Cattle smugglers are working along the U.S. border with Mexico. Hoof-and-mouth disease is discovered among the stolen cattle. Roy becomes involved when a fellow border patrolman is murdered by the rustlers. In the 82nd and last of the Republic B-westerns starring Roy Rogers, the latter is a Border Patrolman assigned to stop the increasing threat of hoof-and-mouth disease from Mexican cattle spreading into the United States. (The term hoof-and-mouth is correct and proper usage despite the USDA current term of foot-and-mouth, which only indicates that those people don't know that cattle, goats and sheep don't have feet.) Roy arranges for his friend and counterpart in Mexico, Lopez (Maurice Jara), to also be assigned to the Border Patrol. Lopez encounters Jim Bradford (Anthony Caruso) and Ward Sloan (Roy Barcroft) smuggling cattle across the border, and he is ruthlessly shot down when he tries to arrest them. Bradford, who is actually a wanted gangster named Lucky Guillo, sends henchman Tony (Ken Terrell) to hide the body. Tony is caught by Roy and taken to Borrasco for questioning. Lopez's young son Pancho (Edwardo Jiminez) is captured by Ward and Sloan who offer to trade the boy to the Sheriff (William Ruhl) in exchange for Tony. Roy protests, but reporter Cathy Marsh (Dale Evans) and newspaper owner Elena Maders (Estelita Rodriguez) decide to release Tony to save Pancho's life. Thanks to a picture photographer Pinky (Pinky Lee) has taken, Roy makes a visit to the Sloan ranch and finds Pancho, who tells him that Sloan, Bradford and Tony are on their way to the border to rustle another herd of cattle. Roy and Trigger (billed as usual above the title with Roy) track them through a blinding sand storm. Roy Rogers last starring western for Republic Pictures and Herbert J. Yates is this one, Pals Of The Golden West and appropriately enough Dale Evaans co-stars with him. Roy is a border patrolman who apparently doesn't have to wear a uniform on the job. Dale is an investigative reporter of the Lois Lane variety and both are interested in border security as it relates to cattle rustling and smuggling.<br/><br/>The Mexicans aren't as good policing their side, but they're trying and Maurice Jara is Roy's opposite number and they're looking to improve. What concerns both is diseased cattle with hoof and mouth disease. <br/><br/>The villains in this case are Anthony Caruso and Roy Barcroft. Caruso has an interesting background, he's a former Chicago gangster who was deported and now lives in Mexico under an alias operating a ranch which a front for rustling. He says rather proudly he's making more money doing this western type villainy than the usual gangster pursuits.<br/><br/>When Jara recognizes Caruso for who he is, Caruso and Barcroft kill him and Roy has to break the news to his young son Eduardo Jimenez. Now it's a murder investigation.<br/><br/>I called Roy and Dale the Tracy/Hepburn combination for B westerns. Dale is her usual spunky and nosy self and Roy as always is having a battle of the sexes as well as battling the villains. But they had Tracy/Hepburn like chemistry which makes their westerns special.<br/><br/>A definite minus for this film though is Pinky Lee. Whatever possessed Herbert J. Yates to think of Lee as western sidekick material? Roy did a couple films with him before departing for the small screen and as I said on another review, Pinky Lee just doesn't cut it as a sidekick.<br/><br/>This was a good film to end their association with Republic Pictures. The Border Patrol calls in their ace troubleshooter Roy Rogers to put the kibosh on a cross-border cattle smuggling operation in order to control an outbreak of Hoof and Mouth Disease. Roy soon teams up with fellow Border Patrol Officer (Pat Brady) and local newspaper photographer Pinky Lee to bust the racket headed by murderous scoundrels Lucky Grillo and Ward Sloan (Anthony Caruso & Roy Barcroft). To bring the bad guys to justice Roy must work around the meddling of pesky out of town reporter Cathy Marsh and local newspaper woman Elena Madera (Dale Evans & Estelita Rodriguez).<br/><br/>Director William Witney once again revs up the action. Complete with fisticuffs, gunfights and a couple of bear attacks, Pals of the Golden West is a fitting end to Roy's run as a silver screen hero and an end to a great stretch of movies with Witney at the helm. In an uncharacteristic scene Roy actually bleeds after a fight here. It finds Roy once again pitted against frequent nemesis and veteran Republic Pictures Bad Guy Roy Barcroft, who just never seemed to learn that crime doesn't pay. It was also the third and last of the unusual pairings with sidekick Pinky Lee. However well intentioned, the cartoon like antics that served Pinky well as a children's show entertainer just didn't add much to his trio of movies with Roy. <br/><br/>In the final scene Dale bids Roy farewell and announces that Roy has taken a "new assignment in Capitol City". With that, after a string of over a hundred movies, Trigger rears up, Roy waves good-bye and along with Bullet, all literally ride off into the sunset. However the best was yet to come. Fans only had to wait about six weeks for the start of the long running Roy Rogers Television Series. Launched just before New years in 1951 the "Roy Rogers Show" would be remembered and have a lasting influence on a new generation of viewers. Roy would be joined by "Queen of the West" Dales Evans, Trigger, Bullet and sidekick Pat Brady for the entire six year run of the series.<br/><br/>Happy Trails.
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293 weeks ago