Cowboy and the Senorita (1944) User Reviews

Happy Trails Begin

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 10 May 2008]

In a joint book about Roy Rogers and Dale Evans that I recently read, it seems as though Herbert J. Yates at Republic Pictures had the idea that Roy could use a regular female singing star, the better to boost the audiences for his number one B picture cowboy at the time. He had under contract one Frances Octavia Smith renamed Dale Evans who had done about nine films in minor roles. She was most prominent in John Wayne's In Old Oklahoma as a second female lead.

Dale was understandably reluctant to do the film. Although she was born in Uvalde, Texas her thing was not exactly country/western. She was a band singer and a good one with Anson Weeks. Her ambition was to do musical comedy, she wanted very much to do the lead in Oklahoma and later do Annie Get Your Gun. But Yates was the boss so she agreed and the rest is history.

The film they were assigned to is Cowboy and the Senorita and truth be told it's not one of the great westerns of all time. Roy and sidekick Guinn Williams get themselves involved in saving an inheritance of a gold mine from the grasp of villain John Hubbard who's about to marry Dale, the older of the two sisters. Younger sister Mary Lee has run away because she dislikes her prospective brother-in-law so much. Roy and Big Boy save the day of course.

Cowboy and the Senorita is only important in that it was the first teaming of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. They did several pictures over the next few years and eventually married after Roy's first wife Arlene Wilkins died suddenly. After that Dale only teamed with Roy occasionally until they went to television as she was busy raising Roy's kids, her son by previous marriages and their children.

Until I saw this film I never knew Guinn Williams had done any films with Roy as sidekick. The version I have is the edited one for television and I think it's a lot of his footage that was edited out. Apparently he had a rivalry going with Fuzzy Knight that looked interesting and funny and I'd certainly like to have seen more of it.

A historic landmark and it shows Herbert J. Yates apparently did have good business sense when it didn't involve his wife Vera Hruba Ralston. On the other hand he could have asked Roy to take Vera as his next leading lady.

"You're a mighty dangerous woman to us, you'd better break down and explain a lot."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 3 December 2004]

"Cowboy and the Senorita" is the very first screen pairing of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and it comes across surprisingly well. The film title is also the name of the opening and closing musical number, and even if not meant to be prophetic, the eventual marriage of Roy and Dale proved to be a wonderful union for film goers and fans of the Western duo.

The story involves a missing runaway Chip Williams (Mary Lee), who is revealed to be Ysobel Martinez' (Dale Evans) half sister. Chip needs to find out what her deceased father left her in a box buried in an abandoned mine on the Martinez property. The mine is soon to be sold to Ysobel's fiancé Craig Allen (John Hubbard), and that should give you an idea where the story is headed. Allen and his henchmen have already begun excavating the mine for it's hoard of gold, while busily setting about to frame Roy and his sidekick Teddy Bear (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) for Chip's disappearance, and later for the theft of two thousand dollars from his personal office safe.

To be sure, there are manufactured elements that defy coincidence in the story; Chip discovers her father's missing treasure on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, the day on which her father specified it should be opened. In a letter accompanying the discovered box, it states that a bracelet she already owns (and lost, conveniently found by Roy and Teddy Bear) is her only inheritance, but she should examine it closely for the treasure to reveal itself.

Bad guy Craig Allen, Ysobel's fiancé furiously denies his complicity in any cover-up scheme. In an interesting response by Roy, the film's date is put into historical perspective - there's enough gold in the assayer's office to make Allen the biggest liar in 40 states!

Since most of Roy's films offer Gabby Hayes or Andy Devine as the comedic sidekick, it's a refreshing change of pace to see Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in that capacity here. The clumsy Williams spends a lot of his time falling down, but he also has a highlight line in the film; when Craig Allen's henchman Ferguson wavers in admitting their role in the mine cover-up, Big Boy offers to "take him to the memory room".

The film ends on a quite lavish musical number that starts out with dancers circling a huge sombrero. It's a fitting end to an engaging story, with Roy's arms clasped around not one, but two pretty senoritas - Dale Evans and Mary Lee.

Mild Fun With Roy And Dale

[FightingWesterner · 6/10 · 4 April 2010]

Riding into town, Roy Rogers and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams are mistaken for kidnappers. Chased out of town, they encounter the missing girl in question and agree to help look for her father's buried treasure, money that could spare her sister Dale Evans from marrying the rich town bully.

