Review of Smoky

I guess your reaction to "Smoky" may depend on how much of Burl Ives,"The Wayfarin' Stranger",you can put up with.He sure sings a lot of corny folksongs.In the forge,round the campfire,in the stables,he pops up pretty durned near everywhere and slows the action down which is not a good thing because unless you are almost obsessive about horses there isn't a lot going on in the first place. The eponymous "Smoky" is a feisty nag captured by mystery man Mr MacMurray who drifts in from nowhere and gets a job on Miss Baxter's ranch "The Rockin' R".He is that movie cliché a man with a hidden past. The fair Miss Baxter soon takes a shine to his cowboyin' ways and of course someone from his mysterious past soon shows up to throw a spanner in the works. This guy turns out to no one's amazement to be MacMurray's evil brother who eventually is quite unpleasant towards Smoky who kicks him to death for his pains. Smoky then runs away to join the circus(well,all right,the rodeo)- the way you do,and MacMurray spends most of the rest of the film looking for him. They are eventually reunited(phew!) and live happily ever after. If Roy Rogers and Trigger are a bit too rock 'n'roll for you,"Smoky" might touch the spot.