The Westward Trail

This 1948 film features the singing cowboy Eddie Dean in a tale of forgery, greed and avarice. Dean corrals a posse of towns-folk and goes after the deceiving buckaroos who have been ripping off his pals. With dogged determination, they fight it out with the shady outlaws.

Roscoe "Soapy" Ates had good chemistry with Dean in this film, but overall he was not a stand-out as a sidekick. Dean gets to warble a few cow tunes before he saves the day ........

Fans of the genre should enjoy the music & humor in this one, but nothing in the film is especially memorable.

Average programmer .....

Eddie Dean, Copper the Horse, and Roscoe Ates -- that's the order in which they're billed -- help Phyllis Planchard save the ranch she just bought from Bob Duncan, who wants it for a silver mine. She's hobbled by her brother, Steve Drake, who forged her name on the deed and sold it to Duncan. Meanwhile, Duncan, whose henchmen have killed the sheriff, appoints himself law in the town.

Under Ray Taylor's direction and Ernest Miller's camera, this might have been a very pleasant late example of the singing western, but Drake stinks up the joint, acting like a sullen four-year-old under threat of a spanking. Ates offers a more amusing performance than usual, particularly in the scene where he tells a tall tale about an Indian princess.