Rough Riders' Round-Up

It's the end of the Spanish American War and newly mustered out Rough Riders Roy Rogers, Raymond Hatton, and Eddie Acuff get a letter from none other than their former commanding officer and now Vice Presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt recommending them for jobs as border patrolmen in Arizona. Of course with that kind of pull, you know they get hired.

Two of their assignments get juxtaposed in Rough Rider's Roundup. The first is to stop and detain a young woman played by Lynne Roberts, but the second is to find out just who is this bandit Arizona Jack who is operating on both sides of the border. When Eddie Acuff is killed by him, the mission gets real personal.

Roy sings a song and gets to even yodel in this one and of all the singing cowboys, Rogers was the best yodeler of the bunch. He even gets to clock someone who at the very beginning downgrades the Rough Riders and calls TR an Eastern poser when he tells the guys he's voting for a real westerner in William Jennings Bryan. That's not something you say to a Rough Rider.

Funny when that was going and when the guys are hired as border patrolmen without question on TR's word, I was thinking of another Republic picture, War Of The Wildcats where former Rough Rider John Wayne got an oil lease simply because of where he served in the Spanish American War. Rough Riders could do no wrong in those years.

For Roy's fans and other aficionados of the B western.

Roy Rogers (as Roy) and sidekick Raymond Hatton (as Rusty) join Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders". Soon, they get suspended in order to "Round-up" the killer of partner Eddie Acuff (as Tommy) along the Mexican-U.S. border; they discover creepy gold runners in the process. Notice how, even suspended, Mr. Rogers is able to get the Rough Riders to join in his Round-up!

This is not one of the better Roy Rogers westerns. The fighting scenes look like choreographed dances. Rogers sings/yodels "Ridin' Down the Trail", one of two relatively ordinary songs; and, a stand-out moment, overall.

** Rough Riders' Round-up (3/13/39) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, Raymond Hatton, Lynne Roberts

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.

The fifth film in which Roy Rogers is given the leading role, this low-budget Republic Pictures production places Roy and a group of comrades, all freshly mustered from the United States Army in 1899, following service in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, and still bulging with aggressive energy, as they join en masse the (not yet in existence) United States Border Patrol, assigned to the wild and woolly Arizona territory. Since this is, after all, a Roy Rogers picture, i.e., one that includes musical interludes, the entire contingent of stalwarts breaks into an a cappella rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" as they first appear at a Border Patrol outpost where their station commanding officer assigns his new charges with effecting the apprehension of a mysterious "Arizona Jack" and his gang who are preying upon Territorial businesses and then fleeing across the international border into Mexico. The plot is pleasingly intricate and director/producer Joseph Kane, at the helm for his initial Rogers movie, includes as much as he can of Jack Natteford's screenplay before the dollars run out, with a viewer being treated to a well edited, crisply-paced affair, loaded with gunplay, fisticuffs, skillful horsemanship and stuntwork; there is even an abducted heroine. Scenes of dramatic action are halted twice to allow for musical interludes, first as Roy sings "Ridin' Down the Trail" and, later while behind bars, he serenades the lady he loves (Lynne Roberts playing as Mary Hart) who is confined to an adjacent cell, warbling "Here on the Range With You", accompanying himself by strumming upon a guitar. Raymond Hatton is Rusty Coburn, playing as Roy's sidekick, having succeeded Smiley Burnette for that honour, he himself soon supplanted by Gabby Hayes. There are numerous familiar Western genre players to be seen here, with George Chesebro being a particular standout as Arizona Jack's primary henchman. Kane's able direction provides for effective and vivid narrative pacing. Originally 58 minutes long, the film was competently edited down to 54 minutes for its television showings and video releases.

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.