Along the Navajo Trail (film)
Along the Navajo Trail is a 1945 American western film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes and Dale Evans. The film's story was based on a William Colt MacDonald novel. The film marked the debut of the Cuban actress Estelita Rodriguez, who Republic Pictures then began to build up into a star. Its title song is Along the Navajo Trail, an instrumental version of which appears with the opening credits, with a brief vocal version during the last twenty seconds of the film. The first few bars of the song are used as background music in several chase scenes.[1]
| Along the Navajo Trail | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Frank McDonald |
| Produced by | Edward J. White |
| Written by | William Colt MacDonald (novel) Gerald Geraghty |
| Starring | Roy Rogers Gabby Hayes Dale Evans Estelita Rodriguez |
| Music by | Mort Glickman |
| Cinematography | William Bradford |
| Edited by | Tony Martinelli |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date | September 15, 1945 |
Running time | 66 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The film was part of the long-running series of Roy Rogers films produced by the studio.[2]
Plot
Deputy U.S. Marshal Roy Rogers poses as a wandering poet, finding and defeating a group of bad guys who, for reasons they keep to themselves, are trying to oust a girl and her father from their ranch.[3] As the plot develops, it is revealed that they want the ranch so they can sell it to a company that wants to run an oil pipeline through a mountain pass at the edge of the property.
Roy comes to the town of Padre Wells, leaving his guns at his squatter's camp on the Ladder-A ranch. He gets into a fistfight with Rusty Channing, a cowboy from the Bridle-Bit ranch who is harassing a gypsy girl and her boyfriend. After defeating Channing, Bridle-Bit owner J. Richard Bentley advises Roy to bring his guns the next time he shows up. Roy returns to the Ladder-A, where he forms a relationship with the owner's daughter Lorrie Alastair, and moves into the bunkhouse. Lorrie's father has been shot in the arm by the bad guys who are after his ranch. A range war ensues, with Roy, the Ladder-A group and the gypsies on one side, and the Bridle-Bit gang and bad guys from the Santa Fe Oil Company on the other. The gypsy girl briefly has a crush on Roy, but his heart belongs to Lorrie. Ultimately there is a showdown at the Bridle-Bit, with the bad guys having the upper hand until the gypsies race in and save the day. Roy and Lorrie openly fall in love and live happily ever after.[4]
Main cast
- Roy Rogers as Himself (this character was named Jinglebob Jenkins in the book)
- Trigger (horse) as Himself (an unnamed roan in the book)
- Gabby Hayes as Gabby Whittaker (named Tarp Jones in the book)
- Dale Evans as Lorry Alastair (same as in the book)
- Estelita Rodriguez as Narita (this character is not in the book)
- Douglas Fowley as J. Richard Bentley (Dave Scarab in the book)
- Nestor Paiva as Janza (this character is not in the book)
- Sam Flint as Breck Alastair (same as in the book)
- Emmett Vogan as Roger Jerrold (D. C. Jerrold in the book)
- Roy Barcroft as Rusty Channing (Gus Rayner in the book)
- David Cota as Lani (this character is not in the book)
- Ed Cassidy as Sheriff Clem Wagner (same as in the book)
References
- "Along the Navajo Trail". 1945. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
0:58 YouTube version of the 0:66 film
- Hurst p.232
- "Sleepy Horse Range, by William Colt MacDonald". Kirkus Review. Kirkus Reviews. 1938-02-18. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
- MacDonald, William Colt (1938). Fighting Kid from Eldorado (Sleepy Horse Range) (Avon 678 ed.). New York: Avon Publications, Inc.
Bibliography
- Hurst, Richard M. Republic Studios: Beyond Poverty Row and the Majors. Scarecrow Press, 2007.