Red River Valley

Singing star Roy Rogers returns to his home to find that the the money the town raised to finance their much needed dam project has been stolen. The town desperate for water agrees to sell their interest in the dam over to Allison (Trevor Bardette). Roy suspicious of Allison tries to stop the rest of the town, headed by cranky Sheriff Sutherland (Robert Homans) from signing over their water rights. Aided by Gabby Whittaker (Gabby Hayes), his daughter (Sally Payne), and the Sons of the Pioneers, Roy tries to thwart plans to steal the town's water. If that means Roy has to commit a few felonies along the way to stop the bad guys, then so be it.

Released in 1941 this Joseph Kane directed entry in the Roy Rogers series marks a change in the style of Roy's westerns. His prior movies were contemporaneous and historically oriented with Roy playing parts like Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill. Red River Valley ushers Roy into the Automobile Age Western where people hitch their horses beside station wagons. Kane over a period of several years shifted to more musically oriented releases eventually changing Roy's singing cowboy movies into musical lollapaloozas. This one strikes a nice balance between the singing and the action. Roy is re-united with his former group, The Son's of the Pioneers, who get in several well done numbers.

This movie also marks the first teaming of Roy with future sidekick Pat Brady. Brady would continue to be featured and become a mainstay of Roy's movies continuing on through Roy's television series in the 1950's. Despite the fact that Roy's best movies lay ahead of him under the direction of William Witney, this movie maybe more than any other, marks the beginning of what most most fans would soon come to remember as the classic Roy Roger's Western.

The abbreviated version I saw of Red River Valley did not cut too much out of the story that I had to make up for gaps. Still a director's cut might be in order. Who knows if we'll ever get one.

Roy Rogers is a radio entertainer with The Sons of the Pioneers as his backup singers and band as was the case in real life. He's also a rancher in the Red River Valley and they've got some problems with a new dam that's supposed to go up.

The government's kicked in its half share in the project, but as per the agreement the residents have to raise half themselves. They do, but some thieves working for chief villain Trevor Bardette have their own ideas.

With the money gone and the dam only half finished, Bardette is perfectly willing to let the dam go providing everyone turn over their shares of stock in the company running the dam. Roy and editor Gabby Hayes smell a rat as of course everyone in the audience did. But sheriff Robert Homans is convinced of Bardette's honesty. And he's also the biggest stockholder in the dam corporation.

What to do, but Roy kidnaps the sheriff to buy some time and he has to keep buying more time until the villains are exposed.

Part of the problem as is usually the case with these films, the crusty old sheriff develops a strange prejudice against Roy. In this case he finds him frivolous, he should be tending to ranch business instead of being a radio singer. That's no occupation for a substantial citizen, especially if he's courting daughter Gale Storm.

Red River Valley might be the first film where Pat Brady has an important role. He's the bass fiddle player with the Sons of the Pioneers and he develops a secondary romance with Sally Payne who plays Gabby's daughter and the town telephone switchboard operator.

If any film ever pointed out the need for a Tennessee Valley Authority this one is it. Some very greedy capitalists might have controlled the Red River Valley water supply if it weren't for Roy's intervention.

Still it does make one wonder where was the Department of the Interior and its honest Secretary Harold Ickes were while all this skulduggery was going on?

Maybe going to him would have violated the cowboy code.

Radio senstion Roy Rogers is in his home town. They're throwing a party in his honor, which gives some bad guys the chance to rob the water company of more than $180,000. The local ranchers have all invested in it because the Red River is being diverted for 'essential manufacturing. This means the company is bust, but Trevor Bardette, who owns a casino just across the state lines has partners who will produce the money to finish construction in return for all the stock. Barber and newspaper owner Gabby Hayes is a leetle mite suspicious, even when a repo agreement is thrown in. He's right.

It's an intelligent script, like most of the Roy Rogers vehicles, a nice variation on the usual B Western story in which a crooked banker is buying up the worthless lands or water shares or such. While the broadcasting bit makes it look like it was originally intended as a Gene Autry vehicle, it's another solid Roger movie, with musical interludes by Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers. With Sally Payne, Gale Storm, and the usual cast and crew.

When the story begins, Roy has returned to his hometown for Pioneer Days...a rootin', tootin' good time to celebrate the exploits of this famous cowboy. But soon after arriving, someone robs the bank and steals all the funds set aside to build the dam...and immediately the townsfolk start whining and blaming Roy for this...and practically everything else! It makes no sense at all and when Roy tries to help them, they come up with many excuses NOT to follow his suggestions. At the same time, it's very obvious that Allison and his partners are behind the robbery and the countless 'accidents' that happened to the dam construction! Will this town ever wise up? And, why would Roy care about this town of jerks in the first place??

Like many of Roy Rogers' and Gene Autry's films, this is one of those strange sorts of modern westerns--complete with cars, telephones and all the modern conveniences...and folks STILL riding about on horses! I can look past this...it's just a strange part of the genre. But what I had trouble with was this hometown. Can ANY group of folks be this unfriendly, suspicious (but only towards things that are NOT dangers) and stupid? I think it was too much in the story and actually hurt the film overall. A decent film...but not among Rogers' best...mostly because his so-called friends are about as friendly as rattlesnakes!