JohnHowardReid Copyright 4 September 1938 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York release date. U.S. release date: 4 September 1938. U.K. release through British Lion. Never theatrically released in Australia. 6 reels. 54 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A lawman impersonates Billy the Kid in order to stop a rancher hassling nesters. NOTES: Rogers' 14th film and second starring vehicle. Mary Hart is sometimes billed under her real name, Lynne Roberts.COMMENT: A singing Billy the Kid? Well no, it's actually Leonard Slye's Roy Rogers impersonating Billy the Kid - though he does play in a straight fashion Billy himself as well. The two characters never appear on screen together as the real Billy is shot before the Rogers character appears on the scene. Aside from this unusual intro, it's a likable enough if thoroughly routine offering. Fred Kohler does the honors as the villain's chief henchman, the heroine is pretty, Mr Rogers does a bit of fast riding culminating in a spectacular horse-and-rider leap from cliff-top into a lake, whilst Mr Burnette's foolery and novelty numbers are fairly tolerable. A couple of Mr Rogers' songs are melodic enough to deserve more than the somewhat perfunctory treatment they're given here. Not that this will worry the fans. What will disappoint the juvenile audience is that there's no action climax. The villains are captured by a ruse and quietly, hang-doggedly submit. Direction and other credits are competent but thoroughly routine. Production values are firmly "B".

Michael_Elliott Billy the Kid Returns (1938) *** (out of 4) Pat Garrett kills Billy the Kid (Roy Rogers) but in another town a lookalike named Roy Rogers shows up and is mistaken as the real person. Rogers agrees to pretend to be Billy the Kid so that he can uncover a group of bad guys trying to steal land from the poor. This here was one of Rogers earliest films and as many reviewers pointed out at the time, there's really no question that crowds would enjoy his brand of singing and acting and it was clear that his personality jumped right off the screen and he was perfect for this type of character. He has to play pretty much two different roles here and I thought Rogers did a very good job with each of them. This includes playing a bad guy with no heart in Billy and the good guy who cares about those around him. Smiley Burnette gets the role of the sidekick and he too is charming in the film and adds some nice humor. Lynne Roberts plays the love interest and nearly steals each scene that she's in. She's plays the hard-working daughter of a hard-working store owner who just knows that Rogers isn't a bad guy. She's quite attractive to look at but she also gives a performance that comes across quite soft and charming. There's plenty of action to be had here and the majority of the gunfights are good, well-staged and entertaining. I'd also say that the cinematography is much better than you'd expect from this type of low-budget Western. Just check out the early scenes inside the house that is on fire. There's a shot of Billy the Kid firing guns with the fire and smoke behind him and it's a very good looking shot. Fans of Rogers will certainly find this to be one of his better films even if it's certainly not worth viewing as any type of history lesson on the real Billy the Kid.

MartinHafer This is one of Roy Rogers' first starring films and one of the earliest where he's billed using this moniker. He'd appeared in a few films in small roles as Leonard Slye (his real name) as well as in a couple as 'Dick Weston'. Because of his age, he's extremely handsome and photogenic--and it's pretty obvious to see why he's now got starring roles.I was concerned when I began watching this film. That's because I am a history teacher and hate how obscure western characters like Jesse James, The Sundance Kid and Billy the Kid have been turned into heroes--heroes that have NOTHING to do with the actual criminals they purport to be. The last thing I wanted to see was a film that made Billy look like a nice guy--and the film does NOT do that--though, as history records, he was a man who had friends among the homesteaders. It begins with the Kid in a shootout and he viciously kills a guy at close range--and this actor doing this IS Roy Rogers! Roy cannot be a murderer--it's just totally against his upright image. BUT, here is how they do it. After you see the real Billy killed by lawman Pat Garrett, Roy Rogers (playing a character named Roy Rogers!) shows up in the territory and people think he is the Kid. But he's clearly the good guy, Roy.The people of the territory, however, don't know yet that Billy is dead and a posse captures Roy--thinking he's the outlaw. Garrett, however, comes to his rescue. Now the Sheriff and Garrett both concoct a plan where Roy will pose as Billy. First, they have to have the ersatz Billy 'escape' from jail. Then, Roy will do the good things the Kid once did--protecting the little ranchers from the corrupt bosses trying to push them around for kicks. And, hopefully, they can get some evidence of the bosses violating a federal law--since Garrett is a Marshall and has the authority to arrest them should they break any of these laws.All in all, one of the more enjoyable Rogers films. I've seen. While I am far from an expert on his films, it was nice having Smiley along for the ride--he had a nice voice and offered some good comic relief. And, the story, which is a bit silly if you think about it, at least does NOT promote the silly wild west images of the anti-hero. Well worth seeing.By the way, Roy's sidekick, Smiley Burnett, was a frequent sidekick for Gene Autry. Later in life, he was known on TV as one of the conductors of the train on "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres". Oddly, of the two who ran the train, Smiley was distinguishable because he smiled a lot less than his partner (Rufe Davis)! And, ironically, the guy who replaced him in the Autry series was Pat Butram--the same guy who played Mr. Haney on the same two TV shows!

classicsoncall Western film fans will recognize the characters and locale of "Billy The Kid Returns", though not the spin off tale that forms the basis of this story. Roy Rogers performs double duty as both the legendary badman and his good guy counterpart, a character sharing Rogers' own name. When Billy is gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett, ensuing scenes depict Roy Rogers and pal Trigger riding into Lincoln County, New Mexico. Those who know Billy give a wide berth to Rogers, respecting the reputation of a gunman who had twenty one kills to his credit by the young age of twenty.I'd never seen it before, but here it was more than obvious. In the shootout scene at the opening, whenever Roy as Billy fired his guns he would close his eyes. This happened four times during the confrontation, and once more when a man challenged Billy for stealing his horse. Perhaps it was a convention used for this particular movie, and wasn't noticed when Rogers became the character Rogers in the rest of the film.The movie offers more than the usual share of musical numbers for a Roy Rogers effort. Roy himself performs four songs, and with the first, it looks like Trigger is keeping time with 'Born in the Saddle'. Beyond that, Smiley Burnette and his boys turn in three additional tunes to keep things merry. In the story, Burnette's character is Frog Millhouse, utilizing that throaty voice every once in a while during his songs. I find it interesting that the fictional character Frog Millhouse played by Smiley was also used in movies starring other cowboy performers, primarily Gene Autry, but at least once with Sunset Carson in "Call of the Rockies".Roy Rogers' late 1930's movies usually found Lynne Roberts as the female lead, her character here is Ellen Moore, daughter of a general store owner. You'll see her listed in the film credits as Mary Hart, and she worked with Roy in eight films.The story itself has a plot used time and again throughout Western movie history, the conflict between homesteaders and range land cattle men. Rogers teams with Pat Garrett (Wade Boteler) to thwart a band of villain ranchers who intimidate homesteaders by stealing their horses and provoking general mayhem. The good guys prevail of course, as Roy and Miss Ellen close the film in a smooch with Smiley literally falling off the wagon.Roy Rogers wound up portraying a number of historical men of the West in his movies. If you liked this film, you might want to catch him as "Young Bill Hickok", "Jesse James at Bay", and "Young Buffalo Bill", all from 1940/41.