"Heart of the Rockies" conjures up a certain sense of romance and adventure for me, but the story here has to do with a state sponsored road gang for first time lawbreakers, with Roy Rogers appearing as a mining engineer who's ramrodding a new road through land owned by a stubborn cattle rancher. I've long gotten past the point where a 'B' Western's title missing the point of the story bothers me, so with that out of the way, the picture winds up being a fairly standard Rogers vehicle, with a couple of oddities you can catch if you're attentive. For starters, Roy's dog Bullet shows up out of nowhere during Roy's first scrap with villain Devery (Fred Graham), when he hadn't been noticeable earlier in the story. Bullet's never mentioned by name, so I'm assuming it's one and the same. When all is said and done, he actually winds up with more screen time than 'The Smartest Horse in the Movies', and for his trouble didn't even get a screen credit. I guess he didn't have the same agent as Trigger.This is also the bloodiest I've seen Roy get in almost two dozen pictures, but keep an eye on him in a couple of scenes. During the brawl with Devery at the Willard ranch, Roy's shown with a couple of bloody cuts when the fight is over, but they're gone in the very next frame when he mounts Trigger. Alternately, near the end of the film, when Roy mixes it up with Devery again in the barn, only one punch is thrown with Roy knocking out the bad guy. However when he turns to the camera, Roy's forehead and lip are bleeding, and he didn't even take a punch!As for the main story, Roy has to figure out how to soften up rancher Willard (Ralph Morgan) to give up a part of his land for a road to be used for the benefit of all the ranchers in the area. A sub plot has Willard's foreman and chief henchman Devery cheating his own employer by rustling his prize cattle and substituting scrub stock in their place. At the same time, some of Willard's property was acquired illegally, and the deed to the questionable tract wouldn't hold up under scrutiny. This was actually a pretty elaborate set up for the sake of the story, one that most oaters didn't take the time to get involved with. But not enough to stop Roy from figuring out Devery's involvement, as long as he had some help from Willard's pretty niece June (Penny Edwards). That was June's assessment of Devery in my summary line above.This time around, the comedy relief duties are handled by Abbott and Costello's regular beat cop, Gordon Jones. Jones' character is Splinters McGonigle, who runs a guest ranch on Willard property, so he has to walk a fine line between helping Roy and staying loyal to Willard. I really couldn't figure out what that final scene between Splinters and Mrs. Edsel was all about when she simply disappeared! Anyone?I couldn't help thinking while watching that with the story elements being what they were, this would have been a fine vehicle for a team up between Roy Rogers and the Bowery Boys, who often found themselves in similar kinds of adventures. OK, the Bowery Boys were part of Warners' and Roy was signed to Republic, but it's an interesting idea. To catch Roy in an outright comedy, try "Son of Paleface", where he has all he can do to match wits with Bob Hope.

Heart of the Rockies is one of two films that Republic Pictures put out with this title. The first was a Three Mesquiteer film with Max Terhune, Crash Corrigan, and Bob Livingston. It was infinitely superior to this Roy Rogers epic.I sincerely hope that this film did not play in any of the prisons because if it did there would have been a riot. The premise of this film is that a crusty local rancher, Ralph Morgan, has been violently against a work camp for young prisoners cutting through his land. Roy Rogers is the chief engineer for the road and the labor he's using is young first offender convicts. The idea behind it is the director of the camp is a former warden William Gould says it's to keep the young guys in the fresh air and away from the hard cases. If the camp closes down the government might actually have to pay civilian workers and the road might never get done.Well it's certainly an interesting take on the penal system and a defense for using convict labor. Of course such films as Brubaker take a much different line. And my idea of a convict road gang is best expressed cinematically by Cool Hand Luke. Anyway Morgan's got troubles in his own house. His niece Penny Edwards has taken a real shine to Roy. And he's got a doubledealing, doublecrossing foreman in Fred Graham who both has something on Morgan and is working his own agenda.I don't expect much from the B westerns and don't usually get it, but this film actually left me aghast. I wonder if Robert Mitchum who actually did time on a road gang ever saw this film and what he must have thought.