Bells of San Angelo (1947)

Fantastic!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

While I enjoy Roy Rogers movies, I must admit that one of the shortcomings in them is that they were generally geared towards kids--and the violence was way, way under-emphasized. Roy and the gang didn't shoot baddies--they beat them up and turned them over to the law. Or, if they shot anyone, it was usually the way the Lone Ranger did it--in the hand! However, "Bells of San Angelo" is a welcome change and the film is unabashedly violent...very, very violent. And, because of this, it's among Rogers' better films.The film is a bit unusual because it's in color. Unfortunately, the color is very muddy and unattractive. On the other hand, at least the copy of the film I downloaded for free at archive.org was the full film--not the shortened to fit TV time slot versions you often find."Bells of San Angelo" finds Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers coming into town to help the sheriff (Andy Devine) get to the bottom of a shooting. The mine owner says it was justified--Roy and the gang think there is way more to the shooting and decide to investigate. Along the way, a western writer (Dale Evans) comes to town to visit and, uncharacteristically, Dale is nice and not stupid--and Roy is the dumbbell here. He assumes she CAN'T be the author since she's a woman and he also assumes books about the old west are worthless! By the end of the film, she, of course, proves him wrong.So what about all this violence I mentioned? Well, in the big finale, one of the baddies is launched off a cliff and it looks amazingly real when he hits. Another is shot and killed by Roy. And, both are mangled a bit by dogs just before this! I loved it as it really set the usual formula on its ear. The same can be said for Devine, as usually the sidekicks are pretty passive and not much help--but Devine occasionally kicks the snot out of people! Now compared to a non-Roy Rogers film, this picture isn't that violent--but compared to the usual sanitized view of the west in his films, this IS pretty surprising and a welcome relief.

To all of my learned comrades that posted comments insulting the late, great Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, I say from the bottom of my pea-picking, reminiscing-good old days heart, PPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! I honestly do realize that the color quality isn't exactly top shelf, most of the acting is sub-par & the plots are tissue paper transparent, but who gives a horses saddle bag? I love each and every dusty one of them. And this includes the 50s TV show with sidekick Pat Brady and Nellie Belle the jeep. Yes, Gaby Hayes is the best sidekick ever! I grew up watching R.R. He brought to the youth of my time, "truth, justice & the American way"! I stole that quote, by the way. It brings me back to my childhood, which I guess was worse than these movies were. Maybe that is why I enjoyed them so much. PapaLarry H

Roy Rogers is a "border investigator" who arrives at San Angelo for some singing, and some problem solving - the problem is silver smuggling along the U.S.-Mexican border, and murder rears its ugly head. Comic sidekick Andy Devine (as "Cookie") is local sheriff / dog catcher. Dale Evans (as "Helen") is a reporter with a nose for news, and a penchant for trouble. Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers sing "Hot Lead" and shoot the breeze."Bells of San Angelo" is full of absurdities. Mr. Devine's dogs and raccoon keep the production looking perpetually infantile - one of the dogs even tosses a bad guy over a cliff. There are several scenes with Mr. Rogers and Ms. Evans (especially Ms. Evans) performing quite well, but the production does not give them a proper outlet for their obvious charm and ability; they shine in the "Robin Hood" scene, and during a couple of songs (like "I Love the West" ). The color photography is nice, but the film is lackluster. ** Bells of San Angelo (1947) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Andy Devine

I've never been a fan of Roy's, even while I watched his 1950s TVshow as a kid. I wanted to buy one RR movie, just to see if I hadchanged my mind about his films. I picked this one because acouple of sources had stated that this was his best film, & was"tougher" than most of his films. I don't like songs with mywesterns, so of course there was far too much music for my tastehere (I lost count at seven). The comedy, supplied by Andy Devine,was pretty good (& actually quite funny near the end of the film), abig improvement over Smiley Burnett, but nowhere near as goodas Gabby Hayes. Dale was OK as the heroine, & better than Ithought she would be, a better actor than her husband. Indeed,there were a couple of very gritty fight scenes where RR took abeating (& surprisingly, this was acknowledged in later sceneswhere he was seen with bruises). But overall, not an excitingexperience for me. The plot was weak & the music disconnectedwhat little action there was. For the sake of comparison, I'm goingto try a very small dose of Gene Autry before going back to thegreatest of all cowboy stars, William Boyd!