I got a kick out of this Roy Rogers film, and mostly for elements not even connected to the story per se. For example, the name of Buzz Henry's character in the picture goes by Bobby Blake, and I thought to myself, wouldn't it have been cool if the REAL Bobby Blake (Robert Blake, that is) was cast as a character with his own name? It would have been possible too, since the young Buzz Henry was eleven years old when he appeared in the picture. At the time, Blake (the real one) would have been nine, so it probably wouldn't have been too much of a stretch to make that happen. Instead, Blake (the real one) made his mark in Westerns as Red Ryder's sidekick in the series of movies that started with "Riders of Death Valley" in 1944; Blake was Ryder's sidekick Little Beaver.
Then there's Roy Rogers' title song that's first heard as a recording when Bobby spins a couple of tunes on his record player. I thought that was pretty unique, at least it was the first time I'd seen that done to introduce the lead player. Rogers himself doesn't appear for a few more scenes, so that was a cool way to get his presence into the movie a bit earlier.
A good deal of the fun in this one is provided by a running feud between Gabby Hayes and Pat Brady as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers. Each believes the other is deaf based on false information intentionally planted by Roy and Bob Nolan, so they go through the picture shouting at each other in comic fashion. Brady provides some more merriment when he gets to sing lead in a jail house tune later in the story. As for Gabby, he tries hard to build on his reputation as a 'professional rustler catcher', even if one wonders how many rustlers there might have been in that hazy modern Western era where 1880's sensibility collides with such technology as automobiles, radio and electrical appliances. The 1940's was a curious time for Westerns as this stuff pops up all the time in the films of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, but it usually turns out fairly entertaining as it does here.
If you hadn't figured it out by now (unless you've seen the film), the story involves a gang of rustlers operating in a milieu where wild herds are being rounded up on reservations and bred with ranch thoroughbreds as part of a government experiment. The rustlers spring into action whenever a particular song is played during the Lariat Lodge entertainment broadcast. Inadvertently, the Pioneers are drawn into this ruse when they perform "Blue Prairie" during a one night stand at the Lodge. That actually rounds out another interesting point about the movie's principal players - when introduced, the singing group is introduced as Roy Rogers and the Sons of The Pioneers. I hope Bob Nolan didn't feel too bad about that one!
Then there's Roy Rogers' title song that's first heard as a recording when Bobby spins a couple of tunes on his record player. I thought that was pretty unique, at least it was the first time I'd seen that done to introduce the lead player. Rogers himself doesn't appear for a few more scenes, so that was a cool way to get his presence into the movie a bit earlier.
A good deal of the fun in this one is provided by a running feud between Gabby Hayes and Pat Brady as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers. Each believes the other is deaf based on false information intentionally planted by Roy and Bob Nolan, so they go through the picture shouting at each other in comic fashion. Brady provides some more merriment when he gets to sing lead in a jail house tune later in the story. As for Gabby, he tries hard to build on his reputation as a 'professional rustler catcher', even if one wonders how many rustlers there might have been in that hazy modern Western era where 1880's sensibility collides with such technology as automobiles, radio and electrical appliances. The 1940's was a curious time for Westerns as this stuff pops up all the time in the films of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, but it usually turns out fairly entertaining as it does here.
If you hadn't figured it out by now (unless you've seen the film), the story involves a gang of rustlers operating in a milieu where wild herds are being rounded up on reservations and bred with ranch thoroughbreds as part of a government experiment. The rustlers spring into action whenever a particular song is played during the Lariat Lodge entertainment broadcast. Inadvertently, the Pioneers are drawn into this ruse when they perform "Blue Prairie" during a one night stand at the Lodge. That actually rounds out another interesting point about the movie's principal players - when introduced, the singing group is introduced as Roy Rogers and the Sons of The Pioneers. I hope Bob Nolan didn't feel too bad about that one!