Henchman_Number1 Hoping to secure drilling rights to the oil rich Vega ranch, wildcatter Roy Rogers discovers a scheme hatched by members of a gambling operation to cheat the Vegas (Russ Vincent and Donna Martell) out of their oil rights. Roy teams up with new found sidekick Alkali and tugboat owner Billie Colby (Olin Howland and Dale Evans) to bring down the criminal racket of Reed Calhoun (George Meeker) who runs his operation from a floating casino which resides just out of jurisdiction offshore. This was Roy's first movie after the departure of Gabby Hayes who as they say, left to pursue other opportunities. Without an apparent backup plan in place the studio plugged in veteran character actor Olin Howland for his one and only pairing as Roy's saddle pal. Actually Howland did a pretty good job. It makes you wonder why he never found a niche in this kind of sidekick role. Apache Rose is another of Roy's films that was chopped to bits for television. The original 75 minute runtime was cut to 54 minutes. This left close to a third of the movie on the cutting room floor making it almost indecipherable. Apache Rose is still readily available in the full uncut format. It is highly recommended before watching or buying a DVD that you get the unedited version. Neither one of Roy's best or worst movies. Probably most fans will enjoy though.5 of 10*

wes-connors Roy Rogers is an oil prospector who wants to get rights to drill for oil on a promising piece of land. Dale Evans (as Billie) sails a local tugboat named "Apache Rose" and Olin Howlin is Mr. Rogers' lovable old codger friend "Alkali". Bob Nolan and the "Sons of the Pioneers" are around when necessary. Gamblers aboard the boat "Casino Del Mar" aka "S.S. Casino" are the main adversaries, led by nasty George Meeker (as Reed Calhoun). This film is very poorly performed and presented by Rogers and company. Ms. Evans is absurd as a disguised Senorita, and her song "There's Nothing' Like Coffee in the Morning" looks like a breakfast commercial try-out. Mr. Howlin's quickly disappearing "black eye" might have been better placed on the entire disjointed production. * Apache Rose (2/15/47) William Witney ~ Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Olin Howland, George Meeker

classicsoncall Even with a fuzzy washed out print and voices out of sync with lip movements, "Apache Rose" is a fun Western in an uncharacteristic setting. Gabby, Andy and Smiley must have been unavailable because Roy Rogers' sidekick here is Olin Howlin who I haven't seen before. As expected, he provides some of the film's comic relief as Alkali, the old timer with tall tales and a case of the dizzies whenever trouble's close by, which is pretty often.Dale Evans is on hand as Billie Colby, the owner of a tugboat, the "Apache Rose". Just like her character in "Bells of San Angelo", she and Roy start out at odds with each other, but eventually team up together to bring down a villainous plot to seize the oil rights from rancher Carlos Vega (Russ Vincent). The lead bad guy is Reed Calhoun (George Meeker), owner of a casino boat who's maneuvered Vega into running up a large gambling debt so he can get his hands on Vega's oil rights.I always get a kick out of seeing Pat Brady in a Rogers' film before he became a mainstay in the TV series. Here he's involved in a Mexican hat dance with a senorita, and leads the charge with a battering ram to break Roy and Alkali out of a wine cellar.When you stop to think about some of the plot elements offered here, the film winds up being a bit silly. Men in business suits for example, operate out of a cave near the ocean. Near the end of the story, bad guy Calhoun grabs Carlos as a hostage with about two dozen of his ranch hands as witnesses, and when the villains find themselves on the short end of a shootout with Roy and the sheriff, they attempt a getaway with rowboats into the ocean. Not a very smart move with the tide rolling in!As expected, there are a few musical numbers, and Dale gets to do a solo on her tugboat - 'There's Nothing' Like Coffee in the Morning'. The romantic angle between her character Billie with Roy and Vega isn't adequately resolved by film's end, though all signs point to her getting together with Roy. If you can get past some of the weaker points of the film, you can have a good time with "Apache Rose". Dale Evans is a treat, and gets to share about as much screen time as future husband Roy Rogers.

kergillian I'm not a huge fan of Roy Rogers, though he has a lovely voice (and Dale Evans was CUTE!!). I don't particularly like musical westerns and singing cowboys (especially Gene Autry). And this is a fairly typical Roy Rogers film. The plot is interesting enough (and the film short enough) to keep one going, but thee films were churned out a mile a minute to keep the public happy and the dollars rolling rolling rolling, so they weren't exactly high on quality. I really didn't like his sidekick Alkali (played by Olin Howlin) which didn't help much. But Roy was good as usual, Trigger was beautiful as usual, Dale Evans was CUTE as usual, but the film didn't live up to others of his, or my expectations.Overall: I've seen better, I've seen worse. He beats Gene Autry by a mile but I prefer his TV show. Roy Rogers fans will probably like this a whole hell of a lot more...4/10.