Colorado

Colorado (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Union troops are needed in the East but a scuffle in Colorado has them tied up in matters there. The Army sends in Lieut. Jerry Burke (Roy Rogers) who quickly discovers that it's his very own brother behind the trouble. Here's yet another "B" Western from Rogers but the end result this time doesn't rank among his best films. It's weird because the story itself is somewhat interesting but sadly it just never goes anywhere and in the end the 55-minute running time seems a bit long. I thought the idea of Union troops being held up could have led to an interesting story but very little is done with it once the familiar bit of the heroes brother being behind the crimes starts to take shape. From this point on the story is just one familiar thing after another as the hero obviously has to go after someone he loves and it just leaves the viewer rather cold. Rogers is pretty good as usual and we also get some nice supporting performances. This includes Pauline Moore as the love interest and Milburn Stone really comes across very effective as the brother. Then we have the one and only George 'Gabby' Hayes who at least brings some nice laughs to the film including a very funny bit about what he was doing in the war when he got hurt. The action scenes are fairly well staged and I'll at least give the movie credit for a very effective ending. With that said, Colorado will appeal to those who want to see everything Rogers has done but there's no question that there are better movies out there.