Most reviewers complain that this story doesn't relate at all to the historic Buffalo Bill. Of course, that's more or less true of many westerns of this era, in which the hero supposedly represents a historic icon of the West. Actually, in the beginning, Roy(Bill) and Gabby talk about their recent life as bison hunters in Kansas, and the poverty of bison in NM. Just why they gave up that to sign on as members of a surveying team in NM is not discussed. Thus, the remainder of the story is pure fiction.......There are 3 villains, one of them a qualified villain, who is used by the others. Renegade Comanche chief Akuna conspires with his half brother, Emelio Montez, foreman of the vast Regas rancho, to take advantage of the land survey to wrest the northern section from the Regases. The portion they want contains a secret gold deposit only the Comanche know about.........Along with Roy and Gabby, the tenderfoot Jerry Calhoun is in charge of the survey. They try to assure Don Regas and his daughter Tonia that it is unlikely that their survey will detect a problem with their land grant from the Spanish king. Montez plans to have a falsified survey report submitted that declares the region he wants open to other claims.........Each evening, Calhoun goes to the cantina to drink and gamble. Montez is there with his girlfriend, who keep encouraging Calhoun to gamble big money. Calhoun borrows a large sum from Montez to gamble with. He can't repay it when he loses. Thus, Montez offers that he will forget about the loan if Calhoun will doctor his survey report to indicate that Regas's northern section is not covered by his land grant........ Don Regas is flabbergasted that the survey report reads thus, and decides to go to Washington DC to plead his case. Meanwhile, Montez files a claim on this property, as Roy discovers. Montez and the Indians don't want him to get to the capital. Thus, they raid the stagecoach that carries Don Regas. The coach turns over as a result of it's haste. Don Regas survives little hurt, and climbs out, but is critically shot and left for dead. The sloppy attackers failed to make sure he was dead, and failed to take the land grant document with them. Thus, Mendez sends them back to look for the document. But, Don Regas's body has vanished. Montez guesses that the men who fired on his Indians took his body to the Regas hacienda. Thus, he sneaks into the hacienda at night, and check's out Regas's strong box, on the assumption that the land grant document would be replaced in it. He finds it empty, thus heads back to the Comanche encampment to organize an attack on the hacienda, burning it and killing the Regases. Roy and Gabby follow him. They enter a hut with just a tied up Calhoun occupant. Serendipitously, they find a bugle in the hut. Gabby, a one time army bugler, blows the cavalry call for attack. The Indians run to their horses, and make for the hacienda. .......Gabby rides to the fort to get help, while Roy and Calhoun ride to help defend the hacienda until the cavalry arrive. Montez sneaks into the hacienda and is looking for the Regases to murder. When Roy arrives inside, the two have a fight and guess which one presumably wins(We didn't see the ending). Meanwhile, the cavalry arrives and subdues the Indians outside. Gabby pulls out the bandana he found next to Don Degas's body, to put around a wound. Don Regas recognizes it as the bandana his land grant was written on!!(I didn't see anything?)......... As expected, Roy serenades Tonia to end the film.........See it at YouTube.
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planktonrules16 November 2020During the 1950s, many of the old B-westerns were trimmed down to television time slot length. Sadly, many of Gene Autry's, Hopalong Cassidy's and Roy Rogers' films were trimmed. In some cases (all the Cassidy films, for instance) copies of the original movies were saved. In many other cases, only the trimmed versions seem to exist....and this appears true for "Young Buffalo Bill". I could not locate a 59 minute version...just this 53 minute shortened one on YouTube.
Like too many old B-westerns (especially several of Roy Rogers'), the film uses real historical figures in a completely fictional situation. So, while Roy supposedly plays the famous Bill Cody, the story has no relation to Cody's life at all and it's not the least bit 'Buffalo Billy'. My advice is to ignore the names and just enjoy it as fiction.
Don Regas is a Mexican-American whose family has lived in the western United States long before there was a United States. He control large amount of land...but the U.S. government wants to survey it in order to determine its exact boundaries. Roy, working on behalf of the government, convinces Regas to cooperate. However, the evil Montez wants the northern portion of Regas' land because there is supposedly a hidden gold mine there. To get the land, he tricks the surveyor into gambling...and makes sure the guy loses a lot. To pay back Montez, the surveyor is told to alter the boundaries....and excluding the northern range from the property. Can Buffalo Bill Cody (Rogers) and Gabby stop him?
