Under Western Stars (1938) from Republic Pictures finds Roy Rogers taking the lead reins in his first starring role. The handsome singing cowboy rides to Washington D.C. to fight for his state’s water rights during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s. Along the way, he’ll sing a few songs with the Maple City Four, and good ol’ Smiley Burnette will kick up some laughs.
Buy Under Western Stars Blu-rayJohn Fairbanks (Guy Usher) owns a big, greedy water company that has built a dam and refuses to let local ranchers and farmers have free access to that high quality H2O for their crops and livestock. The lack of water worsens the already bad Dust Bowl conditions, which are causing huge dust storms and driving people out of the region. Young hero Roy Rogers (Rogers) and his band of merry cowboys are within earshot the day the ranchers raid the dam in hopes of releasing some water. Roy and the boys change in and manage to shoot it out past the dam guards to open the water valve. This puts them in hot water with Fairbanks and the friendly local sheriff.
On their way back to town and after a quick song, the local judge lets the boys off easy and suggests that Roy follow his father’s footsteps and run for Congress. Which he does and that sets up the next stage of Roy’s fight to return the precious clear liquid gold back to the ranchers. While in Washington, Roy sings some more songs including the Academy Award-nominated “Dust”, falls for Fairbanks’ daughter Eleanor (Carol Highes), who of course helps Roy get the water rights back and learns that sidewinders can also wear fancy suits. There’s also one last pitched battle between ranchers and dam guards that includes a fiery wagon full of dynamite as Roy rides to the rescue and sets everything right again in his portion of the wetless west.
Under Western Stars directed by Joseph Kane is an enjoyable 65 minutes of standard “present day” B western action, story, and gags. Burnette and an uncredited Trigger provide the laughs while the Maple City Four lend their talents as Roy’s back-up singers. The present-day aspect allows the plot to incorporate current events which break away from the standard themes of classic western set in the “old West.” So although there are shootouts and horse play, there’s no cliche heavies in black hats or horse chases that allow someone to be cut off at the pass. “I hate that cliche!”
Originally set as a Gene Autry picture under a different title, Roy was offered the part after Gene walked away due to financial disagreements. Roy’s still a little awkward at times when he’s not singing but one can see that he’ll successfully carve his own niche among the genre and go head to head with the legendary Gene Autry for the title of King of the Singing Cowboys.
Film Masters has again provided a great restoration of a movie that may have been forgotten had it not been Roy Rogers’ debut lead role. Under Western Stars, alongside Roy’s last movie Mackintosh and T.J., make a great double feature and one can see how Roy progresses but sticks to his guns as to how he’s represented on the silver screen. Roy never lost his sense of right and wrong or his willingness to fight for what he believes in.
