Along the Rio Grande

Taking a cue from the successful Three Mesquiteers series at Republic Pictures, RKO teamed their cowboy B picture star Tim Holt with two sidekicks, singing and guitar strumming Ray Whitely and in the cussed old timer role Emmett Lynn.

The man the trio works for is kidnapped and held for ransom and the trio are forced into robbing a bank for the ransom money. They're too late with it and the man is killed by outlaw leader Robert Fiske.

But a peculiar chain of events allow Holt, Lynn, and Whitley to infiltrate Fiske's gang. The three act like a fifth column to bring in the outlaw gang.

Fiske is a particularly vicious villain who's not a fool by any means. Can't say as much for his outlaw gang, but I guess he just couldn't get good help.

Emmett Lynn's character is named 'Whopper' for the tall tales he'll spin at the drop of a hat and at the wrong time. He's funny, but he does get on Holt's nerves a bit. But in the end he does pull off a really neat trick to capture the whole band.

Along The Rio Grande is a nicely paced B western as Tim Holt westerns always were. Holt was one of the better B cowboy heroes and this film is typical of what RKO cast him in before his World War II service.

To avenge the death of their boss three men (Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Emmett Lynn) pose as bank robbers to infiltrate the gang of the man (Robert Fiske) responsible so that they can bring him to justice. An interesting early western, one of the first of Holt's long career in the genre. There's very little that is inspired here, as there are numerous dull songs sang at the hideout to help pad the film out to feature length (for a B-film), and the story is fairly conventional and predictable. However, Holt and his friends infiltrating the gang is reminiscent of For a Few Dollars More (1965), as they try to do what they can to bring the gang down without giving themselves away. Also the fact that the hideout is a saloon 'over the border' is somewhat like Rancho Notorious (1952) another superior western. Having come before both those films, is it possible that this minor B-film had an influence on two of the more memorable films of the genre? The answer is probably not, but with Leone having seen countless westerns with the desire to incorporate key moments into his own films, it's possible. Overall, this is a passable western with Whitley doing an amusing job as a loquacious fibber.

When TCM aired this in September, 2010, it was one of several Tim Holt films for the day.

I can admire Tim Holt, and recognize his talent, but, to be honest, his westerns were often slow, even lame.

"Along the Rio Grande" was nothing special, except for an excellent cast, some good dialog, and pretty good directing, and two very good singers, although of different styles, Ray Whitely and Betty Jane Rhodes, who seems to have had a short film career.

As is so often the case, the "humor" is not very funny, although Emmett Lynn did his best with the material.

Outstanding, and with one of the best roles of his career, is Slim Whitaker. In fact, this is such a good part for him that to see him is reason enough to watch this movie, especially for western fans.