The Gay Ranchero (1948)

Wonderful character development!

Fresh and Exciting

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Originally lensed in Trucolor, this otherwise complete Roy Rogers vehicle is available on a somewhat washed-out, black-and-white Mill Creek DVD, which is otherwise reasonably watchable. The story's not much and it's acted in a somewhat ham-fisted style by Andy Devine, who has too large a part for my liking, but the rest of the players are reasonably able. Some fans may feel there is far too much singing and dancing and not enough action – which is a justifiable complaint, especially as the non-action episodes – particularly all the dancing and singing – would look so much more attractive in color. The screenplay also seems to go out on a limb to provide special material not only for Andy Devine but for Tito Guizar and Estelita Rodriguez. It's true to say, however, that by director William Witney's usual high standard, the action does tend to be rather tame and far less exciting than say his later Rogers' vehicle, "Bells of Coronado" (1950), which was also written by Sloan Nibley and has some of these same plot elements.

This is an odd Roy Rogers film, but he did do a lot of strange films that were an odd amalgam of the old and the new. In this case, our cowboy hero is involved with an airport and hijacked airplanes--a very, very odd venue for a western hero. And, yes, it's true, there were no airplanes in the old west. However, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry BOTH made a ton of anachronistic films--with cowboys AND telephones AND pickup trucks and the like. It's odd. So why are the planes being sabotaged? Tune in and see in this rather ordinary (aside from the locale) Rogers film. About the only standout thing is the nice non-stereotypical Hispanic leading man--something unusual for the time.

Bandits find a way to force airplanes down in uninhabited areas, in order to steal their cargo. Sheriff Roy Rogers rides out to the landing sites to investigate and runs afoul of the villains.Tito Guizar is good as the title character, an ex-bullfighter who comes to the United States to wrangle his beautiful runaway fiancé, but almost everything else about this loosely-plotted Roy Rogers vehicle is pretty pedestrian, with a few confusing moments and not nearly enough action until near the end.However, Bob Nolan and The Sons Of The Pioneers sing a few decent songs, Roy's still likable, and Estelita Rodriguez, as Guizar's fiancé is awfully attractive.

This 1948 cowboy flick finds the King of the Cowboys helping to foil a plot to sabotage airline equipment and plunder the contents. Roy is a lawman that gets to the bottom of the hooligans shenanigans .The great Andy Devine is back in this one as "Cookie" and so are the Sons of the Pioneers. The plot, casting and action here are good and the songs are adequate. Gabby Hayes & Dale Evans are sorely missed.This was a pretty good Rogers film. The story moves at a good pace and the airplane angle was nicely incorporated. Jane Frazee was not the best choice for a female lead, but is pleasant nonetheless.An enjoyable, but standard singin' cowboy flick.