Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Am I Missing Something?

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

In the 1950s, the rights to a bazillion Roy Rogers movies were sold to television. However, as most of his films were about 65 minutes long, this didn't fit TV time slots. So, to make the films more marketable, they literally chopped the films down to about 50 minutes (more or less). Sometimes this made the movies confusing and stupid---but in the case of "Nevada City" I actually think it improved it! That's because I am NOT a fan of singing in westerns--and Roy breaking into song never made any sense. However, in this truncated version, he NEVER sings. It's funny, because in one case Roy tells Gabby that he's about to sing and then....nothing! The film also benefited from a trimming because the plot was more compact and to the point. The film is also a bit different from the usual Rogers film. The movie begins with a prologue explaining how the railroad and stage coach owners hated each other. Then, you learn that a bunch of robberies of the stage had been occurring and the stage operators assume that the dreaded railroaders were behind it. When Roy, who works for the stage, talks with the evil railroad operator, he sees he's a swell guy and encourages his boss to make up and become friends with them. But, the butt-head boss fires Roy and Gabby and they look for work with the railroad. In the meantime, a greasy guy is making advances on Roy's girl. Could he have something to do with the robberies and the dreaded 'Black Bart'? Quick and without the usual Rogers nonsense, this one is enjoyable and unusual enough to merit giving it a look. Just try to see the 53 minute version unless you like songs for absolutely no conceivable reason!

Another western feud is at the core of the plot of Nevada City. This time it's the stagecoach line of George Cleveland versus the railroad of Joseph Crehan. But Roy Rogers who drives a stagecoach for Cleveland and his partners brother and sister Sally Payne and Billy Lee isn't convinced that the railroad is behind the troubles the stage line has recently been having. In fact on further investigation he discovers that the infamous Black Bart has been terrorizing the railroad as well.Nevada City has a minimum of songs by Roy, the emphasis is definitely on action and discovering who Black Bart is and who's behind him. The poetry writing bandit who liked to leave whimsical verse wherever he did a crime is played here by Fred Kohler, Jr. and of course this is not the real story of Black Bart. But that was a common trend with B westerns back in the day including Roy Rogers films, to take some real western figure and create a wholly fictional story around them.In fact for a while there I was wondering if Trigger would make an appearance. With Roy first driving a stagecoach and then learning how to operate a steam locomotive, Trigger does not make an appearance until halfway through the film. Which must have left his fans in a state of panic back in 1941.Gabby Hayes is in this film as well and it has just about everything that a good Roy Rogers B western should have. Except Dale Evans, that was in the future.

Jeff Connor (Roy Rogers) and Gabby Chapman (Gabby Hayes) find themselves in the middle of a three way competition between a stagecoach line, a railroad company and a third party Sacramento Navigation Co. in this rather well done Republic Film from 1941. This was still the pre Dale Evans era for Roy, so the female lead duties were handled by Sally Payne as Jo Morrison, part owner of the Morrison-Liddell Stage Company. Roy and Gabby smell a polecat when both the stage line and the railroad wind up at odds with each other, figuring that outlaw Black Bart (Fred Kohler Jr.) is behind the attacks on both, while in league with shady businessman Amos Norton (Pierre Watkin).The best lines in the film go to Gabby, hands down, who also shows some fancy hand work twirling his six gun, going by the name of Roarin' Liza. Roy tries out his singing voice with "Stars Over the Prairie", throwing in a verse penned by villain Black Bart. It was a poetry gimmick that led to Bart's undoing, a clue that the crafty Jeff Connor used to smoke out the bandit who used the alter ego of Jim Trevor.Sally Payne's character, pretty but tomboyish, spent most of the film trying to romance Connor, going back and forth between buckskins and a party dress. Her younger brother Chick (Billy Lee) was the one to discover the Trevor/Black Bart connection, putting the good guys in the right direction. Sally teamed up with Roy Rogers in a dozen 'B' Westerns, virtually all between 1940 and 1942. Prior to Sally, Roy's female lead in the late 1930's was Lynne Roberts, who also used the name Mary Hart.When you see Roy later in the film navigating his way atop the cars of a moving train, be sure to credit Yakima Canutt for the stunt work. He also appears briefly as a stagecoach driver."Nevada City" has a pretty good mix of action, gunfights, and humor, with Roy and Gabby complementing each other nicely as a good guy tandem. Roy and Sally do hook up at the end of the story, tying up that plot line as well. A similar theme involving a three way competition for a postal route contract would be used some dozen years later in a 1953 Western called "Iron Mountain Trail", starring Rex Allen. It shouldn't come as a surprise that it too was a Republic Picture.

Unlike his friendly rivals Hoppy and Gene whose movies usually dealt with Hollywood cowboy fantasy, Roy Rogers films sometimes mixed fact with fiction. Two of his best early movies were "Billy the Kid Returns," where Roy played the Kid, and "Days of Jesse James," where Don "Red" Barry played Jesse. In "Nevada City," the real stagecoach bandit Black Bart is featured, played by Fred Kohler Jr. The outlaw Black Bart was noted for his poetry, a sample of which he would leave when he robbed a stage. He would sign his poem "the Po8." In "Nevada City," an example of Black Bart's poetry is read aloud by Roy. He robbed coaches laden with gold from the area around Sacramento, California, during the Gold Rush. The movie story takes place in California which is true to the facts surrounding the infamous outlaw. Besides this, the rest in the movie is Hollywood.The comedy in the film is supplied by Gabby Hayes, who has come to personify the movie cowboy sidekick. Gabby has some funny lines in this oater. The jail scene is hilarious. Roy and Gabby have been locked up for allegedly aiding and abetting Black Bart. A supposed drunk is placed in the cell with them. The drunk does a typical inebriated routine. He takes out a rope and asks Gabby if he knows any tricks. Gabby has a clever comeback, "How do you think we got in here to start with?" Using the rope, Gabby tries to lasso the jail door keys hanging on the wall. He makes several unsuccessful attempts then makes the rye comment, "This is like trying to rope a mo-skeeter on a dark night." The fun continues.This Roy Rogers outing is all action. Not long after this film, Roy turned more and more to his singing (he had helped start the legendary Sons of the Pioneers) until many of his films became musical extravaganzas, not unlike Broadway shows of the day. So enjoy this fast-paced Roy Rogers oater to see why he came to be called "The King of The Cowboys."