Such a frustrating disappointment

Nice effects though.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

When ranch foreman Roy learns the new ranch owner Dorothy Bryant and her friends are arriving, he directs them to Gabby's rundown ranch. He figures they will be discouraged and return East. But the plan backfires when Dorothy, thinking her ranch worthless, sells the real ranch at a fraction of it's value.Dale Evans sure cut a hot figure in her 30s. Roy sure was lucky. You'll be a bit unlucky if you sit through this one. Even though its just about an hour in length and sort of watchable, it's not a great film.The plot is thin and has been done countless times before.

Another Roy Rogers movie when Republic Studios had his movies loaded with songs and music which I love.You must get the uncut version of this movie to really appreciate it. Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers sing some very good songs along with Roy. Gabby Hayes has some good lines when fighting with the women who he wishes would leave the west and go back to Chicago. There is an excellent musical stage ending where they all sing the title song and several others. The one scene where Roy, Dale and the Pioneers sing Utah against a backdrop of scenes from that beautiful state is a highlight of this movie. Again watch the uncut version.

It's hard for me to do an accurate appraisal of this film, as the version I downloaded from archive.org was missing 24 minutes--that's about a third of the movie! Why? Because back in the 1950s, some overzealous knuckle-heads decided to cram the Roy Rogers films into a TV time slot--trimming them all down to about 53 minutes. In a few cases, where the original film was about an hour long, the difference between the two versions is minimal but here the film is simply hacked apart. So keep this in mind when you read this. However, I can assume that the film was not all that great based on what I saw.The film begins with Dale Evans being told that her show in Chicago is being shut down, as the financial backers have pulled out of the show. However, she owns a ranch out west and takes her friends with her to inspect and possibly sell it. Now here something VERY uncharacteristic occurs--Roy Rogers decides to lie! Instead of taking them to the beautiful ranch, he pretends that Gabby's rundown place is hers. She naturally is disappointed. However, the joke ends up on both of them when she sells the ranch--not realizing it's much bigger and more valuable. The buyer sure knows and enjoys cheating her. But Roy isn't going to let this be the end of it and he goes about trying to right a wrong.How is the film overall? Well, it suffers not only from having Roy play a bit of a jerk but once again the usual female cliché is present--the leading lady HATES Roy with no provocation and seems grouchy. Now later in the film, Dale's character had lots of reason to hate him but why did the writers almost always do this with Dale and Roy? The only saving grace is Gabby Hayes--who is even grouchier and funnier than usual. This misogynist says such wonderful lines about women as "....next to sheep, they're the dumbest critters on Earth!". Overall, I'd give this film a 3--perhaps more in the extended version. But it does suffer because Roy, who always played a sweet person, is a bit of a jerk in this one--and spends much of the film trying to undo all the harm he caused.By the way, although the film is called "Utah", it sure doesn't look like it! Like other Rogers films, it was made in California.

Utah is one of the dumber Roy Rogers films out there. Mainly because Roy and Gabby Hayes nearly get hoisted on their own petards pulling a practical joke on Dale Evans and her friends.Dale's the absentee owner of the Bar X ranch in Utah which Roy runs and sends her a monthly check while she pursues a show business career. That aspect of the plot is actually close to the life of the real Dale Evans who wanted to star in musical comedy. She's starring in a review ready to open when the backer pulls out. Dale needs money fast so she decides to sell the old Utah homestead.Well she can't do that decide Roy and Gabby because the guy that wants to buy is a no good sheepherder who will be violating the unwritten code of the west and not sticking to his side of the valley with his sheep. Not to mention the fact that these two will have to go out and look for other jobs.For reasons I still can't figure out they pretend Gabby's little shack is the headquarters for Dale's ranch and she and her showgirl friends get put there. A little joke which gets turned on them when she decides to sell what she thinks is worthless.Not that Roy's westerns at Republic resembled Hamlet or MacBeth or even High Noon, but this one was too ridiculous. Even at the beginning when villains Grant Withers and Hal Taliaferro decide to ambush Roy when he goes to meet Dale's train. Roy and Gabby are NOT armed. Roy pretends to fall off Trigger and the two bad guys see Trigger emerge apparently riderless, but it's really Roy hanging on the side. Then still unarmed he and Gabby go to confront them and the villains who are armed run. I am still trying to figure that one out.Obviously Herbert J. Yates must have had his mind on the latest big budget spectacular with Vera Hruba Ralston or he might have noticed something. Utah doesn't even have any really good musical numbers. The only one is at the finale where Roy, Gabby, and the Sons of the Pioneers help Dale and her friends with their show.I'm not sure Roy and Dale's best fans liked this one.