Spikeopath Streets of Laredo is directed by Leslie Fenton and adapted to screenplay by Charles Marquis Warren from a Louis Stevens and Elizabeth Hill story. It stars William Holden, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix and Mona Freeman. Music is by Victor Young and cinematography by Ray Rennahan.For fans of traditional Westerns this is as solid as a Brick Adobe Structure. A remake of The Texas Rangers (1936) of sorts, plot finds Holden, Bendix and Carey as three bad boys who get divided by circumstance, love and conscious. Two of them wind up in the Texas Rangers - the famed frontier law enforcement battalion - the other stays on the wrong side of the law. All roads lead to the day of reckoning...The production is the usual mixed bag of superlative location photography (Simi Valley/Gallup) and crude back projection so often seen in the 40s and 50s Oater releases, with Rennahan's Technicolor photography a treat for the eyes. Performances are assured because the three principal guy actors are given characterisations that suits them - Holden tough emotional anti-hero - Bendix a lovable and dopey toughie - Carey sly bad boy. Freeman is lovely but it's a dressage character, while Alfonso Bedoya is on hand for some stereotypical bandido villainy.At 90 minutes in length it feels a bit padded out until the two guys actually join the Rangers, so some patience is required during the first half. However, there is plenty of Western movie action within the story, some turns in plotting to grab the heart strings and a pleasing array of costumes and musical accompaniments to keep the senses perky. All told, it's just a thoroughly enjoyable Oater regardless of if you have happened to have seen the original version. 7/10

Robert J. Maxwell The film begins with three amigos robbing the stage. MacDonald Carey is the oldest -- a leader and bon vivant. William Holden is the younger member, soured on women. William Bendix is the comic sidekick. All three are likable rogues, not averse to being sympathetic and generous to others.Along the way, they pick up Mona Freeman, who has the role of "bobcat." She's sassy, dresses like a man, and wields a mean rifle. I kept waiting for the transformation in which she showed up in a pretty dress and appealing makeup. The transformation takes place 17 minutes and 22 seconds into the movie.During a chase by the villainous Alfonso Bedoya ("Gold Hat" in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre") Carey is separated from the other two and strikes out as an outlaw on his own, until he tries to hold up a stagecoach carrying Holden and Bendix and guarded by Texas Rangers. MacDonald is subdued and stashed in the hoosegow, and Holden and Bendix join the Rangers, hoping to find a way to free Carey.At some points, the movie turns into the kind of recruitment story that was common during the war years, and I suppose that was the model the tale was built on. The Texas Rangers are an elite outfit who can "ride faster and shoot straighter" than anybody else. They're positively anxious to kill. The wall of Squad D is decorated with photos and pistols of the Rangers who have died in combat. The Captain who swears them in explains that he won't shake their hands until he finds out what kind of men they are. Holden and Bendix try to free their old friend but he decks both of them and gallops off into the sunset. His erstwhile companions get KP as punishment. (Is it familiar yet?) As the tale inspissates, Freeman develops a yen for the flippant Carey, despite Holden's sincere offer of marriage. I don't think I'll describe the ending.As is apparent, this isn't an outstanding Western by any means. It's full of stereotypes. Yet, as color Westerns from 1949 go, it's above average because some of the acting is quite good and the ambiguity of the relationships adds an extra dimension. I mean, yes, Carey turns into a bad guy, a murderer, but throughout, he's LIKABLE. The bond between the three men is palpable. Carey's desire to link up with the other two is genuine until it becomes clearly impossible. It's rather more than a simple good guy versus bad guy movie. In his Westerns of the 40s and 50s, Randolph Scott was always the "good guy," sometimes to the point of boredom. But this story reminds me of his best, "Ride the High Country," where we're never quite sure about the character's intentions. Adults may enjoy it more than the kids.

tango0 This is a western that has been long over-looked by those who decide on which movies are brought out on DVD. Make us happy, and release it. When William Bendix dies, it is done in such a cold blooded method. Even my 8 year old was upset. She liked his character. She also thought the "bad guy" was hot. Nowadays, for a child to sit thru this type of movie on their own, reflects on the great story quality and acting ability of the actors in it. Many westerns do not have the story line that this movie portrays so well. All of these movies of a time past need to be available for a new generation to enjoy. Another classic is Merrill's Marauders.

morales_zoraida This stars MacDonald Carey and William Holden. I grew up always watching McDonald Carey as Dr. Horton on Days Of Our Lives but I had never seen what he looked like when he was so young before. He was very handsome. He played an outlaw who helped rescue the main woman in the movie when she was just a girl. Also in this movie is Alfonso Bedoya. I saw him in the very first film I saw at film class in college, The Treasure of The Sierra Madre -- also a very good Western. Anyway, what I liked about this one is how the two friends who rescued the main woman when she was a girl were enemies now on account of how McDonald Carey was now an outlaw but William Holden was now a Sheriff and William Bendix, who was very funny, played his deputy, Wahoo. So, there was lots of tension back and forth, and the ending really surprised me. I liked this Western a lot.