Guns of the Pecos

Abuse of authority, corrupt lawmen, corrupt judge, bandits, shootouts, good guys, bad guys, damsels in distress, this movie has everything you'd look for in a western.

Watched this movie on the late,late,late show on AMC hoping it would put me to sleep, but I ended up following the plot lines and staying up to watch the ending, even though I knew that the bad guys always lose in the end. Happily, not too much singing, enough gun play to keep it interesting.

The only problem I had with this movie was the actor they chose for Judge Blake, his acting leaves much to be desired, and he fails to convey just how evil and corrupt a man his character is.

All in all a pretty good movie for it's day. Compared to other movies of this era I've seen, I'd give it a 9/10, compared to all movies, it's a 7/10.

When Major Burton is killed and his horses rustled, Ranger Steve Ainslee joins the outlaws in their drive north. Seeing Judge Blake's name on the payoff check, Steve plans to trap Blake and arrest him. When his plan fails and he is arrested instead, Blake incites the townsmen to lynch him.

Dick Foran as a Texas Ranger sings some songs, gets into some fights, saves a gal from her inheritance being taken away and gets the bad guys with the help of his sidekick, who is as competent as him, in this light, cheery B-western that has some heart pounding chases and shootouts. An enjoyable western.

Guns Of The Pecos casts Dick Foran as a singing Texas Ranger who goes on an undercover assignment to nail a Judge Roy Bean like character who being both a judge and an outlaw has a nice little racket going in the town that he rules. As Foran notes to his captain "Rangers are as popular as rattlers" in that neck of the woods.

Robert Middlemass plays the crooked judge who is Roy Bean in all but his groupie like devotion to Lily Langtry. Anne Nagel plays the daughter of a ranch owner who is killed when his herd of horses is rustled. She gets a nice taste of Foran's baritone and after that she's his.

Middlemass is really something to see. Walter Brennan might have taken notes on what Middlemass does in Guns Of The Pecos before he played Roy Bean in The Westerner.

Fans of the singing cowboy genre and Dick Foran in particular should be pleased with this one.

Dick Foran,(Steve Ainslee),"The Mummy's Hand",'40, was an under cover Texas Ranger who merrily sang his tunes and wound up joining a gang of outlaws who worked for a crooked Judge who seemed to have a run of the local town and held his court room in his Bar/Hotel. There were horse stealing which involved a sweet young gal named Anne Nigel,(Alice Burton),"Black Friday",'40, who was being run off her ranch after her father was murdered in Cold Blood. Alice Burton was not a very trusting young lady and gave Steve Ainslee a very hard time and almost had him hung by the neck.

No matter how you feel about a singing Cowboy and this Corn Ball B Film, it is still a Classic Western and many people in 1937 were very entertained by this WESTERN, probably your Great Great Grandfathers & Mothers! Foran really sounded like Nelson Eddy!

While smaller studios like Republic and Monogram are usually associated with B-western series, such as the films of Roy Rogers or the Range Busters, larger studios also had units making the same sorts of films. Paramount made the Hopalong Cassidy flicks and Warner Brothers made the Dick Foran westerns. "Guns of the Pecos" is one of Foran's outings for Warner.

Judge Blake is a scumbag who abuses the law and essentially runs a portion of Texas. Not surprisingly, after Blake orchestrates a murder and cattle rustling, the Rangers send a couple guys to investigate, Steve (Dick Foran) and his partner, Jeff (Eddie Acuff). But just when they think they get the goods on the evil judge, the judge outsmarts them and soon a posse is chasing the Rangers out of town. What's next? See the film.

Unlike many B-westerns, the hero's partner isn't an idiot or an old coot. Acuff is fine as an actually competent fellow ranger! As for Foran, he's good as you'd expect and sings a lovely tune or two. Overall, a rather typical though well made film...worth seeing if you like these types of films but hardly one that is a must-see.