West of the Pecos (1945)

Absolutely brilliant

A different way of telling a story

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

West Of The Pecos was the second of two Zane Grey novels that Robert Mitchum starred in for RKO before being drafted. He took the place of Tim Holt as RKO's movie cowboy because Holt was in military service. He even inherited Holt's romantic sidekick Richard Martin whom we all know as the ever popular Chito Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty.Before Roy Bean went West Of The Pecos there was no law and order there and such that existed was in the hands of the infamous Sawtelle Brothers, Harry Woods and Perc Launders who head the vigilante committee. So these guys operate with impunity pretty much. But when they hold up the stagecoach and kill Bill Williams who is Mitchum's friend, Mitchum gets himself a mission.In the meantime meatpacking tycoon Thurston Hall is told by his doctor to get out in the good country and do some real exercise even if it's in the form of manual labor. So he packs off his daughter Barbara Hale and her French maid Rita Corday and leaves his lawyer Bruce Edwards who is Hale's intended and they move to a piece of ranch property in that area West Of The Pecos.Mitchum and Martin rescue the party when they're stranded in the desert and Hale has taken to wearing male drag the best to avoid unwanted attentions from the rough and ready and horny cowboys. A large part of the humor is due to Mitchum taking her for a man. A lot like some of the humor in Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn film Sylvia Scarlett.Of course Robert Mitchum went on to bigger and better things as he was shortly to be cast in The Story Of GI Joe and Tim Holt returned to making westerns with Richard Martin. West Of The Pecos is a nice B western with a good mix of action and humor.But when I watch this and the film Nevada I often wonder if Mitchum had not gotten the big break for The Story Of GI Joe would he have continued as a B picture western star. Watch Nevada and West Of The Pecos and judge for yourself.

I encountered this little B-Western in its natural habitat, as the bottom half of a double-bill on the big screen, and enjoyed it enormously. 'West of the Pecos' has its perfunctory genre moments, such as the 'dying cowboy' scene and the final shoot-out and siege, but at heart it's a cross-dressing comedy, based around the masquerade of star Barbara Hale in boy's clothing and the consequences that ensue when 'he' crosses the path of amiable but unobservant cowboy Robert Mitchum. It's not exactly intellectually demanding -- true to the tradition of farce, Mitchum, as Pecos Smith, discovers the youngster's true sex only when her long hair falls out of her hat, despite having rescued her from drowning and carried her soaking wet in his arms from the river! -- but the comic potential is brought out to the fullest extent, while the spitfire secondary romance between the French girl and the half-Irish Mexican sidekick provides a very funny counterpoint.It has to be said that the hilarity subsides somewhat once the sexual confusion is sorted out -- like Pecos, we rather miss the tomboy 'young squirt' -- and all the loose ends are tidied away with implausibly convenient ease for the finale. But I came out of this one with a broad grin from ear to ear and an added bounce to my step, in the awareness of having been thoroughly entertained. It's silly but it's fun.

This was an enjoyable movie, but I expected more from a 1945western with Robert Mitchum. The theme (a women dressed as aboy) has been handled better, both before & after this movie. Evena lower budget Cisco Kid movie with Gilbert Roland did a betterjob. What makes this movie enjoyable is the performance ofBarbara Hale. I didn't know she had it in her, but here she's cute,funny, & a good actress. I'd go so far as to say that she stole theshow from Robert Mitchum, which is a very difficult feat toaccomplish. I rate it 5/10; it would have been lower without Hale'sexcellent performance.

I saw this film many years go at the local picture house in Birmingham. Can't wait until it comes back on television.I think Barbara Hale played her part very well. Also, her maid was also a good addition to the plot. I also think Pecos's side-kick gave a good backing.Hope they put it back on bbc soon.