Colorado Sundown (1952)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This ranks as one of the best B westerns that I have ever seen, filled with a believable dramatic plot, complex characters, some frantic comedy and even a couple of songs. Rex Allen has arrived in Colorado from Texas to assure his light above the neck pal Slim Pickens gets his share of an estate he has been promised. The only issue are the other heirs, which includes easterner Mary Ellen Kay and the unscrupulous June Vincent, one of the few female western villains I've ever seen. Her motive concerns logging rights, allegedly involving a tree killing beetle.There's a terrific characterization by Louise Beavers, stealing every moment as Kay's companion. With a huge heart and feisty demeanor, she's more than willing to risk her life for Ms. Kay. When one of the villains confronts her over a letter she received and is holding for Allen, it takes a shocking turn, especially concerning their beloved terrier who in an early scene set Kay and Beaver's unmanned carriage running wild thanks to spooked horses. A feisty goat also goes for laughs, getting targets in the butts of both Pickens and Beavers. You won't soon forget the sight of Pickens in "Charley's Aunt" drag as the talking brooch he carries. Dark lady Vincent certainly is also fascinating, basically the Lady Macbeth of the old west, stopping at nothing to get control of the entire valley. When genre like this take on the dark themes that makes the legitimate theater so powerful, that automatically raises the bar for me.

B-westerns almost always have a baddie. It's usually some guy bent on taking over the county and he secretly controls a gang of thugs who are terrorizing the countryside. However, "Colorado Sundown" is quite different. While the plot has the usual attempt to practically steal everyone's land, it's by a trio of evil siblings--and the most evil and conniving is a woman! And, to make things even more different, the woman is even more brutal and vicious than usual! And, instead of a gang, they use trickery and murder to make their plans work and a gang is only recruited when their plan starts to unravel.When the movie begins, three different groups of people think they are inheriting a ranch. In reality, they ALL are inheriting a third. While this may not sound so bad, one group (the Hurleys) are vicious thieves and want it all--and they'll get it one way or another. Their plan is to convince everyone that the land is infested with a bark beetle--and then get all the property for a tiny fraction of what it's worth. Then, they'll do the same thing for all the surrounding land that supposedly is infested.As for Carrie Hurley (June Vincent), she is the boss in her family and specializes in poisonings. The first victim is a forestry official who KNOWS the land is beetle-free. The second is a fake forest ranger who Carrie brought in--and to make matters worse, it's her own younger brother!! In addition to these killings, one Hurley shoots an innocent maid (Louise Beavers) and even a tiny dog!! Could it get worse? Well, she even shoots poor Rex Allen and then claims she shot him AFTER Rex beat the 'ranger' to death--when she actually poisoned him! Can the good guys uncover the plot and dispatch the evil Hurleys? Because the villains are so bad, this is a dynamite B-western. It also helps that the plot is quite original in many ways and Louise Beavers was great as one of the spunkiest women of the old west I've ever seen. Surprisingly good.It is interesting that in this film Rex Allen plays a character named Rex Allen and Slim Pickens played a guy named Slim Pickens! This sort of thing was quite popular in Roy Rogers films, as Roy and Gabby were often referred to by their stage names. Odd. Also odd is that Pickens really was a cowboy and rodeo star--and so playing a cowboy is pretty natural.

Siblings Carrie and Daniel Hurley are trying to start up their timber mill by trying to have all the trees in the valley chopped despite the fact the forest rangers saying it will hurt the ranchers by exposing the land to erosion and flash floods. They also inherit a ranch with timber that can be cut down, but find themselves coheirs with Jacqueline Reynolds, arriving from the east, and Slim Pickens, coming from Texas with his ranch foreman Rex Allen. The Hurleys try to buy out Jacqueline and Slim's portions of the ranch claiming that the trees are infected with a blight and must be cut down, which will ruin the property, but Rex and Mattie, Jacqueline's maid, go stop them from signing the document. The Hurley's next plan is to have their younger brother, Dusty (a black sheep even for this family) impersonate a forestry official (using the documents of an official poisoned by the Hurleys) to order the trees cut down. Rex writes the forestry department for advice on the matter, and his letter is stolen by Dusty, who takes it back to Carrie, who poisons him to prevent him from telling Rex of their scheme. The Hurleys accuse Rex of Dusty's murder, but he is called to prevent rains from flooding the valley. Excellent entry in the Rex Allen series with plenty of action and great direction from director Witney. The script could have used some work in the beginning since the Hurley's motives at the beginning (before they inherit the ranch) aren't clearly explained. The film has a bunch of great fights including Rex vs. Graham (Daniel Hurley) started by Rex throwing a punch while riding past him on Koko. Pickens and Beavers (Mattie) both give good comic relief performances here. An all around winner. Rating, based on B westerns, 10.

The last and certainly one of the better singing cowboys, Rex Allen, stars here in this fast-moving Republic "B" western, accompanying his pal Slim Pickens, in their initial matchup, to be on hand at Slim's home in Colorado where he expects to benefit from the bequest of the estate of a deceased relative, Zeke Reynolds, consisting of substantial timber holdings. To Slim's surprise, there are other claimants who think they will be heirs to the estate: Jacqueline Reynolds (Mary Ellen Kay), a distant cousin, and a brother/sister duo, Dan and Carrie Hurley (Fred Graham/June Vincent), owners of the Hurley Lumber Mill, whose business practices include overharvesting of trees, bringing about flash flooding while destroying cattle grazing land in Pine Valley. The Hurleys are guilty of crimes more serious than unsavoury commercial methods, and Rex and his employees, including Slim and the vocalising "Republic Rhythm Riders", find themselves in a range war between timbermen and ranchers who are avidly seeking to catch the Hurleys in the midst of committing their misdeeds. Typical of Republic productions in this genre, COLORADO SUNDOWN provides a great deal of furious fight footage, a runaway stagecoach corralled by trick riding and several musical numbers which appear at incongruous moments, including the traditional folk song "Down by the Riverside" (during a flood!) with performances from Allen, Kay, Pickens and the "Rhythm Boys". Director William Witney downcranks his camera during fight scenes, as is his wont, for by marginally slowing filming speed, action appears to be extraordinarily violent, and with the physically capable Allen and veteran stunt coordinator Graham on hand, these passages leave an indelible impression during the course of this interesting low-budget work.