Another typical, albeit pleasantly entertaining Roy Rogers adventure, this has a slick villain, fun support by underused sidekick Williams, the first pairing of Roy and Dale, and an appealing performance by Mary Lee, as Dale's kid sister.

However, like a lot of Roy's later pictures, the music is a bit of a disappointment, being more in a pop vein than country or western. For example, the grand finale has Dale, Roy, and Lee singing a silly song about "The Enchilada Man"!

Pretty Good

[Snow Leopard · 6 December 2002]

This is a pretty good Roy Rogers feature, with an interesting and rather involved story, plus Dale Evans, Mary Lee, and some variety entertainment. The story has Roy and his sidekick (played this time by Big Boy Williams) befriending a young woman who is looking for a hidden mine, and trying to protect her interests from the shifty Allen, who meanwhile is working to discredit Roy. Quite a bit happens after that, and there are a lot of interesting developments even after devoting a good amount of the running time to songs and musical numbers. It works pretty well, and should satisfy any of Rogers's fans.

I loved the goofy finale

[CubsandCulture · 7/10 · 6 April 2022]

This is a pretty standard b western. The hour just goes by even through everything has a shopworn quality-Rogers made a ton of these light pulpy westerns and this one has the charms of the form. The only thing that stands out as different is the utterly daft musical finale with the giant sombrero and enchilada man lyrics. These films are always light but this one crossed into camp for the final 10 minutes or so.

Dale Evans two-times Roy and the chief villain

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 9 April 2019]

This was Dale Evans' first role in a Roy Rogers film. Naively , signing with Republic Studios, hoping to be mostly cast in musical comedies, this former big band singer reluctantly agreed to try out for a prominent role with the top cowboy crooner at the time. She got to sing fairly often, mostly, Mexican or Spanish floor songs, leaving the few country/western songs to Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers. Dale, as Ysobel Martinez, shares the top female spot with 20ish Mary Lee, as the supposedly 16yo Chip Williams: the half sister of Ysobel. Chip is also occasionally featured in songs...........The title song is sung 3 times: at a restaurant near the beginning, at Chip's 16th birthday party, near the middle of the film, and again as the last song in a 7min. song and dance production , celebrating the rediscovery of the gold-bearing vein in their mine. This last performance was preceded by the song and dance "Enchilada", and a couple of nameless songs. It began with women dancing around a huge sombrero, setting on the floor: perhaps a phallic symbol? Included was a gymnastic dance couple, where the man supported the horizontal woman with one arm, spinning around rapidly.........At the birthday party, Dale, in traditional Spanish garb, sings the traditional Spanish song "Besame Mucho", followed by Chip singing the traditional American "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"........Other songs include: the novelty song "The Bunkhouse Bugle Boy" and "What will we do for Money?"..........An additional female is sometimes featured in the person of pretty blond Dorothy Christy, as Lulubelle, who seems to be Dale's maid. Older than Dale and Roy, she functioned as a potential marriage mate for supporting actors 'Big Boy' Williams and Fuzzy Knight, who periodically squabbled over her or other matters. Big Boy also functions as Roy's rather clumsy sidekick. At the end, Lulubelle gets tired of the 2, and goes off with another suitor.........The screenplay is a bit hokey. The father of Dale and Chip has left them a said worthless gold mine, in addition to his ranch, with a 'treasure' in the mine for Chip to find. Thus, with the prospect of Ysobel soon selling the mine to her fiancé: restaurateur Craig Allen, Chip runs away to the mine to look for her treasure. Roy and Big Boy come along and find her there, trying to steal their stolen turkey. They help her look for her treasure, and find it in a metal box. The 'treasure' is a letter, which supposedly gives a clue where to find a gold vein. When others arrive, at first, Roy and Big Boy are taken to be Chip's kidnappers, until Chip straightens things out. Later, Roy, Big Boy, and others search the tunnel more thoroughly, and find a section of the wall that has been covered with cement. Big Boy chips at this, revealing another tunnel, in which is found quite a few gold-bearing rocks. So, why did Chip and Ysobel's father seal off this tunnel?? Anyway, the rocks are loaded into 3 wagons(which magically appear), and driven toward town. But only one wagon makes the whole distance, the others being wrecked, thus slowing the pursuing posse and giving them an alternative interest. Just as Dale is about to sign that paper transferring the mine to Allen, the first wagon shows up, and Roy rushes a rock sample to the proceedings, to prove to the judge that there is significant gold in the mine, confirmed by a quick assay. When the sheriff shows up, ready to arrest Roy and Big Boy for the said stealing of $2000 from Craig's office, Craig's accomplice, under pressure, admits that this is a hoax. It's time for the terminal celebration party, as previously described, led by Roy, Dale, and Chip: the 2 women about equally attracted to Roy......... Lucien Littlefield served as the judge at the mine transfer ceremony. He had a humorous charisma.

