Fury River

ROGER'S RANGERS was turned into a great motion picture by King Vidor, then, in the 1950s, in the wake of DAVY CROCKET, into a TV series -- and then episodes were cobbled together to make a short feature film.

The early segments show the TV nature of the material, since it shows the composition, set and studio-bound production set-ups of a TV show of the era. The second half, when they are in the field, opens up and is more visually interesting and there is a dynamite ending, but all of this falls to pieces because Keith Larsen, who takes the role of Major Rogers from Spencer Tracy in the original movie is.... well, he's no Spencer Tracy. He's good looking in a clean-cut 1950s manner -- in buckskins! -- but his acting is utterly stiff and his major speeches are delivered in monotones.

Buddy Ebsen is pretty good in his role of 'Hunk', but the rest of this movie is pretty much a waste of time.