George "Gabby" Hayes Movies
Virtually the prototype of all grizzled old-codger western sidekicks, George "Gabby" Hayes professed in real life to hate westerns, complaining that they all looked and sounded alike. For his first few decades in show business, he appeared in everything but westerns, including travelling stock companies, vaudeville, and musical comedy. He began appearing in films in 1928, just in time to benefit from the talkie explosion. In contrast to his later unshaven, toothless screen persona, George Hayes (not yet Gabby) frequently showed up in clean-faced, well groomed articulate characterizations, sometimes as the villain. In 1933 he appeared in several of the Lone Star westerns featuring young John Wayne, alternating between heavies and comedy roles. Wayne is among the many cowboy stars who has credited Hayes with giving them valuable acting tips in their formative days. In 1935, Hayes replaced an ailing Al St. John in a supporting role in the first Hopalong Cassidy film, costarring with William Boyd; Hayes' character died halfway through this film, but audience response was so strong that he was later brought back into the Hoppy series as a regular. It was while sidekicking for Roy Rogers at Republic that Hayes, who by now never appeared in pictures with his store-bought teeth, earned the soubriquet "Gabby", peppering the soundtrack with such slurred epithets as "Why, you goldurned whipersnapper" and "Consarn it!" He would occasionally enjoy an A-picture assignment in films like Dark Command (1940) and Tall in the Saddle (1944), but from the moment he became "Gabby", Hayes was more or less consigned exclusively to "B"s. After making his last film appearance in 1952, Hayes turned his attentions to television, where he starred in the popular Saturday-morning Gabby Hayes Show ("Hullo out thar in televisium land!") and for a while was the corporate spokesman for Popsicles. Retiring after a round of personal appearance tours, Hayes settled down on his Nevada ranch, overseeing his many business holdings until his death at age 83. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Roy Rogers saves Dale Evans from being hoodwinked by a rodeo competitor in this pleasant, and pleasantly tuneful, B-Western from Republic Pictures. Due to the mismanagement of old-timer Gabby Whittaker (George "Gabby" Hayes), The Brooks Rodeo is about to be gobbled up by competitor Frank Madden (Richard Powers aka Tom Keene), who also has designs on pretty owner Marjorie Brooks (Evans) herself. But when Gabby hires Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers as the new headliners, Madden and his henchman Ken Ferguson (Roy Barcroft) are forced to commit a bit of sabotage. With the aid of Trigger, "The Smartest Horse in the Movies," and radio announcer Marty Maizely (Lloyd Corrigan), Roy and Gabby manage to the goods on Ferguson and prevent Marjorie from marrying the sleazy Madden. Featuring early silent screen star Claire Du Brey as Dale Evans' faithful housekeeper, Lights of Old Santa Fe also presents such pleasant musical divertissements as Jack Elliott's title tune, Tim Spencer's "Trigger Hasn't Got a Pretty Figger", "I'm a Happy Guy in My Levi's Britches" and "Cowpoke Polka", and Ricardo Lopez Mendez' "Amor". The latter is performed by Dale Evans in both English and Spanish versions. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1944
Two wild western towns battle it out for the position of county seat. Fortunately, Red Ryder and his little side-kick are around to restore the peace. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
In this western, Red Ryder, his youthful sidekick, and another pal take on a wicked governor. This was the first in a new series of Red Ryder, a character based on Frank Harman's comic strip westerns. An earlier attempted series had proven a dismal failure. This series was more successful and continued on for years. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
In this western, a crusty old sourdough finally finds the silver mine of his dreams only to find his mine threatened by vicious outlaws. Fortunately, a cowboy hero rides up to save him, but not until considerable rootin' tootin' action. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
"Wild Bill" Elliott heads the all-star (by B-flick standards, at any rate) western Hidden Valley Outlaws. Elliott does battle with a cartel of ruthless landgrabbers, who are victimizing settlers throughout the Southwest. With such formidable villains as Roy Barcroft, Kenneth Duncan, Leroy Mason and Bud Geary to contend with, he certainly has his hands full. Anne Jeffreys provides the romantic interest, while George "Gabby" Hayes makes with the usual "Consarn it"s and "Gol'durn whippersnapper"s. It's uncanny how much sheer entertainment value Republic Studios was able to pack into a mere 56 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1944
The Big Bonanza was a Republic Studios in-betweener: too elaborate for B picture, not expensive enough for an "A". Richard Arlen stars as an army deserter who heads back to his home town. Unable to hold down a legitimate job, Arlen falls in with childhood chum Robert Livingston, now a high-rolling crook. Jane Frazee is the dime-a-dance girl who acts as a redeeming force for the wayward Arlen. Gabby Hayes shows up as comic relief "Hap" Sweeney. At the bottom of the cast, billed as "Singer," is future Republic singing cowboy Monte Hale. The Big Bonanza was co-scripted by Dorrell and Stuart McGowan, later the leading lights of the TV series Death Valley Days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Jane Frazee, (more)
In Old Oklahoma is better known today by its reissue title, War of the Wildcats. John Wayne heads the cast as oil man Dan Somers, who carries on a bitter feud with his crooked rival Hunk Gardner (Albert Dekker). Furthering the animosity between the two men is schoolteacher-turned-novelist Catherine Allen (Martha Scott), with whom both Dan and Hunk fall in love. The main story and the romantic second story both come to a head when Dan is offered a valuable contract if he can deliver an oil shipment within a specific deadline. Naturally, Hunk does everything he can to keep Dan from fulfilling his contract, resulting in a thrill-packed chase sequence that served as stock footage for many a future Republic western and serial. A pre-Roy Rogers Dale Evans costars as sexy dancehall chanteuse "Cuddles" Walker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Martha Scott, (more)
- 1943
Republic's winning combination of western star Wild Bill Elliot, comic sidekick Gabby Hayes and leading lady Anne Jeffreys is shown to good advantage in Death Valley Manhunt. Elliot plays a lawman who is hired by a group independent oilmen to protect them from crooked business interests. One of the bad guys is Richard Quinn (Weldon Heyburn), who tries to stir up a range war against the oilmen and the local landowners. When Elliot figures out what Quinn is up to, pity the poor bad man who gets in Our Hero's way. In the film's best scene, Wild Bill finds himself atop an oil well just as a gusher is about to burst forth from the earth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Gabby" Hayes, Anne Jeffreys, (more)
- 1943
The 1943 Republic westerns of "Wild Bill" Elliot maintained a high batting average, and Bordertown Gunfighters was no exception. Elliot is cast as an undercover government agent, assigned to stop a gang of swindlers who've been preying on Mexican immigrants. The villains aren't averse to committing murder, and on several occasions resort to drastic measures to put Wild Bill out of the way. But our hero isn't so easily killed, nor is his grizzled ol' sidekick Gabby Hayes. The leading lady this time out is Anne Jeffreys, on the verge of bigger things, while the villainy is in the capable if grubby hands of Ian Keith and Harry Woods. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Gabby" Hayes, Anne Jeffreys, (more)
- 1943
Wild Bill comes to the rescue when his friend needs him to take care of a crook in this western. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1943
In this western, Wild Bill and his assistant, try to learn why a young med school graduate is being spurned by the members of his own Native American tribe. The heroes learn that the clan's medicine man is a phony in cahoots with a corrupt Indian agent and that these two are working for a wicked rancher who has been polluting the local drinking water with his illegal irrigation project. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Gabby" Hayes, Anne Jeffreys, (more)
- 1943
In this western, a cowboy and his pals must stop outlaws from stealing a cache of gold ore. Action ensues, and they succeed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
Overland Mail Robbery is another entry in Republic's "Wild Bill" Elliot western series. Once again, Elliot's leading lady is Anne Jeffreys, and once again his comical sidekick is Gabby Hayes. The plot finds Wild Bill coming to the aid of namby-pamby Easterner Tom Hartley (played by future "Superman" Kirk Alyn), who has inherited his family's stagecoach line. With Elliot's assistance, Tom proves he's a real he-man by standing up to the outlaw gang terrorizing the countryside. Of interest is the fact that the gang leader is a woman, played by Alice Fleming, who later portrayed "The Duchess" in Republic's "Red Ryder" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Jeffreys, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1942
In this western, brave Roy Rogers and his pals take on high-tech big city gangsters who fight their battles with airplanes and tommy guns. The trouble begins as Rogers is taking three important investors to see some land. At the same time, a crime lord endeavors to kidnap the investors and leave poor Rogers to take the fall. Guns blaze and somewhere in the midst of it all, old Rogers sets himself down and sings some songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
