Young Buffalo Bill (1940)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Roy Rogers is in the title role of Young Buffalo Bill and I doubt that for all of William F. Cody's accomplishments that he sang as pretty as Roy did. Roy and sidekick Gabby Hayes, former army bugler are in New Mexico helping the government survey the land. That's an issue of deep concern to Hugh Sothern owner of a large ranch from the days his family got a Spanish land grant from the King of Spain 200 years earlier. It's a big concern to Sothern's granddaughter Pauline Moore for whom Young Buffalo Bill has taken an interest in.Problems arise when the surveyor, young Steve Pendleton gets himself in some gambling debts and fakes the survey depriving Sothern of a section that contains a lost mine that the Comanches know about. So does Trevor Bardette, half brother to their chief, Chief Thundercloud. All this intrigue leads up to a mighty fine shootout at the hacienda. That's the climax of the film.Young Buffalo Bill is another in the long tradition of Hollywood B westerns where a real frontier legend is taken and a wholly fictitious story is written for them. As for Buffalo Bill the closest anyone ever got to telling his story for real is Buffalo Bill And The Indians with Paul Newman. At least this one doesn't pretend to be ground in reality.And Roy does sing nice with a couple of cowboy ballads, something William F. Cody never did I'm sure.

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.