Arizona Round-Up

This B western starring Tom Keene was a bit of the average of the Monogram Studio product of its day. The story was not a bad one and this could have been something from Republic or a major studio B picture unit.

Keene and sidekick Frank Yaconelli are a pair of 'government men' who get themselves involved in a range war. This one actually has a bit of truth to it. I. Stanford Jolley owns a rail spur line where the local ranchers ship their goods. He decides to squeeze the ranchers by charging exorbitant rates for shipping. Jolley is in partnership with another rancher Hal Price whose property sits across the only trail out of the valley everybody lives in. He extorts his neighbors in collusion with Jolley.

Of course Keene's interest isn't entirely benevolent. Incognito he's gone to work for rancher Steve Clark and he's taken an interest in the older of his two daughters, Hope Blackwood. The younger has the delightful movie star name of Sugar Dawn and she's kind of a Shirley Temple as tomboy cowgirl.

Yaconelli had some really funny scenes as a sidekick. He's not so good with a gun, but he's devastating with a sling-shot. You've got to see him at work in the final shootout with the bad guys.

Though it's got typical Monogram production values, I give the creators of Arizona Round-Up an A for effort. Railroads and their shipping practices was a very big issue back in those western days and led to a lot of the radical politics of the latter 19th century. If done at a major studio, Arizona Round-Up might have been a classic.

Tom Keene had looks and presence and probably could and should have been a big star. I need to do the research to learn why.

He was athletic enough, too, but obviously this movie was made without the stunt expertise of Yakima Canutt or any of the pros who knew how to stage a fight.

Keene blocks with his right and slugs with his left, and it looks rather odd.

There is a good plot line but it gets dragged out by far too many running inserts that are far too long.

And the would-be "comedy" bits further damage the film.

I saw it online, at YouTube, where it's credited to westernsontheweb.com, and where I plan to look for more movies. One complaint: It is awfully dark, though I suppose it could be my computer's fault. (But I don't think it is.)

And one more complaint: There was a (censored) commercial in the middle!

As another reviewer pointed out, the actual title is "Arizona Round-Up" and it is wrong at both IMDb.com and YouTube.com. I don't understand why. (And I will try to repair it at IMDb.com.)

All in all, it's worth watching.

P. S. Added 20 November 2015. Please notice the great people at IMDb DID make the change in the title. They are wonderful, and IMDb is my favorite site.

P. S. Again. Added 11 Oct 2022: On the film itself, the title is "Arizona Round-up." But the poster says "Arizona Roundup." So that's why there is disagreement.