El guapo del rancho

While fairly average as far as musicals go, this movie is noteworthy for me because it is the only film that features my two favorite actresses, Priscilla Lane and Ann Sheridan.

While they don't have any scenes together, unfortunately, there is a scene where Priscilla looks at a picture of Ann. It's not much, but I'll take what I can get!

It's too bad The Cowboy from Brooklyn does not do a good enough job in showcasing Priscilla Lane in the female lead. And Ann Sheridan is barely featured at all.

I can only imagine what could have been...

THE COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN (Warner Brothers, 1938), directed by Lloyd Bacon, is another variation to those familiar rise-to-fame stories starring Dick Powell. Neither the best nor the worst of this kind, it's basically an attempt on showcasing Powell's range as both singer and comic, to fair results in the latter.

Powell plays Elly Jordan, a guitar player in The Three Sharps band. Traveling on a freight car bound for Hollywood along with his fellow musicians, Spec (Candy Candico) and Louie (Harry Barris), the "musical hobos" are discovered and forced off the train by a couple of brakemen. Stranded in the middle of Cody, Wyoming, the trio walk themselves to the Hardy Dude Ranch where Elly meets cowgirl, Jane Hardy (Priscilla Lane), who offers them a job on her ranch for food and lodging. There's one problem, Elly's phobia towards animals. Whenever approaching anything ranging from horses to gophers, he runs away and hides. In time, Jane changes Elly from city dude to full-fledged singing cowboy. Sam Thorne (Dick Foran), Jane's suitor, is jealous over her attention towards Elly. During a campfire gathering where Professor Landis (James Stephenson), magician and hypnotist, is guest of honor, Elly's singing attracts Roy Chadwick (Pat O'Brien), a New York theatrical agent,traveling along with "Speed" Dunn (Ronald Reagan), his press agent. Roy immediately signs Elly to a $75 a week radio contract. Before the night is over, Elly leaves with the men bound for New York. Elly, christened "Wyoming Steve Gibson," is now a popular cowboy singer, winning the affections of Roy's sister, Maxine (Ann Sheridan). Complications ensue when Elly, still fearful of animals, finds he's to appear in a rodeo at Madison Square Garden where the cowboy from Brooklyn must prove himself by roping calf's and riding horses.

Powell, a youthful crooner having gotten his start in musical films in 1933, was by now maturing to full-facial stature. Quite believable as a singing cowboy, he's less acceptable as one unable to overcome his fear of animals. (Is this the same Dick Powell who later assumed the role of tough guy detective, Philip Marlow in 1944's MURDER, MY SWEET?). While initially amusing, his frightful manner in time becomes quite repetitious and tiresome. The same can be said for Hobart Cavanaugh role as his father, hiding in the corner, covering his face at the site of a parrot. Powell's similar phobia antics towards horses in GOING PLACES (1939) is actually better and far more amusing. Other comedy highlights include Professor Landis's attempt in hypnotizing Elly to overcome his fear of animals, resulting to Roy going under the trance instead, rushing to the streets of New York traffic, riding a horse, shooting his guns, and yelling out "I'm Wyoming Steve Gibson," with Mr. Jordan in hot pursuit.

Songs by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer, consists of: "I Got a Heartful of Sunshine" (sung by Harry Barris, Candy Candido and Dick Powell); "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride" (sung by Priscilla Lane and Dick Powell); "Git Along Little Doggie" (sung by Johnnie Davis); "I'll Dream Tonight" (sung by Powell); "Howdy, Stranger" (by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer, sung by Powell); and "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride" (reprise by Powell).

At 77 minutes, chances are that THE COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN, considering tight editing and limitations of certain characters. was initially planned as a 90 minute theatrical presentation. The first such mention is the sudden disappearance of band members, Spec and Louie, both gone shortly after taking refuge at the Hardy ranch. The second is Ann Sheridan, visible in only two brief scenes, save one photo of her on the night stand in Elly's room. The theatrical trailer that sometimes precedes the film whenever shown on Turner Classic Movies, indicates more deletions involving Sheridan where she's chasing after Powell so to vamp him in his hotel room, coming to a close with Roy (O'Brien) opening the door only to get hit over the head with a vase. Another noticeable edit is finding the title tune, "Cowboy From Brooklyn," as one the songs listed in the opening credits. In the 1938 Warner Brothers short, FOR AULD LANG SYNE (once featured on PBS's "Matinee at the Bijou" in the 1980s), with a host of Warner Brothers stars paying tribute to the late Will Rogers, there's a musical segment of Powell singing "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride," accompanied by cowboys at a campfire. No doubt another unused sequence.

