Rough Riders' Round-up (1939)

This outing Roy Rogers spends more time in the saddle ridin' and shootin' than singin'. Roy and two of his Rough Rider pals Tommy Ward(Eddie Acuff)and Rusty Coburn(Raymond Hatton)team up riding the range and trying to bring an end to corruption in a mining town. When Tommy is gunned down by a notorious outlaw Arizona Jack (William Prawley), Roy and Rusty end up as patrolmen on the Mexican border trying to capture their partner's killer and a gang of gold smugglers. Joseph Kane produces and directs this better than average western. Other players include: Mary Hart, George Meeker, Glenn Strange, Hank Bell, Dorothy Sebastian and Roy's trusty horse Trigger.

Roy Rogers and a few other veterans of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders return from the Spanish-American War and take jobs as Arizona border patrolmen. When Roy's friend is killed in a rowdy border town by men operating on both sides, he takes off his badge and crosses into Mexico to settle the score.One of Rogers' okay early outings, there's a lot of atmosphere (something Republic Pictures was really good at when they tried), some decent action scenes, including a fun saloon brawl, and a fairly rousing finale.This time, music is an afterthought, with Roy singing only a couple of brief songs. There's a good (probably canned) music score too.

It's 1900, and Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders have returned from Cuba. Roy Rogers and friends Rusty Coburn (Eddie Acuff) and Tommy Ward (Ray Hatton) seek work as border patrol agents, with the personal recommendation of Roosevelt himself. The border patrol captain is willing to take them on, especially since outlaw Arizona Jack is marauding the border passes and seeking refuge in Mexico. Adding drama to the plot is the presence of Dorothy Blair (Mary Hart), as the daughter of the owner of the Amco Mining Company. Rogers has orders to detain her, but when a fight breaks out in the cantina she escapes on a Mexican stagecoach, only to be captured by the bandits.Roy Rogers has the uncanny ability to walk into any situation, no matter how grim, and pick up a guitar to sing a song. This happens twice in Roundup - first in the unfriendly environs of the local cantina, and then again when captured and secured in Arizona Jack's bandit hideout; it's not very believable given the situation.Be attentive for a continuity goof in a chase scene in the second half of the film; as Arizona Jack's gang pursues Roy and Rusty on horseback, the good guys string a rope across their path to knock the first two riders off their horses. But as the bandits get up to dust themselves off, the rope is back in place again."Rough Riders Roundup" moves along at a brisk fifty eight minute pace, and as mentioned, has the obligatory fisticuffs, chase scenes and gunfights expected in a "B" western. One overlooked detail though - Roy appears to ride his trusty palomino Trigger in the film, however Trigger is not top billed as "The Smartest Horse in the Movies" in this flick. I assume he fired his agent before the next picture!

Good oldtime B Western, with the greatest star of that genre in his early prime. Gold smugglers in Mexico, murder, capture, fist fights, gunfights - great Sat matinee at the Bijou stuff. And the reason why is, No Musical Numbers! I loved Roy's movies and TV and Radio shows; he was and is high on my list of Most Admired Men. A good man, and a humanitarian of the highest order. The Pearly Gates were a walkthru for him and Dale. But it woulda been better for everyone if Herbert J. Yates had never seen OKLAHOMA! on Broadway, cause his lamebrain notion to make all of Roy's movies from then on in that format - songs and more songs, then oh by the way, a story - compromised the genre severely, right when and where we didn't need it. Herb, baby, Roy's films were fine as is; don't mess with 'em. That's why this 55 minute gem gets 7 stars, outta 10.