Not bad until the daffy ending...

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 2 September 2011]

This film has the distinction of the first pairing of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans--but Dale is only a supporting character. It's also a bit unusual because Roy's sidekick is played by Guinn Williams. Now Williams almost always played dumb but lovable sidekicks but not with Rogers--with whom you'd expect Gabby Hayes. This isn't a bad thing, but oddly Williams practically disappeared from the film in the second half.

The film begins with Roy and Guinn wandering into town and being arrested on suspicion of kidnapping! Well the audience knows they'd never do that and soon the supposed victim (a spunky teenage girl named Chip) turns up just fine. It seems that she had disappeared to go to visit her father's old mine--one that is supposedly worthless but she knows there is some secret hidden there for her. In the meantime, a supposedly nice guy is trying to get the family to sell this mine to him--and Chip suspects his motives are far from pure. So, it's up to Roy and Guinn to help determine what the secret is and if this nice guy is actually all that nice.

As far as the story goes, it is a pretty typical Roy Rogers film. He plays a social worker, of sorts, that shows up in town and rights all the wrongs. It's predictable but nice and worth watching--even if the kid 'knows' the man is bad but has absolutely no reason to think this (she'd obviously read the script to see the ending). The only seriously bad moment came at the end when, for absolutely no reason, they have a crazy song and dance number. Crazy because it's not your typical Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers song but one that looks more like what you'd see in an over the top musical. The ENORMOUS sombrero and the rest of the set is laughable--especially since it's supposed to be a western, not a visit to the Coconut Grove or the 21 Club! Weird.

Singing, Horseback Riding and Cowboy Romance

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 14 August 2019]

This film essentially begins with a teenage girl named "Chip Williams" (Mary Lee) running away from home and hiding out in a cave in a nearby wooded area. As luck would have it, two cowboys by the names of "Roy Rogers" (as himself) and "Teddy Bear" (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) come riding by and find a bracelet that Chip had recently lost. Thinking nothing of it, Teddy Bear hangs on to it and they subsequently continue on their way to a nearby ranch in search of employment. Unfortunately, when they get there the bracelet is recognized as belonging to Chip and as a result both Roy and Teddy Bear become chief suspects in her abduction. What few people realize, however, is that there is much more to Chip's disappearance than meets the eye. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was not only clearly dated but also suffered from a general lack of excitement as well. To be sure, there is plenty of singing, horseback riding and cowboy romance if a person is looking for those particular items. But quite frankly, I just wasn't that impressed with most of it and for that reason I have rated this grade-B Western accordingly. Slightly below average.

All the fixin's for corn syrup overdose.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 25 July 2016]

At least the villain is not wearing a mustache in this cliché ridden western musical. Roy Rogers is typically heroic as a singing cowboy who aids a 16 year old heir to a gold mine threatened with losing her father's bequest. Very mature looking Mary Lee is as close to 16 as Dale Evans as a Mexican ranch owner. John Hubbard is cast as the villainous land baron determined to add the property to his already huge bundle. Rogers and sidekick Guinn "Big Boy" Williams win the cynical teen instantly (probably because they let her eat the viddles she attempted to steal) and are all of a sudden everybody's (except Hubbard's) pals.

Some pleasant minor songs and a lot of action keep this moving at breakneck speed, and it does hold some minor entertainment value. But it's as fresh a plot as 20 year old Lee seemed as a husky voiced teenager. The musical highlight is the plot pointless but quaiby "Enchilada Man" with the leads and the Sons of the Pioneers. Of course, clean shaven Hubbard is surrounded by a bunch of stereotypical looking western bad guys. There are never any surprises which downgrades this to standard stuff, fortunately over as fast as Trigger can cross Texas.

pretty good western

[trobinson32 · 8/10 · 23 November 2011]

This was actually a fun movie to watch. Mary Lee was a little more grown up from her Gene Autry days and got higher billing than Dale Evans. There were a couple nice songs, a decent story, pretty good action, and of course a happy ending. Fuzzy and Big Boy Williams had a pretty funny bit of friction between them which made the movie more enjoyable. A funny scene with Big Boy was when he tried to swing from the chandelier like Roy and pulled it right out of the ceiling. Take a look at the plot summary on this page. It describes Dale as Mary Lee's cousin - but she was her half-sister. It says the mine was going to be sold on her 17th birthday, but it was her 16th. It calls Big Boy Williams 'Bad Boy'. It calls out a couple songs that weren't in the picture. Not exactly sure it was describing the same movie.

