Home in Oklahoma (1946)
In this Roy Rogers entry, featuring a song written by Oklahoma Governor Roy J. Turner (making him and Lousiania's Jimmie Davis and Texas' W.E. "Pappy" O'Daniel possibly the only state governors to write songs used in a western), Flying U ranch owner Sam Talbot is killed by a fall from a horse. St. Louis reporter Connie Edwards comes to check a rumor that he might have been murdered. She goes to Roy Rogers, editor of the local newspaper, and he takes her to the reading of Talbot's will. The ranch is left to Talbot's 12-year-old ward, Duke Lowery, much to the dismay of Talbot's niece, Jan Holloway. After some attempts on Duke's life, Roy finally proves that Jan, Steve McClory and coroner Jim Judnick had Talbot killed and are conspiring to do the same for Duke, making Jan the last heir.
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Home in Oklahoma (available on a good Mill Creek DVD), is one of those murder mysteries you have when you're not having a murder mystery. It takes the average audience thirty seconds to tumble to the killers, but dumb, slow-brained, small-town newspaper editor Roy Rogers has to be prodded by breezily pugnacious Dale Evans. As you might expect from those opening sentences, there are not many spills or thrills in this one, even though it's directed by action specialist William Witney. Unfortunately, in stark contrast to the excellent work DVD companies have done for Gene Autry and Bill Boyd, Roy Rogers has been treated rather shabbily. Many of the titles on sale offer blurry, faded, out-of-focus pictures with garbled and/or muffled sound tracks. Even worse, the few Trucolor entries are presented in various shades of gray.
Local newspaper man Roy Rogers probes the death of one of his friends, a rancher and high-end cattle breeder thrown from his horse and ends up protecting the rancher's heir, an orphan boy, from the ruthless killers. Meanwhile, big city reporter Dale Evans plans to scoop Roy on the story.This is a decent enough cowboy murder mystery, with good performances by George "Gabby" Hayes, Ruby Dandridge (mother of Dorothy Dandrige), and Lanny Rees as the boy. Their scenes together are heart-warming.Roy and Dale have great chemistry here - no surprise, since they got married on location, immediately after shooting wrapped.The film's musical highlight is Bob Nolan and The Sons Of The Pioneers singing "The Everlasting Hills Of Oklahoma".The killer's identities are as plain as the nose on your face, but it's still pretty good.
Roy Rogers (as Roy Rogers) is a newspaper editor who is also handy with a gun. George "Gabby" Hayes (as Gabby) is a ranch hand and child guardian. Dale Evans (as Connie) is a reporter covering "the story" -- which is the seemingly accidental death of wealthy ranch owner Sam Talbot, and the contested distribution of his estate. The estate, valued at approximately $5,000,000, is willed to the 12-year-old ward of Mr. Hayes, Lanny Rees (as Duke Lowery).The story is reminiscent of several Rogers "save the ranch" stories, particularly "Sunset Serenade" (1942) **. This one is more fun -- look for the scene where Rogers teaches Ms. Evans to ride a horse, and how she "helps" him in a fistfight! Also, watch for Ruby Dandridge (mother of Dorothy Dandridge) as a superstitious maid ("Devoria") who may believe train whistles at night are ghosts; it's not a role filled with great racial integrity, but it's nice to see Ms. Dandridge at work.Though the plot seems intriguing, there is little mystery to the routine "Home in Oklahoma" plot, which is a shame, because some film elements are quite nice. The title song is a good one, and the "Mignilite" duet is cute. Bob Nolan and the "Sons of the Pioneers" lend their helping hands. The movie offers the standard Rogers western fare: Fistfight, Shootout, and Chase. BUT, what an ending! -- you get a BONUS Fistfight, Shootout, and Chase all at the Same Time! AND On Top of a Train! Have fun! ***** Home in Oklahoma (1946) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Dale Evans
If Home In Oklahoma was located in the blue state east instead of the red state middle America, we might be talking about Tracy and Hepburn in the leads here.One of the things that always runs through Roy Rogers and Dale Evans's films is the battle of the sexes banter. In this film they are rival reporters, he for his local Oklahoma town paper and she for a big newspaper in St. Louis. They're both hot for a scoop involving the death of a local millionaire rancher. Of course this being a Roy Rogers western, he's also a cowboy. Hey, if Tracy and Hepburn could be rival lawyers in Adam's Rib, why can't Roy and Dale be rival reporters? Now don't expect the dialog to be on the level of Garson Kanin, but it ain't actually too bad.Home in Oklahoma boasts a very nice title song that Roy recorded and did well in the country/western market. Too bad Rodgers&Hammerstein already wrote a nice Oklahoma song or this one might be the state song for the Sooner State.