La belle et le cow-boy

This is a pretty good Roy Rogers feature, with an interesting and rather involved story, plus Dale Evans, Mary Lee, and some variety entertainment. The story has Roy and his sidekick (played this time by Big Boy Williams) befriending a young woman who is looking for a hidden mine, and trying to protect her interests from the shifty Allen, who meanwhile is working to discredit Roy. Quite a bit happens after that, and there are a lot of interesting developments even after devoting a good amount of the running time to songs and musical numbers. It works pretty well, and should satisfy any of Rogers's fans.

This is a pretty standard b western. The hour just goes by even through everything has a shopworn quality-Rogers made a ton of these light pulpy westerns and this one has the charms of the form. The only thing that stands out as different is the utterly daft musical finale with the giant sombrero and enchilada man lyrics. These films are always light but this one crossed into camp for the final 10 minutes or so.

Cowboy and the Senorita (1944)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Roy Rogers and 'Teddy Bear' (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) show up in a small town looking for jobs when they're befriend by a young girl (Mary Lee) and her keeper (Dale Evans). Rogers and Bear are given jobs looking after the young girl and it turns out that she has a valuable mine, which a greedy man (John Hubbard) is trying to con her out of. After several double crosses Rogers tries to get evidence to show what's going on. COWBOY AND THE SENORITA isn't the best film Rogers ever made but it's a decent "B" Western that is also remembered for being the first film between Rogers and his future wife Evans. Overall the story here certainly isn't anything too special as the entire "ripping off someone for their mine" had been done to death by the time talkies came into play. With that said, the director and cast do good enough of a job to at least make you care for the characters and want to see the bad punished and the good walking away without any trouble. It certainly doesn't hurt that the cast members are in such fine form and this of course starts with Rogers who once again plays that kind-hearted soul just doing what's right. That laid back style really comes across good here and that chemistry with Evans is on full display. The two really seem to be flirtatious throughout the film and they manage to mix it up quite well. Lee is also very impressive in her part as is Hubbard as the hissing villain. It was pretty funny seeing Williams in a Western like this as he was often seen in gangster pictures from the likes of Warner. There's certainly nothing ground breaking to be found here but if you're a fan of low-budget Westerns then this here is a decent time killer. It should be noted that the most common version out there is missing nearly twenty-minutes worth of footage most of which is song and dance numbers.

Riding into town, Roy Rogers and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams are mistaken for kidnappers. Chased out of town, they encounter the missing girl in question and agree to help look for her father's buried treasure, money that could spare her sister Dale Evans from marrying the rich town bully.

Another typical, albeit pleasantly entertaining Roy Rogers adventure, this has a slick villain, fun support by underused sidekick Williams, the first pairing of Roy and Dale, and an appealing performance by Mary Lee, as Dale's kid sister.

However, like a lot of Roy's later pictures, the music is a bit of a disappointment, being more in a pop vein than country or western. For example, the grand finale has Dale, Roy, and Lee singing a silly song about "The Enchilada Man"!

This film essentially begins with a teenage girl named "Chip Williams" (Mary Lee) running away from home and hiding out in a cave in a nearby wooded area. As luck would have it, two cowboys by the names of "Roy Rogers" (as himself) and "Teddy Bear" (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) come riding by and find a bracelet that Chip had recently lost. Thinking nothing of it, Teddy Bear hangs on to it and they subsequently continue on their way to a nearby ranch in search of employment. Unfortunately, when they get there the bracelet is recognized as belonging to Chip and as a result both Roy and Teddy Bear become chief suspects in her abduction. What few people realize, however, is that there is much more to Chip's disappearance than meets the eye. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was not only clearly dated but also suffered from a general lack of excitement as well. To be sure, there is plenty of singing, horseback riding and cowboy romance if a person is looking for those particular items. But quite frankly, I just wasn't that impressed with most of it and for that reason I have rated this grade-B Western accordingly. Slightly below average.