The Republic Pictures B-Western Robin Hood of the Pecos (1941) is set immediately after the Civil War, when most of Texas was under the thumb of corrupt northern politicians and unscrupulous carpetbaggers. Vance Corbin (Roy Rogers) returns home to Purvis County, Texas, after spending a year in the North as a Confederate prisoner of war. His friends are up in arms against Ambrose Ballard (Cy Kendall), the county adjutant who, aided by a corrupt lawyer, has raised the taxes for his own profit. Purvis County is still under martial law, but fortunately, the Union officer in charge is sympathetic to the former Confederate citizens.

Alleviating the situation even more is the presence of an elusive masked night-rider, a "Robin Hood of the Pecos," inclined to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Believe it or not, this mysterious masked man isn't the star of the film, Roy Rogers. It's Rogers' grizzled sidekick and frequent costar, George "Gabby" Hayes, who receives second billing before the title.

Repeating her Belle Starr characterization from the Roy Rogers picture Young Bill Hickok (1940), Sally Payne plays the rambunctious, gun-toting legend, while the more sedate love interest for Roy is played by Marjorie Reynolds. Director Joseph Kane was a B-movie specialist who helmed over a hundred features, several of them Roy Rogers Westerns, although his best known film is probably Fair Wind to Java (1953), an adventure film set on the volcanic island of Krakatau and starring Fred MacMurray.

Producer: Joseph Kane
Director: Joseph Kane
Screenplay: Olive Cooper, Hal Long
Cinematography: Jack A. Marta
Film Editing: Charles Craft
Music: Cy Feuer
Cast: Roy Rogers (Vance Corbin), George 'Gabby' Hayes (Gabby Hornaday), Marjorie Reynolds (Jeanie Grayson), Cy Kendall (Ambrose Ballard), Leigh Whipper (Kezeye), Sally Payne (Belle Starr).
BW&C-64m.

by Scott McGee