(1942) Bud Abbott, Lou costello, Dick Foran, Anne Gwynne, Johnny Mack Brown, The Merry Macs, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Lane, James Flavin, Eddie Dunn, Douglass Dumbrille, Samuel S. Hinds, Morris Ankrum, The HiHatters, The Buckaroo Band, Jivin’ Jacks and Jills, Bob Bakerk, Richard Lane, Cheif Yowlachie, The Ranger Chorus of 40, Carmela Cansino, Jo Gilbert, Wade Boteler, Linda Brent, Harry Monty;
Directed by: Arthur Lubin; B/W
The setting for this fun Abbott and Costello outing is the Lazy S dude ranch in then-contemporary New Mexico. The film’s crisp, clear black and white photography of the period is one of the joys of this film. The plot is simple enough with Bud and Lou as hot dog vendors who go from the rodeo back east to the dude ranch out west. They somehow get mixed up with Western novelist Bob Mitchell (Dick Foran) who secretly tries to pick up some riding lessons to help him prove to his public as well as to himself that he’s truly the cowboy his publicist has made him out to be. In the meanwhile, Bud and Lou come close to blowing his cover, fouling up a romance between him and ranch owner’s daughter (Anne Gwynne), and successfully manage to provoke Indians at a peaceful trading post to go on the warpath.
Gwynne, who also appeared in The Black Cat, Flash Gordon serials, Frontier Badmen and House of Frankenstein, shines as the leading lady. In addition to Foran, Johnny Mack Brown lends his Cowboy presence to the film. Together with Abbott and Costello, the awesome foursome foils a pack of modern-day crooks………………………