Silver Spurs (1943)

So much average

Best movie of this year hands down!

A lot of fun.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Silver Spurs has the kind of plot situation more involved in one of those Philo Vance murder mysteries than with a Roy Rogers western. The fact that we see all the villainous machinations of John Carradine and his henchmen out in the open robs it of being a mystery. But Silver Spurs still rates as a pretty good Roy Rogers western.For a plot this is interesting and unusual for a western. It involves playboy Jerome Cowan who among other things has a ranch that Roy Rogers is the foreman of. The people in the area want him to give the railroad a right of way, but Cowan is too busy partying to pay any attention to business.Apparently Jerome's dad knew what an idiot he was raising so the terms of his will are that the ranch can't be sold, but if he dies his widow can. So Carradine who owns the local gambling house arranges for a mail order bride for the well known playboy. Which perks the interest of sob sister reporter Phyllis Brooks and she comes west and marries the guy to see what the story is. Little did Phyllis suspect.The emphasis is on action and plot rather than Roy's singing. Still he gets to do a couple of standards the great Al Jolson song Back In Your Own Backyard and Tumbling Tumbleweeds which was written by Sons Of The Pioneers head Bob Nolan. And Roy gets as a sidekick Smiley Burnette who takes his Frog Millhouse character from those Gene Autry flicks where he sidekicked with Gene before Autry went into the service.Burnette even gets a love interest himself with Joyce Compton who is the sidekick of Phyllis Brooks. All in all a pretty good western for Roy Rogers.

This Roy Rogers film sure seemed to have less singing than usual. When I checked IMDb it said the film had been trimmed (probably for TV) and I assume that one way they shortened it was by removing some of the songs. Well, I do like Rogers' pleasant voice, but less songs means more story and more action--something that seemed to make this film flow better than other Rogers film I have seen.Roy works for a drunkard who is also a full-time idiot and jerk (wow--the trifecta!). His willingness to put up with this guy is apparently out of some misguided loyalty to the guy's dead father as well as his trying to arrange for some right of way for the railroad. Regardless, an evil baddie (John Carradine) is out to kill the drunk, steal his land and frame Roy! So Roy does what any handsome western hero would do when his boss is killed--run away from the law and solve the murder himself.Instead of Gabby Hays (my favorite Rogers sidekick), this one has the generally ineffectual and rather addle-brained Smiley Burnett. Despite Burnett's 'help', Roy is able to eventually solve the crime and clear his good name.Due to good pacing, a reasonably original story (minus the cliché of running off to solve the crime himself) and plenty of nice action (along with one or two insane stunts) make this worth seeing--particularly if you like series westerns.

Roy Rogers (as Roy), Smiley Burnette (as Frog), and the "Sons of the Pioneers" are forced to operate on the wrong side of the law after Rogers is accused of murdering his drunken boss Jerome Cowan (as Jerry). John Carradine (as Lucky) is the scheming villain, and Phyllis Brooks (as Mary) brings along some feminine charm.The contrived story hits its height of incredulity when the Sheriff immediately believes Mr. Rogers has murdered the man he just pulled up from an over the cliff car crash. However, the film builds to an above average climax that is worth the wait. Trigger repeats his role of Rogers rope puller; but, Smiley performs a later trick Trigger could (and should) have pulled. Mr. Carradine lifts the performance levels considerably. The soundtrack includes one of the biggest Rogers/Nolan/Pioneers hits "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" (from way back in 1934), but it's not the definitive version, and is interrupted by annoying dialog. The "full performance" song highlight is "Back in Your Own Backyard". **** Silver Spurs (1943) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, John Carradine

Excellent Roy Rogers vehicle with a great, wily performance by John Carradine as an added bonus.Good pacing and good direction (and yes, a few very good stunts) place this way above similar movies. Even the usually annoying side-kick role (with this one, it's Smiley Burnette as "Frog") isn't that bad at all.Also, far less corny than some would first expect if you've seen others with similar plots from this time period.There are a few very good action sequences, and some very funny lines if you're in the right mood.The story mostly involves a "mail-order bride"; Mary the reporter going in to get a story about the "playboy" rancher and what is obviously a "phoney deal". Rogers is only trying to help his boss. However, the rancher is shot (admittedly, it was one unbelievably good shot through a car window from a fair distance) and Roy is conveniently framed when he shows up at the accident scene to check things out. Of course, you know that everything is bound to turn out for the best. There is also time for a couple good old songs.10/10.