Reviews (2)

Cameron's work on view....
During the second half of the 1940s and into the early 1950s cowboy actor Rod Cameron ranked up there with Scott, McCrea, Rogers, Elliot, and others. He was a staple "A" budget star for Republic Pictures, making a number of very entertaining oaters. RIDE THE MAN DOWN is one of his better ones, and well repays viewing. The plot is complex but handled deftly. Cameron's acting is quite good, in the tradition of the rugged cowboys of an earlier generation. Supporting roles are handled well. Don't miss this one--it'll make you wonder why more of Cameron is available.

terrific, classic, compact Western; great cast; real treat
Wonderful western. Hidden treat; especially enjoyable surprise as the film is not discussed in Western film books. Amazing the way so many characters, plot twists, romance, action, scenery, morality could be squeezed into this 1-1/2 hour color Republic "A" film. Well written, cast, photographed and directed. Your only regret will be that it is over, only 1-1/2 hours of it. Take a look at the cast! This will restore your faith in Westerns. Good pulp work. Enjoyable. Keep a paper and pencil to keep track of the characters. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Classic Barbara Stanwyck western suitable for family viewing
The Maverick Queen is a classic Barbara Stanwyck western suitable for family viewing. The plot is straight forward with just enough surprises to keep your interest. Stanwyck's character, the Maverick Queen, is similar to her role as Victoria Barkley in The Big Valley--a strong woman in a man's world. One of the best things about the movie is the spectacular scenery. The Maverick Queen was shot on location in and around Silverton, Colorado. It utilizes excellent footage of a real life slice of history, which is still much the same today. Hollywood staging cannot compare to the real location shots available in Silverton. I highly recommend viewing this classic western filmed in spectacular Silverton, Colorado. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

John Wayne In Different Form Here and it works
John Wayne the reigning hero of Western & Action films is in a departure of his usual tough guy personna by playing a chracter of self doubt. Wayne plays a Rancher who competes with a gambling tycoon on the Barbary Coast over the hand of a beautiful dance hall queen. This film also displays the infamous 1906 San Fransisco Earthquake. One of the highlights in a film that is otherwise routine. Another highlight is seeing this film in colured version instead of black & white.

Wayne shows his versatility
This early outing finds Wayne in a romantic, light hearted story that showed early signs of what was to come. Watch closely to see early parallels with later legendary performances with Maureen O'Hara in films such as the quiet man. Only about 100 mins long, but very easy viewing, and absorbing, don't be put off by the early year of production - this is a very good movie. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

What Have They Done to My Favorite Story?
I just love Gwen Brister's 1950 book "Jubilee Trail," a vivid tale that travels from New York City to the wild frontier of Mexican ruled California. Sadly enough, I believe it is out of print. It is a great love/adventure story with two amazingly strong (pre-women's lib) female protagonists, Garnet and Florinda who travel with the Santa Fe traders via wagon train along the Jubilee Trail. I had no idea it was ever a movie so imagine my excitement when I saw it was now available on VHS.

Boy, what a disappoining adaptation. They omitted or cut out the meeting and marriage between Garnet and her physically strong but weak-willed hubby, Oliver, so you have no sense of what is going on with them or why his brother is such a jerk to Garnet. The plot also revolves around the absolutely gorgeous but tragically disfigured Florinda, "a glorious strumpet" to quote Oliver. Much of the book's plot revolves around Florinda's Nordic complexion and blonde hair. So what do they do? They cast a brunette instead! Hello!

Then there is the problem with John Ives, Oliver's Heathcliff-type partner: silent, likes nature better than people, etc. The screen writers completely ignore his emotional make-up which makes him a one-dimensional character. They re-wrote(and totally screwed up) the sexiest scene in the book in which Garnet has to have her arm cauterized with a hot poker after she is shot during a Digger Indian attack. I know this sounds sick but in trying to be brave and to not scream while she is being held down by he and her husband (no morphine here), Garnet bites John's muscular thigh hard enough to draw a mouthful of blood and you know it's not over for those two yet!

