The Far Frontier

Francis Ford is the former US Marshall of the district, and now the town's biggest landowner. Mostly, though, he's proud of his son, Clayton Moore, who's an officer of the border patrol. He's worried, because Tom is missing, and former scalawag and now unaccountably successful businessman Robert Strange accuses the missing lad of some nefarious doings. So Roy Rogers whups him, because Ford isn't up to it. When Moore shows up after a bank robbery, judge/sheriff Andy Devine has to arrest him, but he has amnesia.

There are some surprisingly corny bits in this Roy Rogers vehicle, and some fairly shocking ones too: we never see the dead people in the barrels, thank goodness. But even though the audience is informed of what's going on, there's still some fun in watching this practiced troupe figure it out under the direction of William Witney and the camera of Jack Marta; Republic didn't stick to the classic Seven Western Plots for Roy, and there are always a few good songs between Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. In this one, the comic "I Still Love The West" is the best.

Roy Rogers is back on border patrol, investigating the smuggling of criminals across the U.S.-Mexican border. Clayton Moore (as Tom Sharper) is a fellow border patrolman who discovers the wicked smugglers, and is left for dead; instead, he gets amnesia. Andy Devine (as "Cookie") is a helpful judge, and Gail Davis (as Susan) adds femininity. Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage add harmony.

Production-line Rogers western story, with better than average performances. The supporting players are rather good, and there are a few exciting moments. The song dubbing is distractingly poor, and the story very weak -- you'll wonder about some story contrivances... Rogers and Moore (later "The Lone Ranger") have a jail-cell fistfight; incredibly, Rogers beats Moore up to cure his amnesia!

*** The Far Frontier (1948) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Gail Davis, Andy Devine

Action filled oater that really should have been titled Rolling Barrels. Seems a smuggling crew is using the barrels to sneak crooks across the border. On one trip they injure border guard Tom who loses his memory. His ex-border chief dad is broken hearted, and wants revenge. Roy gets involved when his cattle herd is part of the same border crossing. Good thing he gets help from the District Judge. And guess who that is—yup, it's Andy Devine. All in all, it's gonna be a real battle.

Lots of hard riding and flying fists, but not much fast shooting. Speaking of flying fists, what about those two old guys—now there's a switch. Good thing Roy gets important help from the speedy Trigger who comes to his rescue. And catch cutie Gail Davis before she went over full time to cowboy Gene Autry. In ways, there're some rather brutal scenes, more so than usual. Not much scenic background, mainly b&w from greater LA and a near-by mountain dam. All in all, it's an interesting Rogers entry. But from now on, I'm staying away from oil barrels.

I was intrigued with the premise of The Far Frontier, cowboys in the smuggling racket where the items smuggled are criminals back and forth from the USA. I could have seen it done in a much bigger feature film.

This particular Roy Rogers movie while observing some parameters for the Saturday afternoon kiddie trade was a pretty violent outing for Roy. In this he's a border patrolman which is his involvement with bringing down this particular racket.

One of his fellow border patrolmen is Clayton Moore who stumbles on the racket and gets clipped on the head with a wrench and left on the trail. Moore is the son of Francis Ford, John's brother, and the amnesia he develops allows him to be framed for a murder that was committed for no other reason than to frame him. Francis Ford is a long time enemy of Robert Strange who was the head of the smuggling operation.

But that particular murder is just one of many acts committed by Strange's men under the leadership of his number Roy Barcroft one of the great B western villains ever. The crimes Barcroft commits here must have staggered those Saturday matinée kids in 1948.

Roy's leading lady in this film is Gail Davis, usually found opposite Gene Autry in his westerns. Also along is Andy Devine who did several films with Roy in the Forties.

There is a scene toward the beginning of the film where Barcroft and some of the criminals they're smuggling have a disagreement as Barcroft holds them up for more money. These guys are wise-guys and it would have made a great film premise to have their friends evening the score with these goniff cowboys.

In one scene the bad guys are rolling barrels off a truck to stop Roy Rogers and Trigger. Trained jumpers were 'doubling' Trigger, but found the barrels too frightening and shied off. Trigger was finally allowed to try, ridden by Roy's stunt double Joe Yrigoyen. Joe ordered Trigger to jump too soon for a stationary object. Trigger trusted Joe and jumped when Joe commanded. He cleared the barrel, but a bit awkwardly. Trigger did better on the 2nd barrel. By now he thought it was fun, and for the rest of the scene you can see Trigger moving from side to side so he can jump as many barrels as possible! We read the book and got the movie just so we could watch Trigger jumping the barrels in this scene.