Man from Music Mountain

In the modern west where Roy Rogers westerns were being set in, presumably the cattle and sheep range wars were a thing of the past. But in The Man From Music Mountain rancher Paul Kelly is looking to get it all started again, the object being to have the sheepherders grazing rights revoked by the government so he can grab it all for himself.

Standing in the way are sisters Ruth Terry and Ann Gillis who own a sheep ranch, but they've got some hands working with Kelly to drive them off their spread.

Roy Rogers plays visiting radio cowboy who has not forget his western roots. He gets himself secretly deputized and with some forensics discovers who's been doing some promiscuous shooting.

The Man From Music Mountain which was the title of a Gene Autry hit a few years back sadly got butchered for television and a lot of the singing was excluded. I agree with the previous reviewer that a director's cut would be a lot better, but we're not likely to see one of those.

Like some of Roy Rogers' movies, here in "Man from Music Mountain", Roy plays a singing radio cowboy--in other words, the studio began blending the real life Roy with an image of him they created for films. It's very strange but agreeable enough. However, what's NOT agreeable is that this version I downloaded from archive.org has 18 minutes hacked out of it! That's because back when Roy Rogers was a TV star in the 1950s, some idiots tore out large sections of many of his films to make them fit the time slot. In some cases, a few minutes trimmed here or there actually improved the film by tightening up the plot or removing superfluous songs--but 18 minutes is ridiculous!

What's left of the film isn't particularly good. The biggest reason are the two sheepherder women. Both are too unbelievably petulant to be real. One, in particular, totally hates Roy from the get-go---even though they are supposed to be old friends. And, every time he tries to help, she acts angry. Women are NOT idiots--in this film they all are. Even the less dumb of the two is still mighty dumb...and annoying. I am pretty sure women in the audience must have cringed every time these morons talked!! What also is a disappointment is that the 'ol broken firing pin angle is reused from several films--including Gene Autry's "In Old Santa Fe". A few decent songs and Paul Kelly aren't enough to salvage this one. Plus, there is no sidekick...and I wanted to see Gabby or Smiley Burnett! Overall a big, big disappointment. Perhaps the full film is better--this one is pretty shabby.