Worthless Gold Mine

[StrictlyConfidential · 5/10 · 25 October 2021]

"Cowboy And The Senorita" was originally released back in 1944.

Anyway - As the story goes - Craig Allen is about to buy a supposedly worthless gold mine from Chip who inherited it from her father. Roy has different ideas, having found a clue from Chip's father indicating that the mine might be valuable. His investigation reveals a hidden mine shaft filled with gold. He races to town with evidence of his find, but is pursued by a posse that believes a robbery charge that has been trumped up against him. Will he get there before the deed is transferred?

Decent B Western

[Michael_Elliott · 9 May 2012]

Cowboy and the Senorita (1944)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Roy Rogers and 'Teddy Bear' (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) show up in a small town looking for jobs when they're befriend by a young girl (Mary Lee) and her keeper (Dale Evans). Rogers and Bear are given jobs looking after the young girl and it turns out that she has a valuable mine, which a greedy man (John Hubbard) is trying to con her out of. After several double crosses Rogers tries to get evidence to show what's going on. COWBOY AND THE SENORITA isn't the best film Rogers ever made but it's a decent "B" Western that is also remembered for being the first film between Rogers and his future wife Evans. Overall the story here certainly isn't anything too special as the entire "ripping off someone for their mine" had been done to death by the time talkies came into play. With that said, the director and cast do good enough of a job to at least make you care for the characters and want to see the bad punished and the good walking away without any trouble. It certainly doesn't hurt that the cast members are in such fine form and this of course starts with Rogers who once again plays that kind-hearted soul just doing what's right. That laid back style really comes across good here and that chemistry with Evans is on full display. The two really seem to be flirtatious throughout the film and they manage to mix it up quite well. Lee is also very impressive in her part as is Hubbard as the hissing villain. It was pretty funny seeing Williams in a Western like this as he was often seen in gangster pictures from the likes of Warner. There's certainly nothing ground breaking to be found here but if you're a fan of low-budget Westerns then this here is a decent time killer. It should be noted that the most common version out there is missing nearly twenty-minutes worth of footage most of which is song and dance numbers.

nothing new here

[sandcrab277 · 5/10 · 23 May 2020]

Same old villains and same old plot devices ... the villain is always ahead of the good guys because he in on the plans first hand while he sneakily plods ahead with his own scheme of defrauding the owner of the mine ... rogers finally saves the day and the young girl gets her 16th birthday present, a gold mine

An early Roy and Dale picture !

[florriebbc · 10/10 · 16 April 2002]

Hi again, Any movie Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are in is a treat for me. This film was very early in their career, 1944. Just a bunch of fun including the Sons of the Pioneers and Mary Lee.

Thanks for listening. Florence

Likable Leads, but That's About It

[dougdoepke · 17 July 2014]

The programmer is basically a "personality" western that depends on the likability of its leads rather than lots of action. Don't expect much hard-riding or fast shooting. There is a cleverly choreographed saloon brawl showing off Roy's Tarzan skills. Unfortunately, about the only outdoor action are buckboards bouncing on a washboard road, again and again. Then too, the musical selections are nothing special, finishing up with a big production number as might be expected.

In the personality department, spunky little Mary Lee, as Chip, steals the film with her lively personality, while Roy and Dale serve up more likability in their first screen pairing. At the same time, an oafishly winning Big Boy Williams (Teddy Bear) serves up the chuckles as comedy relief. The plot's fairly standard— but for good guys Roy, Dale and Big Boy, baddie Hubbard is out to steal Chip's inheritance. So nothing special there. Anyway, the most that can be said for the 70-minutes is that it's a fairly pleasant assembly-line product. But maybe more importantly, it hints at why a youthful Roy and Dale made such a likably successful team, both on-screen and off.

A "5" on the matinée Scale.