Watch Rough Riders' Round-up For Free

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

An unusually complicated story-line finds Rogers, Hatton and Acuff joining the Arizona Border Patrol after a stint in Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. The territory is being terrorized by a gang of bandits led by a mysterious "Arizona Jack" who hides out across the Mexican border between raids. What seems at first a standard goodies-versus-outlaws chase (compounded by vengeance, though this aspect is soft-pedalled) is made more complex by the runaway daughter of a rich mine-owner who wants to marry her father's manager. Unfortunately for her, the manager...It can be seen that Rogers' role is less central than in most of his vehicles. Indeed it's the girl who has the main part - and that makes this a very unusual "B" western indeed. Rogers still finds time to sing a couple of pleasant songs plus a chorus or two of "Johnny Comes Marching Home", but all the numbers are staged in odd circumstances. What's more the musical interludes are not built up as ends in themselves, but are treated in a much more realistic and casual fashion. Compared to their obligatory central staging in his later westerns, here the songs are almost peripheral to the main action. Rogers' personality is more likably subdued here too, allowing the other players to make much more of an impression. Of course if you're a rabid Rogers fan, you may find the amount of screen time devoted to the other characters - Miss Hart, Pawley, Meeker, Miss Sebastian, even Rockwell - unappealing, though I really enjoyed their performances. (It was also good to see George Chesebro up to his usual villainy. Glenn Strange can easily be recognized as one of the bandits, while the more eagle-eyed will pick George Montgomery in a triple-threat role as a rough-rider, a bandit and a double for Rogers).Kane omits this picture from his filmography, though it's certainly nothing to be ashamed of. The director makes good use of his locations, his players and a surprisingly expansive budget. There's more than enough chase, fisticuffs and shoot-out action to satisfy the fans, though the final rounding-up of the bandits is disappointingly short.OTHER VIEWS: Herbert J. Yates had the bright idea of re-naming Miss Roberts as Mary Hart so that he could bill "Rogers and Hart" as the new sweethearts of the west. To this end, he probably ordered his scripters and directors to focus more - or at least just as much - as on Leonard Slye! (Slye didn't actually change his name to Roy Rogers until 1942).

It's a boyish Roy, still a few years away from Dale and real western stardom. But already he knows how to fake a good barroom fight. Plus he manages one mean yodeling session. Then too, that eye-catching palomino looks a lot like Trigger before he got his co-starring name in lights. Nothing special here, just a solid little matinée programmer. I like the way the historical fact of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders are worked into the story. That makes Roy and his border patrolmen kind of special.They better be because Arizona Jack and his henchmen are one mean hombres as they smuggle gold back and forth over the Mexico border. Seems that makes problems for Roy and his patrolmen since international borders are involved. But then Roy wouldn't be a matinée hero if he didn't figure something out. Anyway, the girls are a relief from all the ugly guys, and I would have gladly plunked down my dime for a ticket if I'd been around in 1939. Good thing the movie's been preserved so guys like me can still get an hour's worth of fun.

If you don't expect much in the way or originality, you may enjoy this lively inexpensive Western. Roy Rogers and two buddies are discharged from Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and join the Border Patrol. Intrigues, fist fights, shoot outs, and romance follow. The girl in the case, Mary Hart, is attractive enough but neither here nor there.Roy Rogers gets to sing dumb songs with lyrics like "the stars never fail while I'm ridin' on the trail." But he has a pleasant voice and he actually plays the guitar he's holding, and doesn't just use it as a prop.I always liked these cheap Westerns as a kid -- Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Wild Bill Elliot. The heroes were always so polite, well-dressed, honest, and they never threw a punch or drew their guns without just cause. Rogers, in particular, was a favorite because he was younger than some and, I thought, handsome enough to be envied.When I grew up, I watched his TV program once in a while and he was STILL a nice guy. His chat buddy asked him why he'd had Trigger stuffed. "What was I going' to do?", replied Rogers, still the candid man of yesteryear, "put him in the ground and let the bugs eat him?" The former Leonard Slye came west with an Okie family during the depression, had had a hard youth, and was lucky enough to become a movie star instead of a peach picker. Good for him.

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.