Overlooked Movies: Range Beyond the Blue

For some reason TCM showed a bunch of Eddie Dean westerns the other night, and Range Beyond the Blue was among them. Eddie and his trusty comic sidekick, Soapy (Roscoe Ates) happen upon a stage holdup and prevent the outlaws from taking the gold shipment. They accompany the stage into town and learn from the lovely young owner of the line, Margie Rodgers (Helen Mowery), that every time she has a gold shipment, the stage is robbed. Her uncle says that proves there’s inside info being given out and offers to buy the line (you’ll need only one guess as to who the villain is).

The town's sheriff is wounded and can’t perform his duties, so Eddie suggests that Soapy be made acting sheriff. Everyone thinks that’s a fine idea for some reason. Eddie goes undercover and finds out who the villain is, and the villain kills him. But don’t worry. Eddie’s only faking it, and it all works out in the end, where it’s revealed that Eddie and Soapy are actually federal marshals. If you’re wondering about the title, at the very end Eddie is asked if he’ll ever settle down, and he says, not until I reach the place in this song, whereupon he breaks into “Range Beyond the Blue.”  Pretty sneaky, huh?

No trailer for this one, I'm sorry to say.