User reviews

Governor Price sends SUNSET CARSON to investigate a smuggling ring which is baffling the Border Patrol. Newspaper woman Ann Morton (LINDA STIRLING) is working incognito in the saloon waiting for a break on the smuggling story. By posing as an expected outlaw named Brazos Kane, Sunset becomes a member of the gang. Ann discovers his real identity and purpose but conceals her knowledge, even from him.

The last ten minutes of this lively western is pure high energy action filled with chases, leaping off rooftops, and exciting and never ending fight between Carson and Roy Barcroft (the villain of the piece, of course). The rest of the film is well-plotted and packed some humour and a little intrigue. Linda Sterling as the saloon lady is charming.

The beginning of Sante Fe Saddlemates packed more action in the first five minutes than most westerns of this period. Sunset Carson has to fight three men, one after the other, in order to prove his worthiness as an undercover agent. A similar scene was later used in a Lash Larue film at PRC. Some of the gunfight scenes from Sante Fe Saddlemates were used in the opening of Sunset's Western Theater for PBS. Made in 1945, the film helped establish Sunset as a leading western star at Republic. His country boy smile and rugged figure made him popular among young girls and grown women alike. In some parts of the South, Sunset is said to have drawn more fan mail than Roy Rogers.