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.
