Just about every cowboy hero found himself in a story involving cattlemen versus sheep ranchers, and this was Roy Rogers' turn. Even though Roy is a cattleman himself, he's appointed to intervene in an impending dispute after one of the major sheepherders wound up dead on Gabby Whitaker's (Gabby Hayes) property in Oreno Springs, Texas. Behind the scenes though, not everything is what it appears to be, as the foreman of the Delaney Ramshead Ranch (Francis McDonald) is in cahoots with the family's attorney (Dennis Hoey) to instigate trouble between the respective sides in order to get Jill Delaney (Dale Evans) to sell the ranch outright to them. Not only did Steve Anders (McDonald) murder Jill's uncle Matt, but he also killed the prized Hampshire Prince that the Delaney's bought to bring prestige to their herd.
Like a lot of Roy's pictures, there's a nice smattering of songs throughout the story beginning with the title tune to open the movie. Most have Roy joining in with Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, with 'Jumpin' Beans' a catchy little number. A running gag throughout the story has a little lamb named Taffy latching on to Gabby and following him back to his ranch to the delight of the teasing Pioneers. A lot of the standard chase scenes and fisticuffs occur throughout the story, including a sequence where Jill's tampered car goes out of control and runs over an embankment into the river. Roy makes the save, and works his way into the good graces of Jill and eventually her Aunt Kate (Elisabeth Risdon), who didn't have a good word for any cattleman at the start of the picture. She in turn gets the drop on baddie Anders at the finale when he's about to shoot Roy.
As I mentioned earlier, the cattlemen versus sheep rancher theme has been used countless times in B Westerns of the Forties and Fifties. The best one I've seen that I can recommend though, was a 1969 film starring Glenn Ford in the role of a preacher who tried to do what Roy did here, and broker a peace between the warring sides. He did it by cleverly inviting the opposing forces to join his congregation while they try to settle their differences. If you should check it out, the name of the picture is "Heaven With a Gun".
Like a lot of Roy's pictures, there's a nice smattering of songs throughout the story beginning with the title tune to open the movie. Most have Roy joining in with Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, with 'Jumpin' Beans' a catchy little number. A running gag throughout the story has a little lamb named Taffy latching on to Gabby and following him back to his ranch to the delight of the teasing Pioneers. A lot of the standard chase scenes and fisticuffs occur throughout the story, including a sequence where Jill's tampered car goes out of control and runs over an embankment into the river. Roy makes the save, and works his way into the good graces of Jill and eventually her Aunt Kate (Elisabeth Risdon), who didn't have a good word for any cattleman at the start of the picture. She in turn gets the drop on baddie Anders at the finale when he's about to shoot Roy.
As I mentioned earlier, the cattlemen versus sheep rancher theme has been used countless times in B Westerns of the Forties and Fifties. The best one I've seen that I can recommend though, was a 1969 film starring Glenn Ford in the role of a preacher who tried to do what Roy did here, and broker a peace between the warring sides. He did it by cleverly inviting the opposing forces to join his congregation while they try to settle their differences. If you should check it out, the name of the picture is "Heaven With a Gun".