Sugarfoot

For anyone who remembers the Warner Brothers television series Sugarfoot that starred Will Hutchins now having seen the Randolph Scott western from Warner Brothers of the same name, I can state categorically that they have only one thing in common. The theme from Sugarfoot the TV series I recognized immediately as the opening credits rolled. Other than that, there is nothing in common.

In fact I've never heard the expression Sugarfoot. I've heard tenderfoot and that's what Scott is. He's a Confederate war veteran going west to maybe establish a freighting business. As the opening scenes show he and a future rival Raymond Massey just don't like each other and resolve to stay out of each other's way, but as the movie unfolds that proves impossible.

Although Raymond Massey has done many a villainous role and some of them in westerns, he's not quite right as a gunslinger outlaw. A year later Massey co-starred with Randolph Scott in Carson City and he was much better cast in that film.

For a Sugarfoot/tenderfoot Scott is a fast learner though something of a fathead in regard to his code of southern chivalry. By the end of the film he's pretty handy with a six shooter.

Adele Jergens plays the saloon entertainer that Scott and Massey are after and Arthur Hunnicutt and Hank Worden make colorful sidekicks. Not the best Randolph Scott western from the post World War II era, but for his legion of fans good enough.