4/5 "Roy Rogers B-Western Series ... Young Bill Hickok (1940) ... Republic Pictures "
  by J. Lovins (Missouri-USA)
Republic Pictures present "YOUNG BILL HICKOK" (21 October 1940) (64 mins/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) --- Roy Rogers (born Leonard Slye) moved to California in 1930, at the age of 18 --- played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws and his own group, the International Cowboys --- In 1934 he formed a group with Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer called "Sons of the Pioneers" --- While in that group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston and finally Roy Rogers --- Their songs included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" --- They first appeared in the western "Rhythm on the Range" (1936), starring Bing Crosby --- In 1937 Roy went solo and made his first starring film in 1938, "Under Western Stars" (1938) --- He made almost 100 films --- then came television, "The Roy Rogers Show" (1951) ran on CBS from October 1951 through September 1964.

Under Joseph Kane (Director / Producer), Olive Cooper (Screenwriter), Norton S. Parker (Screenwriter), William Nobles (Cinematographer), Cy Feuer (Musical Direction/Supervision), Les Orlebeck (Editor) - - - - Our story line and plot, Pony Express rider Bill Hickok (Roy Rogers) foils the plot of a foreign agent to take over California during the Civil War --- veteran character actor Monte Blue plays the role of the U. S. Marshal Evans --- Calamity Jane also appears in the person of comic actress Sally Payne --- our King of the Cowboys wound up portraying a number of historical men of the West in his oaters --- If you liked this, you might want to catch him as "Young Bill Hickok" (1940), "Days of Jesse James" (1939), Young Buffalo Bill (1940) and "Jesse James at Bay" (1941) --- Must recommend the Happy Trails DVD's to you --- Each one has new information about Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and each actor or director in the film --- If you are a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans fan like me you will totally enjoy all the extra footage showing Roy and Dale going to parades and visiting children in hospitals, the story of Roy proposing marriage to Dale, and more inside info also about the family --- Each film starts out with Roy and Dale seated on a small stage back around 1987 talking about the sagebrush films they are showing --- some wonderful tunes, I'LL KEEP ON SINGIN' A SONG, WEN THE SHADOWS FALL ACROSS THE ROCKIES, I'M GONNA HAVE A COWBOY WEDDING, UP AND DOWN THE PRAIRIE and CHOLLIE'S TAMALES.

the cast includes
Roy Rogers ... 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Trigger ... "Smartest Horse in the Movies"
George 'Gabby' Hayes ... 'Gabby' Whitaker
Julie Bishop ... Louise Mason (as Jacqueline Wells)
John Miljan ... Nicholas Tower
Sally Payne ... Miss 'Calamity' Jane Canary
Archie Twitchell ... Phillip
Monte Blue ... Marshal Evans
Wally Wales ... Morrell (as Hal Taliaferro)
Ethel Wales ... Mrs. Stout
Jack Ingram ... Henchman Red Burke
Monte Montague ...
Hank Bell ... Hank (Hickok Rider)
Fred Burns ... Mr. Waddell
Iron Eyes Cody ... Little Fox
Spade Cooley ... Musician
Art Dillard ... Posse Rider
John Elliott ... Army Doctor
Frank Ellis ... Attacked Overland Stage Driver
Al Haskell ... Barfly
Jack Kirk ... Henchman Hays
Jack Rockwell ... Stage Driver announcing end of Civil War
Slim Whitaker ... Raider

BIOS:
1. Roy Rogers (aka: Leonard Franklin Slye)
Date of Birth: 5 November 1911 - Cincinnati, Ohio
Date of Death: 6 July 1998 - Apple Valley, California

2. George 'Gabby' Hayes (aka: George Francis Hayes)
Date of Birth: 7 May 1885 - Wellsville, New York
Date of Death: 9 February 1969 - Burbank, California

Check out a new book from Empire Publishing - "THE ROY ROGERS BOOK: A REFERENCE TRIVIA SCRAPBOOK" (Paperback) --- reference trivia scrapbook of Roy Rogers written by Western film historian David Rothel whose accounts of thrilling adventures of B-Western heroes during the Saturday matinees of yesteryear takes us back to our childhood, family and friends --- this is a wish come true, reliving those wonderful years from the past through the pen of David Rothel --- Roy was a top box office draw for Republic Pictures when you went to see him on the big screen, you got exactly what the marquee said --- plenty of thrills, action and hard riding with a song or two thrown in for good measure --- Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 as a member of the "Sons of the Pioneers" and elected again in 1988 as Roy Rogers "King of the Cowboys" --- Roy got his horse "Trigger" in 1938 and rode him in every one of his films and TV shows after that --- "Trigger" died in 1965 age of thirty-three --- Roy's dog's name was "Bullet" and appeared in almost as many of his films as "Trigger" did --- Roy's theme song, "Happy Trails", was written by Queen of the West and his wife Dale Evans --- inducted (with his wife Dale Evans) into the "Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum" in 1976 --- inducted as a member of the "Sons of the Pioneers into the "Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum" in 1995 just three years before his death --- Don't miss this one --- now appearing on Amazon and Empire Publishing --- Don't hesitate - rush out and pick up your copy today --- Great reading in the days and weeks to come --- I guarantee it!

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under DVD Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with musical adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Amazon where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 64 min on DVD ~ Republic Pictures ~ (11/04/2003)

4/5 If America Falls...
  by Derek Hagen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
...it won't be because Roy (as Hickcock) and Gabby didn't try their best. It's 1864 and America may fall apart because of the Civil War. Foreign powers would like to pick up the pieces, especially gold-rich California. A representative of one of those foreign powers is organizing and funding chaos, murder and mayhem perpetrated by Morell's Overland Raiders.

Sally Payne plays Calamity Jane. She's always a delight and as a singing saloon gal Calamity, she's really in her element. She even steals a scene from Gabby (a seemingly impossible feat). Roy and Gabby were the best and this outing is as good as any of them. There's lots of riding in great western scenery, chasing and shootouts. Joseph Kane knew what made a good Saturday afternoon western. Besides, they had to have the good riding scenes so Trigger could do his stuff.

The extras on the DVD are a delight for me. This one has Trigger in Hawaii with 6 kids on his back.

Happy trails, partners
-Gospel

2/5 Be Forewarned
  by Yarby (Medina, OH United States)
Be forewarned....the very opening of the movie on this DVD has been truncated. The source for these transfers is evidently a program hosted by Roy and Dale in their later years. While I have no problem with the DVD's containing the intros, I did not pay for a movie that is not in its entirety...COMPLETE opening credits and all.

Secondly, the source is not good either. Roan Group did a much better job with their Roy Roger movie transfers.

In spite of being "Authorized by the Roy Rogers Estate"...which made me assume this a safe purchase....these Happy Trails Theatre DVD's are anything BUT high quality.