The Falcon Out West

Wealthy Texas rancher Lyle Talbot dies of snakebite in a Manhattan night club. This sends Tom Conway out west, where he has blonde Carole Gallagher and brunette Barbara Hale to distract him from the corpses that pile up.

It's a settled and well greased series by this time, with lots of pretty girls, a decent mystery, and as a bonus, the process shots are not fouled up beyond belief. Even by RKO's fiscally responsible standards, this series never wasted money; likewise, it invariably ran on the diffident charms of Conway and cheesecake. Both are in evidence here.

Average Falcon entry, with several notable touches. A wealthy Texan in a sophisticated New York nightclub dies suddenly on the dance floor. Okay, that's fairly standard B-movie plotting, except Tex dies from a rattlesnake bite of all things. Now last time I checked, rattlesnakes were not accepted on New York dance floors. Maybe they're found among celebrity gossips, but not between sashaying couples. So the unusual mystery deepens, taking Falcon and company out West to figure things out. Happily there're better humorous touches than usual, especially a twist on the stereotyped Indian use of "How". Still, Hollywood's version of Texas West means the rocky hills of greater LA, familiar from hundreds of cowboy matinees. Not that scenery really matters since plot and humor remain uppermost.

Then too, it's a good chance to catch Della Street, oops!, I mean Barbara Hale on horseback stop a runaway stagecoach and save our hero the Falcon from an untimely crack-up. And here I thought it was supposed to be the other way around—hero saving girl, not girl saving hero. But never mind, the suave Falcon takes it all in stride. Note too that the 1944 movie was circulated among overseas GI's. The guys may not have cared who killed Tex, but for darn sure, I'll bet they liked the three shapely ladies who are a part of it.

Anyway, it's an entertaining hour, courtesy RKO's slickly done detective series.

This time the Falcon goes Wild West, which was a nice change from the asphalt based crimes he usually dealt with – like a breath of fresh air. It's only a pity that cynical Cliff Clark and gorging Ed Gargan in their last Falcon film weren't given some horse riding to do too!

Tom Conway as Tom Lawrence doesn't want to get mixed up in a beautiful damsel in distress's marital problems but immediately takes over when the ex-husband is murdered by snakebite venom in a New York nightclub. The trail takes him – and all of the suspects too - back to the dead man's ranch and his Will, where the plot thickens. Favourite bit: the sudden late night poker game trying to hide the fact there was something to hide from the cops, to their disbelief. The barbecue evening was lovely with young Barbara Hale adding nicely to the scenery, Gargan concentrating on the food, Clark smoking in the background with the host and the Falcon concentrating on solving the crime – it only needed the Merry Mac's to round it off!

If you prefer serious meaningful modern films you sure wasted your time! It was a nice little unassuming atmospheric whodunit without being either heavy or too taxing of course, just how I like 'em in fact.

Tom Lawrence aka The Falcon is out enjoying himself in a New York nightclub full of society types. Among them is a Texan playboy who suddenly starts complaining of a pain that feels like a snakebite, before dropping to the floor and dying. Investigating the body, Lawrence finds two marks indicating a snake had indeed bitten the man but soon finds that a minor detail as the man's fiancé flees the scene and catches a train back to Texas. Lawrence follows her and finds the police have already gotten to Texas via plane and are waiting legal papers to take her back. Lawrence investigates the murder with all the suspects on the victim's ranch in a case where he risks his own life.

By this stage in the series, things were looking like flagging and the location being built into the title (Texas and, later, Hollywood) suggested to me that the series wasn't relying on plotting and character to bring the audience in but seemed to be looking to the switching location to be enough to make the series suddenly feel fresh and interesting. In this regard the film fails because this is just the same formula but this time put into a setting that is poorly used and never really fits with the Falcon's style. The mystery story is still worth watching though because it is enjoyable in a b-movie sort of way. The setting is annoying and just seemed to be a way to drag in lots of western clichés into the film – Indians, shoot-outs, horse riding etc without really adding value at all. Fans will feel that this could have been better and they would be right because it is only average at best and isn't the best of the series by a long shot; meanwhile the causal viewer will probably not bother with this at all.

The cast are OK, filled as it is with the usual b-movie actors. Conway is a great Falcon and is the main selling point of the series with a smart performance that is lacking Saunders' rather snide edge. Hale was a nice surprise since I only know her from the Perry Mason series and she is interesting in her character. Gallagher is a bit bland and blonde and isn't very impressive. Without a sidekick for the Falcon, Gargan is the sole comic relief and he does it reasonably well without interfering with the main thrust of the film, meanwhile Clark delivers a much more serious performance as the Inspector. Talbot has a few seconds of screen time and the rest of the cast are pretty clichéd Texan role although the Indians have some minor revenge by mocking Detective Bates' assumptions of their intelligence! Overall this is an average entry in the series but it is still good enough for fans to consider it worth seeing. The location is a big distraction and isn't used very well at all but the plot is reasonably interesting and the playing is quite enjoyable for a b-movie. Like I said, worth seeing it for fans of the series like myself but I doubt that this will be the Falcon film that wins over the casual viewer.

The Falcon films, both with George Sanders and Tom Conway in the lead role, are on the most part very enjoyable. There are some very good ones like the first two Sanders Falcon films and 'The Falcon Strikes Back', though also a few disappointments like 'The Falcon in Danger'.

While it is still very much watchable, 'The Falcon Out West' is one of the series' weaker outings. There is a lot to like still, the music is lively and haunting enough, and on the most part the production values are slick and atmospheric with particularly nicely done photography. William Clemens directs efficiently, and the story mostly is bright, breezy and diverting if a little short on suspense and surprises.

Conway evidently enjoys himself in the lead, sharing all the qualities that Sanders brought in his outings. Barbara Hale brings zest and allure to her role, while Edward Gargan is handles the comedy relief amusingly and Cliff Clark is pleasingly more understated and serious.

However, while the script has often been a strength in the Falcon films it's 'The Falcon Out West's' biggest faults. It does lack the crackling wit and playfulness of the best outings and instead feels lazy and tries to throw in too many western clichés that feel very ill-fitting. In fact, the setting and the story do feel too disconnected from one another and don't fit together, the Falcon feeling too out of place within such a rustic setting and the inclusion of the western genre clichés are clumsy and jarring rather than clever.

Carole Gallagher is also very bland in an underwritten role, and sometimes the film feels rushed in trying to cram in a lot in the short (too short?) running time.

Overall, watchable but a little disappointing and not one of the better Falcon films. 6/10 Bethany Cox