The Gay Ranchero

George Meeker wants to take over the small resort where Roy Rogers is the sheriff. Good luck on that. His techniques include robbing the gold shipments that are flown out from Jane Frazee's airport. Meanwhile, bullfighter Tito Guízar wants to marry Estelita Rodriguez, but she insists he give up the ring before she accepts her. Andy Devine wants to become a toreador, but has trouble with a monkey. Or maybe it's the other way around.

It's a winning combination of thrills, comedy, and songs, with Guízar getting a couple of songs, Miss Frazee also, and the Sons of the Pioneers doing their usual competent backing work. Rogers' series continues its easy acceptance of Mexicans, who can be quite handy in a pinch, and even Miss Frazee gets to shoot the gun out of a bad guy's hand, while the monkey is handy with a stick of dynamite.

This 1948 cowboy flick finds the King of the Cowboys helping to foil a plot to sabotage airline equipment and plunder the contents. Roy is a lawman that gets to the bottom of the hooligans shenanigans .

The great Andy Devine is back in this one as "Cookie" and so are the Sons of the Pioneers. The plot, casting and action here are good and the songs are adequate. Gabby Hayes & Dale Evans are sorely missed.

This was a pretty good Rogers film. The story moves at a good pace and the airplane angle was nicely incorporated. Jane Frazee was not the best choice for a female lead, but is pleasant nonetheless.

An enjoyable, but standard singin' cowboy flick.

The Gay Ranchero finds Roy Rogers as sheriff trying to find out who is hijacking the cargoes of a small freight airline in his part of the west. The fact that it is owned by pretty Jane Frazee I'm sure does not lessen his interest any.

With some inside help they've got someone who is shorting the aviation fuel loads and making the meters read falsely. When the planes come down the gang is there to meet them and steal the cargoes and shoot the pilots.

There's not much suspense in The Gay Ranchero, we learn early on who's behind the skulduggery. But the film more than makes up in plenty of action.

Along for the ride with south of the border box office receipts in mind is Mexican musical film star Tito Guizar who did a few films in the USA as well. Guizar gets a love interest here in the person of Estelita Rodriguez and he sings the favorite Hispanic classic You Belong To My Heart in the film. Tito had quite a resume, his venues included no less than grand opera for his tenor pipes.

The climax involving attacking the gang on the ground and from the air is pretty well staged. All in all one of Roy Rogers better films for Republic Pictures.

This is an odd Roy Rogers film, but he did do a lot of strange films that were an odd amalgam of the old and the new. In this case, our cowboy hero is involved with an airport and hijacked airplanes--a very, very odd venue for a western hero. And, yes, it's true, there were no airplanes in the old west. However, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry BOTH made a ton of anachronistic films--with cowboys AND telephones AND pickup trucks and the like. It's odd. So why are the planes being sabotaged? Tune in and see in this rather ordinary (aside from the locale) Rogers film. About the only standout thing is the nice non-stereotypical Hispanic leading man--something unusual for the time.

Roy Rogers is a Sheriff who must catch airplane saboteurs. Mr. Rogers is also a singling cowboy. Tito Guizar is Bullfighter Nicci Lopez. Mr. Guizar is also a singing cowboy. As "The Gay Ranchero" of the title, Guizar seems to have more to do than Rogers. Andy Devine (as "Cookie") works at the Manzanita Springs Airline being sabotaged, and helps out singling cowboys out - and, gets helped out during the bull session. Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers add songs and laughs.

This film seems to be an attempt to cross-over the audiences of American singing cowboy star Roy Rogers and Mexican singing cowboy star Tito Guizar. Or, it may be an attempt to introduce the Mexican singing cowboy star to Rogers' U.S. audience. The resulting film is like two partial movies, either of which are very good. The cowboy stars never really operate/act as a "team"; they have little rapport, and few opportunities to show any.

** The Gay Ranchero (1948) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Tito Guizar, Andy Devine