dougdoepke Okay Rogers programmer. Plot's a little different—bad guys trying to sabotage small rural airport and its planes so they can build a casino. Roy's the town sheriff, while Frazee runs the port with Devine's help, that is, when he's not in the bull ring. Guizar and Estrelita are sort of charming drop-ins. There's some good hard riding around familiar LA area locations. Not much gunplay, but some good flying fists, especially when two bad guys mix it up. And, oh yes, lots of a low-flying single engine as it navigates the trees and fields. Unless I missed something, the Amazon streaming version lacked the songs listed here, and was in fuzzy b&w . Anyway, Roy's his usual appealing six-gun hero, while Miss Frazee's a relief from the ugly guys, and Devine's amusing without overdoing it. But, in my little book, Estrelita steals the film with striking looks and a strong personality. Watch out for the little story twists that may require a scorecard as to who's on whose side. All in all, it's an average Rogers oater which for his fans is way good enough.

classicsoncall The first thing to catch my attention here was the actor who was second billed, Tito Guizar as the Gay Ranchero of the title. Well I don't know if he was much of a ranchero or not, he was on hand here to convince his sweetheart Consuela Belmonte (Estelita Rodriguez) to pack it up and move back to Mexico with him. That idea gets a bit thrown off track when Consuela wins a bid to take over Betty Richards' (Jane Frazee) Manzanita Springs Airline, to the chagrin of villain Vance Brados (George Meeker) who wants the airline for himself. Brados is behind a number of plane hijackings, forcing them to land when their fuel supply and guages are tampered with, then robbing their cargo and doing away with the pilots.I had to do a double take early in the story when Roy Rogers is ambushed escorting a pair of outlaws back to Manzanita. It's pretty apparent that Roy is shot in the shoulder by one of the bad guys, but when he's rescued by Nicci Lopez (Guizar) and removes his shirt to tend to the wound there's no blood. Not even a bullet wound! I wonder why the film makers didn't notice that.Whenever I catch Roy and fellow cowboy star Gene Autry in a Mexican themed Western I find myself wishing it had been filmed in color and this was no exception. The song and dance numbers would have been a lot more delightful, what with the singers and dancers decked out in traditional costume. The title song is offered up in an English and Spanish version and Guizar gets to do a solo of his own in between tunes by Bob Nolan and his Sons of the Pioneers.Andy Devine is also on hand in the story, but isn't as prominent as in some of Roy's other films. As far as I know, it's the only time a B Western ever offered up a bullfighter versus a Bullfincher.

bkoganbing The Gay Ranchero finds Roy Rogers as sheriff trying to find out who is hijacking the cargoes of a small freight airline in his part of the west. The fact that it is owned by pretty Jane Frazee I'm sure does not lessen his interest any.With some inside help they've got someone who is shorting the aviation fuel loads and making the meters read falsely. When the planes come down the gang is there to meet them and steal the cargoes and shoot the pilots.There's not much suspense in The Gay Ranchero, we learn early on who's behind the skulduggery. But the film more than makes up in plenty of action.Along for the ride with south of the border box office receipts in mind is Mexican musical film star Tito Guizar who did a few films in the USA as well. Guizar gets a love interest here in the person of Estelita Rodriguez and he sings the favorite Hispanic classic You Belong To My Heart in the film. Tito had quite a resume, his venues included no less than grand opera for his tenor pipes.The climax involving attacking the gang on the ground and from the air is pretty well staged. All in all one of Roy Rogers better films for Republic Pictures.

wes-connors Roy Rogers is a Sheriff who must catch airplane saboteurs. Mr. Rogers is also a singling cowboy. Tito Guizar is Bullfighter Nicci Lopez. Mr. Guizar is also a singing cowboy. As "The Gay Ranchero" of the title, Guizar seems to have more to do than Rogers. Andy Devine (as "Cookie") works at the Manzanita Springs Airline being sabotaged, and helps out singling cowboys out - and, gets helped out during the bull session. Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers add songs and laughs.This film seems to be an attempt to cross-over the audiences of American singing cowboy star Roy Rogers and Mexican singing cowboy star Tito Guizar. Or, it may be an attempt to introduce the Mexican singing cowboy star to Rogers' U.S. audience. The resulting film is like two partial movies, either of which are very good. The cowboy stars never really operate/act as a "team"; they have little rapport, and few opportunities to show any. ** The Gay Ranchero (1948) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Tito Guizar, Andy Devine