Red River Valley

When the story begins, Roy has returned to his hometown for Pioneer Days...a rootin', tootin' good time to celebrate the exploits of this famous cowboy. But soon after arriving, someone robs the bank and steals all the funds set aside to build the dam...and immediately the townsfolk start whining and blaming Roy for this...and practically everything else! It makes no sense at all and when Roy tries to help them, they come up with many excuses NOT to follow his suggestions. At the same time, it's very obvious that Allison and his partners are behind the robbery and the countless 'accidents' that happened to the dam construction! Will this town ever wise up? And, why would Roy care about this town of jerks in the first place??

Like many of Roy Rogers' and Gene Autry's films, this is one of those strange sorts of modern westerns--complete with cars, telephones and all the modern conveniences...and folks STILL riding about on horses! I can look past this...it's just a strange part of the genre. But what I had trouble with was this hometown. Can ANY group of folks be this unfriendly, suspicious (but only towards things that are NOT dangers) and stupid? I think it was too much in the story and actually hurt the film overall. A decent film...but not among Rogers' best...mostly because his so-called friends are about as friendly as rattlesnakes!