Rounding out the cast are: Johnnie Davis (Jeff Hardy); Granville Bates and Emma Dunn (Mr. and Mrs Hardy); Elisabeth Risdon(Mrs. Jordan); Dennie Moore (Abby Pitts); Jeffrey Lynn(A Reporter); with William B. Davidson and Ken Niles, among others.

While THE COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN could be categorized as a western style recycling of Powell and O'Brien's earlier outing in TWENTY MILLION SWEETHEARTS (1934), Warner Brothers got more mileage out of this story when recycled as TWO GUYS FROM Texas (Warners, 1948), starring Dennis Morgan, with Jack Carson as a sidekick with a phobia towards animals, which is where any similarities to this movie ends. THE COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN may be something of a satire on the singing cowboy genre of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, yet in spite of the cast working hard on weak material, the songs are of good standing and laughs infrequent. (**1/2)

Elly Jordan (Dick Powell) is a down-on-his-luck singer who finds himself on a dude ranch in Wyoming. He is soon spotted by a NYC talent agent (Pat O'Brien), who doesn't realize Elly is actually from Brooklyn.

Cowboy from Brooklyn is an enjoyable piece of fluff. It's only 77 minutes, so it doesn't overstay it's welcome. The songs are forgettable, but Dick Powell is his usual charming self. There's some quite funny scenes throughout the film.

Priscilla Laine is excellent as Powell's love interest, and Pat O'Brien is good as the fast-talking talent agent. Ann Sheridan is wasted in a thankless role, and Ronald Reagan has a bit part as a publicity man. Overall, this isn't one of Dick Powell's better films, but it's worth a look.

During his early Warner career, DICK POWELL found himself playing the leading juvenile role over and over, sometimes with pleasant results. HARD TO GET ('38) with Olivia de Havilland at least showcased him in a daffy, colorful comedy role that he handled adeptly and had only a couple of songs to sing. It was really one of the best among his brash Warner roles.

But COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN is pretty thin stuff, even for Dick Powell fans and pretty hard to swallow, even with a cast that includes PAT O'BRIEN, PRISCILLA LANE, RONALD REAGAN and ANN SHERIDAN, none of them seen advantageously, particularly Reagan and Sheridan in minor roles.

It's a musical about a singer (DICK POWELL) who must pretend to be an authentic cowhand for the sake of landing a job on a dude ranch run by PRISCILLA LANE. PAT O'BRIEN is a manager who discovers Powell and thinks he's an authentic cowboy he can use in his rodeo. The zany plot takes it from there with the mistaken identity theme in full gear.

A book on Warner films gives a brief rundown of the film as described by N.Y. Times critic, Bosley Crowther: "A piteously frail satirical idea." Nuff said.

Fans of any of the above stars are likely to agree with Crowther. I know I did. Some of the musical moments are pleasant enough, but not enough to compensate for the silly plot, culminating in a hypnotized Powell able to overcome his fear of animals long enough to get a film producer to sign him to a contract.

Trivia note: That's JEFFREY LYNN in a bit role as a reporter with one line to speak--and JAMES STEPHENSON as the hypnotist.

Elly Jordan (Dick Powell) is a musician from Brooklyn on his way out west. But he and the other two in his trio get caught riding in a boxcar for free and are tossed off the train somewhere in Wyoming. They come upon a dude ranch - a working ranch that also functions as a hotel/resort for "tenderfoots" seeking the western ranch experience. At first the daughter in the family, Jane Hardy (Priscilla Lane) thinks Elly is just another tramp and refuses his offer of working for food. Then she has second thoughts and hires Elly and his trio as musical entertainment.

Because the ranch is catering to easterners looking for that western authenticity, Jane teaches Elly how to talk, walk, and act like a genuine westerner. It works so well that when an agent on the verge of a nervous breakdown (Pat O'Brien) and his assistant (Ronald Reagan) show up for a relaxing stay at the ranch, they are completely taken in by Elly's act and sign him to a radio contract as Wyoming Steve Gibson, a genuine singing cowboy who can also rope and ride.

Complicating factors include the fact that Elly has a phobia of all animals - from the big ones you should be afraid of like bulls, to the tiniest creatures like gophers and canaries. Also, an actual singing cowboy at the ranch resents how well Elly is doing both career-wise and with Jane and knows that Elly is a city slicker. Complications ensue.

This is passable entertainment, but it seems like Warner Brothers was struggling for a reason to make this movie in the first place. It's like they realized they wanted a Dick Powell film so there would have to be a musical theme of course, but had to strain to come up with anything past that. So they added a Western theme - Powell had never done one of those before - and then strained to fill 75 minutes with .... something. As a result it has dull stretches and pointless stretches. 15 minutes could have been cut and it would have lost nothing.