The Arizona Cowboy (1950)
Directed by R.G. Springsteen
Genres - Western |
Sub-Genres - Musical Western |
Release Date - Apr 1, 1950 (USA - Unknown) |
Run Time - 67 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein
Marking the screen debut of Rex Allen, the last of the Singing Cowboys, The Arizona Cowboy featured a mildly entertaining though hardly innovative story of a rodeo cowboy who learns that his father (John Elliott) is falsely accused of stealing 50,000 dollars from his employer, the Dusty Acres Irrigation Company. Rex goes undercover as Arizona Jones -- with the assistance of I.Q. Barton (comedy relief Gordon Jones) and the irrepressible "Cactus" Kate (Minerva Urecal) -- and soon unmasks the villain who first framed then kidnapped his dad. In-between rescuing his father and romancing leading lady Teala Loring, Allen found time to sing "Arizona Waltz" and "I Was Born in Arizona," both of which he had written himself. A star performer on the famous National Barn Dance radio program from 1945 to 1949, Arizona-born Rex Allen was Republic Pictures' final musical Western star. Allen, in fact, arrived at a time when B-Westerns in general and Singing Cowboys in particular were becoming a losing proposition due to the competition from television. As Allen himself remembered to writer Samuel M. Sherman: "I came in late. They forgot to tell me the whole thing was over when I started." Despite this handicap, Allen managed to stay afloat until 1954. He later starred in the TV series Frontier Doctor and narrated for Walt Disney.
Characteristics
Keywords
rodeo, sports, cowboy, robbery