Sloan Nibley Movies

Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by a mortally woman named Mrs. Kilmer (Lillian Bronson), who wants to learn the whereabouts of her long-long son before she dies. The trail of clues leads Paladin to Harper City, a town held in the grip of the wealthy--and psychotic--Fred Harper (Charles Aidman). Clearly, Harper knows something about Mrs. Kilmer's prodigal son, but he isn't telling...and Paladin is fully aware that the previous detective hired to locate the boy turned up dead. This is the final episode of Have Gun, Will Travel's third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Springfield Rifle was Gary Cooper's third western in a row, released not long after the classic High Noon. Cooper plays Union army officer Lex Kearney, who undertakes a covert investigation to find out why the North's supply of horses has suddenly diminished. Because of the top-secret nature of his mission, Kearney is forced to distance himself from everyone he knows, including his wife Erin (Phyllis Thaxter) and son Jamie (Michael Chapin). Heading to a remote cavalry post, he discovers that renegade soldiers have been stealing horses and selling them to the South. Someone at the post has been operating as the thieves' "inside man," and Lex, posing as a dishonorably discharged soldier, aims to ferret out the traitor. Had it not followed directly on the heels of the critical and financial success of High Noon, Springfield Rifle might have fared better with audiences and reviewers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Roy Rogers' final big-screen effort, the cowboy hero plays a U.S. Border Patrolman assigned to prevent a herd of diseased cattle from crossing over from Mexico. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Roy Rogers enters the atomic age with this sci-fi western directed by serial ace William Witney. Our hero runs a pipeline near a site where Dr. Manning (William Forrest) and his daughter Frankie (Penny Edwards) are experimenting with long-range weather forecasting by using rockets. Enter nasty Gregory Camwell (Ralph Withers) and his crew of thugs, who have in mind quite different uses for the missiles. Aided by Frankie, sidekick Splinters (Gordon Jones), Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage singing group and Bullet, the dog, Roy is soon knee-deep in a whole new kind of trouble that culminates with a blazing fight to the death on an oil derrick. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The King of the Cowboys and the Queen of the West perform their noublesse oblige in Twilight in the Sierras. Roy Rogers plays a US marshal, pursuing a vicious gang of counterfeiters. Dale Evans (not yet Mrs. Rogers) hasn't got much to do but provide love interest, warble a few tunes, and display jealousy when co-star Estelitta Rodriguez sashays into view. The story is motivated by the kidnapping of an ex-counterfeiter who's gone straight. Filmed in the restful Trucolor process, Twilight in the Sierras was designed and marketed as a "special," aiming beyond its usual small-town and regional audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bells of Coronado was another of Roy Rogers' always-entertaining Republic "specials," blessed with script and production values that would have done any "A" picture proud. Roy plays an undercover insurance investigator who hopes to ascertain the whereabouts of a vein of gold ore--and to solve the murder of the vein's owner. It follows, as night follows day, that the least-likely suspect is the criminal mastermind. Before Roy finds this out, though, he must contend with the villain's principal henchmen, played by former Our Gang kid Clifton Young. Dale Evans, Pat Brady, and Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage all do their usual, which is all anyone could ask. Given second billing, just below Roy and just above Dale, is Trigger, "The Smartest Horse in the Movies." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Republic's Trucolor "special" Susanna Pass stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, King and Queen of the West. Rogers plays "himself," while Evans is cast as female doctor Kay Parker. The villains this time around are trying to force a fish hatchery owner out of business so they can drill for underwater oil. The film's action content never impedes its musical highlights (and vice versa); among the vocal contributors are Estrelita Rodriguez (who figures prominently in one of the cliff-hanging action setpieces) and Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage. Susanna Pass represented the on-screen reteaming of Rogers and Evans, after several attempts by Republic to link up their Number One cowboy star with other leading ladies. Surprising, Rogers isn't teamed with a comical sidekick, though Estrelita Rodriguez is admittedly pretty funny as a flirtatious senorita. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Opening with a brief look at Republic Pictures' back lot in Studio City, CA, this average Roy Rogers songfest settles down to weightier matters after Roy returns to the old homestead to perform a radio broadcast. Peace and quiet, however, are rudely interrupted when someone kidnaps the cowboy crooner's famous horse Trigger and demands a $100,000 ransom for the handsome equine. The perpetrators of this dastardly deed are horse traders "Pop" Jordan (George Lloyd) and Lige McFarland (Wade Crosby), who employ a mole at the Rogers outfit in the person of young Ted Conover (Michael Chapin), Lige's innocent stepson, who will do anything to recover the imperiled Trigger. When not chasing down nasty kidnappers, Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers (featuring Pat Brady) and leading lady Jane Frazee perform "Under California Stars", "King of the Cowboys", and Little Saddle Pals", all by Jack Elliott. Like he had in his initial Republic starring vehicle, Under Western Stars (1938), Roy also sings Gene Autry's dramatic "Dust". Under California Stars was released in Trucolor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Roy Rogers plays Roy Rogers, as ever, in Night Time in Nevada. This time Roy is a cattle owner whose stock is stolen by Grant Withers. It is Withers' hope to sell the livestock, thereby covering funds that he's been appropriating from leading lady Adele Mara's trust fund. Roy is able to vanquish the villain during several lightning-paced fight and chase sequences, stage-managed by the always reliable William Witney. Rogers' song interludes include "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," "Sweet Laredo Lou," and the title tune. The comedy content in Night Time in Nevada is in the capable outsized paws of Andy Devine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the defection of Gene Autry from the Republic lot, Roy Rogers was truly the King of the Singing Cowboys. In On the Old Spanish Trail, Rogers is for the first time teamed with Latin American singing favorite Tito Guizar. The plot finds Roy and Tito involved with a travelling cowboy tentshow in the modern west. Though there are an abundance of action highlights, the film is lighthearted in nature, as evidenced by the character name of Andy Devine, "Cookie Bullfincher". Rogers and Guizar later costarred with more impressive results in The Gay Ranchero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Bells of San Angelo was the second Republic Roy Rogers western to be filmed in the "new" Trucolor process (actually the old Magnacolor process). Set in the modern west, the story involves a silver-smuggling racket headed by rotten Rex Gridley (John McGuire). In a novel scripting touch, Roy Rogers doesn't outwit the villains-and in fact is soundly beaten by the bad guys halfway through the film. It's up to heroine Lee Madison (Dale Evans), a writer of fanciful cowboy novels, to save the day! By taking Roy Rogers off his "King of the Cowboys" pedestal, Bells of San Angelo succeeds in humanizing this western icon, and the film is all the better for it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide