Eyes of Texas

Francis Ford thought he had lost his nephew during the War, and had turned his fortune towards a camp for the children of fallen soldiers. Now his lawyer, Nana Bryant, tells him the youngster has turned up, so he tells her to rewrite his will, leaving half to the young man, and half to the camp. He signs a blank form and then heads into town. On the way, he is attacked by angry dogs, which everyone thinks are wolves. Ford is killed, but when his will is red, he has left everything to his nephew. Marshall Roy Rogers is in town to investigate. He comes across one of the dogs, hit by a bullet -- it's Bullet in his first role. Roy and doctor Andy Devine fail to calm the animal, but Trigger does so immediately.

There's a lot going on in this Roy Rogers vehicle, so much so that it often becomes confusing, even when it's been establish that Miss Bryant, despite her vapors, is actually the lead bad guy in the show. Lynne Roberts is present as Devine's nurse and Roy's implied love interest, and the Sons of the Pioneer sing or accompany Roy in three songs. It's not one of Roy's best, but it's still lively and fun.

The Eyes Of Texas has Roy Rogers as a US Marshal who uncovers a truly intricate plan involving a scheme to kill and rob Francis Ford of his ranch. Ford has made his ranch a boy's camp specifically for kids whose fathers were killed in World War II. But his sister Nana Bryant who is a lawyer has some other ideas about the property and the woman is quite ruthless in her methods.

Which include training a pack of dogs who've been killing cattle in and around the area for months before she springs them on Ford. Of course Roy does not believe the rumor that killer wolves have been raiding the local cattle.

Her chief henchman Roy Barcroft and Roy have a truly brutal fight scene where Andy Devine who's a doctor in this film rescues him. One of Roy's fancy western shirts was sacrificed for art. This fight scene was right on the edge and is comparable to the one that Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt have with Barton MacLane in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre which also came out in 1948. How it got through the censors is beyond me as Roy's films were marketed for the Saturday matinée kiddie trade.

Bryant who had a long career on screen mostly as good women, even playing nuns maybe has her career role in The Eyes Of Texas. I'd check this better than average Roy Rogers feature out just for her alone.

While I did not hate "Eyes of Texas" like Dick-42 did, he did make an excellent point about how wildly illogical this film was at times. Too often I just found myself confused why certain plot elements were tossed into the film and they made my brain hurt!!

Let's talk about the plot first--and then the more illogical stuff. The film is set at a camp for the children of dead WWII soldiers--a rather timely plot idea considering the war had only recently ended. Thad loves the kids and this is his life. However, his lawyer sends him a cable--saying that his own dead son is, in fact, alive! When Thad visits his lady lawyer (an interesting casting decision to make her a woman), she convinces him to sign a blank will form and 'she'll fill in the rest later' so they can include the son in the will. Why would anyone agree to sign a paper like this?! Didn't he KNOW that would mean he would die only minutes later?! And, of course it happens--as she sicks a pack of vicious dogs on him! This is actually kind of cool...and silly.

The evil lawyer's plan is to create a will--giving the camp and all of Thad's money to the son--not just a portion like Thad had requested. Actually, the son really IS dead--so she has a guy who is going to pretend to be the son and collect the money AND toss all the orphans out of the camp! Can Marshall Roy save the day and expose this evil plot?

Okay...here's some of the illogical stuff (apart from someone signing a blank will form):

The locals all decide to beat up Roy and get him dismissed from his job because they think he is trying to toss out the orphans. So, because they love the kids so, they become lawless and a lynch-mob mentality develops. Of course you later learn SOME of these folks were paid by the lawyer to do this--but what about everyone else?! Why would you want to help orphans this way?!

Why did Roy slug Doc (Andy Devine)?! This sure made the angry townsfolk seem reasonable (though this happened AFTER they became angry and kind of crazy). Later, Roy said he did this because he wanted to get fired so he could better investigate what was happening. Huh?! Roy...you HIT Doc! And he's your friend! Why exactly did you hit Doc?! Huh?! What?! Hitting one of the few people in town who LIKED you is an interesting strategy, I must say!

The lawyer hates one of her vicious dogs, Lobo, because he isn't mean enough AND the dog really, really, really hates her. Later, she and her evil henchman steal this dog away from Roy. Several days later, they STILL have the dog and haven't killed it. Yet, earlier in the film they tried several times to kill the dog. Why would they keep the dog once they stole it-especially since they dog wants to kill you?! They wanted it dead, right?!? SO they kidnapped it and kept it alive! Good strategy!

Overall, this is a mildly entertaining but ludicrously confusing Roy Rogers film. Turn off your brain and stop it from questioning the plot and you'll probably have a good time watching it. Otherwise, you might just want to skip this one.

There're some novel features in this Rogers oater—a "wolf" pack, an old lady mastermind, Devine as a veterinarian, and a home for orphaned boys. Seems an old lady (Bryant) plots to steal inheritance from the boys home, and only US Marshal Rogers stands in her way. In the process, she enlists much of the town, including Devine, to discredit Roy who doesn't help himself by slugging the popular vet. Yes, good guy Roy slugs good guy Devine. Good thing our hero has Trigger and Lobo to help, and, oh yes, a fetching Lynne Roberts who would keep any guy going.

There's some okay flying fists, and fast shooting near the end, while hard riding features the predatory wolf pack. The locations are familiar ones just north of LA, so not much b&w scenery. Nonetheless, the story's an engaging one, along with its novel aspects. I should say in reply to fellow reviewers and as a Front Row geezer that I don't watch these matinees for their logic. They weren't intended as tight story lines. Now if I were watching a polished murder mystery, a very different standard would apply. Anyway, this is a highly entertaining Rogers entry and shouldn't be missed.

A movie, obviously intended for the 10-year-olds at the kids' matinees, that looks as though it was written by a 10-year-old. (I guess there were still kids' matinees in 1948. I hadn't been to one in about 11 years.)

The film depicts post-WW-II Texas (from the title, not from anything within the movie itself) in 1947 as the same as in the 1870's, with everyone wearing cowboy suits - popular with 10-year-olds - riding around on horses or buckboards, wearing guns, and engaging in shootouts on the streets, with no official accounting for the bodies. The estate settlement is inexplicably turned over to 'the insurance company', and although all the money has officially been stolen by the fake will, the crooks appeal to the townsfolk to throw the bad Government man out and 'save the children'! (How a petition from the people will accomplish this isn't clear.) In the end, all the crooks, who are the only ones who know of and can testify to the facts in the conspiracy, are dead, and the 'happy ending' leaves all the legal entanglements up in the air.

If they had thrown out the wooden-sided Ford station wagon and the telephone, made the boys Civil War orphans, and assigned the estate settlement to a court instead of the insurance company, the film would almost pass for logical by Western flick standards.

The only things close to a redeeming value in this picture are a couple of pretty good songs by the Sons of the Pioneers.

The only reason this turkey doesn't make my list of 'The Ten Worst Films of All Time' (which currently contains about 35 titles) is that as a Cowboy flick, it isn't expected to be good.