Under Nevada Skies (1946)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Why so much hype?

Memorable, crazy movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Love that opening where a snooty Dale's car splashes poor Roy. But race driver Evans will be sorry when she looks for her new hat. It's a fun Rogers entry for this now Front Row geezer, more plot heavy than most. Seems two outfits are looking for a valuable crest stolen from Dale's murdered dad. But it's not just the crest that's valuable, there's something more. But what. And who's that second, mysterious party looking for it, plus why do those dead bodies keep turning up. Roy and Sheriff Gabby sure got their work cut out.Some good hard riding and fast shooting, especially when Roy's Indian allies circle a big house while shooting inside at the bad guys. No overturned stagecoach or surrounded cavalry unit here. I guess someone in production got a big chuckle out of that switcheroo. However the one flying-fist scene is lamely done even for a matinée. Then too, don't look for scenic shots. Instead, it's familiar greater LA locations. But really, what's with that musical number done up with costumed pirates. After all, it's Sons Of The Pioneers, not Sons Of Blackbeard. Anyway, kick back and enjoy. Dale was never lovelier, Gabby never more engaging, and Roy never more King of the Cowboys. Now where is that dog-gone crest and why's it so valuable. The answer may surprise you.

I got a kick out of that early scene when Dale Evans comes barreling down the road and splashes Roy and Gabby when she runs across a small creek. There was a similar scene in the 1937 Gene Autry flick "Git Along Little Dogies", when actress Judith Allen pulled the same stunt on Gene. In that one Autry simply got wet when it happened, but was splashed with mud by the time he chased her down. I was waiting for something similar here but someone must have thought better of it.This is probably one of the more entertaining of Roy's pictures with future wife Dale Evans, they were married a year later in 1947. You never really consider how talented she was until you see her sing like she does in this picture, both on her own ('I Wanna Go West') or in duet with Roy getting together for the title tune. Maybe Roy got the inspiration to propose when he said at one point - "I get all my best ideas when I'm singin'." Say, keep an eye on Gabby Hayes when he does that drunken routine to set up some of the film's villains - didn't he look a lot like Foster Brooks doing his own routine a couple of decades later? The stagger was just about right and the beard added to the resemblance. I wonder if Brooks ever saw this picture.Now I don't know about you, but I had no idea what to make of that pirate skit in the middle of the picture. It was handled by Bob Nolan's Sons of the Pioneers and was entertaining enough, but who came up with that one? As for the story, Roy and Gabby help Helen Williams (Dale Evans) recover a crest rimmed with emeralds that was stolen from her family. It's also the objective of the film's bad guys including Tris Coffin and LeRoy Mason, but of course Roy has a plan to smoke them all out. He manages to get an assist from the Bear Valley Indian tribe led by the ever grinning Chief Flying Eagle (George J. Lewis). I wondered why the Indians in the picture kept smiling all the time, but finally figured they were all just having a good time.

Under Nevada Skies has radio country singer Roy Rogers helping out acting sheriff Gabby Hayes sort out the reason for the murder of Leland Hodgson after Dale Evans comes to town and gets a job singing at his club. The film plays like a murder mystery in fact several people wind up quite dead because this particular group of villains has a bunch of people all working their own agenda.The mystery in Under Nevada Skies is not who's doing the killing, but what is the significance of an old family heirloom that Dale Evans among many others is searching for. That only becomes clear in the last couple of minutes of the film. But some Indians led by chief George J. Lewis have a big role here, in fact they aid Roy in a shootout with Douglass Dumbrille and his henchmen. Dumbrille might have gotten away with the heirloom and its secret if he had more trustworthy help.Roy and Dale are once again really good together and the fact they were soon to be man and wife is the reason. Roy did a whole lot of films with women other than Dale Evans, but it's always special when the two of them are together. Definitely one of Roy's better Republic westerns.

An above-average Roy Rogers oater, with plenty of songs, intrigue and a more cohesive plot than many. It's a satisfying and fast-moving piece of fluff. Roy is, as usual, likable, and Dale is far sexier than I remember her in the 1950s tv show. If you like B-grade westerns, you can do far worse than taking the time to watch this.An almost enlightened view toward Native Americans is a large part of the fun. The pow-wow that the local tribe is holding is treated sympathetically, and Roy's relationship with the Native Americans is treated in a matter-of-fact, friendly manner. The Native Americans themselves are never treated in a stereotypical, demeaning manner; when Roy gets the local tribe together to chase the villains, it's such a warped parody of the usual cowboys-n-Injuns scene that I had to laugh!