Twilight in the Sierras

Twilight in the Sierras is a 1950 American Trucolor Western film directed by William Witney and starring Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger (billed in the film's opening credits as the "Smartest Horse in the Movies"), along with Dale Evans, Estelita Rodriguez, and Pat Brady. Plot Ricardo Chavez is a convicted counterfeiter, who after serving time in a California prison, is released on parole to work on a ranch, as he begins his new law-abiding life. The reformed criminal, however, is soon abducted by a gang of outlaws and blackmailed to engrave printing plates to make counterfeit currency for Matt Brunner. Brunner is secretly the gang's leader, but presents himself in public as only the owner of a Morongo Valley hunting lodge. Although Ricardo now wants to pursue an honest life and forget his criminal past, Brunner threatens to harm or kill his sister Lola if he refuses to do the illegal work. Roy Rogers is Ricardo's parole officer, and with the help of Pat Callahan, a female deputy sheriff (Dale Evans), Roy uncovers the counterfeiting operation while clearing himself of a false murder charge, saves Ricardo and Lola, and defeats the gang. Cast Roy Rogers as State Parole Officer Roy Rogers Trigger as Trigger, Roy's horse Dale Evans as Deputy Sheriff Pat Callahan Estelita Rodriguez as Lola Chavez Pat Brady as Dr. Sparrow Bliffle DVM Russ Vincent as Ricardo Chavez George Meeker as Matt Brunner Fred Kohler, Jr. as Mason, Brunner henchman Edward Keane as Judge Wiggins House Peters Jr. as Jim Williams Pierce Lyden as Blake, Brunner henchman Don Frost as bartender Joseph A. Garro as Brunner henchman William F. Leicester as Clifford (as William Lester) Foy Willing as Foy Harry Strang as Sheriff Callahan (uncredited) Production notes Twilight in the Sierras was filmed in less than four weeks, between mid-September and early October 1949. The exterior scenes for Twilight in the Sierras were filmed at the 500-acre Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, located in the northwestern part of California's San Fernando Valley. By 1950, Estelita Rodriguez had become a familiar face to theatergoers attending Roy Rogers' films. Republic Pictures between 1945 and 1951 cast her in nine productions with the "King of the Cowboys".