Pals of the Golden West

The Border Patrol calls in their ace troubleshooter Roy Rogers to put the kibosh on a cross-border cattle smuggling operation in order to control an outbreak of Hoof and Mouth Disease. Roy teams up with fellow Border Patrol Officer (Pat Brady) and local newspaper photographer Pinky Lee to bust the racket headed by murderous scoundrels Lucky Grillo and Ward Sloan (Anthony Caruso & Roy Barcroft). To bring the bad guys to justice Roy must work around the meddling of pesky out of town reporter Cathy Marsh and local newspaper woman Elena Madera (Dale Evans & Estelita Rodriguez).

Director William Witney once again revs up the action. Complete with fisticuffs, gunfights and a couple of bear attacks, Pals of the Golden West is a fitting end to Roy's run as a silver screen hero and an end to a great stretch of movies with Witney at the helm. In an uncharacteristic scene Roy actually bleeds after a fight here. Roy is once again pitted against frequent nemesis and veteran Republic Pictures Bad Guy Roy Barcroft, who just never seemed to learn that crime doesn't pay. It was also the third and last of the unusual pairings with sidekick Pinky Lee. However well intentioned, the cartoon like antics that served Pinky well as a children's show entertainer just didn't add much to his trio of movies with Roy.

In the final scene Dale bids Roy farewell and announces that Roy has taken a "new assignment in Capitol City". With that, after a string of over a hundred movies, Trigger rears up, Roy waves good-bye and along with Bullet, all literally ride off into the sunset. However the best was yet to come. Fans only had to wait about six weeks for the start of the long running Roy Rogers Television Series. Launched just before New years in 1951 the "Roy Rogers Show" would be remembered and have a lasting influence on a new generation of viewers. Roy would be joined by "Queen of the West" Dales Evans, Trigger, Bullet and sidekick Pat Brady for the entire six year run of the series.

Happy Trails.

"Pals of the Golden West" is an important film, as it's the last Roy Rogers film he made for Republic. Soon after this, he switched to making his television show and only rarely making movie appearances. As for this wife, Dale, it's her final film. Unfortunately, they both are saddled with the absolute worst supporting player in these Republic films, the ever-annoying Pinky Lee. If you've never seen Lee, he's a lot like combining Pee Wee Herman with Sylvester the Cat....and making the final result 100 times more annoying! Believe me, there really was no one more annoying and unwanted in B-westerns than Pinky Lee. He' so bad you barely notice Estelita Rodrigquez...another annoying person who was frequently in Roy's later films.

The story begins with a poor kid about to be attacked by a bear. Unfortunately, it wasn't Pinky Lee...seeing him get mauled would have improved the story quite a bit. But fortunately, the kid was saved by Bullet, Roy and his Mexican friend. You then learn that the baddie in this story is Lucky Grillo (Anthony Caruso), a wanted murderer who is living under an alias in Mexico. He and his gang illegally bring diseased cattle over the border to sell....and murders a Mexican border agent. Naturally, Roy is determined to stop him, bring him to justice and make the world a swell place. As for Dale, she plays a spunky newspaper reporter...sort of like Lois Lane but significantly pushier.

So is this any good? In some ways, yes. Anthony Caruso always plays a great crook and he' in his element in this film. But it's also a chore to watch because although he and Roy are excellent, not only are Pinky Lee and Estelita annoying, which I expected, Dale is also at her very worst. They really make the viewer hate them....and are nothing but a distraction in the story. Sad to see Roy in such a sappy story...he was better than this.



By the way, if you aren't acquainted with B-westerns, such as those of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry or Hopalong Cassidy, you might be surprised how positively the Native Americans and Mexicans are portrayed. The films were way ahead of their time in this regard....and you'll notice how positive the Mexicans are in this picture. Heck, all the bad guys, Lucky and Pinky, are Americans.

Roy Rogers last starring western for Republic Pictures and Herbert J. Yates is this one, Pals Of The Golden West and appropriately enough Dale Evaans co-stars with him. Roy is a border patrolman who apparently doesn't have to wear a uniform on the job. Dale is an investigative reporter of the Lois Lane variety and both are interested in border security as it relates to cattle rustling and smuggling.

The Mexicans aren't as good policing their side, but they're trying and Maurice Jara is Roy's opposite number and they're looking to improve. What concerns both is diseased cattle with hoof and mouth disease.

The villains in this case are Anthony Caruso and Roy Barcroft. Caruso has an interesting background, he's a former Chicago gangster who was deported and now lives in Mexico under an alias operating a ranch which a front for rustling. He says rather proudly he's making more money doing this western type villainy than the usual gangster pursuits.

When Jara recognizes Caruso for who he is, Caruso and Barcroft kill him and Roy has to break the news to his young son Eduardo Jimenez. Now it's a murder investigation.

I called Roy and Dale the Tracy/Hepburn combination for B westerns. Dale is her usual spunky and nosy self and Roy as always is having a battle of the sexes as well as battling the villains. But they had Tracy/Hepburn like chemistry which makes their westerns special.

A definite minus for this film though is Pinky Lee. Whatever possessed Herbert J. Yates to think of Lee as western sidekick material? Roy did a couple films with him before departing for the small screen and as I said on another review, Pinky Lee just doesn't cut it as a sidekick.

This was a good film to end their association with Republic Pictures.

This movie is watchable more for the sake of nostalgia than because you expect to see a great movie.

Roy Rogers was a great singer and a good-looking film cowboy, but to be honest (and I say this as a fan) not the best of actors.

In this film, Pinky Lee and Estelita Rodriguez are simply annoying, and even Dale Evans plays a character you'd like to slap in pretty much every scene she appears in.

I was amused by the "bear attack" early in the film. Shots of a real bear are intermingled with a man in a bear costume ... shot supposedly through some branches at a distance to try to hide that it's a man in a bear costume. LOL

We enjoyed the film, as I say for it's nostalgia value, but I won't be lining up a lot more 1940s-50s B Westerns because of any draw this film awakened in me. :-)

In this last big-screen pairing of Roy & Dale, they take on Border ruffians, diseased animals and other related shenaningans. The King of the Cowboys manages to save the day and still have time for a few western songs to boot.

Roy's films were always fun, action-packed and exciting. This one was pretty average though ....... Gabby or Pat Brady are soreley missed here. Even so, the plot was interesting and Roy, Dale & Trigger were great as always. I didn't care for Pinky Lee .

Around this time the Roy Rogers TV series started and was preferable to this film, in my opinion. This is worth a look, though.....