West of the Pecos

This excellent Robert Mitchum/Barbara Hale western is equal parts of action, comedy and romance. There's enough characters running around doing stuff that one never gets bored. In a nutshell, Chicago city slickers go west to take over an old hacienda that's been abandoned for years. Of course there's outlaws, stage coach chases, gun play and all sorts of goings on. I rented this from Netflix because after visiting and photographing the Zane Grey Museum in Ohio I'm trying to watch as many of Zane Grey movies as possible. This flick is definitely worth renting.

It was shot in Lone Pine California where many Hollywood westerns were shot. It seems Barbara Hale convinced the director to employ a guy she was sweet on, Bill Williams. He isn't around much in the movie but apparently he was around enough behind the scenes that Barbara managed to sink her hooks into the guy. They ended up married until his death and had three kids. One of the kids was William Katt, the actor.

This movie follows basically the same theme as "Stagecoach Kid". where a lady dresses as a boy and tries to pass as a boy briefly. Also, this movie has Richard Martin playing the character of Chito Rafferty. Unlike "Stagecoach Kid",Pecos doesn't realize that the "boy" is really a lady for a while, whereas the character played by Tim Holt in "Stagecoach Kid" plays along with the act. This movie has no surprises, the good guys win and the hero gets the girl at the end,but the characters are likeable,the story flows well.

Richard Martin made a career out of the character, Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamonte Rafferty. Cracking jokes about his Irish-Mexican heritage in a very dated accent, and busting out his guitar in every movie, he's one of the most recognizable western sidekicks in the business. You've got thirty chances to catch his character, including 1945's West of the Pecos.

In this silly, humorous, escapism movie, Barbara Hale's father, Thurston Hall, has to get more exercise into his daily routine for his health. The family decides to pick up and move from Chicago to their ranch in Texas-but since it's the 1880s, the wild west is dangerous. In order to protect herself, and her French companion Rita Corday, Barbara dresses like a boy. But when she meets hunky Robert Mitchum on the road, maybe she'll want to trade in her trousers for a dress. . .

I actually really liked West of the Pecos, even though it's just a silly western. Barbara Hale does a great job in her dual-personality and getting in touch with her masculine side, and Thurston Hall is a wonderful Frank Morgan knockoff. Of course, my loyalties lie with Robert Mitchum, which is why I first rented this early movie. He's so incredibly adorable in this movie, treating Barbara like a kid brother as they travel together in the desert. At nighttime, she's expected to bunk up with him to conserve body heat, and he holds open the blanket: "Get in! Cuddle!" Seriously, how darling is that?

Superior B-Western with Bob Mitchum in his second starring film. Lots of action and plenty of plot as Barbara Hale, her father and their French maid relocate from Chicago to Texas, stumbling across Pecos Smith (Mitchum) as he exacts revenge on the crooked vigilantes who killed his best friend, then hides out, just trying to stay alive. Hale spends a good portion of the film cross-dressing, so if you've ever wanted to see Mitchum invite what he thinks is a teenage boy into his bed for a cuddle, then this is the film for you. Bob is laid back, compelling, sometimes cool, just a few months away from the first great characterisation of his career in The Story of G.I. Joe.

(3 out of 4)

West Of The Pecos was the second of two Zane Grey novels that Robert Mitchum starred in for RKO before being drafted. He took the place of Tim Holt as RKO's movie cowboy because Holt was in military service. He even inherited Holt's romantic sidekick Richard Martin whom we all know as the ever popular Chito Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty.

Before Roy Bean went West Of The Pecos there was no law and order there and such that existed was in the hands of the infamous Sawtelle Brothers, Harry Woods and Perc Launders who head the vigilante committee. So these guys operate with impunity pretty much. But when they hold up the stagecoach and kill Bill Williams who is Mitchum's friend, Mitchum gets himself a mission.

In the meantime meatpacking tycoon Thurston Hall is told by his doctor to get out in the good country and do some real exercise even if it's in the form of manual labor. So he packs off his daughter Barbara Hale and her French maid Rita Corday and leaves his lawyer Bruce Edwards who is Hale's intended and they move to a piece of ranch property in that area West Of The Pecos.

Mitchum and Martin rescue the party when they're stranded in the desert and Hale has taken to wearing male drag the best to avoid unwanted attentions from the rough and ready and horny cowboys. A large part of the humor is due to Mitchum taking her for a man. A lot like some of the humor in Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn film Sylvia Scarlett.

Of course Robert Mitchum went on to bigger and better things as he was shortly to be cast in The Story Of GI Joe and Tim Holt returned to making westerns with Richard Martin. West Of The Pecos is a nice B western with a good mix of action and humor.

But when I watch this and the film Nevada I often wonder if Mitchum had not gotten the big break for The Story Of GI Joe would he have continued as a B picture western star. Watch Nevada and West Of The Pecos and judge for yourself.