Ah, the 1950s. The female roles are all co-opted by male characters, nobody looks good enough (except Garnet) and it makes me so mad I am tempted to rewrite it as sort of Thelma and Louise go goldrush. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

BADMEN OF DEADWOOD
Don't waste your money on this piece of garbage. This is a DVD made from a VHS transfer, made from a VHS transfer. The picture quality is so bad it gave me a headache after just 15 minutes of watching fuzzy images and dark scenes. And the sound is even worse. I have no idea why companies like this who spend money making attractive box covers and disc lables can have no regard for the quality of the movie they are transferring. There is no excuse....if they worked with a decent 16 MM print there is no way it could be this bad. This company has bought a bad VHS tape and made a copy from that bad tape to offer an even worse quality copy.

Durn-tootin' Saturday matinee fun.
Sturdy Republic Western that emphasizes action over music. The Sons of the Pioneers are nowhere in sight. Roy Rogers is a reformed gunfighter working for Gabby Hayes' snake oil medicine show. In Deadwood, the members of the civic league are in cahoots with a gang of killers. This includes the sheriff and the newspaper editor, who has been waging a bogus war against crime on the editorial page. Villains abound. The honest townspeople enlist Roy's help, and the stage is set for excitement. This B Western is true to its budget restraints. The running time of 53 minutes is a virtue that doesn't let the plot go awry. With the bad guys posing as good citizens and the good guys reduced to social castoffs, the story requires close attention to keep the players straight. Even RR initially wears a black hat. The conflict of warring factions builds to a climactic shoot-out of Hopalong Cassidy proportions. This film is an entertaining blend of Western action and light humor. We are happy to report there is more shootin' and ridin' than in most of RR's later Western musicals. Nobody made Westerns as Republic. ;-) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Above average Roy Rogers, below average DVD transfer . . .
. . . but if you pay under [dollar amount] for a DVD, you can't really complain. Unfortunately, all of Roy's movies will probably be shuffled off to DVD with just as little care. The sound crackles sometimes, and some of Dale's delightful solos are a bit distorted; the picture is fuzzier sometimes than others (even "jumps" once, as though it were a tape), and you have to turn the volume up pretty high compared to typical DVD.

Though the quality leaves at least as much to be desired as one would expect considering the price, "Yellow Rose of Texas" is above average Roy Rogers fare. Included are the classic framed man with a beautiful daughter (Dale, of course), Roy's undercover identity as insurance agent, a stunt with Trigger to save a boy in a runaway wagon, a multi-fisted fight featuring the Sons of the Pioneers (minus Pat Brady, since this is 1944), the classic shot of black "blood" dripping through two ceiling boards to give away the winged fugitive (at a rate that says he must have hit an artery and is in serious need of a transfusion!), and lots more great nostalgia inducers. One number by the Sons of the Pioneers, "Timber," is musically even better than usual. It's also interesting to see Dale Evans before that "Queen of the West" persona, which she was originally so against, was firmly established; you'll hear her sing and see her pout those pretty lips, but she won't be riding a horse. (This is partially due, of course, to the fact that much of this setting has to do with riverboats and shows rather than ranches and the frontier.) Even her hair is different than the typical "Cowgirl Dale" look that we fans take for granted.

All in all, if you want to see Roy and Dale in restored glory, don't bother with the Alpha Video releases. But if you want to see them on DVD at all, you may have to settle for these, and "Yellow Rose of Texas" is a perfect place to start.

Good sing-along title song.
Roy Rogers portrays a singing cowboy insurance investigator on a showboat. I know it sounds too weird, but just go with it. Life will be easier. Five years ago Dale Evans' father was framed for an express robbery, and he is still on the run. Roy and the sheriff are both hot on Dad's trail while the real crooks make more mischief. This is a lesser effort by RR and crew. This is one of those "modern" Westerns that feature autos as well as horses. From the complaint department, the emphasis on elaborate song-and-dance numbers detracts from the B Western fun. There is some blazing six-gun action, but not enough to give one time to use up an entire roll of caps. It's always good to see Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers. Gabby Hayes is not in this one. This movie is of moderate interest to staunch RR fans and those who relish the nostalgia of Saturday matinees. Remember the days when every kid on the block wanted to be a cowboy? From that perspective, viewing and ownership is of value. ;-) ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is Roy Rodgers first starring role
This is the first Movie that Leonard Sly starred in as Roy Rogers and rode Trigger. It is a must have for a RR fan and collector. It Premeried in my Hometown Dallas, Texas, 1939. They say Gene Autry did not show up for this, or possibly another, movie at Republic Pictures so Roy was promoted from a member of the Sons of The Pioneers and a bit actor to Star, to give Gene some competition. It didn't bother Gene much, he still made more pictures and recorded more songs that Roy. Obviously I am a fan of them both. Some say Gene was going into the army at this time and flying supply planes. Roy appeare in many of Gene's films previous to this movie. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Iron Trail
Wish that there were more movies like the Cheyenne series on VHS today. They are great movies for the whole family to watch. I'd like to purchase others if they ever are made for VHS. I especially like Clint Walker westerns.

very good western exciting
This video was excellent. I am surprised that more episodes of this series have not been released. But if any one wants to see a good western this is one that is a must see. Dennis Hopper is great as a Billy the Kid type outlaw. Clint Walker is great as Cheyenne. ... Read more

Amazon.com

It was invariably a bad sign when Republic saddled John Wayne with a wife and obliged him to wear a city feller's coat. To make matters worse, in Dakota the uxorial appendage is Czech kewpie doll Vera Hruba Ralston (a wife offscreen, too--to studio boss Herbert J. Yates). Eloping with her from the Chicago mansion of her railroad-baron daddy, Wayne wants to head west for California. Ralston prefers the wheat lands of Dakota and, not for the last time, gets her way.

With a slew of seasoned character actors (starting with Walter Brennan as a choleric riverboat captain), auspicious writing credits (Carl Foreman, Oscar-winner Howard Estabrook), and an offbeat setting--a melting-pot Fargo with immigrant farmers wearing the costumes of their native lands--Dakota really ought to be a more memorable movie. Instead, despite plenty of chases, robberies, and killings, it seems never quite to get started. The only mildly interesting aspect is Wayne's having to play it smiley and affable toward the likes of land-grabber Ward Bond and his henchmen Mike Mazurki, Grant Withers, and Paul Fix even as he knows they're responsible for every nasty thing that befalls the community.

Second-unit director Yakima Canutt stages a spectacular last-reel wheat-field fire, but mostly the movie is hamstrung by Republic's penchant for cheap miniatures and an overabundance of (awful) process photography. At one point, the riverboat on which the cast is traveling comes to an inglorious halt on a sandbar--and behind them, the scenery continues to glide merrily by. --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (2)

John Wayne, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond - how can it miss?
But it does. Vera Ralson is part of the problem, she's pretty but bland in the role of Wayne's new bride who sweet-talks him in going to the title state so they can run a riverboat business, but the real weakness is the overall look of the film. An overabundance of rear projection and rather obvious indoor/outdoor scenes gives this 'outer' a distint fake feeling. Duke is amicable in the lead, Bond makes a sturdy villian, Brennan is fine doing his Gabby Hayes impersonation and the film has a rousing climax, but it never rises beyond it's B origins

Not up to potential
Dakota is a film loaded with potential that never really comes together. Big names like Walter Brennan (Rio Bravo, Red River) and Ward Bond (The Searchers) join John Wayne in an interesting plot. The problem lies with the directing and screenwriting. At times the screenwriter confuses confusion with action. During the finale you can see what looks like the same wagon tipping over three times (different angles/reversing film). At times it is difficult to understand what the characters are saying, and why things are happening. Die hard Wayne fans will want to buy this film, but many will probably give it a pass. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Gene Autry "Ride Ranger Ride"
Gene is a Texas Ranger working undercover as a scout for the Army. He's trying to stop the Comanches from looting a wagon train loaded down with ammunition. This is a well balanced plot, Smily Burnette as Forg and Kay Hughes as the love interest show the humor and softness for which Gene Autry Movies are Famious. As well old stars such as Max Terhune and Monte Blue provide the action. Champion the wounder horse makes riding look easy and very fast. Two and 1/2 Stars for this Republic Feature released in 1936, It should run 63m. ... Read more