Billy the Kid Returns

Billy the Kid Returns (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Pat Garrett kills Billy the Kid (Roy Rogers) but in another town a lookalike named Roy Rogers shows up and is mistaken as the real person. Rogers agrees to pretend to be Billy the Kid so that he can uncover a group of bad guys trying to steal land from the poor. This here was one of Rogers earliest films and as many reviewers pointed out at the time, there's really no question that crowds would enjoy his brand of singing and acting and it was clear that his personality jumped right off the screen and he was perfect for this type of character. He has to play pretty much two different roles here and I thought Rogers did a very good job with each of them. This includes playing a bad guy with no heart in Billy and the good guy who cares about those around him. Smiley Burnette gets the role of the sidekick and he too is charming in the film and adds some nice humor. Lynne Roberts plays the love interest and nearly steals each scene that she's in. She's plays the hard-working daughter of a hard-working store owner who just knows that Rogers isn't a bad guy. She's quite attractive to look at but she also gives a performance that comes across quite soft and charming. There's plenty of action to be had here and the majority of the gunfights are good, well-staged and entertaining. I'd also say that the cinematography is much better than you'd expect from this type of low-budget Western. Just check out the early scenes inside the house that is on fire. There's a shot of Billy the Kid firing guns with the fire and smoke behind him and it's a very good looking shot. Fans of Rogers will certainly find this to be one of his better films even if it's certainly not worth viewing as any type of history lesson on the real Billy the Kid.

Roy Rogers tells boyhood friend and drummer in musical instruments -- he sells them -- Smiley Burnett that he is looking for a job as a peace officer. He was one back home, but a new sheriff came in and thought he looked too young. He's seized by the ranchers and taken to Marshall Joseph Crehan as Billy the Kid, but Pat Garrett (played by Wade Boteler) says he isn't; he shot and killed Billy just last night. That's too bad. Billy has been the only effective protection that homesteaders have had against the cattlemen. So they cook up a scheme, where they pretend Roy is Billy, escapes, and continues to protect the farmers. Plus new storekeeper Edwin Stanley and his pretty daughter Lynne Roberts.

Republic must have seen what a gold mine they had in Rogers, whose previous movie bit was yodeling in a cartoon. Director Joseph Kane pounded Jack Natteford's script into shape, gave Rogers a chance to do some acting in a brief prequel as Billy the Kid, set the musical intervals well, gave him a spectacular stunt or two (it looks like Trigger carrying Rogers jumps off a 100-foot cliff into the river), and the excellent print makes Ernest Miller's camerawork look fine. Then they gave it a world premiere at the L. A. Orpheum with Rogers in a personal appearance.

At first, Rogers had been insurance against Gene Autry; all the majors hired back-up performers to keep their stars' demands under control. Now, however, he was clearly being seen as a star on his own, and was getting good scripts, good casts, and good crews. It would pay off handsomely for everyone.

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.

I was a boy back in the 1950s and went into town often to watch Roy Rogers movies. I found a DVD at my public library with five old, B&W Roy Rogers movies, this is the second one I watched, running under an hour.

The hook here is that Roy Rogers is a spitting image of Billy the Kid. Roy is riding west to try to find some work, the first place he stops he is mistaken for the outlaw. He is brought in, everyone thinks he is the outlaw, until he plays the guitar and sings a song. Then everyone says "We know for a fact that Billy the Kid can't sing or play music." So Roy manages to get a temporary assignment helping Sheriff Pat Garrett.

The story here is settlers from out East are having a hard time because of the cattle ranchers' meddling. They have to plow their land but the horses get stolen. Charging them locally wouldn't do any good, their friends on a jury would just acquit them. So Rogers and Garrett hatch a plan to have the US Cavalry catch the men with stolen US horses, that would require them to be in a federal trial.

As with most (or all) Roy Rogers movies he does some singing and he of course had a great, melodic baritone voice, as good a singer as any in those days. And he did find a girl to get sweet on him.

Sheriff Pat Garrett corners and kills Billy the kid. The next day, lookalike Roy Rodgers rides into town and is immediately mistaken for the outlaw, who's death has yet to be reported. Roy's then pressed into service by Garrett, who wants him to take the place of Billy in a range war pitting ruthless ranchers against the homesteaders that the late kid had intervened on behalf of.

This second starring vehicle for Rodgers is decent enough, with lots of great songs from Roy and sidekick Smiley Burnette. He still hadn't quite gotten the hang of the acting profession, with a less sure Rodgers delivering his lines in a slightly different tone of voice!

This was the first of three times that Roy played a dual role in his films, the second being 1941's Jesse James At Bay and the third being 1942's Sunset On The Desert.