El guapo del rancho

Dick Powell was one of the greats; certainly here he is winding down his WB juvenile singing roles. Nevertheless, he could do comedy, his most memorable dramatic roles were a few years hence. WB had two excellent singers in this picture, Priscilla Lane, who has a duet, and Ann Sheridan, who did not get to sing a note. These gals were special. Pat O'Brien was just plain fun machine-gunning his lines, and the character roster in support is WB at its best. Dick Foran singing off key is trouper at work for a Broadway headliner. WB stalwarts Granville Bates, Emma Dunn, Hobart Cavanaugh, Elizabeth Risdon add to the absurdity. James Stephenson was playing this one for laughs; The Letter was two years away. Have yourself a happy hour.

Elly Jordan (Dick Powell) is a down-on-his-luck singer who finds himself on a dude ranch in Wyoming. He is soon spotted by a NYC talent agent (Pat O'Brien), who doesn't realize Elly is actually from Brooklyn.

Cowboy from Brooklyn is an enjoyable piece of fluff. It's only 77 minutes, so it doesn't overstay it's welcome. The songs are forgettable, but Dick Powell is his usual charming self. There's some quite funny scenes throughout the film.

Priscilla Laine is excellent as Powell's love interest, and Pat O'Brien is good as the fast-talking talent agent. Ann Sheridan is wasted in a thankless role, and Ronald Reagan has a bit part as a publicity man. Overall, this isn't one of Dick Powell's better films, but it's worth a look.

While fairly average as far as musicals go, this movie is noteworthy for me because it is the only film that features my two favorite actresses, Priscilla Lane and Ann Sheridan.

While they don't have any scenes together, unfortunately, there is a scene where Priscilla looks at a picture of Ann. It's not much, but I'll take what I can get!

It's too bad The Cowboy from Brooklyn does not do a good enough job in showcasing Priscilla Lane in the female lead. And Ann Sheridan is barely featured at all.

I can only imagine what could have been...

Elly Jordan (Dick Powell) is a musician from Brooklyn on his way out west. But he and the other two in his trio get caught riding in a boxcar for free and are tossed off the train somewhere in Wyoming. They come upon a dude ranch - a working ranch that also functions as a hotel/resort for "tenderfoots" seeking the western ranch experience. At first the daughter in the family, Jane Hardy (Priscilla Lane) thinks Elly is just another tramp and refuses his offer of working for food. Then she has second thoughts and hires Elly and his trio as musical entertainment.

Because the ranch is catering to easterners looking for that western authenticity, Jane teaches Elly how to talk, walk, and act like a genuine westerner. It works so well that when an agent on the verge of a nervous breakdown (Pat O'Brien) and his assistant (Ronald Reagan) show up for a relaxing stay at the ranch, they are completely taken in by Elly's act and sign him to a radio contract as Wyoming Steve Gibson, a genuine singing cowboy who can also rope and ride.

Complicating factors include the fact that Elly has a phobia of all animals - from the big ones you should be afraid of like bulls, to the tiniest creatures like gophers and canaries. Also, an actual singing cowboy at the ranch resents how well Elly is doing both career-wise and with Jane and knows that Elly is a city slicker. Complications ensue.

This is passable entertainment, but it seems like Warner Brothers was struggling for a reason to make this movie in the first place. It's like they realized they wanted a Dick Powell film so there would have to be a musical theme of course, but had to strain to come up with anything past that. So they added a Western theme - Powell had never done one of those before - and then strained to fill 75 minutes with .... something. As a result it has dull stretches and pointless stretches. 15 minutes could have been cut and it would have lost nothing.

Dick Powell and Priscilla Lane sing a cute duet called "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride": Standing under a tree, Powell strums a guitar while the two trade lines and hardly stop smiling through the whole song. It's a charming highlight of this enjoyable and unassuming comedy.

Powell plays a singer on his way west (from Brooklyn) who gets stranded at a Wyoming dude ranch run by Lane and her family. Hired as a ranch entertainer, Powell is quickly discovered by vacationing press agent Pat O'Brien, who immediately gives him a new name ("Wyoming Steve Gibson") and hauls him back to New York to present him as the next big thing—a "genuine" singing cowboy. What will happen if the public learns Powell is a fake?

Among the many whimsical elements here are Powell's fear of animals (he turns tail and runs when he sees so much as a bird fly past); Lane's insistence on proper Western pronunciation and terminology (you don't "think," you "reckon"); and Pat O'Brien's lightning fast delivery of virtually every line he speaks.

Ronald Reagan is also funny as O'Brien's bemused but enthusiastic assistant. Dick Foran pitches in as a frustrated western crooner himself who butchers "Home on the Range" every time he can corral an audience.

Powell and Lane are attractive leads, and both are especially good in the scenes they share. The plot really isn't much….but the songs are fine and the cast make it all very easy to watch.