boblipton Hoot Gibson and John Elliott want to buy the Sunset Range ranch, and are disappointed when they find out it's been sold to an Easterner. Hoot is even more disappointed when the new owner turns out to be Mary Doran, who wants him to dress like a movie cowboy, but some loaded dice settle that matter, and the good humor of both is on the point of sealing any rifts. However, it turns out that Miss Doran's brother has been dealing with some bank robbers, who have put stolen bonds in her luggage. When they show up, shoot the brother and kidnap the girl, it's up to Hoot and the ranch hands to settle the matter.This is a fine Hoot Gibson movie, directed by Leo MacCarey's under-rated brother, Ray. It shows off Hoot's sly good humor, and AD George Sherman, a couple of years before he began to take the director's chair, directs the action and stunt sequences very well. A clear winner for Hoot's fans.

dmcmaster-2 I watched this just because the name "Reasonin' Bates" struck me as hilarious. It does have decent plot, and the fashions, both cultural and physical, are interesting to watch. The direction is slowly paced, with long pauses (perhaps for audience reaction?) that seem unnecessary. Not like today where a moment of silence is simply not permitted. How Hoot Gibson gained any credence as an actor I'll never know--another glimpse into the standards at that time I guess. The bit players must have been gathered from the neighborhood bars, quite a collection of bizarre cowboy types. Also poignant is the treatment of the woman--a mixture of deference, embarrassment, resentment, and curiosity--as though women were a strange sort of being beyond understanding. And everyone is skinny.Not a bad film.

MartinHafer In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, a bazillion different B-series westerns were made starring the likes of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, John Wayne and Hoppalong Cassidy. Some of these films were pretty weird, as very little effort was made to make them period pieces. So, you might see Gene Autry or Hoot Gibson on the telephone, chasing men in a car or truck while they are on horseback or using the latest electrical devices! These anachronisms were not in most of these films but they were pretty common. Because "Sunset Range" is one of these very anachronistic films, it is strange to watch. After all, many of the characters dress in contemporary 1930s garb and the rest dress like traditional cowboys. But, weird as this aspect is of the film, the plot is light and engaging and worth seeing.A group of cowboys are horrified to hear that their ranch where they work has been bought by someone back east. When this mystery owner arrives, he turns out to be a she--and most of the men are thrilled to meet her. But one of them (Hoot) isn't and has a hard time accepting a lady boss. However, she likes him and he likes her--so what are they to do? See this film and find out--but I am pretty sure there is no way you'll guess exactly what happens next.Inventive and worth seeing if you like B-westerns.

bkoganbing There's a lot more humor in Sunset Range than you would find in most B westerns. And I mean humor not at the expense of some dopey sidekick. Hoot Gibson and Mary Doran are a well matched pair of leads and the comedy is on the level of some of the better Roy Rogers/Dale Evans westerns which also had a battle of the sexes.Mary Doran has come west to live on a ranch purchased by her brother James Eagles. Eagles is a racketeer albeit not a very good one. His rackets boss Walter McGrail hides $100,000.00 in stolen loot in Doran's trunk in a secret compartment to get it out of town while they wait until the heat cools down. Doran doesn't know she has it.In the meantime she settles in on her new ranch where she has to win over the men headed by Hoot Gibson who had hoped to buy the place for himself. Gibson and Doran are not quite Tracy and Hepburn, but they do have their moments. There's a funny tooth pulling scene and later on Doran gets Gibson to wear a pair of wool chaps that drugstore cowboys would normally wear. She does it by using some loaded dice on the unsuspecting Hoot.The reason the scenes play so well is that the director here is Raymond McCarey, Leo's brother. The younger McCarey never got the acclaim that Leo did, he never graduated into A feature pictures. But he did do a lot of comedy shorts for Hal Roach. Ray McCarey's comedic touch is a sure one that those years with Roach would have taught him.McCarey also did do B westerns and he does have a really furious climax with the city bandits who have taken Doran hostage in Sunset Range. All in all Sunset Range is a really excellent B western, way out of the league of the normal poverty row product.