Slim Pickens Movies

Singing cowboy Rex Allen and his faithful horse Koko head the cast in Border Saddlemates. This time, Rex in on the trail of counterfeiters (Republic's favorite villains of the 1951-52 season). Criminal mastermind Steve Baxter (Roy Barcroft) is smuggling fake money across the Mexican border while using a fox farm as a cover. But Rex ends up (here it comes!) out-foxing Baxter in the exciting finale. Virtually the same plotline was used in the concurrently-released Republic oater Wild Horse Ambush, even unto casting Roy Barcroft as the villain (but then, wasn't he always the villain?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will Rogers Jr. stars as his own father in this slow, sentimental biopic. The film begins with Rogers' days on his father's ranch in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). We see Will court his future wife, Betty (Jane Wyman), just before he strikes out on his own as a rodeo performer. Attempting to break into vaudeville with a roping act, Will gets nowhere until he starts cracking extemporaneous jokes about current events. Using the newspapers as his "material," Will rises to the pinnacle of show business in the 1910s and '20s as a star comedian in Flo Ziegfeld's Follies. He matures into a devoted family man, a rancher, a film star, an aviation enthusiast, and America's unofficial goodwill ambassador. During the darkest days of the Depression, Rogers works long and hard on behalf of poverty-stricken farmers in his own home state and elsewhere. In 1935, Rogers joins his old pal Wiley Post (Noah Beery Jr.) for an airplane trip to Alaska -- from which he never returns. The Story of Will Rogers sticks to the facts, but the film is surprisingly dull and pedantic considering the director (the usually vigorous Michael Curtiz) and the fascinating subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stock footage abound in this otherwise average Rex Allen musical Western from Republic Pictures. When crooked ranch foreman Link Felton (Roy Barcroft) diverts the "Comanche Limited" into an old mineshaft, causing the engine to explode, everyone believes that ranch owner Carlos Alvarez (Nestor Paiva) is among the dead and buried travelers, everyone including Lita, the old man's granddaughter (Estelita Rodriguez), whose Eastern fiancée Rodney Brewster (Douglas Evans) is a greedy tyrant. Although his main goal is to recover a shipment of gold from the buried train, Felton has no compelling reasons not to assist Brewster in rustling a herd of cattle brought in by former Alvarez cowboys Rex Allen and Slim Pickens. But unbeknownst to Felton and Brewster, old man Alvarez is still very much alive. Rex Allen and an aggregation calling itself the Republic Rhythm Riders perform "I'll Sing a Love Song Again," by Jack Elliott and Aaron Gonzales, and Allen's own "Hide Away Your Troubles" and "The Railroad Corral." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Rex Allen, his horse Koko, and his sidekick Slim Pickens play themselves in Old Oklahoma Plains. Set in the 1920s, the film finds Allen trying to convince local ranchers to allow the army room for their tank maneuvers. Rabble-rouser Roy Barcroft, certain that the tank will make horses obsolete, organizes mob resistance against the military. At first glance, the film's finale -- a race between tanks and mounted cavalry -- seems like a novelty. At closer glance, however, most of the climactic sequence consists of stock footage lifted from the 1938 Republic production Army Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director John Ford, notoriously difficult to please, regarded The Sun Shines Bright as his favorite film. Laurence Stalllings' screenplay is based on several short stories by Kentucky humorist Irvin S. Cobb, some of which had previously been cinematized in Ford's 1934 Will Rogers vehicle Judge Priest. Charles Winninger stars as Judge William Pittman Priest, whose down-home, common-sense approach to his job has endeared himself to most of the residents of his small Kentucky home town, while alienating many of the "better" people. Up for election, Judge Priest is challenged by a Yankee upstart who has most of the influential citizens in his pocket. Almost deliberately courting defeat, the doggedly honest Priest champions several unpopular causes. In the film's most memorable scene, the Judge arranges a fancy funeral procession for an impoverished town prostitute. The film retains much of the charm of its predecessor Judge Priest; unfortunately (at least by P.C. standards), The Sun Shines Bright also retains the most questionable aspect of the earlier film: the stereotyped routines of African-American comedian Stepin Fetchit. One hardly knows how to react to the sequence in which the supplicative Fetchit tries to hush up a defiant young black man who is in danger of being lynched (Ford plays this scene for laughs!) While Fetchit's participation will hardly endear the film to modern audiences, it is unfair to write off the rest of The Sun Shines Bright, which otherwise fully lives up to director Ford's affectionate assessment. Long available only in its 90 minute release version, the film has in recent years been restored to the 100-minute "director's cut." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rex Allen, the last of Republic's singing cowboys, stars in Red River Shore. This time, it's up to Allen to prevent a major oil scam. The potential suckers have been enticed into the deal on the reputation of a recently deceased local hero. The problem here is to rout the crooks without dragging the dead man's name through the mud. Fortunately, providence, and the screenwriters, take a hand in things. Though Rex Allen usually gets the girl -- in this case, Lyn Thomas -- the romantic angle this time is handled by young swain Bill Phipps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Arizona Cowboy" Rex Allen heads the cast of Republic's Old Overland Trail. Rex plays an operative for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, assigned to pacify a disgruntled Apache tribe. Villain John Anchor (Roy Barcroft), a railroad contractor, has been stirring up trouble with the Indians as part of a complex scheme to build a spur line at slave-labor wages. Making things difficult for Rex is the fact that his wayward brother Jim (Gil Herman) has joined Anchor's gang. Of interest to audiences of the 1990s is the presence of Leonard Nimoy, here cast as Apache chief Black Hawk. Despite the surfeit of action in Old Overland Trail, Rex Allen finds time to sing three tunes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, the many travails of a wagonmaster on a Westward trek are chronicled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Republic super-production The Last Command is a partial remake of the same studio's Man of Conquest (1939). But whereas the earlier film concerned itself with the exploits of Texas patriot Sam Houston, Last Command concentrates on Houston associate James Bowie, played by Sterling Hayden. When Texas is threatened by the armies of Mexican general Santa Ana (J. Carrol Naish), Bowie at first adopts a policy of peaceful coexistence. When this proves impossible, Bowie joins Davy Crockett (played as an irascible old cuss by Arthur Hunnicut) and the rest of the courageous defenders of the Alamo. The climactic confrontation between the heroes of the Alamo and Santa Ana is long in coming, but well worth the wait. Frank Lloyd's large-scale direction and the vibrant musical score of Max Steiner imbues Last Command with a "major studio" aura not often found in Republic productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a man is falsely accused of betraying a wagon train to the Apaches and is punished by his employers, but not fired. His boss gives him a second chance and the man is assigned to make sure that an arms shipment makes it safely through the Indian land. The woman who owns the valuable cargo finds herself courted by both men. The woman, however, was born of an interracial couple; she despises this fact as she must deal with constant degradation from her un-enlightened peers. When the wagon master finds out about her family, he too must deal with his own prejudice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Gun Brothers is a rehash of the "Cain and Abel" motif that has been popular amongst screenwriters since time immemorial. Buster Crabbe and Neville Brand star as brothers Chad and Jubal. While Chad remains on the straight-and-narrow and becomes a rancher, Jubal opts for the life of an outlaw. The siblings manage to keep peace in the family until a jealous Indian maiden (Lita Milan) tells Jubal that Chad has turned stool pigeon. Only a cathartic last-reel burst of violence convinces Jubal that his brother hasn't betrayed him to the authorities--but by then, of course, it is too late. Ann Robinson, leading lady of such early-1950s esoterica as War of the Worlds and Dragnet, costars as a saloon singer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Action specialist William Witney was the director of the leisurely, sensitive western Stranger at My Door. MacDonald Carey plays a frontier minister, who much against the wishes of his wife and child invites a fugitive outlaw (Skip Homeier) into his home. At first the outlaw takes advantage of Carey's largesse, but gradually feels the effect of the minister's kindness and altruism. This film has frequently been excerpted into TV documentaries on the basis of one single sequence: a beautifully staged confrontation with a wild, rampaging horse. The split-second editing and the undetectable combination of fact and artifice results in a superb setpiece which arguably represents William Witney's finest work. Stranger at My Door was scripted by Barry Shipman, the son of pioneering female producer/director Nell Shipman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide