Rolling Home

In the 1930s and 40s, Raymond Hatton made a long string of B-westerns....mostly with such franchises as the Three Mesquiteers and the Rough Riders. While these were enjoyable films, they were also rather predictable and gave Hatton an income but little in the way of opportunities to show he could act. When I began watching "Rolling Home", I was surprised as Hatton was cast without the usual gang of heroes...and he showed he could really act. In fact, he was so good I wish he'd made more appearances like this one....so even while it's far from a great film, it's worth your time.

When the story begins, Pop Miller and his grandson are traveling about the country as Pop makes his living with the rodeo. The problem is that Pop isn't a young man and soon his prize horse, Briar, is badly injured and it appears as if he'll need to be put to sleep. Fortunately, Pop meets up with a friendly preacher, Reverend Owens (Russell Hayden) and he helps them treat Briar and, hopefully, get him back into shape and on his feet. The preacher offers to let the Pop and his grandson stay with him during Briar's convalescence. There's quite a bit more to the story than this...probably best you see it yourself.

While I must admit that this film is pretty schmaltzy, it's also pretty good family entertainment...provided you can get past all the saccharine. Overall, pretty well done and worth seeing....but a bit heavy-handed and cliched to make it a must-see picture.