mark.waltz Conspiracy theories are many in this western musical where the 12 year old son of a each hand is named as heir to the estate of the obviously murdered ranch owner. This infuriates the deceased man's only surviving relative, grasping Carol Hughes. It's up to singing cowboy Roy Rogers and visiting reporter Dale Evans to protect the heir and solve the crime, with the devoted help of the grizzled "Gabby" Hayes.Pleasant and surprisingly smart, this has several pleasant musical numbers and a warm performance by the lovable Ruby Dandridge (mother of Dorothy) as the ranch housekeeper who provides her own theories to what happened. Lanny Rees is sincere and brave as the reluctant heir. Evans, more of a personality than an actress, is better than normal in this, and even gets to sing a duet with Rogers in Spanish. Less formula and a slightly better script keeps this crackin'.

MartinHafer By 1946, the Roy Rogers films had evolved into a very familiar pattern. Most co-starred Dale Evans (usuallly playing headstrong women) and Gabby Hayes and most had a cute kid (usually a boy) as an important member of the cast. The Songs of the Pioneers were also on hand to sing a few tunes. Additionally, Rogers had become a bit of a caricature of himself. In other words, although supposedly a western, the films had Rogers playing a version of himself--a version carefully manicured to project him as an all-around swell guy and friend to children, old coots and the ladies. "Home in Oklahoma" has all of this.The film begins with Gabby working at a ranch when the owner dies unexpectedly. Soon it's expected that his niece will assume control of the ranch. However, two things unexpectedly occur--the will does NOT leave the property to the niece AND it looks like the man's death was NOT an accident! However, Dale (who plays a spunky yet stupid reporter) doesn't heed Roy's suggestion that she waits to report this and soon she's in deep water with the Sheriff. She wrote in her paper that the man was murdered AND makes some pointed comments about who might be involved--which are WAY premature. Can Roy solve it and save Dale's fanny? Although Roy always comes off as sweet, kind and swell, Dale often played annoying women. It must have been very thankless for her when she played women who hated Roy with little provocation or ladies who inadvertently help the bad guys because she won't listen to anyone. In this film, she hits Roy over the head with a chair when he's being attacked by a baddie (ooooops!) and gets thrown into jail for publishing crazy theories as facts. But I have seen her in these thankless roles too many times--so when I saw she was in the film, I was prepared for this! So, in light of all this predictability, is the movie any good? Well, it's certainly not great--but I was impressed that the ringleader of the evil doings was a bit of a surprise. In this sense, they did not follow the usual formula--a major plus in the film. Still, it's a rather trifle of a film--worth seeing if you love Rogers films but about as realistic as a Monty Python film in conveying historical events! My feeling is that THE big problem in the film is Dale. Had she been less unlikable and dopey, the film would have played a heck of a lot better.By the way, like most of Roy's films, this one has been trimmed down to fit TV time slots during the 1950s--lopping almost 20 minutes off the picture. I saw the version that clocked in at under an hour--and there easily could be a longer version out there--as so many films come in multiple versions. So, perhaps the longer version is better...or worse. In most cases, one of the big differences between the two is the number of songs--in trimmed versions, most of the music has been removed.

dougdoepke Sprightly Roy & Dale Western from Republic. It's a fine energetic cast livening up a familiar plot of keeping the ranch out of the clutches of the bad guys. Roy and Dale are reporters trying to out-scoop one another, and it's not hard to see why they stayed together as a team —their easy-going banter puts A-picture pizazz into a B-movie oater. Ditto, the great Gabby Hayes whose gruff comedy relief too often masked genuine acting talent. For example, scope out his versatility here. It's also well produced from Republic, with a lot of extras and even some location shots in the real Oklahoma (IMDB). That outdoor breakfast scene with all the local folks is charming. Of course there's the expected quota of action—a really rough fist-fight, some hard riding, and a pitched battle, all nicely paced by ace action director William Witney. Add vocals from the Sons of the Pioneers (I wish they had more) and you've got recipe for a really likable matinée Western. I guess my only negatives are the lack of good scenery and some rather poorly done process shots. Anyway, these are minor points. I'm just sorry these easy-going entertainments have ridden off into the proverbial sunset.

FightingWesterner Local newspaper man Roy Rogers probes the death of one of his friends, a rancher and high-end cattle breeder thrown from his horse and ends up protecting the rancher's heir, an orphan boy, from the ruthless killers. Meanwhile, big city reporter Dale Evans plans to scoop Roy on the story.This is a decent enough cowboy murder mystery, with good performances by George "Gabby" Hayes, Ruby Dandridge (mother of Dorothy Dandrige), and Lanny Rees as the boy. Their scenes together are heart-warming.Roy and Dale have great chemistry here - no surprise, since they got married on location, immediately after shooting wrapped.The film's musical highlight is Bob Nolan and The Sons Of The Pioneers singing "The Everlasting Hills Of Oklahoma".The killer's identities are as plain as the nose on your face, but it's still pretty good.