O Grande Rodeio

This film essentially begins with a cowboy by the name of "Stony Brooke" (Robert Livingston) receiving a telegram from his good friend "Tucson Smith" (Ray Corrigan) that a wild range fire has devastated the grassland on their ranch. So, in desperate need of money to help feed their cattle, Stony persuades a traveling rodeo investor to advance him $1000 in exchange for his promise to capture a wild stallion named "Cyclone" which has captured everyone's imagination. Unfortunately, rather than being supportive of this news, Tucson expresses his concern due to the fact a young lady he's attracted to named "Alice Hartley" (June Martel) has expressed a great fondness for the wild horse and doesn't want him captured. To make matters even worse, once she meets Stony, Alice falls in love with him instead of Tucson. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather solid entry into the "Three Mesquiteers" series due in large part to the romantic angle within the overall plot. Likewise, if one pays close attention, they will notice that Roy Rogers makes a brief appearance in a singing role as well. Be that as it may, while I don't necessarily consider this to be a great Western by any means, it was certainly not inferior to most of the other films in this series, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Why did I mention Dick Weston in the summary? This is because he's none other than Roy Rogers. But here in "Wild Horse Rodeo", it's before he became the famous cowboy and instead he just sings and yodels in the film...but nothing else. Soon after finishing "Wild Horse Rodeo" Leonard Slye (that's Roy's real name) went on to greater things!

The story begins with Stony winning in the rodeo. But the owners are NOT thrilled because the crowd was tiny and they are losing money. They come up with an idea....to capture the famous wild horse, Cyclone, and feature it in their rodeos. Stony agrees to do it for them and he's paid $1000 for the horse. However, he comes to regret it. Why? Because the woman who helped to make the horse famous insists he should be allowed to run wild. And, since Stony is falling for her, he wants to make her happy. So, at the next rodeo, he takes the challenge to successfully ride this beast...and wins. The prize is $2000....or the horse. And, Stony oddly chooses the horse! He plans to let it free...but soon the rodeo owners send goons to try to steal the horse! This really made little sense, as the crowd saw him win the horse....and the rodeo owners couldn't exactly feature a stolen horse in their shows!

Although Stony did all this to impress the lady, it's a problem as it turns out Tucson is ALSO in love with her. When Stony finds out, he runs off on his own to Mexico...in order to let his friend have the girl. Of course, NO ONE BOTHERED TO ASK THE LADY WHO SHE WANTED...if anyone! So what's next? See the film....and hear Roy sing a few songs.

Apart from Rogers, the film is pretty typical and features the most famous lineup of the Mesquiteers, Ray Corrigan, Bob Livingston and Max Terhune....and Terhune's dummy, Elmer. I have no idea who and why they thought having a western cowboy running about doing ventriloquism was a good thing...but Elmer appeared in many of the films in this series. Overall, a decent and entertaining film...even with dopey old Elmer!