings are not aware of this little secret. How this is possible in a far flung prairie location is anybody's guess, but this plot device seems to have been somewhat of a staple in these old B Westerns of the Thirties and Forties.

At least Tex gets to sing a handful of tunes, one while under arrest, which always amazes me when I see a good guy cowboy strum his guitar and sing away while in the calaboose. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry did so as well, so I guess it was a way of keeping spirits up. Eventually escaping jail, Tex manages to outrun a bad guy posse but in the process, falls off his horse and tumbles down a snow covered hillside. No one said being a cowboy hero was easy!

All's well that ends well though for Tex, who cleans up with the bad guys who had to see it coming when one of them killed a spider - that was bad luck during the Wyoming Trail days! Try to maintain a straight face while watching this film because it does get a little surreal, especially that one scene where 'Red' Becker (Charles King) falls victim to an avalanche. You would think the guy would have moved out of the way!

Stormy weather in the north west.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 4 February 2023]

Fun, action packed, and even a bit musical, this Tex Ritter B western is amusing not only for those aspects but for the swell, snowy photography that includes stampedes by dozens of elks, shots of other wild animals dealing with the weather and even a deadly looking avalanche. The wind machine on the set of this film definitely got a good use as it is heard whistling throughout, combined with wolf howls, villains making threats (which they ultimately regret), and a cute kid who's just as heroic as Tex. In a sense, the film is a bit too much of so much good that at just under an hour, my biggest complaint about it is just not the film is way too busy so the viewer finds that there is less of a story even though there is a ton of action. Still worth a watch for some great novelty musical numbers and the decent special effects surrounding the constant inclement weather of this beautiful great outdoors.

A Secret Everybody Knows

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 27 March 2012]

Tex Ritter rides into Elk Valley where a gang of rustlers has been operating in the dead of winter. These varmints are even getting the elks in on it, using them to break a trail in the snow they can drive the stolen cattle. He saves the herd one time earning the gratitude of Mary Brodel and her little brother Bobby Larson.

He's even drafted into playing Santa Claus at Christmas, but the ranch payroll is rubbed and someone killed by a man wearing a Santa Claus outfit. Tex is almost lynched and even his friend sheriff Horace Murphy is at a loss. Still he escapes to find the real killer.

Which you know he will do since he is the cowboy hero. The plot here took a far turn as the outlaw leader has a terrible secret over Brodel and Larson. Everyone else and his brother knows, but the idea is to keep it from them. It got a little ridiculous in my opinion.

Tex escapes the outlaw's clutches with a little skill at a winter sport. This one was way too far fetched and at times got downright maudlin. I don't think the Saturday matinée crowd was too crazy about this one.

Kids' stuff

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 2 October 2014]

This installment of the Tex Ritter franchise must have been made for kids'. After all, the plot is extremely simple, folks behave like total idiots and it has a Santa Claus angle! As a result, it's the sort of western adults would be best to avoid.

When the film begins, Tex Yancy (Tex Ritter) arrives in Wyoming right in the middle of a cattle rustling epidemic. The baddies are stampeding the elk which, in turn, cause the cattle to stampede. The locals seem to have no idea how to handle this--mostly because they turn out to be idiots. In fact, just about EVERYONE in this film is stupid! Want an example? FIrst, Blackie, the trusted foreman, turns out to be evil! What a shock...a guy named Blackie is evil!! Second, Tex is supposed to dress up as Santa and pass out presents. The baddies find out about this and one of them dresses like Santa as well. And, after the baddie kills someone, EVERYONE believes Tex is a killer. Hello folks! It was a disguise and he was wearing a beard--this is NOT definitive evidence that Tex is a murderer! And, to provide equal time to the stupidity of the baddies, when Tex escapes prison (because the locals are going to string him up), the baddies welcome him--not remembering B-western cliché #3 (when the good guy escapes from prison, he is only POSING as a bad guy). Combining all this and the Christmas and cute little kid angle (yep, there is Jerry the cute kid), it's really hard to take this film seriously at all.

The bottom line is that there were thousands (perhaps billions) of B-westerns made and because of that, there are many, many better films you should watch first. Then, after you've seen every single one of these, only then is it worth seeing this silly film.