2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Weeeeelll, Doggies!!!, May 11, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Silver City Bonanza [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I admit that I was attracted to this movie because Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies) is in the cast. But after purchasing and viewing it, I find it to be an enjoyable movie in itself, in addition to Buddy's always welcome presence. In this one he plays sidekick/comic relief to singing cowboy Rex Allen. I'm not a big fan of singing cowboys, and Rex manages to work three songs into 67 minutes; however, only one is really an interruption to the proceedings (serenading the movie's heroine, Mary Ellen Kay), and is mercifully short. One of the other two is very enjoyable in which Rex and Mary Ellen sing a duet during a little girl's birthday party. This charming sequence also features Buddy giving out with some fancy and humorous dance steps.
This movie contains adequate amounts of the standard Republic/western trappings (several fistfights, some gunplay, rustlers stealing cattle, etc), which is of course a good thing. The movie also benefits from the presence of a trained German Shepard who gets to act as a further sidekick/assistant to Rex and Buddy, and also gets to chew up a few bad guys. Great stuff.
This is one of those odd "Westerns" that is ostensibly a western on the surface, yet is sprinkled with "modern" devices (I've seen some from the "Three Mesquiteers" series that manifest this same phenomenon). In this case the old west includes an automobile, a flat bed truck, running water, telephones, a diving suit w/air pump, and a bolt action rifle with scope. Kind of weird, but ultimately not a problem.
Another point worth mentioning is that this movie features a brief cameo by Hank Patterson, otherwise known as Fred Ziffell from Petticoat Junction and Green Acres (playing the farmer who owns Arnold the famous pig who likes to watch westerns on television). You gotta love that-Jed Clampett and Fred Ziffell together in the same movie!!
My source for this review is a VHS tape recorded in the SP mode and Non-colorized (wouldn't have it any other way), unfortunately not in Wide Screen (not too surprising). Picture quality was about 8 out of 10, sound quality 7 out of 10; overall quite watchable and no complaints. The tape box says Republic Pictures, Timeless Video 1168. I think I paid about $15 for it, well worth the price.
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