Arizona Trail (1943) Poster

(1943)

User Reviews

Review this title
3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
"Outguessing the enemy is part of our business".
classicsoncall8 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently Doc Wallace (Joseph Greene) would have been a lot better off if he never visited Johnny Trent (Tex Ritter) in San Francisco and talked him into coming back home to Arizona. The pretext established by the villain later in the story was that Johnny's presence would have caused his ailing father Dan (Erville Alderson) further anxiety, perhaps enough to bring on a heart attack. That would precipitate Johnny's inheriting the Lazy T Ranch which he would have been glad to sell to Wallace since he and his pal Kansas Cobb (Fuzzy Knight) preferred traveling the world instead of settling down in one place.

I guess the screenwriter forgot that Dan Trent legally adopted his foreman Wayne Carson (Dennis Moore) and bequeathed the ranch to him in his will. On top of that, since Doc Wallace knew everything there was to know in Canyon City, how would that bit of information slip by him? I think the filmmakers were trying too hard to come up with a plausible story here and they got it all botched up.

Well does it matter? Pre-teen matinée fans of the day wouldn't have bothered figuring all that out and would have just gone along with Tex, Fuzzy and all the rest in another action shoot 'em up with the good guys coming out on top in the end. In between the horse chases and villainy, Tex hooks up with Johnny Bond and the Red River Valley Boys in a passel of tunes, with Fuzzy Knight offering a slick number called 'The Devil's Gonna Laugh' which had some fun lyrics.

It all comes to a dramatic conclusion when Johnny Trent and Wayne Carson patch up their differences and corner the Doc and Ace Vincent's (Jack Ingram) gang at the town saloon. With both sides going at it, Kansas and Pop Trent provide the equalizer with their billiard ball offense, and the story closes with pretty Martha Brooks (Janet Shaw) arm in arm with both of the story's heroes. She's going to marry one of them, but your guess is as good as mine.

NOTE*** I never looked at it this way, but after the movie there's a pitch for Americans to buy war bonds, and the way it's stated offers a unique perspective. It reads 'You're not giving - just lending, when you buy war savings stamps and bonds'. I thought that was a pretty good way to say it.
3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Pleasant
boblipton17 November 2022
Tex Ritter returns home to his father's ranch after circling the world and fighting with the Rough Riders in Cuba. His father is angry with him, has cut him out of the will in favor of top hand Dennis Moore, and is ill. None of this stops Ritter from being concerned. What none of the good guys know, but soon becomes clear to the audience, is the guy behind all the shenanigans to wrest control of the suddenly valuable place is kindly doctor Joseph Greene.

Of course, the plot in a B western rarely matters, since there are so few of them. Strangely enough, there is also little riding and no shooting until the final few minutes. What there is is some singing, by Ritter and Johnny Bond and his band, and a nice little comic fight technique by sidekick Fuzzy Knight.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Routine, Except for a Couple of Notable Features
dougdoepke3 April 2012
Rough Riders' veterans Johnny Trent (Ritter) and sidekick (Knight) return to Arizona to help out Johnny's dad whose ranch is being besieged by a greedy water rights gang.

The plot's pretty standard but there are several notable features. Johnny's relationship with his dad is definitely unusual for a matinée western. The two are estranged such that dad's not too happy to see his son again. Instead, the old man relies on his foreman Wayne (Moore) for help. Then too, we can't tell whether Wayne is really a secret member of the gang or whether he's really loyal to his employer. That adds an interesting complication to the story. Knight's there for comic relief and is not too silly, while Ritter and the musicians provide a mellow presence. All in all, nothing special here, just solid entertainment for Front Row kids from that earlier time and this one.
8 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed