Out California Way

This isn't so much of a western movie, as it is a movie about MAKING western movies - set in the mid 40s. There are at least a half-dozen songs here, but many of them are quite juvenile. I guess that's supposed to play to the youthfulness of the audience at whom this must be aimed. Most of the music is provided by Foy Willing and The Riders of The Purple Sage, but Roy Rogers and Dale Evans - as part of their cameo appearance - also contribute a tune. Rocky Lane and Red Barry briefly cross the screen as well. Robert (Bobby, as he was billed back then) Blake has a main part: While trying to get his HORSE in films, he meets actor-wannabe Monte Hale. The newcomer ultimately upstages an established radio-to-celluloid cowboy, thereby establishing what little tension there is in this flick. In addition, the kid has an older sister, who provides a bit of romance involving her and Monte. The plot and dialogue throughout seems very contrived, which may be too noticeable to adults; and kids may lose interest in a few places.

This is a real good Republic B-western. A cowboy hero(John Dehner)on the radio wants to establish himself stronger in the movies. Standing in the way is a much younger cowboy(Monte Hale)drawing much new interest. A young boy(13 yr old Robert Blake)is also trying to get his horse into show business. The trick horse becomes a pivotal pawn in the established feud. Lorna Gray is the obligatory love interest. Cameos by Rocky Lane, Red Barry as well as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans who supply a toe tappin' tune to the half-dozen or so offerings from Foy Willing and his Riders of the Purple Sage. Just over an hour...sorta like sitting in the Kiddie Matinee on Saturday morning.

I noticed one reviewer described this film as looking 'garish'....and it is indeed an ugly looking color movie. This is because Republic Studio made many of its late 40s and early 50s B-movies in TruColor. While these films were color pictures, it was a second-rate color. This is because Technicolor was expensive and TruColor and Cinecolor were much cheaper alternatives...about the same price as black & white film stock. But these two color systems had serious drawbacks. Because they were two-color processes, they really did not provide a full spectrum of colors. Yellows and purples, for example, were not possible with TruColor or Cinecolor and the other colors tended to look orangy and greenish-blue. And, this weird spectrum only got worse as the films degraded...and the copy I found and dan-180 apparently found was pretty degraded...and is definitely very orangy. Ugly and garish are definitely the case with this film, though some TruColors and Cinecolor films have aged a bit better...and a few even worse.

The copy on YouTube also has another huge drawback. Like so many of the old B-westerns, this one has been trimmed to fit television time slots. While it originally ran 67 minutes, after trimming it's only about 52...and that's a lot of missing footage...too much. So, if you can find a different copy of the film, watch it--the color might be better and you might get more of the original movie.

The story itself is a cute supposedly behind the scenes movie starring the second-tier western star, Monte Hale. When it begins, Monte is trying to break into movies...and a cute kid (Bobby Blake) is trying to get his trick horse into films as well. But the fat-headed newcomer, radio cowboy Rod Mason (John Dehner) is determined to keep them out of pictures because he's a jerk and is very insecure. So, after Hale is discovered and put into one of Mason's films, Mason and his jerk friend both torture the horse when no one is looking in order to make him dangerous to ride!! Can Monte and the studio figure out the truth?

This film is neat because in addition to seeing Hale (who did a great job), you see other supposedly behind the scenes cameos with Republic stars Rocky Lane, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Red Barry. All in all a fun film...it's just such a darn shame it is so ugly and short.

By the way, I do wonder if this film was meant as some sort of commentary about specific jerk western stars. I know, for instance, that 1930s star Ken Maynard has a horrible reputation as a real jerk-face once the cameras started rolling. I could guess as to which other stars (particularly ex-Republic stars) the film might also be alluding to, but know that Ken Maynard (not to be mixed up with his nice-guy brother, Kermit) was pretty much hated by everyone in the industry.

A major plot point of this film is involved with terrorizing a horse in order to keep his human co-star (played by Monte Hall) from replacing the unpleasant lead actor in the film. This is all done in service of a typically mediocre singing cowboy movie. Not cool. TRIVIA: Very meta of them to call the movie they're filming in the fictional story "Out California Way."

Re: the reviewer's question of why Roy Rogers' picture is on the front cover of the DVD box. Because the distributor wants to sell the DVD. He is perhaps the best known movie cowboy to today's audiences, secondly only to John Wayne. He once appeared in a Gene Autry western, when he was still billed as "Dick Weston." He gets in a fight with Autry and of course is beaten. Autry wants to bring him in to sing with the Sons of the Pioneers. Don't ask why, just one of those Republic lines. On the video box I saw, usually at one of those dollar stores, Gene and Roy are both featured on the cover, but the photos are from the Forties, not l936 when the film was made. Since Roy was better known to today's western fans, many of whom never saw his old movies, just his TV series, his picture was on the box for Out California Way. Monte Hale was initially supposed to replace Roy if he was going to be drafted during WW II. Roy had not decided to go into television as yet. That wouldn't come until 1951. Monte began his career doing bit parts in Republic's serials and westerns until finally getting his break in Home on the Range (1946). Yeah, the Trucolor was a little gaudy but Republic was trying to add appeal to their box office trade which was already beginning to show post war expenses. As to the plot line of making a movie within a movie, Republic had already done that with Bells of Rosarita, with Republic cowboy stars coming to Roy's aid in tracking down the outlaws. Sure, we kids knew they were only playacting, but what the heck. Sit back and enjoy the picture. One should try to look at these films in the time frame of when they were made and not compare them to today's big budget films that play down to the audience, rather than to entertain.