South of Caliente

Forced to sell her racehorse to save the ranch, Doris Stewart (Dale Evans) hires Roy and his crew (Pinky Lee and Pat Brady) to transport her prized thoroughbred to a buyer in Mexico. Despite being warned by a gypsy fortune teller (Charlita) not to make the trip, Roy and Dale forge ahead and soon find themselves involved in murder and a horse theft scheme hatched by Dale's trainer Dave Norris (prolific western bad guy Douglas Fowley) and his thug henchman Studsy Denning (Frank Richards.

Directed by William Witney, South of Caliente teams up Roy and Dale once again after Dale's six movie, almost two year hiatus. It also marks the second pairing of Roy with new found sidekick and children's television entertainer Pinky Lee. Pinky's antics here are toned down from his first movie with Roy.

South of Caliente hearkens back to Witney's earlier movies with Roy and Dale. Beginning with "Roll on Texas Moon" Witney began to reshape Roy's movies and gradually de-emphasise the musical content. He dropped the large scale musical numbers and packed in more action sequences. Caliente" however, features more of a musical style than most of his later movies, including a a theatrical song and dance number at the gypsy camp. It also marks a bit of a change in the on-screen chemistry between Roy and Dale. The "Battle of the Sexes" featured in their earlier movies is absent here and has Dale assuming a decidedly less dominant on-screen persona. A style similar to the one they would employ for the six year run of their television series.

As B-Westerns go, pretty good. Roy Rogers Fans should enjoy.