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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

For Roy Rogers second starring feature Republic Pictures had him play Billy The Kid in Billy The Kid Returns. He also plays a nice chap named Roy Rogers who wants to become a deputy sheriff to Pat Garrett.When the film opens we see Roy as Billy breaking out of that famous shootout at McSween's store and later shot down by Pat Garrett played here by Wade Boteler. But Roy as Roy arrives from Texas and is mistaken for the notorious outlaw. As he's a good guy Garrett keeps up the deception as Billy continues his Robin Hood ways of helping the homesteaders and robbing the cattle barons to do it All this is winked at by Boteler because he's under pressure to protect the new settlers.In the end through the aid of Smiley Burnette on loan from Gene Autry films and playing his Frog Millhouse character Garrett and Rogers find a way to get the cattlemen good and nailed for their crimes. In the meantime Roy finds a bit of romance with Lynne Roberts the storekeeper's daughter. Roberts would be Roy's leading lady in most of his early films.A couple of nice western ballads are included for Roy in this second film which proved that his success in Under Western Stars was not a flash in the pan.

This is one of Roy Rogers' first starring films and one of the earliest where he's billed using this moniker. He'd appeared in a few films in small roles as Leonard Slye (his real name) as well as in a couple as 'Dick Weston'. Because of his age, he's extremely handsome and photogenic--and it's pretty obvious to see why he's now got starring roles.I was concerned when I began watching this film. That's because I am a history teacher and hate how obscure western characters like Jesse James, The Sundance Kid and Billy the Kid have been turned into heroes--heroes that have NOTHING to do with the actual criminals they purport to be. The last thing I wanted to see was a film that made Billy look like a nice guy--and the film does NOT do that--though, as history records, he was a man who had friends among the homesteaders. It begins with the Kid in a shootout and he viciously kills a guy at close range--and this actor doing this IS Roy Rogers! Roy cannot be a murderer--it's just totally against his upright image. BUT, here is how they do it. After you see the real Billy killed by lawman Pat Garrett, Roy Rogers (playing a character named Roy Rogers!) shows up in the territory and people think he is the Kid. But he's clearly the good guy, Roy.The people of the territory, however, don't know yet that Billy is dead and a posse captures Roy--thinking he's the outlaw. Garrett, however, comes to his rescue. Now the Sheriff and Garrett both concoct a plan where Roy will pose as Billy. First, they have to have the ersatz Billy 'escape' from jail. Then, Roy will do the good things the Kid once did--protecting the little ranchers from the corrupt bosses trying to push them around for kicks. And, hopefully, they can get some evidence of the bosses violating a federal law--since Garrett is a Marshall and has the authority to arrest them should they break any of these laws.All in all, one of the more enjoyable Rogers films. I've seen. While I am far from an expert on his films, it was nice having Smiley along for the ride--he had a nice voice and offered some good comic relief. And, the story, which is a bit silly if you think about it, at least does NOT promote the silly wild west images of the anti-hero. Well worth seeing.By the way, Roy's sidekick, Smiley Burnett, was a frequent sidekick for Gene Autry. Later in life, he was known on TV as one of the conductors of the train on "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres". Oddly, of the two who ran the train, Smiley was distinguishable because he smiled a lot less than his partner (Rufe Davis)! And, ironically, the guy who replaced him in the Autry series was Pat Butram--the same guy who played Mr. Haney on the same two TV shows!

Bad guy Billy the kid is cornered and killed by Pat Garret. Not long after singing cowboy Roy Rogers shows up and is mistaken for the dead villain. He has to prove himself as a lawman in order to convince people that he's not the deceased bad guy. Okay Republic Pictures programmer is well made and has a certain flair for the dramatic. The problem is that its is one of a series of films where Rogers essentially plays himself, granted in period, so any sense that anything can happen is lost. Rogers was a stalwart hero and its easy to understand why he became a star with him shining in a variation of a plot he'd done before and run into again. The problem is that like much of the Republic production at the time, the film is too by the numbers. There was a point when Republic became so good at what they did that there films became essentially off the shelf machine with the various parts switched in and out in an off the shelf formulaic manner. The serials and many of the westerns they cranked out all looked the same because they just switched parts that worked around. This doesn't mean its bad, its not its just that the film looks and acts like the rest of the republic western product. Worth a look if you've not seen a great number of republic westerns recently.

Western film fans will recognize the characters and locale of "Billy The Kid Returns", though not the spin off tale that forms the basis of this story. Roy Rogers performs double duty as both the legendary badman and his good guy counterpart, a character sharing Rogers' own name. When Billy is gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett, ensuing scenes depict Roy Rogers and pal Trigger riding into Lincoln County, New Mexico. Those who know Billy give a wide berth to Rogers, respecting the reputation of a gunman who had twenty one kills to his credit by the young age of twenty.I'd never seen it before, but here it was more than obvious. In the shootout scene at the opening, whenever Roy as Billy fired his guns he would close his eyes. This happened four times during the confrontation, and once more when a man challenged Billy for stealing his horse. Perhaps it was a convention used for this particular movie, and wasn't noticed when Rogers became the character Rogers in the rest of the film.The movie offers more than the usual share of musical numbers for a Roy Rogers effort. Roy himself performs four songs, and with the first, it looks like Trigger is keeping time with 'Born in the Saddle'. Beyond that, Smiley Burnette and his boys turn in three additional tunes to keep things merry. In the story, Burnette's character is Frog Millhouse, utilizing that throaty voice every once in a while during his songs. I find it interesting that the fictional character Frog Millhouse played by Smiley was also used in movies starring other cowboy performers, primarily Gene Autry, but at least once with Sunset Carson in "Call of the Rockies".Roy Rogers' late 1930's movies usually found Lynne Roberts as the female lead, her character here is Ellen Moore, daughter of a general store owner. You'll see her listed in the film credits as Mary Hart, and she worked with Roy in eight films.The story itself has a plot used time and again throughout Western movie history, the conflict between homesteaders and range land cattle men. Rogers teams with Pat Garrett (Wade Boteler) to thwart a band of villain ranchers who intimidate homesteaders by stealing their horses and provoking general mayhem. The good guys prevail of course, as Roy and Miss Ellen close the film in a smooch with Smiley literally falling off the wagon.Roy Rogers wound up portraying a number of historical men of the West in his movies. If you liked this film, you might want to catch him as "Young Bill Hickok", "Jesse James at Bay", and "Young Buffalo Bill", all from 1940/41.