South of Caliente

"Often the punchline of other comedian's jokes, one Broadway critic called him "the comedian that comedians hate" because of his brash, over-the-top persona."

The above quote is from IMDB and is about Pinky Lee, a comic who was briefly popular with kids in the early days of television. And, apparently, he was so popular that they made him Roy Rogers' sidekick in this disappointing film. Much of the disappointment is because Lee is about the least enjoyable and least welcome sidekick in B-western history. Not surprisingly, I didn't particularly enjoy "South of Caliente"....and much, though not all of it, was due to Pinky.

This film was made during the 'nice guy' phase of Roy Rogers' career. In other words, instead of playing a cowboy, Roy was more playing a fictionalized version of himself...a Mr. Nice Guy of the west. In general, these later films emphasize niceness over plot or friction within the stories and are among my least favorite of his films. I much prefer the earlier and slightly grittier Rogers movies.

In this story, Roy transports horses for a living. While moving some of Dale's horses across the border, he is told by a Gypsy* woman not to continue his trip, as disaster will strike. And, soon, bandits attack and steal the horses. Surely this lady knew more about this....and finding her should help them get a step closer to finding these purloined horses.

Too much of the film is spent on Pinky...who simply annoys every time he's on screen. Now to my surprise, Willie Best comes off very much better....and isn't the 1930s caricature of a black man, but a more interesting character. Sadly, it would be his last film. Overall, because of a relatively weak plot and too much Pinky, however, it's among Rogers' worst....a film only for his most ardent fans.