Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Lawbolisted Powerful

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

JohnHowardReid Despite its enticing title, this is a very ordinary little western with lots of talk, lots of so-so comic relief with George Hayes and Sally Payne, a bit of romance with hero Rogers and moderately pretty Carol Adams, a bit of shoot-out and chase action, and two songs (both of which are treated in such a desultory fashion they serve merely as background for important dialogue and other business). Incidentally, 1941 was Sally Payne's big year. She appeared in no fewer than fifteen films! Joe Kane's direction is almost totally pedestrian. Even the chase spots are spoiled by obvious studio cut-ins. Production values are minimal. The money spent on an extensive cast has been clawed back by rigid economies elsewhere — particularly on sets.

classicsoncall Roy and Gabby again, with a little help from Sally Payne, billed as a full blooded Kickapoo as part of Professor Mortimer Blackstone's Traveling Medicine Show. I was amused by the name of Roy's character in this one, as he went by Bill Brady, the name of his long time sidekick (Pat Brady) in films and TV for many years. The name Bill Brady is an alias for our hero, his past as Brett Starr is mentioned a couple of times but without too much revelation. It's assumed that he was trying to put a gunman's past behind him.The trio have a good rapport as they battle Deadwood town boss Ripper (Hal Taliaferro) and a whole passel of baddies, notably newspaper editor Carver (Henry Brandon), theater owner Marvel (Ralf Harolde) and henchman Monte Burns (Jay Novello). Novello's character is unbelievable - he's everywhere! Every time you turn around, Burns is there, spying on the good guys, in the Judge's house, hanging out with Marvel, and mixing it up with Brady. It's too bad he didn't make it to the end of the picture.Roy's romantic interest in this one is played by Carol Adams, and it was kind of hard to warm up to her character because she never smiled. She was pretty enough, but it never came through her serious demeanor. It made me wonder why Roy took such a fancy to her, ready to drop his adventurous ways with the medicine show to settle down at the drop of a hat.For his part, Roy shows some unusual athletic ability in a couple of running side mounts over a pretty tall fence while chasing a bad guy. At the same time though, there are a couple of credibility defying scenes where he escapes a large group of town folk when they think he's the bad guy, and when he's cornered by outlaws who think he's a good guy. It doesn't say much for the story writing at the time, when these oaters were churned out at a rapid clip to capitalize on the lead actor's ability to draw an audience.Still, this is a pretty enjoyable little flick that breezes by, as most of Roy's flicks do, in just about an hour. Gabby's fully whiskered in this one, but unusually well groomed too - you'll get a kick out of seeing him in a gentleman's jacket, top hat and walking stick after coming into a large inheritance!

padutchland-1 Any time you have Roy Rogers and George Gabby Hayes on the same screen it will be a winner. Although the story line was similar to some other westerns, it still held enough twists and differences to keep one interested to the end. Roy was great as always. He seems to have a natural born talent for acting and it was probably because he was just being himself - an easy going, decent person of character that good people would follow anywhere. In this picture he was a man who was trying to put his gun handy ways behind him. Of course, the bad guys wouldn't allow that when they pushed him too far. Also starring was the ever wonderful Gabby Hayes as the owner of a traveling medicine show, with Roy as a trick shooter and singer plus the energetic and cute, Sally Payne as a singer and assistant in the show. Gabby was supposed to be her father. You may remember her playing a flamboyant Belle Star in Roy's "Robin Hood of the Pecos". Something unusual crossed my mind as I watched this in that the good guys were Roy, Gabby and Sally. Yet they were working towns doing a medicine show, and medicine shows were known for the "snake oil" sales of liquids that did nothing for the person but make them drunk or dead. Sally even sold bottles from the wagon and Gabby made the comment he was going to make more if he could find some snake juice. But hey, that's the movies. Now over in town, things were controlled by a group of very bad men including a guy named Ripper played by Hal Taliaferro (aka Wally Wales), Jake Marvel played by Ralf Harolde and Monte Burns played by Jay Novello. Novello is that character actor you have seen so many times playing a little weasel (as in this movie), who also showed great comedy ability playing on I Love Lucy and McHale's Navy to name just a couple. Hal Taliaferro is a name you've seen in numerous movies in a supporting role. Another helper of the bad guys was the sheriff, interestingly played by Monte Blue himself. Most people will remember him as a leading man in the silent movies opposite famous females like the Gish sisters, Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow and Norma Shearer. Roy's love interest was played by Carol Adams whom I am not familiar with. But she reminded me of the girl that plays Elaine on Seinfeld, only Carol Adams had a sweeter, not so hard look about her. One of the stage coach drivers was the greatest stunt man and stunt director of all time, Yakima Canutt. For anyone who wanted western stunts done, including large scale stampedes and fights, they just didn't come any better than Canutt. I'm not going to spoil the movie for you, let's just say it was the battle between good and evil, Roy and certain townsfolk forced to live outside of town vs the bad guys who took away their businesses and murdered friends and family....and Roy was the one man people will always follow to fight the injustices perpetrated by bad guys. As an aside, the head of the bad men was played by Henry Brandon. You may recall him playing the part of the menacing Indian chief Scar, in "The Searchers" with John Wayne. Now here is something only a joker like me would notice. In "Bad Man of Deadwood", I was surprised by the difference in height when Brandon practically towered over Roy when they met in the newspaper office. Well no wonder, Brandon was 6'5" tall. Roy looked to be a more normal height of maybe 5'11" there abouts - don't know for sure. I thought it strange because I remembered in "The Searchers", when The Duke and Scar came face to face for the first time, they stared eye to eye level. Looking up The Duke explained it, as he was 6' 4-1/2" tall. I never realized John Wayne was that tall. As you can see, I don't analyze movies so much as I just enjoy them (or not) for what they are, and am more interested in the tidbits and history of the actors and the film. "Bad Man of Deadwood" is well worth watching. The acting was great and the inter-relationships between the actors was well written and also well directed by Joseph Kane. If you like the old style westerns you will like this one. And yet, it went a step beyond the normal western to make for very entertaining viewing.

Wrangler Better than usual Roy Rogers film, from the refreshingly different pre-Dale days, when Roy's films had plots with a few musical numbers added, instead of being musical reviews with a few plot elements added. You won't feel insulted watching this. And, if you are a B-western fan, you'll enjoy the familiar faces in the fine supporting cast.