Rough Riders' Round-Up

Frankly, if it says "Roy Rogers," the odds are it will be good. And this one is. For several reasons.

One, the historical setting is very interesting. It's around the turn of the 1900s and this contingent of Rough Riders is returning to these United States ... well, actually, considering the time, to a territory of these United States: Arizona, and the border with Mexico.

The Rough Riders' leader, Colonel Teddy Roosevelt, is being talked about as a vice-presidential candidate

Roy Rogers nearly always played either himself or a character named Roy Rogers, which was the case this time. It seems an odd practice, but was also done with Gene Autry, among others. Often, it detracted and/or distracted from the movie, but here it doesn't matter.

Soldier turned Border Patrol officer Rogers is joined by, among others, Rusty Coburn, played by veteran Raymond Hatton, an actor who had been around since the silent days and who often hammed it up like a B-class John Barrymore but who, here, was restrained and believable.

Other talent, and I do mean talent, included the beautiful Lynne Roberts and former chorus girl Dorothy Sebastian, as well as the prolific Eddie Acuff and the almost ubiquitous Hank Bell, again uncredited!

Seriously, it's hard to think of westerns without thinking of Hank Bell, he of the handle-bar mustache and Western drawl, and a superb character actor. Here he got some lines and again showed he should have been given many more speaking parts and many more-important parts. Maybe he never complained but many of us, his fans, do.

Amazingly, also uncredited were Duncan Renaldo and George Montgomery. The latter had a small part, but Duncan Renaldo's character was very important to the story.

Chris-Pin Martin and the really talented I. Stanford Jolley were also uncredited even though Martin also had an important part.

So, even if the story or directing or music were minor -- and they weren't; they were quite good; after all, the director was Joseph Kane - - the cast alone makes this more than worthwhile.

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

This is one of those perfectly acceptable 30s B-movies that does exactly what it sets out to do with a refreshing degree of professionalism by all involved, but which is completely forgotten within a couple of days of viewing. Roy Rogers' fans might feel a little cheated by the fact that he doesn't sing much but it's something of a bonus for us viewers who prefer cowboys of the non-singing variety. The writers must have been struggling to find reasons to have Rogers singing in this one, and one of the few occasions when he does a little crooning is courtesy of a guitar he discovers in a deserted house in which he has been imprisoned by dastardly Arizona Jack's ragtag band of desperadoes – which is about as likely as finding an ice cube in a sauna when you think about it. Perhaps he leaves guitars dotted around the western countryside for just such an eventuality. Perhaps they're a source of energy like goblets of wine and stuff found in unlikely places in PC games. I don't know.

Anyway, the story is reasonably absorbing, although the bad guys might as well walk around with "Bad Guy" badges on their lapels. I mean, spotty tie, checked shirt and spivvy 'tache – what a giveaway! And all of a sudden Eddie Acuff as Roy's semi-comic sidekick starts riding around on his horse hollering "Hi Ho, Dinah" at every opportunity as if he fancies himself as the next Lone Ranger.

It's all pretty good, undemanding fun and, clocking in at less than an hour, it's well worth giving it a try.

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.

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.