User Reviews

"Colorado" takes place during the Civil War years, with Roy Rogers portraying a Union government agent investigating unrest in the Colorado Territory, where Union forces are being detained to contain outlaws, Indians and Confederate sympathizers. With direct authorization from President Lincoln, Lieutenant Jerry Burke (Rogers) comes to learn that his own brother is behind the trouble, under an assumed identity as a Union Officer, Captain Dan Mason. However Mason's allegiance is with the South, and he's in league with Indian Commissioner Jim Macklin (Arthur Loft), as they sell guns to the Indian tribes. Their main goal though is to prevent Union Forces from joining General Grant's army, thereby aiding the Confederate cause.

You may have difficulty as I did in recognizing a young Milburn Stone as Captain Mason; Stone went on to portray Doc Adams in the Gunsmoke series. George "Gabby" Hayes is on hand as a cantankerous old timer who cheerfully latches up with Burke for the adventure. The love interest is supplied by Pauline Moore as Lylah Sanford, originally engaged to Mason, but eventually choosing Burke in a rather quick turn. Rogers and Moore also teamed up in "Carson City Kid", released in the same year, 1940.

Other than the Civil War backdrop, the story is rather formulaic, as Lieutenant Burke brings the villains to justice. There is a rather unique close to the story though; with Mason in custody, he wistfully explains to his brother how if this were Mexico, his captors would at least allow him to make a run for it, since he's going to hang for his treason anyway. As Burke contemplates this, Mason makes a break with predictable results. It's probably one of the most unusual endings for a Roy Rogers film, although the final scene is one where the Rogers' character gets the girl to give the film a happier ending.

One of a number of Roy Rogers-starring films with a setting either during or soon after the Civil War: a nice change from the usual cattle or gold heist-centered westerns. It's brother against brother, on opposite sides of the conflict, in Colorado. So, is Cain going to convince Abel to give up his guerilla tactics, or is one going to end up dead?.........Historically, the Confederacy wanted to take the sparsely -populated Colorado by military force, mainly because it included rich recently-discovered gold fields, which could provide badly needed solid wealth to backup the weak Confederate currency. Thus, early in the war, a small army was launched from Texas, traveling through lightly-defended present New Mexico, to near the northeast corner, where it was defeated by a Colorado militia, mostly consisting of miners, by sabotage of it's supplies. In this story, Confederates are secretly already in Colorado, trying to foment Indian attacks by supplying them with rifles, and general destructive acts, to cause the Union to keep it's few troops in Colorado, rather than sending some east to take part in the major war campaigns.(Historically, the Union did evacuate many soldiers in the West to fight in the East, thus encouraging more Indian raids on settlers and transport). One of these secret Confederates is Captain Don Mason(Milburn Stone), imposing as an officer in the Union garrison. In fact, he is the brother of Roy's character, Jerry Burke, who is a special agent, commissioned by Abraham Lincoln, to try to suppress the unrest in Colorado by gathering intelligence and leading raids on the perpetrators........Early on, Jerry recognizes the duplicity of Mason's status, and even comes to the Union camp to try to talk him into giving up his mission, to no avail.........The heart of the story then focuses on the conflicting actions of each, to eliminate the threat of the other, yet try to save them from dying, when they are badly wounded. A side issue is which brother the beautiful Lylah (Pauline Moore) is going to marry? Initially, on the verge of marrying Don, she has second thoughts when she is told about his true nature. .........Jim Maklin(Arthur Luft) heads the effort to arm the Indians(mostly Arapaho), sometimes receiving the rifles hidden in a wagon of barley 'hay'(actually straw). Don joins his group as a coleader, but eventually, they have a power struggle, in which one is killed by the other....... I will leave you to discover the rest of the story(See it on YouTube). However, I will add that, near the end, a said Mexican tradition: ley fuga, is exercised, to end the conflicts between the brothers........My usual complaint is that the bad guys usually only hit the good guys in the shoulder, whereas the good guys usually fire killing shots. Also, here, some of the main characters were apparently shot dead, yet somehow are revived and back in the saddle, apparently good as new, within a few hours or days........There are a number of sharp transitions from one situation to another. Some of these may be due to the deletion of about 5 min., to fit in 1 hr. TV shows with sponsors.

I had a hard time figuring out whether or not to give this one a 6 or 7. All I know is that even if you are not a fan of Roy Rogers, this is an enjoyable and pretty well-done movie--and better than average for this prolific star.

The film is set during the Civil War. There is some sort of Confederate resistance going on in Colorado and the Lieutenant (Rogers) is sent to investigate. Soon he sees that many of the local officials are Confederate spies--including a judge and many other public officials. What's more surprising, however, is that one of the leaders of this group is Rogers' own brother!! Can Roy and Gabby sort all this out or is the North destined to lose the war? While the undercover agent during the Civil War isn't exactly a new idea, it was handled very well here. Enjoyable acting and dialog make this one worth seeing.

By the way, like so many of Rogers' films, this one was originally longer but was cut down for TV in the 1950s. Considering that this often meant less singing, it's something that I can live with--even though I am usually a purist and want the producer's original vision. But, without so much singing, the movie is tighter and without the loss of momentum songs usually create.

"Colorado" was originally released back in 1940.

Anyway - As the story goes - It's the height of the Civil War, and Union troops are bogged down in Colorado dealing with local troubles. The Union dispatches Lieutenant Burke to look into things, and he discovers that a trouble maker named Macklin and his gang are at the root of the problems. He is horrified to discover that his brother, Captain Mason, has joined the gang he has been sent to deal with.