George "Gabby" Hayes Movies

Produced in garish Cinecolor, this aspiring "A" Western features John Payne as Clay Fletcher, an Eastern lawyer assigned to track down a judge whose signature is needed for some estate papers. Clay traces the judge, Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull), to El Paso, a lawless town ruthlessly run by saloon owner Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and a corrupt sheriff, La Farge (Dick Foran). The judge has become a hopeless drunk and is used as a pawn by Donner, who terrorizes the local farmers off their land. When one settler, John Elkins (Arthur Space), shoots and kills a deputy in self-defense, Clay is at first inclined to trust that justice will prevail and arranges for traveling salesman "Pesky" (George "Gabby" Hayes) to keep Judge Jeffers sober long enough to render a just verdict. But a threatened Donner has both Jeffers and Elkins brutally killed and against the wishes of the judge's daughter Susan (Gail Russell), Clay takes matters into his won hands by organizing a vigilante group. Grandfather Fletcher (H.B. Warner) arrives to remind Clay of his judicial pledges but he, too, is killed by the increasingly insane La Farge. In the end, only the prospect of a mass lynching brings Clay around and the guilty all face a jury of their peers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The success of 1947's Badman's Territory prompted RKO Radio to assemble another "outlaw rally," Return of the Badmen. Randolph Scott plays US marshal Vance, assigned to rid the Oklahoma Territory of outlaws. This proves to be quite a challenge, inasmuch as virtually every frontier bad guy has converged upon the territory. Led by the surly Sundance Kid (Robert Ryan), the rogue's gallery includes the Younger Brothers (Steve Brodie, Richard Powers, Robert Bray), the Daltons (Lex Barker, Walter Reed, Michael Harvey) and Billy the Kid (Dean White). For all the formidable villainy, the film's most fascinating conflict develops between the two heroines: feisty Cheyenne (Anne Jeffreys) and prim 'n' proper Madge Allen (Jacqueline White). Return of the Badmen posted a huge profit, spawning yet another "all-star" western from RKO, 1951's Best of the Badmen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Promoted from Republic B westerns to "A" productions, William "Wild Bill" Elliot found himself in the sort of roles previously essayed by John Wayne, Richard Dix and Errol Flynn. In the Republic "special" Wyoming, Elliot plays Charles Alderson, a wealthy Wyoming Territory ranch owner who takes an adversarial position against the congressional Homestead Act of the late 19th century. Alderson's grown daughter Karen (Vera Ralston, whose foreign accent is "explained" by the fact that she's been educated in Europe!) tries to dissuade her father from his ruinous path, but it is only through the villainy of crooked landgrabber Duke Lassiter (Albert Dekker) that Alderson realizes he's been all wrong about the incoming homesteaders. Only in a Republic picture would a film's supporting cast include both Maria Ouspenskaya and Gabby Hayes! This Wyoming, incidentally, is not a remake of the 1940 Columbia film of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the better Roy Rogers vehicles of its period, Home in Oklahoma casts Rogers as a crusading frontier newspaper editor. Forsworn to find the murderers of a prominent cattle rancher, Roy teams up with big-city journalist Connie Edwards (Dale Evans) and grizzled ranch foreman Gabby Whittaker (Gabby Hayes). Following the trail of clues like a Sagebrush Sherlock, Rogers exposes a rival rancher (never mind which one-his identity is obvious to seasoned mystery fans) as the culprit. Musical highlights include Roy and Dale's rendition of the novelty tune "Miguelito." Chalk up another winner for the star-director team of Roy Rogers and William Witney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this is '40s western a U.S. marshal chases a band of big-name bandits into no-man's territory (land outside of U.S. government jurisdiction) as he's trying to locate his little brother. He ends up facing off with none other than the James Boys, the Daltons and other notorious fellows. Badman's Territory proved so successful that the formula was repeated several times by RKO and other studios. ~ Rovi

Republic's Under Nevada Skies blends equal parts music and action, resulting in a treat for fans of both. Roy Rogers stars as a wandering cavalier in search of valuable pitchblende deposits. Assisting Roy in his quest is "Queen of the West" Dale Evans and grizzled, dentally challenged Gabby Hayes. In this one, the Indians are the "good guys," chasing down a band of outlaws who've stolen a crucial map. Under Nevada Skies was the last collaboration between star Roy Rogers and director Frank McDonald; thereafter, the man in charge of the Rogers unit was actionmeister William Witney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This gentle, tuneful western is one of cowboy crooner Roy Rogers' best and most successful films; it is also his personal favorite. The fanciful tale tells how Rogers obtained his magnificent horse Trigger and begins with horse trader Rogers as he prepares to breed his best mare with his best friend's glorious Palomino stallion. Trouble comes in the form of a villainous gambler who has similar plans for his own mare. He attempts to rustle the stud, but the attempt fails, the stallion escapes and breeds with Roger's mare. Angrily, the gambler shows up and shoots the beautiful horse, leaving Rogers to shoulder the blame. Fortunately, Roy and his impregnated mare flee. Later she gives birth to Trigger who helps Rogers get revenge after he grows up. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Rainbow over Texas is set in a western never-never land, with vintage six-shooters and stagecoaches sharing screen time with modern limousines and radio studios. Roy Rogers (cast as "himself," as usual), plays a cowboy singing star who agrees to participate in a re-creation of the first Pony Express race. For reasons too numerous to mention here, the villains conspire to prevent Rogers from winning the race. Not only does Roy foil the bad guys, but he also finds time to sing several sprightly musical numbers with co-stars Dale Evans and The Sons of the Pioneers. And of course, there's always room for the comic interpolations of grizzled old Gabby Hayes. Two notes of interest: The principal villain in Rainbow over Texas is played by Sheldon Leonard, who would seem to be more at home in the mean streets of Brooklyn; and the screenplay was based on a novel by Max Brand, of Destry Rides Again fame. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this engagingly silly musical fantasy from the waning days of WW2, Fred MacMurray stars as Bill, who wants to serve his country but has been classified 4-F. While working at a local USO, Bill falls in love with the fickle Lucilla (June Haver, soon to be Mrs. Fred MacMurray), never realizing that he himself is worshipped from afar by the sensible Sally (Joan Leslie). Stumbling across an old lamp donated to a scrap drive, Bill impulsively rubs the lamp--and out pops Ali (Gene Sheldon), a bibulous, bumbling genie. Hoping to become a hero in Lucilla's eyes, Bill asks Ali to put him in the US Army. The genie complies, but gets his wires crossed, and Bill ends up in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In short order, Bill meets two lookalikes of the girls in his life at "Ye U.S.O.", shows up at Valley Forge and trades quips with General Washington (Alan Mowbray)--who, in anticipation of MacArthur and Eisenhower, bombastically insists that he has no political aspirations--unsuccessfully tries to alert Washington of the duplicity of Benedict Arnold (John Davidson), and ultimately finds himself behind enemy lines with a troop of Hessians, whom he tries to hoodwink by delivering a Nuremberg-style speech, replete with "Sieg Heils." Arrested and sentenced to a Hessian firing squad, Bill again summons Ali, who whisks him off to the year 1492. In an elaborate "opera bouffe", Bill musically dissuades the sailors serving under Christopher Columbus (Fortunio Bonanova) from staging a mutiny, convincing them to continue seeking out the New World (as represented by a group of Cuban natives in a conga line). Once on dry land, Bill is entranced by a comely Indian maiden who looks a lot like Lucilla, only to be entrapped in an old-fashioned "badger game" cooked up by the girl's wily Native American boyfriend (Anthony Quinn). Buying his way out of an embarrassing situation by agreeing to purchase Manhattan Island for $24, Bill is then transported to "New Amsterdam" in the mid-1600s. In his efforts to persuade the local Dutch elders that he is the rightful owner of Manhattan, Bill succeeds only in getting arrested again. This time, however, the drunken Ali manages to zap our hero back to the 20th Century--with the 17th-century equivalent of Sally in tow. The songs, by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, are appropriately bright and satirical, but none are standouts. Still, Where Do We Go From Here? is one of those frothy 1940s concoctions that is absolutely impossible to dislike. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The standard Roy Rogers musical western Bells of Rosarita is enlivened by a cute last-reel gimmick. Rogers is appropriately cast as a cowboy star who invariably rescues the heroine from the villain in his movie vehicles. But when Sue Farnum (Dale Evans) is cheated out of her inheritance by the duplicitous business partner (Grant Withers) of her deceased father, Roy finds out with startling suddeness that Real Life isn't like the movies. In order to rescue this genuine damsel in distress, Rogers enlists the aid of his fellow Republic sagebrush stars Wild Bill Elliot, Allan Lane, Don "Red" Barry, Robert Livingston, and Sunset Carson-each astride his own "celebrity" horse. So well-received was the climactic "hero rally" in Bells of Rosarita that the device was repeated again and again by Republic, most memorably in the 1950 Rogers starrer Trail of Robin Hood. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A tuneful Roy Rogers Western, Along the Navajo Trail finds Dale Evans' Lazy A Ranch under siege from nasty J. Richard Bentley (Douglas Fowley), who is in cahoots with a greedy oil company aiming to erect a pipeline through the property come what may. Drifter Rogers, who is really a U.S. Marshal in disguise, eventually gets the goods on the villains with the assistance of Nestor Paiva's band of Mexican gypsies, comedy sidekick George "Gabby" Hayes, and vivacious Estelita Rodriguez. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Most cowboy leading men have only a single leading lady: in Utah, Roy Rogers is literally surrounded by delectable females, including his perennial movie (and real-life) sweetheart Dale Evans. The plot concerntrates on actress Dorothy Bryant (Evans), who inherits a ranch in (where else?) Utah. Hoping to raise money for her upcoming musical show, Dorothy intends to sell the ranch, but foreman Roy Rogers doesn't want her to. Joining Rogers in his efforts to block the sale is cantankerous neighboring rancher Gabby (George "Gabby" Hayes). After innumerable complications, Dorothy realizes that Rogers is right-and manages to have her cake and eat it too by staging her musical revue at the ranch itself. Appearing as Dorothy's entourage are such appealing Republic starlets as Peggy Stewart, Jill Browning and Beverly Loyd. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi