Under Nevada Skies (1946) User Reviews

Special When They're Together

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 23 May 2011]

Under Nevada Skies has radio country singer Roy Rogers helping out acting sheriff Gabby Hayes sort out the reason for the murder of Leland Hodgson after Dale Evans comes to town and gets a job singing at his club. The film plays like a murder mystery in fact several people wind up quite dead because this particular group of villains has a bunch of people all working their own agenda.

The mystery in Under Nevada Skies is not who's doing the killing, but what is the significance of an old family heirloom that Dale Evans among many others is searching for. That only becomes clear in the last couple of minutes of the film. But some Indians led by chief George J. Lewis have a big role here, in fact they aid Roy in a shootout with Douglass Dumbrille and his henchmen. Dumbrille might have gotten away with the heirloom and its secret if he had more trustworthy help.

Roy and Dale are once again really good together and the fact they were soon to be man and wife is the reason. Roy did a whole lot of films with women other than Dale Evans, but it's always special when the two of them are together.

Definitely one of Roy's better Republic westerns.

Quest for a crest

[weezeralfalfa · 5/10 · 9 May 2019]

A good thing is that we have Roy Roger's A team supporting players, in Gabby Hayes, Dale Evans , and The Sons of the Pioneers. However, I have a lot of questions about the screen play.........The plot has the team of Dale, Roy, and Gabby looking for an heirloom crest that belonged to Dale's deceased dad, but was stolen by his friend, rancher Tom Craig(Leyland Hodgson), who in turn, claims it was stolen from him. Dale hasjourneyed to this town specifically to find this crest. Roy, and temporary sheriff Gabby sign on to help her. They suspect Craig still has it. In opposition, there is neighboring rancher Courtney(Douglas Dumbrille), and his henchmen. Also, briefly, nightclub manager Dan Adams, throws his hat in the ring, but is soon shot dead when he finds it. In addition to the jewels, this crest apparently contains written information that is of value. At the end, we find out that this information is a map of a pitchblende(uranium ) deposit. Now, why would someone hide away such a map, instead of filing a claim and either developing it themselves or selling it? .........It's not clear to me how Courtney found out about this crest, and why he is willing to murder certain people in getting his hands on it. Craig is murdered by someone when he surprises them looking through his things. Probably not a Courtney job, as he lamented that the only person who knew where the crest is, is dead. Courtney assigns henchman Marty to kill Roy and Dale, as his chief competitors. Marty shoots at them from a hill, when they go by on top of a stage coach, being chased by gun-shooting Indians, in a Roy prank to scare Dale(She sees through it). He's too far way for an accurate shot on a moving coach. Later, henchman LeBlanc is positioned on a hill close to the road, hoping to shoot Roy when he comes trotting along. As Roy approaches, he levels his rifle, but before he can shoot, nearby henchman Marty shoots him, and ignores Roy! (Marty had a grudge against LeBlanc). When nightclub manager Dan Adams entered his office, he came upon a man going through things from his safe, and immediately shot him dead. Craig, Courtney, and others who came to inquire, said they didn't recognize the man. But, Roy thought that Craig might be lying. We never have a follow-up on this seemingly extraneous incident.........Briefly, Dale is shown tied up to a chair, and gagged. Not clear to me how this relates to the story..........Things get hectic toward the end, after Roy and Gabby find the crest. I lost count of the men who had the crest briefly before being shot, or knocked unconscious. Just after the crest is found,2 of Courtney's men burst through the door and stickup Roy and Gabby, who drop the crest on the floor. Incredibly, the 2 men ignore the crest, and take the 2 to talk to Courtney! ..........When Roy and gang fire on Courtney's house, hoping to retrieve the crest, that friendly Indian tribe shows up again, and starts circling around the house, like it's a circle of covered wagons!........The occasional musical is included. The title song, not really memorable, is sung several times. Dale has an onstage song: "I wanna go West". The Sons of the Pioneers , bizarrely, dress as pirates for their on stage song.........Dale, or is it a stunt driver?, has several episodes where she drives in an open car quite recklessly. See the uncut version at YouTube

"Hey Roy, how do you spell corpus delecti?"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 6 August 2012]

I got a kick out of that early scene when Dale Evans comes barreling down the road and splashes Roy and Gabby when she runs across a small creek. There was a similar scene in the 1937 Gene Autry flick "Git Along Little Dogies", when actress Judith Allen pulled the same stunt on Gene. In that one Autry simply got wet when it happened, but was splashed with mud by the time he chased her down. I was waiting for something similar here but someone must have thought better of it.

This is probably one of the more entertaining of Roy's pictures with future wife Dale Evans, they were married a year later in 1947. You never really consider how talented she was until you see her sing like she does in this picture, both on her own ('I Wanna Go West') or in duet with Roy getting together for the title tune. Maybe Roy got the inspiration to propose when he said at one point - "I get all my best ideas when I'm singin'."

Say, keep an eye on Gabby Hayes when he does that drunken routine to set up some of the film's villains - didn't he look a lot like Foster Brooks doing his own routine a couple of decades later? The stagger was just about right and the beard added to the resemblance. I wonder if Brooks ever saw this picture.

Now I don't know about you, but I had no idea what to make of that pirate skit in the middle of the picture. It was handled by Bob Nolan's Sons of the Pioneers and was entertaining enough, but who came up with that one?

As for the story, Roy and Gabby help Helen Williams (Dale Evans) recover a crest rimmed with emeralds that was stolen from her family. It's also the objective of the film's bad guys including Tris Coffin and LeRoy Mason, but of course Roy has a plan to smoke them all out. He manages to get an assist from the Bear Valley Indian tribe led by the ever grinning Chief Flying Eagle (George J. Lewis). I wondered why the Indians in the picture kept smiling all the time, but finally figured they were all just having a good time.

More Plot Than Usual

[dougdoepke · 22 February 2017]

Love that opening where a snooty Dale's car splashes poor Roy. But race driver Evans will be sorry when she looks for her new hat. It's a fun Rogers entry for this now Front Row geezer, more plot heavy than most. Seems two outfits are looking for a valuable crest stolen from Dale's murdered dad. But it's not just the crest that's valuable, there's something more. But what. And who's that second, mysterious party looking for it, plus why do those dead bodies keep turning up. Roy and Sheriff Gabby sure got their work cut out.

Some good hard riding and fast shooting, especially when Roy's Indian allies circle a big house while shooting inside at the bad guys. No overturned stagecoach or surrounded cavalry unit here. I guess someone in production got a big chuckle out of that switcheroo. However the one flying-fist scene is lamely done even for a matinée. Then too, don't look for scenic shots. Instead, it's familiar greater LA locations. But really, what's with that musical number done up with costumed pirates. After all, it's Sons Of The Pioneers, not Sons Of Blackbeard. Anyway, kick back and enjoy. Dale was never lovelier, Gabby never more engaging, and Roy never more King of the Cowboys. Now where is that dog-gone crest and why's it so valuable. The answer may surprise you.

Okay Roy Rogers Mystery

[FightingWesterner · 6/10 · 24 May 2010]

When an important business leader is targeted and killed by previously unknown gangsters, looking for a mystery item of apparently great importance, Roy Rogers and sheriff Gabby Hayes set about finding the killers and discovering their motives.

Another okay murder-mystery, this has a few good twists and some pretty good action scenes staged by the legendary Yakima Cannut. The atomic-age twist at the end was pretty neat too.

The chemistry between Roy and Dale Evans is on full display here, with Evans looking especially pretty this time around, playing a sophisticated, glamorous singer from back east.

The music by Roy, Dale, Bob Nolan, and The Sons Of The Pioneers is plentiful, with the highlights being the whole gang around the campfire of the local Indian pow-wow, singing the title tune and The Sons Of The Pioneers' big stage number "Ne-Ha-Nee", in full pirate costume.

Hokey story, beautiful music

[deexsocalygal · 5/10 · 26 May 2021]

I specifically looked up movies with the Sons of the Pioneers in it. They sing the best western ballads guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Roy Rogers plays the guitar and sings a lot in this too. The music is so relaxing & lulls you into the warm memories of days gone by.

Usually I enjoy the music in Roy Rogers films but in this one they were distracting and about as much fun as a root canal! And, what's with Dale's entry into the story??

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 18 October 2020]

I like old B-westerns. Sure, they are usually pretty predictable but they also can be a lot of fun. Some of them feature a hero who sings and romances (such as Roy Rogers or Gene Autry) and some don't (Hopalong Cassidy or Tim McCoy come to mind). I like both types. But something I've noticed about a few of the singing cowboys films....that after a while the TYPE of songs they sang and the style really changed. I adore the simple western tunes sung by Autry or Rogers...but in "Under Nevada Skies" the songs are completely wrong for ANY western. In fact, in the case of one of the songs, it seemed more like a showcase for Rogers' then girlfriend...and soon to be wife. She sings a song that might fit in well with a contemporary nightclub setting...but not in the west. The same with a weird song and dance number later in the film...not the least big country western in style and more like something you'd see in the nightclub once again. Fortunately, later Dale and Roy since a slower, nicer song...though it, too, isn't really the style you'd expect in a Rogers film. It's as if the film is a parody of other Rogers' films....and I found myself longing to hear Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers who performed in the best films of in the series.

As far as the story goes, it starts of VERY, VERY badly....and you wonder about what the writers were thinking. As Roy is out palling around with his American Indian friends, Dale comes barreling through in her car...nearly killing several folks and showing complete disregard for everyone. Then, when her engine is flooded and the car stalled after splashing water on Roy and the Indians, she whines about how unfair it is that her car won't start and takes no responsibility for her actions. This is NOT a 'meet cute' but seems like the perfect start to the film IF Dale is playing a villain...which she wasn't. Bad, bad writing!

Soon a guy named Tom is murdered and Dale indicates that the real reason she came out west was to get some sort of family crest Tom stole long ago. The rest of the movie consists of Roy, Dale and the baddies all working to find this crest.

Now to say that there is zero suspense about the identity of the baddie leader is an understatement. This is NOT a spoiler!! After all, in EVERY B-movie (not just westerns) Douglass Dumbrille plays a evil scum-bag...a complete rotter! This, combined with the awful songs and Dale's hateful entry into the film make this a terrible Roy Rogers film...one that would clearly disappoint fans. The only saving grace is that the film features Gabby Hayes and everyone likes Gabby!

Overall, I'd place this among Roy Rogers' worst films...one that seems to have forgotten the formula that made him such a popular cowboy star.

the usual bad guys

[sandcrab277 · 5/10 · 20 May 2020]

Roy plays along as usual as the stupid dupe of the real crooks and gabby as usual falls into the hands of the enemy and discloses all he knows at the drop of a hat ... sound familiar ? ... of course it does. its a gaffe they often play ... roy gets it right without dale but its gabby's clockwork that stumbles onto the answer

A good fun oater

[folo-2 · 1 April 2004]

An above-average Roy Rogers oater, with plenty of songs, intrigue and a more cohesive plot than many. It's a satisfying and fast-moving piece of fluff. Roy is, as usual, likable, and Dale is far sexier than I remember her in the 1950s tv show. If you like B-grade westerns, you can do far worse than taking the time to watch this.

An almost enlightened view toward Native Americans is a large part of the fun. The pow-wow that the local tribe is holding is treated sympathetically, and Roy's relationship with the Native Americans is treated in a matter-of-fact, friendly manner. The Native Americans themselves are never treated in a stereotypical, demeaning manner; when Roy gets the local tribe together to chase the villains, it's such a warped parody of the usual cowboys-n-Injuns scene that I had to laugh!