Trail Street (1947)

Well, the musical numbers keep bring this thing to a screeching halt. Should have left them out. Anne Jeffreys is "Ruby", who does the singing in the saloon, as required. Jeffreys, Randolph Scott, and Robert Ryan star in this very typical western from RKO. Something about Bat Masterson accepting the job of sheriff in a town where sheriffs don't last long. And Gabby Hayes is in here for comic relief, as he was in most of the westerns ever made. It's all "okay", and the conversations are all pretty slow and stilted. (Supporting actress Madge has an interesting story on wikipedi.org , if you have a few minutes. Justice gone wrong.) Fistfights, gunfights, mistaken identity. Novel by William Corcoran.... not a lot of info on him anywhere. On Turner Classic now and then. Watch this one to see Randolph Scott, or substitute any other western du jour. Directed by Ray Enright. Enright had been around since the VERY early days of silents.

Disappointing Considering the Cast. Randolph Scott and Robert Ryan go through the motions on this rather Routine Western about Cattlemen and Farmers in Drought Ridden Kansas. There is a Subplot about how Winter Wheat was Introduced and the Sodbusters are Saved from Pulling Roots and Moving on. There's also a Good Supporting Cast with Steve Brodie and Gabby Hayes. Brodie, Despite an Oily Demeanor and a Villain's Mustache seems Misplaced and Gabby Hayes all but Ruins the Movie with His Typical Shenanigans. In Fact, a Running Gag has the Sheriff telling Him to Shut Up, because He "Talks Too Much". Boy, does He ever. It becomes Silly, Intrusive, and Irritating.Overall, Not a Bad Western Movie with some heavy Love interests and Bad Guys worth Hating and Good Guys, like Bat Masterson around to Clean Up the Street. The whole Cast has done Better but the Film is Worth a Watch because of Scott and Ryan and Not Much Else.

Yet another cattlemen-sodbuster war story. Of course, the rowdy trigger-happy cowboys and their town buddies are always the bad guys. Scott had just finished starring in a very similar tale in the 1946 "Abilene Town". Well, it does make a very reasonable and inflammatory plot. In this one, we have moved far to the southwest of Abilene, to the small frontier town of Liberal, KS, which is very near the (now) Oklahoma border.Scott plays the historical Bat Masterson, who was actually involved as a lawman in the not too distant town of Dodge City and surrounding Ford County. The final action scene actually has some possible historical basis, although well garbled.Bat did apprehend a man who accidentally killed a saloon girl. There was a Dodge City street incident in which he shot and killed the man who had just shot and killed his brother, who was marshal of the town. Put these two incidents together, garble them a bit, and you have the final action scene. If you have seen the Jimmy Stewart-starring "The Far Country", the ending will also be rather familiar. As in "Abilene Town" (and so many other films), we have two young women involved: a saloon girl, and a straight-laced one. Maggie Meredith(as Susan Pritchard), the prim debutante from the east, is revealed as an opportunistic gold digger, and does not deserve her fate in the story. Anne Jeffreys plays the uncommonly good looking saloon girl Ruby Stone, with a heart of gold, who also doesn't deserve her fate in the ending. Actually, Anne Dvorak, in "Abilene Town" was more charismatic than Jeffreys, had better songs to belt out, and had a much more interesting relationship with Scott. Robert Ryan, as the business partner of the homesteaders and Scott's ally in reigning in the criminal element among the cattlemen, is not my favorite actor. Too stiff, unemotional and non-charismatic. Gabby Hayes, as Scott's other chief ally, plays his usual talkative, ornery, charismatic self. The plot involves the unusual factor of the homesteaders wanting to leave, not only because the cattlemen are destroying their crops and homes, but because their crops dry up before they mature. In the story, a lone farmer says he has discovered how to grow wheat so it won't dry up. The secret is to use the right(imported) seed and plant it in the fall, rather than the spring. Again, this has some historical basis, although garbled. Winter wheat growing on the Great Plains was begun in Kansas by German and Russian Mennonite homesteaders. Others imported improved varieties from Russia. Still, drought was a real threat, and homesteaders sometimes gave up after a series of drought years. Getting back to the story in the film, the cattle interests, of course, try to do everything to prevent the spread of the idea of growing winter wheat and to destroy the special wheat seeds needed to grow this.If you are a dyed in the wool Randy fan, you will want to see both this and "Abilene Town". I somewhat prefer the latter, although the quality of the film copies available is poorer than for the present film. On the other hand, owning a DVD copy of "Abilene Town" is much cheaper, especially now that it is part of a very cheap Scott films package.

This is a modest ,unassuming traditional Western with a formulaic plot about opposition between ranchers and crop farmers around the town of Liberal ,Kansas .The story is essentially routine and features a number of the classic Western conflicts .There is the farmer versus the cattleman;there is the clash between cultivated land and "civilizing" tendencies on the one hand and the wilderness/frontier ethos on the other and what this represents ultimately is the opposition of two value systems -democratic and community values as set against rugged individualism .Randolph Scott plays legendary lawman Bat Masterton who rides into Liberal at behest of a land agent (Robert Ryan ) to help him sort out the bad guys who are the hard drinking ,brawling cattlemen .The two men quarrel but reunite to tackle the troublesome elements in the town .The script is clichéd but the action is propelled along with vigour by director Ray Enright and there are solid performances all round .In addition to rugged performances by the male leads there is comic relief supplied by George Gabby Hayes ,an oily villain nicely played by Steve Brodie and attractive contributions from Maggie Meredith as a prim and proper Easterner wooed by Ryan and Anne Jeffreys as a saloon singer As long as you do not place a premium on originality this is good sturdy entertainment for Western lovers