Carl Sepulveda Movies

Judy Garland was originally slated to star in MGM's film version of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, but she was forced to pull out of the production due to illness (recently discovered out-takes reveal a gaunt, dazed Garland, obviously incapable of completing her duties). She was replaced by Betty Hutton who, once she overcame the resentment of her co-workers, turned in an excellent performance--perhaps the best of her career. Hutton is of course cast as legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who ascends from dirty-faced backwoods gamin to the uppermost rungs of international stardom. Her mentor is Buffalo Bill, played by Louis Calhern (like Hutton, Calhern was a last-minute replacement: the original Buffalo Bill, Frank Morgan, died before production began). Annie's great rival is arrogant marksman Frank Butler (Howard Keel) with whom she eventually falls in love. She goes so far as to lose an important shooting match to prove her affection--a scene that hardly strikes a blow for feminism, but this is, after all, a 1950 film. Of the stellar supporting cast, J. Carroll Naish stands out as Sitting Bull, whose shrewd business acumen is good for several laughs. Virtually all the Irving Berlin tunes were retained from the Broadway version, including "Doin' What Comes Naturally", "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "Anything You Can Do", "The Girl That I Marry", "My Defenses are Down", "They Say It's Wonderful" and the rousing "There's No Business Like Show Business", which was later tantalizingly excerpted in MGM's pastiche feature That's Entertainment II. Alas, due to a complicated legal tangle involving the estates of Irving Berlin and librettists Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields, Annie Get Your Gun hasn't been shown on television in years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry sings his own and Ray Whitley's "Back in the Saddle Again" in the opening sequence of this, the fifth episode of his 1950 television series. A sheriff this time, Gene takes on ten-year-old Jimmy Foster (Billy Gray), whose father, Ben (George J. Lewis), has been jailed for bank robbery. "An ornery little cuss," according to Gene's sidekick Pat (Pat Buttram), Jimmy repays the gesture by smuggling a gun into the jail. A deputy (Wes Hudman) and Ben's partner, Reynolds (House Peters Jr.), are killed as a result of this piece of juvenile delinquency, but little Jimmy sees the error of his ways after an inspirational lecture from Autry. Billy Gray's real-life mother, 1940s starlet Beatrice Gray, appears in an unbilled bit. Restored by Gene Autry Entertainment in 2000, "The Star Toter" premiered originally on August 20, 1950. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Republic singing cowboy Monte Hale headlines San Antone Ambush. It's the usual melange of fast action, black-hearted villains and blazing guns, expertly assembled by veteran western helmsman Philip Ford. Hale plays an Army officer who investigates the robbery charges levelled against rancher Clint Wheeler (James B. Cardwell). The crimes are actually the handiwork of crooked federal commissioner Roberts (who else but Roy Barcroft). Evidently Hale was trying to shed his musical image, since he doesn't sing at all in the film's 60 minutes. Director Ford's father Francis Ford (brother of John) shows up in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Country and western warbler-turned-cowboy star Jimmy Wakely, normally a colorless and unexciting screen presence, is actually given some action sequences in this virtually musicless western. Wakeley and comical sidekick Dub Taylor stumble across a murder scheme, hatched by beautiful but deadly Christine Larson. The victim is her husband, played by Leonard Penn (who happens to be the real-life father of current screen stars Sean and Christopher Penn). What with its black-widow plot and overdependence upon shadowy art direction, Partners of the Sunset is more "film noir" than western. Joining Jimmy Wakeley in the film's sparse singing sequences is the equally bland Ray Whitley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a female boss villain in this unusual Western from Monogram. Hired to look into dirty dealings in the town of Medicine Flats, Johnny learns that Kansas City Kate (Christine McIntyre), the owner of the Golden Spur Saloon, has been waging a war against local prospectors, one of whom is found murdered. Not appreciating Johnny's interference, Kate has her henchman Cameo (Tristram Coffin) take a shot at him and when that fails, hires a notorious gunslinger, the Cherokee Kid (I. Stanford Jolley). Needless to say, the latter is equally unsuccessful and after a final confrontation Johnny is able to arrest both Kansas City Kate and her few surviving henchmen. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Saddle Pals hits a new low for Gene Autry's postwar Republic westerns, containing literally no action at all. Autry is drawn into the plot when he's given power of attorney in a property settlement involving his old pal (Sterling Holloway) and a gang of land swindlers. The pal then goes on an extended vacation, leaving Autry to sort things out. Though he doesn't display the business acumen that would eventually transform him into a real-life billionaire, Autry does manage to figure out that the swindlers are up to something dishonest. One of the more curious aspects of the film is the casting of traditional comedy-relief actor Sterling Holloway as the plot catalyst; he looks almost as uncomfortable as Autry. Fortunately, Autry's movie career would take an upswing the following year when he switched his base of operations from Republic to Columbia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As with his previous music Western vehicle, Moon over Montana (1946), former radio crooner Jimmy Wakely composed the title song for this film. With Wesley Tuttle and His Texas Stars as his backup group, Wakely also warbled Paul Westmoreland's Detour, De Camptown Ladies, by Stephen Foster, and I Miss You Since You've Been Gone by Arthur Smith. The girl Wakely "missed" was Jean Carlin, whose prospector grandfather (Budd Buster) is being harrassed by an unknown force. Wakely and his usual sidekick Lee "Lasses" White investigate and soon determine that the mystery villain is actually a villainess, Flora Carter (Iris Clive), a ruthless lady rancher who holds the mortgage to grandpa Buster's property. In between crooning the aforementioned tunes and winning the big race on his wild mustang, Wakely manages to discover enough evidence to convict the unscrupulous Ms. Carter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In his second starring Western, Republic's newest cowboy hero Allan Lane went up against Roy Barcroft, the studio's master villain. Lane plays Chick Weaver, a Treasury Department agent whose stagecoach is stopped at gunpoint by Dan (Bud Geary), a hired gun searching for a man named Redmond. As Chick learns in town, Dan is employed by saloon owner Black Jack Barstow (LeRoy Mason). The latter is in cahoots with yet another passenger from the stage, J. Rodney Stevens (Barcroft), head of the U.S. Silver Foundation, which Stevens admits to Barstow is a bogus operation to cheat the local miners out of their strikes, a plan that may be ruined by the mysterious Mr. Redmond. Redmond, of course, proves to be none other than Chick the treasury agent, who has been tracking Stevens all along. Working with another undercover agent, Throckmorton "Other Hand" Snodgrass (Wally Vernon), and local journalist Jessie Wade (Peggy Stewart), Chick gets the goods on both Stevens and Barstow, who are harshly dealt with in the final shootout. A good script and no-nonsense direction by Lesley Selander was almost sabotaged by sidekick Wally Vernon, whose New York accent was out of place in a B-Western, and the precocious Twinkle Watts -- Republic's less than successful answer to Shirley Temple and Jane Withers. Her presence in this and other Westerns was vehemently opposed by their target audience, the small fry. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

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

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

In this western, two cowboys ride to the rescue of ranchers who are fighting to keep a land-grabber from taking their land and selling it to the railroad. Things look bleak for a while, but fortunately, one of the heroes is related to the vice--president of the railroad and is able to straighten the whole mess out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though officially based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Clarence Buddington Kelland, RKO Radio's Valley of the Sun was obviously inspired by the blockbuster comedy western Destry Rides Again (indeed, both films were directed by George Marshall). James Craig stars as Indian scout Jonathan, whose pro-Native American sentiments do not rest well with crooked civilian Indian agent Jim Sawyer (Dean Jagger), who intends to benefit from an impending tribal uprising. Court-martialed on a trumped-up charge fomented by Sawyer, Jonathan escapes the stockade with the help of a friendly sergeant and rides off to Washington DC, hoping to forestall an all-out Indian war. En route, he makes the acquaintance of Sawyer's snooty fiancee Christine (Lucille Ball), forcing her into a marriage for plot reasons too complicated to go into here. After juggling comedy and melodrama for nearly eight reels, the film turns serious towards the climax, when the fate of the protagonists falls into the hands of level-headed Indian chieftan Cochise (Antonio Moreno) and his hotheaded rival Geronimo (Tom Tyler). RKO's first big-budget western in several years, Valley of the Sun lost $158,000 at the box office, temporarily discouraging any followups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide