Colorado (1940)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It's Roy before pairing up with Dale, while Trigger is there but without his starring name. Still, we've got the one-and-only Gabby doing his toothless ornery bit, so the legendary crew is almost all present and accounted for. The movie's a good strong story about brothers on opposite sides during the Civil War, which gives Roy a rare chance to show his acting chops. Catch his nicely modulated reaction in the climactic escape scene. At the same time, you may need to overlook the fact that the mountains of Colorado look a lot like the scrublands of greater LA. But who cares—good old Republic Studio was never big on budgets. It's easy to forget that before Milburn Stone merged with Doc Adams of Gunsmoke fame, he had a lengthy B-movie career. Here, he and Roy make believable (and somewhat poignant) brothers. Okay, the movie's little more than a matinée Western that used to entertain us Front Row kids. But it's got a good story, good acting, some scenic action, and a pretty girl. So, what more can a Front Row geezer ask for.

Colorado (1940) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Union troops are needed in the East but a scuffle in Colorado has them tied up in matters there. The Army sends in Lieut. Jerry Burke (Roy Rogers) who quickly discovers that it's his very own brother behind the trouble. Here's yet another "B" Western from Rogers but the end result this time doesn't rank among his best films. It's weird because the story itself is somewhat interesting but sadly it just never goes anywhere and in the end the 55-minute running time seems a bit long. I thought the idea of Union troops being held up could have led to an interesting story but very little is done with it once the familiar bit of the heroes brother being behind the crimes starts to take shape. From this point on the story is just one familiar thing after another as the hero obviously has to go after someone he loves and it just leaves the viewer rather cold. Rogers is pretty good as usual and we also get some nice supporting performances. This includes Pauline Moore as the love interest and Milburn Stone really comes across very effective as the brother. Then we have the one and only George 'Gabby' Hayes who at least brings some nice laughs to the film including a very funny bit about what he was doing in the war when he got hurt. The action scenes are fairly well staged and I'll at least give the movie credit for a very effective ending. With that said, Colorado will appeal to those who want to see everything Rogers has done but there's no question that there are better movies out there.

G-man Roy Rodgers is sent to Colorado at the height of the Civil War, in order to ferret out a gang of Confederate sympathizers who are robbing Army payrolls, among other nefarious deeds, only to discover that his own wayward brother is a rebel spy in a blue coat, out to destroy the Union's plans for a Texas campaign. After being exposed, he joins up with the local Indians to cause trouble.Roy hasn't quite hit his stride yet in this early vehicle, but it's a decent enough hour of entertainment for fans of Saturday matinée potboilers, with George "Gabby" Hayes along for the ride, making the most out of his comic-relief character.Music and romance are a half-hearted afterthought here, with Roy singing only one brief song near the end and Roy's semi-villainous brother getting the most attention from the opposite sex this time around.

Roy Rogers deserved his title "King of the Cowboys." He was a singing cowboy who could really sing and act. Having started his career with the legendary Sons of the Pioneers, Roy (or Leonard Slye back when) could warble with the best of them and could yodel better than anyone around at the time, since the blue yodeler, Jimmie Rodgers, had passed on. The only rivals he had among the singing cowboys were Tex Ritter and, later, Eddie Dean. Roy has time for just one song in this Civil War horse opera, but he makes the most of it by adding a little romance - beautiful Pauline Moore, a former model, plays the woman who loves two brothers, one of them Roy. The other brother is played by the highly underrated, Milburn Stone, now known to all oater fans as Doc from "Gunsmoke." The conflict of good brother vs. bad brother is well handled by the two lead actors and by the script writers. One of the highlights of "Colorado" is the appearance of Gabby Hayes, who was always at his best when playing the comical sidekick of Roy Rogers. Unlike so many of the cowboy sidekicks in the low-budget westerns who generally appealed to the kids, Gabby's humor could make adults laugh as well. Roy & Dale (Dale had not yet entered the scene when this film was made in 1940) had a TV show on the Nashville Network during 1980's where they would show one of their old movies and then reminisce about it and life in Hollywood in general. On one show Roy told a story about Gabby which may have been apocryphal, but is still funny. Gabby was visiting with Roy and Dale when he looked out the window and saw a small boy sitting on the porch steps crying. Gabby went out to comfort the little tyke. "What's the matter, Buckaroo?" Gabby inquired. The boy looked up at Gabby. "I can't do what the big boys do," he sobbed. When Gabby heard this, he sat down beside the boy and began to cry too.The plot is an effective one with Roy, a federal agent, attempting to clean up parts of Colorado of secessionists posing as Union defenders. The Confederate sympathizers are led by Roy's own brother. When most of the Hollywood movies of the period, such as "Gone With the Wind," were promoting Southern interests (many of the early directors & producers had Southern roots), it's refreshing to see a Union slant for a change.Roy Rogers and Saturday matinée cowboy fans should enjoy "Colorado," one of Roy's early films that isn't shown as much on TV as some of his others, but should be. I saw it recently on the Encore Westerns Channel.