West of the Pecos (1945)

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Two-gun toting Robert Mitchum reunited with "Nevada" director Edward Killy for their second and last Zane Grey western "West of the Pecos," with Barbara Hale portraying Mitchum's leading lady. This rugged, black & white, RKO oater boasts solid production values despite being made during World War II when rationing of everything from food to lumber was the rule of the day in Hollywood. Of course, when the characters are in the desert, the scenery is stunning, but the outdoor scenes set in sound stages appear ersatz. Career conniver Harry Woods makes a despicable villain with a mustache who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. The flirtatious romance between Mitchum and Hale lurches off to an uneven start with Hale posing as a boy. Mitchum and Hale make a credible couple. Meanwhile, our Stetson clad hero struggles to corral the vicious varmint who liquidated his best friend during a stagecoach hold-up. "West of the Pecos" could be classified as another one of those young men who venture out west for medicinal purposes. The difference, however, is that the young man turns out actually to be an older gentlemen who plans to rehabilitate him in the climate of the old West. Since I haven't read Zane Grey's novel, I have no idea how closely "Stagecoach War" scenarist Norman Houston adhered to Grey's book. The story unfolds in Chicago in 1887 with Colonel Lambeth's physician, Doc Howard (Bryant Washburn), urging the meatpacking entrepreneur to alter his lifestyle or suffer the consequences. "You've got more lard around your middle," Howard observes, "than one of your own hogs." Lambeth says he hasn't exercised in 20 years. "You better take time. Use your arms and legs. Walk miles. Ride a horse. Get yourself a job as bricklayer if you have to." Lambeth dreads such activities. "Me?" Howard shrugs, "Anything to keep you from creaking in the middle," Howard asserts. Moments later the doctor advises Lambeth's daughter, "You must get him away from this city, far away, where he can be kept physically active." Rill decides to take her father out west to Texas to a ranch named the Ranch of the Oro. Lambeth's attorney Clyde Corbin explains the hacienda requires a lot of work to get it back up to snuff. The Colonel's headstrong daughter Rill (Barbara Hale of TV's "Perry Mason") goads him to travel to their sprawling hacienda in Texas. "You're going to Texas, father," she points out, "you need a change." It seems that the attorney and Rill have eyes for each other and plan to get married. "West of the Pecos is still a wild and lawless country," Clyde assures Rill, "I won't let you go." Killy superimposes a map over a long shot of the Lambeths riding through the arid southwest. Incidentally, the stagecoach is drawn by four horses. Pecos Smith (Robert Mitchum) rides up to the stagecoach and insists that shotgun guard Tex Evans (Bill Williams) pay him his salary and save him a trip into town. No sooner has Pecos ridden away with his loot than outlaws attack the stagecoach and kill Tex. The outlaws take the stagecoach strongbox, blast it open, and clean it out. No sooner have the robbers ridden away than Pecos and his hybrid Mexican sidekick Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) ride up and tend to Tex. In town, the Colonel clashes verbally with evil Brad Sawtelle about vigilante justice. "This is no country for civilized people, let alone women," Lambeth bemoans the cruel nature of the west. Rill learns more about these cruelties later when two men accost her and mistake her for a prostitute. Meantime, before he dies, Tex tells Pecos that Sam Sawtelle (Perc Launders) shot him. After two men treat her like a whore, Rill adopts the western outfit of a young man. She masquerades as a boy during the trip that her father and she embark on to their remote ranch. When their wagon breaks down, stranding them in the middle of nowhere, the Lambeths and Suzanne, Rill's French Maid (Rita Corday) cross trails with Pecos Smith and his sidekick. The campfire scene when Pecos tries to persuade Rill to cuddle up with him in his bedroll so they can share their bodily warmth is hilarious as is the cigarette rolling scene. "I don't do what people expect me to," Pecos (Robert Mitchum) observes at one point to a villain. Mitchum and Hale make a believable couple, and their shenanigans before Pecos realizes Rill isn't a young man are amusing. He discovers quite by accident that she is a woman when they are crossing the river on horseback. The relationship between Pecos and Rill is uneven. She is an heiress and he is a $30 a month cowhand when he isn't riding the stage. Eventually, Sam Sawtelle confesses his crime, and Lambeth refuses to turn Pecos over to the authorities. Meanwhile, another gunfight erupts with the Colonel shooting it out with Brad Sawtelle's vigilantes. Pecos catches Brad before he can flee. Pecos winds up with Rill, while her former fiancé heads back to Chicago."West of the Pecos" amounts a mischievous, little B-horse opera with usually strong performances.

West Of The Pecos was the second of two Zane Grey novels that Robert Mitchum starred in for RKO before being drafted. He took the place of Tim Holt as RKO's movie cowboy because Holt was in military service. He even inherited Holt's romantic sidekick Richard Martin whom we all know as the ever popular Chito Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty.Before Roy Bean went West Of The Pecos there was no law and order there and such that existed was in the hands of the infamous Sawtelle Brothers, Harry Woods and Perc Launders who head the vigilante committee. So these guys operate with impunity pretty much. But when they hold up the stagecoach and kill Bill Williams who is Mitchum's friend, Mitchum gets himself a mission.In the meantime meatpacking tycoon Thurston Hall is told by his doctor to get out in the good country and do some real exercise even if it's in the form of manual labor. So he packs off his daughter Barbara Hale and her French maid Rita Corday and leaves his lawyer Bruce Edwards who is Hale's intended and they move to a piece of ranch property in that area West Of The Pecos.Mitchum and Martin rescue the party when they're stranded in the desert and Hale has taken to wearing male drag the best to avoid unwanted attentions from the rough and ready and horny cowboys. A large part of the humor is due to Mitchum taking her for a man. A lot like some of the humor in Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn film Sylvia Scarlett.Of course Robert Mitchum went on to bigger and better things as he was shortly to be cast in The Story Of GI Joe and Tim Holt returned to making westerns with Richard Martin. West Of The Pecos is a nice B western with a good mix of action and humor.But when I watch this and the film Nevada I often wonder if Mitchum had not gotten the big break for The Story Of GI Joe would he have continued as a B picture western star. Watch Nevada and West Of The Pecos and judge for yourself.

This excellent Robert Mitchum/Barbara Hale western is equal parts of action, comedy and romance. There's enough characters running around doing stuff that one never gets bored. In a nutshell, Chicago city slickers go west to take over an old hacienda that's been abandoned for years. Of course there's outlaws, stage coach chases, gun play and all sorts of goings on. I rented this from Netflix because after visiting and photographing the Zane Grey Museum in Ohio I'm trying to watch as many of Zane Grey movies as possible. This flick is definitely worth renting.It was shot in Lone Pine California where many Hollywood westerns were shot. It seems Barbara Hale convinced the director to employ a guy she was sweet on, Bill Williams. He isn't around much in the movie but apparently he was around enough behind the scenes that Barbara managed to sink her hooks into the guy. They ended up married until his death and had three kids. One of the kids was William Katt, the actor.

This movie follows basically the same theme as "Stagecoach Kid". where a lady dresses as a boy and tries to pass as a boy briefly. Also, this movie has Richard Martin playing the character of Chito Rafferty. Unlike "Stagecoach Kid",Pecos doesn't realize that the "boy" is really a lady for a while, whereas the character played by Tim Holt in "Stagecoach Kid" plays along with the act. This movie has no surprises, the good guys win and the hero gets the girl at the end,but the characters are likeable,the story flows well.