Nighttime in Nevada

Roy, Trigger & Andy Devine are featured in this 1940's shoot-em-up that involves mining company rip-offs, double-dealing and the obligatory cowboy crooning. The plot and action are pretty standard, and the music is noteworthy -- especially "Rock Candy Mountain".

The King of the Cowboys was in fine form in this one, with Andy Devine as one of his better sidekicks (but not as good as Gabby !).The stunts in this film were well done and superior to most in other stars films. I enjoyed this one and felt that the pacing and casting were fairly good. Most of Roger's films from this period seem interchangeable , but fans of the genre should enjoy this ride down the Happy Trails..........

Predictable but competent western from the usual suspects. I purchased this one on sale from TCM.Com. IMDb has it listed as "color", but the DVD version is quite black & white, so i'll add that. When Joan Andrews inherits a chunk of money from her prospector father, she goes out west to claim it, and runs into roadblocks and crooks along the way. The police (Andy Devine and Roy Rogers) set out to help her and get the crooks behind bars. Not a bad story. Adele Mara and Marie Harmon play the city slickers who go west, and play the helpless gals out of their element. A couple songs by the "Pioneers", of course. Did you also catch Hank Patterson as one of the tramps down by the tracks, with a speaking part? This was about 20 years before Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, where he played Mr. Ziffel. Directed by William Whitney, king of the westerns. Good way to spend 66 minutes.

A ruthless gold miner blows his partner, only to discover that the mine he killed for is useless. He then squanders the trust-fund meant for the dead man's daughter and attempts to replace the funds by stealing Roy Roger's cattle.

Coming near the end of Roy's career as a Saturday matinée star (and TV re-launch), Night Time In Nevada is more violent and a bit more hard-boiled than previous films. The opening scene is a first-person murder confession, the subsequent killing of the train conductor pretty cold-blooded, and the climax full of people getting shot!

Villain Grant Withers is one really mean hombre! Walking and talking like a B-movie Broderick Crawford, he gives a great, nasty performance.

Comedic elements are down-played and Dale Evans nowhere to be found. In the edited version, Roy nor Bob Nolan and The Sons Of The Pioneers get a chance to sing! All of this, along with the edited version being black and white instead of color, contribute to the somewhat darker tone of the film.

Recommended.

56 abbreviated--songs removed Andy Devine Adele Mara modern starts off with odd prologue--to whom was he talking?! plan on cheating lady out of $50000 Farrell (Grant Withers)

"Night Time in Nevada" is slightly better than average Roy Rogers film. It's worth seeing if you are a fan but that's really about all. However, my review should be taken with a grain of salt--I only saw an abbreviated version. That's because in the 1950s, many of his movies were cut down to fit into a TV time slot and in this case, the film was 56 minutes, not the original 67 minutes. I assume the big difference is that they cut out nearly all the songs to make this shorter version. And, in this case, this isn't so bad, as it made the film a bit tighter and smoother. The film also has a bonus because it does not co-star Dale Evans. I say this because too often Dale played a kooky and annoying character. Here, Adele Mara plays a more believable sort of woman--not some annoying idiot*.

The film starts off very oddly. You hear Farrell narrating as it shows him murdering his long-time partner. You also learn that his partner had a daughter and she is entitled to his small fortune--something Farrell isn't about to allow since he is evil. When she (Mara) does arrive, Farrell connives with his lawyer friend to delay her. He also is the same evil galoot who stole Roy's cattle. Can Roy and Gabby get to the bottom of this? What do you think?!

All in all, a decent sort of western that is mindless escapism. Enjoyable but undemanding.

*While Rogers and Dale Evans were married in real life, I was always surprised at the ditsy roles Evans always received. After all, in the dozens of Roy and Dale films I've seen, I cannot recall one where she is level-headed and normal! Try watching a few yourself--you'll see what I mean.

Twenty years ago, James Nolan and Grant Withers were partners in a gold mine. Grant killed Nolan, and tried his hand at a few other crimes. Currently he's rustling cattle, with lawyer George M. Carlton to act as a front. Before his death, Nolan had set up a trust fund for his daughter, Adele Mara, and left Carlton as the trustee. She's on her way to collect it, and the latest bunch of stolen cattle will just about cover the sum. Withers, however, decides that if she has an accident, it will be all to the good. Good thing sheriff Andy Devine and his deputy, Roy Rogers are on the case.

The copy of the movie I saw had been trimmed by eleven minutes, and peculiarly, it was all the musical numbers. I would have liked to hear Rogers sing "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" and the other three songs with the Sons of the Pioneers, but looking at this movie without them revealed what I had long suspected: they're fine movies without the musical interludes, well written and acted, and stuntman Joe Yrigoyen does a fine leap from a running horse to a moving truck. Sometimes we forget that these Republic westerns, budgeted for the Saturday morning matinee that they were, were actually put together very well, particularly when you had William Witney directing and Jack Marta handling the camera.