Sun 19 Aug 2018
A ROY ROGERS Western Movie Review: SUNSET IN THE WEST (1950).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[2] Comments
SUNSET IN THE WEST. Republic Pictures, 1950. Roy Rogers, Trigger, Estelita Rodriguez, Penny Edwards, Gordon Jones, Will Wright. Director: William Witney.
The story line doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s one that’s strong and powerful enough to stand out in the minds of its intended audience. Which is to say, mostly 6 to 14 year olds watching the movie at a Saturday afternoon matinee — with solid enough production values to appeal to adults as well.
For some mysterious unknown reason, a gang of outlaws are hijacking trains, killing the members of the crew and dumping all of the goods on board on the ground, then disappearing with the empty trains. The local sheriff, having no clues, is roundly castigated by a mob of townspeople outside his office until one of his former deputies, Roy Rogers, shows up to offer him a helping hand.
What follows is a typical William Witney action-packed extravaganza, with songs and music inserted in every once in a while, some naturally, others more or less at random. The story isn’t much, as I’ve previously suggested, but it’s good to see one of these old series westerns in the bright shiny colors such as displayed in this one. By any standard, they’re quite spectacular.
August 19th, 2018 at 6:31 pm
Many of the later Roy Rogers films are quite good with Witney directing, and stunt work by the great Dave Sharpe and the Republic team. They can be surprisingly tough too with some real brawls in films like this and THE BELLS OF SAN ANGELO.
Republic Tru Color is almost gaudy in these, and that is one of the good points. Some also had good screenplays by the likes of Maurice Geraghty, BLACK MASK and DIME DETECTIVE writer John K. Butler, and Gerald Drayson Adams.
A few are actually decent little mysteries too.
I won’t go so far as to agree Republic never made a bad Western, but they didn’t make many that weren’t at least entertaining B programer fare, their post war lineup including Wild Bill Elliot, Monte Hale, Rex Allen, and of course the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers.
August 19th, 2018 at 7:15 pm
We kids always cheered at the local theater’s Saturday matinee when the Republic logo came on the screen at the beginning of a movie. Kids aren’t so dumb as to not know quality when they see it.