Eyes of Texas (1948)

The Eyes Of Texas has Roy Rogers as a US Marshal who uncovers a truly intricate plan involving a scheme to kill and rob Francis Ford of his ranch. Ford has made his ranch a boy's camp specifically for kids whose fathers were killed in World War II. But his sister Nana Bryant who is a lawyer has some other ideas about the property and the woman is quite ruthless in her methods.Which include training a pack of dogs who've been killing cattle in and around the area for months before she springs them on Ford. Of course Roy does not believe the rumor that killer wolves have been raiding the local cattle. Her chief henchman Roy Barcroft and Roy have a truly brutal fight scene where Andy Devine who's a doctor in this film rescues him. One of Roy's fancy western shirts was sacrificed for art. This fight scene was right on the edge and is comparable to the one that Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt have with Barton MacLane in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre which also came out in 1948. How it got through the censors is beyond me as Roy's films were marketed for the Saturday matinée kiddie trade.Bryant who had a long career on screen mostly as good women, even playing nuns maybe has her career role in The Eyes Of Texas. I'd check this better than average Roy Rogers feature out just for her alone.

Viewers and fans of Roy Rogers films will find a few unusual elements in "Eyes of Texas", making it somewhat out of the ordinary for a Rogers flick. For starters, Andy Devine is on board in a generally serious role as a country doctor, even though he's using the name Cookie Bullfincher. Devine's other portrayals using that name were usually done to comic effect. Instead, the comedy relief duties here were given to Pat Brady, Roy's eventual sidekick in his TV Western series of the early 1950's. Not only that, but Pat gets to strut his stuff in a musical number, with vocals on 'Killer Diller' while playing guitar. Later on, he strums a bass violin as the Sons of the Pioneers perform another number.Roy also shares heroics in the film with his animal co-stars - Trigger and Bullet. In fact they have a scene together where Trigger tries to calm down a wild dog left wounded when a pack of German Shepherds was dispatched to attack an elderly rancher. In the story, the shepherd is given the name Lobo, and Bullet himself isn't credited for the role. I guess he hadn't signed on with Trigger's agent yet.Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the story takes place when Roy takes a swing at Dr. Bullfincher, at which point he almost looked like a heel. The explanation offered involved Roy getting stripped of his Marshal's badge so he could investigate the outlaws as a civilian, but that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. That was almost as much of a head scratcher as old Thad Cameron (Francis Ford) signing over a blank will to the crooked attorney Hattie Waters (Nana Bryant). Talk about asking for trouble! Hey, keep an eye on that scene when Roy gets into a scrap with henchman Vic (Roy Barcroft) and the rest of his rowdies. The tear on the back of Roy's shirt changes size and shape throughout the fight.Of course, Roy triumphs by the end of the story, exposing the crooked attorney and the phony heir she brought in to steal Camp Cameron out from under the orphan boys whose fathers were killed during the War. Given the historical setting of the story, it was unusual to observe the downtown street scenes populated about equally between men on horseback and those in automobiles.

A movie, obviously intended for the 10-year-olds at the kids' matinees, that looks as though it was written by a 10-year-old. (I guess there were still kids' matinees in 1948. I hadn't been to one in about 11 years.)The film depicts post-WW-II Texas (from the title, not from anything within the movie itself) in 1947 as the same as in the 1870's, with everyone wearing cowboy suits - popular with 10-year-olds - riding around on horses or buckboards, wearing guns, and engaging in shootouts on the streets, with no official accounting for the bodies. The estate settlement is inexplicably turned over to 'the insurance company', and although all the money has officially been stolen by the fake will, the crooks appeal to the townsfolk to throw the bad Government man out and 'save the children'! (How a petition from the people will accomplish this isn't clear.) In the end, all the crooks, who are the only ones who know of and can testify to the facts in the conspiracy, are dead, and the 'happy ending' leaves all the legal entanglements up in the air.If they had thrown out the wooden-sided Ford station wagon and the telephone, made the boys Civil War orphans, and assigned the estate settlement to a court instead of the insurance company, the film would almost pass for logical by Western flick standards.The only things close to a redeeming value in this picture are a couple of pretty good songs by the Sons of the Pioneers.The only reason this turkey doesn't make my list of 'The Ten Worst Films of All Time' (which currently contains about 35 titles) is that as a Cowboy flick, it isn't expected to be good.

"Eyes of Texas" is more serious than most Roy Rogers movies, with less humor and singing than are found in most of his films, but it's a decent story with some real suspense, and worth watching.In this one, Roy is a U.S. Marshall who faces a really dangerous opponent, a lawyer who is using violence, deception, and fear in an attempt to take over a family's inheritance, which would also involve shutting down a ranch that is serving as a home for orphaned boys. Roy must risk his life, his job, and his reputation in his attempt to shut down the lawyer's wicked schemes.The movie also features Andy Devine as the town doctor, who has difficulty deciding whether or not to help Roy out on this one.The story that follows is mostly convincing and interesting, although with a slightly different feel from many of Roy's movies. There's still plenty of Roy Rogers in it, enough to satisfy any of his fans.