The Legend Of The Lone Ranger

1952



SYNOPSIS

When a gang ambushes a group of Texas Rangers, an Indian named Tonto (Jay Silverheels) find one survivor and nurses him back to health. The survivor (Clayton Moore) recovers and rechristens himself "The Lone Ranger" and vows to bring down the gang.

MY THOUGHTS

A promising start quickly devolves into a crapfest.

The film was comprised of the first three episodes of the TV series The Lone Ranger (filmed in 1949.) I never knew how the Lone Ranger came to be, so this origin story piqued my interest.

The initial moments of the story are actually great. You feel for the characters and hope the sole survivor gets back at the all-evil gang. But once the survivor dons the mask of the Lone Ranger, the film quickly becomes cornier than a can of creamed corn and cheesier than Velveeta. The Lone Ranger and Tonto become infallible and undefeatable destroying any believability.

The film/TV episodes are poorly edited together.... with several unnecessary shots of heroes and villains riding horses from left to right of the camera endlessly linked together, clearly to pad the already short 70 minute runtime.

Both Moore and Silverheels give the iconic performances that they are best known for, yet it's clear very early into the simple revenge plot that the film will go their way. It quickly becomes tedious and boring... and practically unwatchable.

Rockin' In The Rockies

1945 Columbia Pictures
Directed By Vernon Keays


SYNOPSIS

Two vagrants (Larry Fine + Curly Howard) duck from the cops in a Reno nightclub. After accidentally winning some cash, they're approached by a prospector/huckster named Shorty Williams (Moe Howard.) He convinces them to invest their money in his new mine, as well as also snaring two nightclub singers (Mary Beth Hughes,+ Gladys Blake.) Shorty takes the four back to his ranch... and soon they learn the place actually belongs to Shorty's cousin (Jay Kirby.) A western swing band (The Hoosier Hotshots) is also staying at the ranch and team up with the two singers once they find out a Broadway producer is vacationing in Reno and try for an audition... all the while while they're looking for gold... and rustling cattle.
 

MY THOUGHTS

A western, a musical, a Three Stooges comedy, all rolled up into one big train wreck.

Rockin' In The Rockies is a departure for the Stooges. In nearly all of their output, they play a trio. Here their characters are split up (Larry + Curly, and a mostly solo Moe) much like the Marx Brothers were usually apart (Chico + Harpo, with Groucho alone or with Zeppo.)
Unlike the other two, Moe has a different character name and is often separated on screen as well, which changes the whole dynamic of the group. He even has a normal haircut! Larry spends his time bossing Curly around when the three aren't together. Their humor is more subdued than usual with a lot less slapstick.
The trademark Stooge shenanigans also take a back seat to some real stupid humor (a talking mounted deer head and a talking horse among others) that just make you groan.


Also look for frequent Stooge foil, Vernon Dent, who (for once) sadly doesn't get a chance to get pissed off at the trio. His role doesn't amount to much though.

The rest of the film is pretty much a mess.
-The other characters are uninteresting and you are never made to care about them.
-The film clocks in at about 65-70 minutes, so with a mining plot, a rustling cattle plot, and the Broadway producer plot all vying for screen time, none of them are really fully developed and fall into cliches. For once in a B movie, there's TOO much plot.
-And the film is a musical, so there are frequent songs also competing for time. The music is mostly western swing music, which is fine and enjoyable, but the songs just aren't memorable.

Rockin' In The Rockies is only interesting when the Three Stooges appear on camera... and I would only recommend the film to diehard fans. (It is not to be confused with the Three Stooges classic 1940 short Rockin' Through The Rockies.)

Rockin' In The Rockies is not available on DVD, but is currently streaming on Netflix.