"I'm scorching!" a dizzy saloon girl tells stranger Rod Cameron upon his entrance into the bar to which he responds, "I don't care if you're on fire!", causing a brawl which saloon owner Yvonne deCarlo breaks up with the help of a whiskey bottle. Business goes on however as fists fly with other customers paying little mind to the fight as if it were an every day occurrence. This is a western "Taming of the Shrew" where sexy Rod kisses Yvonne passionately, gets a slap across the face, and simply just kisses her again. He then compares her kissing her to taming a colt, but even then that doesn't mean he wants to keep it, causing the now enamored De Carlo to insist on a wedding. But Cameron is wanted by the law and must serve a six year prison term. Will his feisty bride wait for him or move onto the many waiting admirers or will she drop another bombshell on him? De Carlo speaks with a strange accent which is never identified even though her dubbed singing has absolutely no trace of an accent. Considering that she was a talented singer in her own right (listen to her legendary recording of "I'm Still Here" from "Follies"), dubbing her now seems a mistake, but MGM also did that with future Broadway musical legend Angela Lansbury as well! De Carlo's songs (three of them!) are pretty mediocre ("Set em' up, Joe. We gotta make dough!") although she still looks great, especially in Technicolor. If you want to see De Carlo sing on screen with her own voice, check out the adventure "Flame of the Islands" where she sings a very campy song called "Bahama Mama". She's also pretty handy with a gun, but will it prevent her from being brought down to earth by the very determined Rod Cameron? A scene of her waking up with an empty but worn looking spot in bed gives a definite impression of the marriage being consummated, pretty daring stuff considering the power of the production code.Comic relief by Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight helps make the unbelievable plot more tolerable. It never rings true that Cameron and De Carlo whose initial meetings are hot but far from loving would just decide to marry out of nowhere. Sheldon Leonard adds the villainy as the man who threatens to come between De Carlo and Cameron, and also the man who killed somebody that Cameron was blamed for. Beverly Simmons is cloying as an annoying little girl who keeps following Cameron all over. The plot moves forward when Cameron's former fiancée (the lady-like Jan Wiley) shows up with aunt Clara Blandick to claim him, making this much more convoluted and complicated than it need to be. So while this is often pleasant, it can be also a bit irritating when the story moves from feisty to family. Fortunately, there is an exciting climax, complete with chase scene, a confrontation between hero and villain near the edge of a cliff, and a riveting scene with the little girl being held captive on a tree trunk that covers a ravine that appears to be on the verge of falling the gorge, and a final great line from Wiley that sums up the difference between the type of relationship which Cameron would have with her than the one he already has with De Carlo.

Frontier Gal was released in December 1945, just after "Salome Where She Danced" released it the same year, with same main actors Cameron and De Carlo and same director. Both films represent the technical achievement of Hollywood in that year through excellent Technicolor but also with an outrageous screenplay . I always thought a good western had to follow some rules that had to be respected,but here they break them all. It starts like a serious western but then it becomes a musical and also tries to be a comedy. To say it is politically incorrect is an understatement, showing a supposedly funny violent relationship between a a man and a woman. Stay away from this one

"Frontier Gal" was made in 1945, but it looks like it could have been made at least a decade later: it's dazzlingly photographed in Technicolor, has well-shot action scenes, and is not afraid of using playful violence as a form of foreplay - there is definite sexual chemistry between Rod Cameron and Yvonne De Carlo. Yvonne looks so comfortable mounting and dismounting and riding horses that it's obvious why she was chosen to star in so many Westerns. And I should not finish this comment without a special note for Beverly Simmons, who on the basis of this was probably one of the most talented child actresses of her generation, but had a very short-lived film career. **1/2 out of 4.

I saw and forgot about countless western movies in my early years, but this is one western I recall vividly. (I picture it in Technicolor.) First, I remember fiery Yvonne De Carlo and cowboy Rod Cameron who came riding up to the establishment she owned. It was like the irresistible object encountering the immovable force. Their love-hate romance was unusual for any era, and would be almost unthinkable in today's films, but it worked for this out-of-the-mainstream movie. I've forgotten some of the details, but what impressed me most was their little girl and how she brought about the exciting conclusion of the movie and a strangely satisfying resolution to their love affair. This is one I'd like to see again, but it never turned up on TV and seems to have faded into oblivion. A pity. It was fun.