The Gay Ranchero

1948 "It's Fightin'...Gunnin' and Funnin'!"
The Gay Ranchero
5.9| 1h12m| en| More Info
Released: 14 January 1948 Released
Producted By: Republic Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Manzanita Springs ia a combination small airline and spa and Vance Brados wants it. He pays their mechanic to have the planes run out of fuel so his men can rob the gold shipments and kill the pilots. After Sheriff Roy Rogers catches the mechanic, Roy plans one more gold shipment to get proof and this time his men will be ready. But it looks like Roy's plan will fail when Brados suspects a trap and call off the raid.

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dougdoepke Okay Rogers programmer. Plot's a little different—bad guys trying to sabotage small rural airport and its planes so they can build a casino. Roy's the town sheriff, while Frazee runs the port with Devine's help, that is, when he's not in the bull ring. Guizar and Estrelita are sort of charming drop-ins. There's some good hard riding around familiar LA area locations. Not much gunplay, but some good flying fists, especially when two bad guys mix it up. And, oh yes, lots of a low-flying single engine as it navigates the trees and fields. Unless I missed something, the Amazon streaming version lacked the songs listed here, and was in fuzzy b&w . Anyway, Roy's his usual appealing six-gun hero, while Miss Frazee's a relief from the ugly guys, and Devine's amusing without overdoing it. But, in my little book, Estrelita steals the film with striking looks and a strong personality. Watch out for the little story twists that may require a scorecard as to who's on whose side. All in all, it's an average Rogers oater which for his fans is way good enough.
JohnHowardReid Originally lensed in Trucolor, this otherwise complete Roy Rogers vehicle is available on a somewhat washed-out, black-and-white Mill Creek DVD, which is otherwise reasonably watchable. The story's not much and it's acted in a somewhat ham-fisted style by Andy Devine, who has too large a part for my liking, but the rest of the players are reasonably able. Some fans may feel there is far too much singing and dancing and not enough action – which is a justifiable complaint, especially as the non-action episodes – particularly all the dancing and singing – would look so much more attractive in color. The screenplay also seems to go out on a limb to provide special material not only for Andy Devine but for Tito Guizar and Estelita Rodriguez. It's true to say, however, that by director William Witney's usual high standard, the action does tend to be rather tame and far less exciting than say his later Rogers' vehicle, "Bells of Coronado" (1950), which was also written by Sloan Nibley and has some of these same plot elements.
classicsoncall The first thing to catch my attention here was the actor who was second billed, Tito Guizar as the Gay Ranchero of the title. Well I don't know if he was much of a ranchero or not, he was on hand here to convince his sweetheart Consuela Belmonte (Estelita Rodriguez) to pack it up and move back to Mexico with him. That idea gets a bit thrown off track when Consuela wins a bid to take over Betty Richards' (Jane Frazee) Manzanita Springs Airline, to the chagrin of villain Vance Brados (George Meeker) who wants the airline for himself. Brados is behind a number of plane hijackings, forcing them to land when their fuel supply and guages are tampered with, then robbing their cargo and doing away with the pilots.I had to do a double take early in the story when Roy Rogers is ambushed escorting a pair of outlaws back to Manzanita. It's pretty apparent that Roy is shot in the shoulder by one of the bad guys, but when he's rescued by Nicci Lopez (Guizar) and removes his shirt to tend to the wound there's no blood. Not even a bullet wound! I wonder why the film makers didn't notice that.Whenever I catch Roy and fellow cowboy star Gene Autry in a Mexican themed Western I find myself wishing it had been filmed in color and this was no exception. The song and dance numbers would have been a lot more delightful, what with the singers and dancers decked out in traditional costume. The title song is offered up in an English and Spanish version and Guizar gets to do a solo of his own in between tunes by Bob Nolan and his Sons of the Pioneers.Andy Devine is also on hand in the story, but isn't as prominent as in some of Roy's other films. As far as I know, it's the only time a B Western ever offered up a bullfighter versus a Bullfincher.
FightingWesterner Bandits find a way to force airplanes down in uninhabited areas, in order to steal their cargo. Sheriff Roy Rogers rides out to the landing sites to investigate and runs afoul of the villains.Tito Guizar is good as the title character, an ex-bullfighter who comes to the United States to wrangle his beautiful runaway fiancé, but almost everything else about this loosely-plotted Roy Rogers vehicle is pretty pedestrian, with a few confusing moments and not nearly enough action until near the end.However, Bob Nolan and The Sons Of The Pioneers sing a few decent songs, Roy's still likable, and Estelita Rodriguez, as Guizar's fiancé is awfully attractive.