Young Buffalo Bill (1940)

Powerful

hyped garbage

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The titular character (Roy Rogers) and Gabby Hayes assist a military land survey through dangerous Indian territory. When the young surveyor in charge is secretly blackmailed into cheating a Spanish landowner out of a large portion of his property, Roy and Gabby immediately suspect something's up and vow to get to the bottom of the situation, despite an impending Indian uprising.Like most Republic B-westerns and other adventures of the late thirties and early forties, this has great atmosphere, striking visuals, and well-staged action sequences. However, this time around the story is a bit typical. Still, the cinematography, direction by the great Joseph Kane, and the performances by Rogers and Hayes make this worth recommending to fans of the genre.Leading lady Pauline Moore is quite lovely too.

Bill Cody and friend Gabby Whitaker are called on by the US Army to survey the New Mexico territory. Don Regas is not happy with the survey since he feels that the Army is out to cheat or rob him of his rightful land (through a Spanish grant), but is assured by Cody that all will be fair. The Don's friend Emelio Montez is actually trying to acquire part of the Don's land since there is a rich gold mine on the property and calls on his half-brother, a renegade Indian chief Akuna to kill the Don so that the claim will be open and ready for filing, especially when the surveyor is in the debt to Montez and fixes the boundaries so the land is open for anyone to file. When Cody learns of Montez' plot, he races to protect the claim as well as the Don's daughter Tonia from Akuna's wrath. The film never quite has the ability to take off and is just an ordinary oater despite the characters and setting for a great film. Moore and Sothern are out of their acting range and Pendleton is very flat in his portrayal. The rest of the cast's performances and story could have been a lot better, but there is some mighty fine photography and locations used here. Rating, based on B westerns, 5.

Roy Rogers stars as "Young Buffalo Bill" Cody, surveying the New Mexico landscape, fighting off Comanche Indians, and defending a diamond mine. And, wouldn't you know it? - "Buffalo Bill" had a sidekick named "Gabby", played by George "Gabby" Hayes! Pauline Moore (as Tonia) adds some feminine charm to the running time.The film's highlight is its generous location footage. Not New Mexico, of course, but California; and there are specific sequences are from rocky Vasquez Park, according to IMDb data. Otherwise, this is a very rushed looking western. Produced off of the Roy Rogers Republic western-production-line, with the expected quality control. Mr. Rogers' musical interludes are below par. The story is unimaginative, and you have to wonder about the sobriety of certain cast and crew… ** Young Buffalo Bill (1940) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Pauline Moore

Joseph Kane directs this dusty western with plenty of action, fierce gun battles, Indians and frontier drama. Everyone's favorite cowboy Roy Rogers plays a young Bill Cody aka Buffalo Bill. Ownership of land grants are in dispute leading to full-scale shoot-outs between the good old boys and angry Indians led by Akuna(Chief Thundercloud). Its going to take Bill Cody and saddle pal Gabby Whittaker(Gabby Hayes)plus a US Cavalry regiment to end the fighting. Roy gets to sing a couple of tunes, "Rollin' Down to Santa Fe" and "Blow, Breeze, Blow". Hayes provides a few things to chuckle at. Other players in the cast: Hugh Sothern, Pauline Moore, Julian Rivero and Wade Boteler.