Home on the Range

As the genre wears on, I guess it becomes increasingly dependent on gimmicks. Well, perhaps these'll be enough to trip your trigger: pretty scenery filmed in color; a plot that emphasizes the importance of the game preserve (complete with much scene-stealing by the animals); the singing cowboy, reinforced by The Sons of the Pioneers; and a 13-year-old Robert (in those days, Bobby) Blake. These features produced my above-average vote. The storyline involves an inheirited tract, split between two brothers - one deceased, who's daughter is currently in charge of its being ranched; the other, doing nothing with his land other than allowing it to be a home for wild creatures. A would-be buyer of the conservationist's property, however, incites its neighbors by simulating the bear-caused deaths of their cattle, thinking that maybe it'll become "for sale" if everybody is mad at its owner. Monte Hale is the songster who is summoned by the surviving brother. I can't quite dismiss the corniness of the concept, but, if you're a REAL fan of the genre, then that doesn't seem to matter.