Roy Rogers champions the cause of Easterner Sylvia Clark (Helen Parrish), who is in danger of losing her father's ranch to crooked land speculators. Roy tries to deal with the villains through legal channel, but they spoil things by resorting to strong-arm tactics. Making our hero's task all the more difficult is that the principal heavy is woman, one Vera Martin (Joan Woodbury)-and just try to catch Roy Rogers punching out a female! Despite stiff competition from the ineluctable Gabby Hayes, the film is slyly stolen by Onslow Stevens as a shifty lawyer. The musical portion of the program is ably handled by Rogers and his old pals, the Sons of the Pioneers (with Bob Nolan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1942
In this western, Roy plays both the villain and the hero. As the bad-guy, he heads a ring of rustlers. The trouble begins when the gang runs across good-Roy and mistake him for their wicked leader. Good-Roy plays along so he can bring the gang to justice. Unfortunately, bad-Roy shows up and mayhem ensues. Fortunately good-Roy prevails and justice is served, but not before he sings a few cowboy songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
Sons of the Pioneers is a showcase for?the Sons of the Pioneers, who are reteamed with ex-"Son" Roy Rogers in this budget western. The plot is contingent upon a deposit of rare minerals, vital to the American war effort. The villains want to get their hands on these minerals, and to do so organize themselves into a gang of masked terrorists, bent on chasing everyone else out of the territory. Unable to handle the villains alone, sheriff Gabby Whittaker (Gabby Hayes) sends for Roy Rogers, whose father was a legendary guns-slingin' peacekeeper. Alas, Roy is a shy entymologist who's never handled a gun in his life-but he soon learns how, thereby routing the heavies and striking a blow for Democracy. Pat Brady, a member in good standing of the Sons of the Pioneers, makes the first of many screen appearances as Roy Rogers' comical sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1942
The Man from Cheyenne is Roy Rogers, who does his best to squash a gang of cattle rustlers. What Roy doesn't know is that the mastermind behind the gang is a beautiful woman, East Coast socialite Marian (Lynn Carver). Making Marian's job easier is the fact that all the local cattlemen are crazy about her, and have a tendency to tip off the times and locations of their impending cattle drives. But Rogers is not so easily flummoxed-after all, he's a government man. Man From Cheyenne was hailed at the time of its release as the film in which Roy Rogers received his first screen kiss, which was certainly not the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1942
Roy Rogers saves the day for the ranchers of Cherokee City in this fast-paced comedy-Western directed and produced by Joseph Kane. Roy and no less than three sidekicks -- Smiley Burnette, George "Gabby" Hayes and Bob Nolan of the music group The Sons of the Pioneers -- attempt to persuade eccentric river-boat owner Col. Silas Popen (Walter Catlett) to service Cherokee City. The surrounding ranchers would otherwise be forced to ship their cattle with crooked trucking company operator Ross Lambert (Edmund MacDonald). Aware of the colonel's phobia of anything Western, Lambert and his henchmen (William Haade and Hal Taliaferro) stage typical Wild West brawls, helped inadvertently by Roy's well-meaning sidekicks. Burnette, whom Rogers inherited from draftee Gene Autry, and Hayes perform their usual routines but the comedic highlights are provided by flibbertigibbet Catlett and blustery Paul Harvey, the latter playing B-Western history's perhaps most incompetent Cattlemen's Association president. Ruth Terry makes a spirited heroine as the colonel's daughter but the great African-American actor Leigh Whipper is sadly wasted in a stereotypical "comic" servant role. A proposed action scene in which Lambert and his men start a fire using gasoline was rewritten in order to avoid reminding theater-goers of the war-time rationing. In most prints seen today, Rogers' musical numbers have been cut, making Heart of the West a fast-paced hour or so of nearly non-stop action and comedy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1942
It's hard to dislike the Roy Rogers musical western Romance on the Range, but it's equally hard to get too enthusiastic about it. Rogers plays the owner of a western ranch who suspects that something is amiss with his highly secretive foreman Banning (Edward Pawley). Assuming a phony name, Roy gets a job as a ranchhand on his own spread, eventually discovering that Banning is secretly the head of a bandit gang which has been fencing stolen furs at the local trading post. Innocently caught in the middle of all this is postmistress Joan Stuart (Linda Hayes) who falls in love with Rogers while unaware of his true identity. As Steve, veteran movie heavy Harry Woods plays a relatively benign role in Romance on the Range. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1942
Roy Rogers takes on crooked wartime profiteeers in the musical western Ridin' Down the Canyon. Posing as solid citizens, the crooks spend their evening hours stealing horses from local ranchers, then selling the steeds to the government at exorbitant prices. The head of the bad guys runs a dude ranch where Rogers and his pals (The Sons of the Pioneers) are employed. When Rogers figures out what's what, he sets about to bring the rustlers to justice. There's some piquancy in the fact that the character played by juvenile actor Buzzy Henry is named Bobby Blake; within a few years, the real Bobby Blake (who later grew up to become Robert Blake) would be appearing as Little Beaver in Republic's "Red Ryder" western series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1941
Possibly inspired by the 1937 British melodrama They Drive By Night, East of Piccadilly is an austere shocker set in London. Novelist Sebastian Shaw finds himself in a "Nick and Nora" relationship with girl reporter Judy Campbell, as together they seek the whereabouts of a silk-stocking killer. For a while, Shaw is a suspect, but his top billing expunges him of all guilt (we suppose). Perhaps the real murderer lurks within the supporting-cast ranks of Niall McGinniss, Henry Edwards and Martita Hunt (among others), all of whom look guilty as sin. The deceptive whimsical quality of the title East of Piccadilly was lost on the American distributor, who renamed the film The Strangler for US consumption. One of the screenwriters was J. Lee Thompson, later the director of such cinematic blockbusters as The Guns of Navarone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Campbell, Sebastian Shaw, (more)
John Wayne stars in this hard-driving oater which was co-written by character actor Paul Fix. Wayne plays Rocklin, a chauvinistic cowboy who arrives at the KC Ranch in Santa Inez to apply for a job as a foreman. But when he finds that the owner has died and that the ranch is now being run by two women -- Clara Cardell (Audrey Long) and her aunt Miss Martin (Elizabeth Risdon) -- he hardheadedly refuses to work for the women. But later on, Clara comes looking for Rocklin, asking his help in obtaining a letter from the town's corrupt judge Garvey (Ward Bond) that proves that Clara is old enough to be the legal owner of the ranch. Rocklin arrives in Garvey's office just after Garvey has burned the letter. The two tangle, with Rocklin sending Garvey crashing through his door. After the fight, Rocklin meets Arly Harolday (Ella Raines), another female ranch owner. Rocklin's views on women enrage Arly so much that she gets her stepfather (Donald Douglas) to hire him to work on her ranch, just so she can fire him. But in spite of Rocklin's primitive attitudes, Arly falls in love with him. Meanwhile, things are heating up as Garvey and other corrupt officials try to get control of the KC ranch. In order to get rid of Rocklin, a murder rap is pinned on him, forcing him to leave town. Hiding out at the KC ranch, he learns that he is the nephew of the ranch's dead owner and the rightful heir. Arly arrives to help Rocklin and to tell him that the murder Rocklin is accused of committing was actually committed by Arly's stepfather, who is working with Garvey and Miss Martin to get the deed to the ranch. With all that information under his cowboy hat, Rocklin cocks his gun and goes out to face the bad guys for a final showdown. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Ella Raines, (more)
A mystery man works behind the scenes in this tuneful Roy Rogers western in which the local theatre owner attempts to ruin the honest businessmen of Deadwood. Even the sheriff, Jordan (Monte Blue), answers to nasty Jake Marvel (Ralf Harolde), whose reign of terror forces the decent people to become outlaws themselves. Enter Bill Brady, aka Brett Starr (Rogers), a sharpshooter with Professor Mortimer "Gabby" Blackstone's (George "Gabby" Hayes) traveling medicine show. Although a fugitive from justice, Bill comes to the aid of the beleaguered citizens, discovering along the way that a trusted friend isn't quite who he claims to be. Roy sings his own and Fred Rose's "Sundown on the Rangeland", Rose and Ray Whitley's "The call of the Dusty Trail" and Jule Styne and Sol Meyer's "Joe O'Grady". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
- 1941
In this entertaining western, Roy Rogers rides to the rescue of ranchers threatened by a drought. With his rousing songs, he rallies the reluctant fellows together to donate a large sum of money to build a new reservoir. Things go well until a gambler gets involved and winds up stealing the $182,000 fund. This angers Rogers who rides out after him and brings him to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
