Robin Hood of the Pecos

Before the civil rights revolution post Civil War stories about the ravages the Confederate states had to endure under occupation was a common enough plot line for movies. This all started back in the early days of film with Birth of a Nation, continuing with Gone With the Wind.

You could never make Robin Hood of the Pecos today. Even clean living Roy Rogers shows a tinge of racism here when he meets actor Nick Stewart who refuses to help him because the law is after him. "Do as you're told," says Rogers sternly and Nick Stewart does just that. It's these kind of moments that made black people rightly ticked off at the film industry.

Roy is a former Confederate now operating as a Robin Hood type outlaw, battling the corrupt carpetbagger government as exemplified by Cy Kendall who's busy lining his own pockets with self-imposed tax money and having the Union occupying Army backing him up. He's actually the one who gets the acting honors in this film if honors can be given it.

I'm not even sure fans of the King of the Cowboys would go for this one.

In the first half of the 20th century, a popular myths promoted in many films is that of the oppressed south during Reconstruction. In this myth, the poor Southerners are tormented and taken advantage of by evil 'carpetbaggers' from the North who want to exploit the defeated South. And, in this version of history, the blacks who live in this post-war South seem to LIKE the South and there's no mistreatment of them and slavery is never even mentioned in any way. In other words, if these Yankees just left the Southerners alone, life would be wonderful. Now if all of this sounds like hooey, then your instincts are right....this is a lie promoted in many films. So, before you see "Robin Hood of the Pecos" understand that it strongly promotes this mythical Reconstruction period and historically speaking, it's pure fiction.

When the story begins, the evil Yankee, Ballard (Cy Kendall) is in Texas and pretty much running things. In response to this thief, there is a Robin Hood sort of character who works in disguise in order to right wrongs....and steal back the money Ballard and his lackeys stole from the oppressed Southern folk.

Although the doings of the vigilantes are not done under the auspices of the KKK, in many ways Roy and his fellow Night Riders take the law into their own hand in order to preserve order and right wrongs. This is EXACTLY how many in the Klan represented their actions at that time in history! And the 'Night Riders' is also a term often used by the KKK!!! So this makes this Rogers film one which actually, in a round about way, is pro Klan!

I will admit that "Robin Hood of the Peco" is very entertaining, it's a crappy history lesson and is a racist (or at least quite revisionist) version of history. Worth seeing if you understand that the movie is highly flawed.

By the way, this film is posted on YouTube but like many B-westerns, it was trimmed for television time slots. It should run 59 minutes but runs 53--the standard length for a movie in a one-hour time slot back in the 1950s. I have no idea if the full original version exists any more.

Roy Rogers (as Vance) is appointed sheriff of a Texas town, following the Civil War. A former Confederate P.O.W., Mr. Rogers faces wicked carpetbaggers, led by Cy Kendall (as Ballard). Assisting Rogers is his ever present pal George "Gabby" Hayes (as Gabby), who happens to have a fetching niece, Marjorie Reynolds (as Jeanie). Sally Payne is along for the ride, as Belle Starr. Rogers must be the "Robin Hood" of the title, protecting the people from big tax collectors.

Rogers and Ms. Payne have a cool brawl (not with each other) and the acting from Rogers and team are a notch above the norm. However, Rogers' role of an ex-Confederate, in a post-Civil War setting, lends itself to some understandable questions about the representation of race - not the worst you'll see, but enough to stand out in a western with little else to notice.

** Robin Hood of the Pecos (1941) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Marjorie Reynolds