This isn't a bad story at all. Despite the William Cody angle, it was enjoyable and worth seeing. But I was bothered by the casting of Don Regas' daughter, Tonia. She is supposed to be from a Mexican family that only recently (after 1848) became Americans following the Mexican-American War. So why doesn't she have an accent that sounds in any way Mexican? In fact, she sounds as if she was raised at a charm school....not the old west. This sort of casting wasn't unusual back in 1940...but it does look (and sound) sloppy.
By the way, it doesn't harm the movie but the retired American History teacher in me thought it ridiculous how everyone in the film seemed to have repeating pistols and rifles. While they were available back in 1860 when this film was set, they were very rare. Plus, the revolvers generally were hand-loaded and didn't have cartridges like we have today (they needed a separate percussion cap to fire). So, folks could NOT just fire again and again and again like they did in the film. I see this mistake a lot in films...not just this one. I even noticed it set in "The Alamo"...a film set in the 1830s...long before any repeating rifles or pistols were even invented. -
FightingWesterner23 December 2009The titular character (Roy Rogers) and Gabby Hayes assist a military land survey through dangerous Indian territory. When the young surveyor in charge is secretly blackmailed into cheating a Spanish landowner out of a large portion of his property, Roy and Gabby immediately suspect something's up and vow to get to the bottom of the situation, despite an impending Indian uprising.
Like most Republic B-westerns and other adventures of the late thirties and early forties, this has great atmosphere, striking visuals, and well-staged action sequences. However, this time around the story is a bit typical. Still, the cinematography, direction by the great Joseph Kane, and the performances by Rogers and Hayes make this worth recommending to fans of the genre.
Leading lady Pauline Moore is quite lovely too. -
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. -
classicsoncall29 March 2012You would think that a film with the title "Young Buffalo Bill" would have something to do with it's title character hunting bison on the open plains, or at least doing some scout work and tracking for the Army like the historical Bill Cody did. Instead, this picture's Buffalo Bill (Roy Rogers) teams with sidekick Gabby Hayes to do survey work in the New Mexico Territory. Their assignment is to verify the boundaries of some old Spanish land grants while assigned to Colonel Joseph Calhoun's (Wade Boteler) cavalry unit.
All Roy Rogers films have a villain or two to deal with, and this time it's a pair of half brothers, Comanche Chief Akuna (Chief Thundercloud) and Emilio Montez (Trevoe Bardette). Akuna knows the location of a secret gold mine located in the northern section of Don Regas' (Hugh Sothern) huge rancho, so Montez uses blackmail to force the Colonel's son to tamper with the survey of the Regas spread. Roy, that is, Buffalo Bill and Gabby ride to the rescue amid an Indian attack to save the day for Don Regas and his pretty daughter Tonia (Pauline Moore) with the Cavalry joining in to lend a hand.
Apparently, Republic Pictures found a winning formula with it's star Roy Rogers portraying historical characters because they produced quite a few of them. 1938's "Billy the Kid Returns" got the ball rolling followed by "Days of Jesse James" a year later. Then there was "Young Bill Hickok" in 1940, and another take on the famous outlaw in "Jesse James at Bay" in 1941. Like you have here, these other pictures had just the most tenuous connection to the real life characters, but they sounded cool, and gave matinée fans another reason to catch Roy and Gabby in action. -
Mike-76426 April 2008Bill 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.
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StrictlyConfidential11 September 2021"Young Buffalo Bill" was originally released back in 1940.
Anyway - As the story goes - With the Old Spanish Land grants being resurveyed in New Mexico, a crook looks to take advantage of the situation by altering some boundaries in order to gain the rights to some valuable mineral deposits. Young Bill Cody and his partner Gabby Whittaker find themselves wrapped up in this mess when the land swindler's henchmen, a local tribe, start causing trouble. -
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.
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wes-connors4 September 2007Roy 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 -
Excellent performers with a pretty good script -- except it had NOTHING to do with "Buffalo Bill," and was very anachronistic.
Why Hollywood preferred such stupid generic titles is beyond me. Hollywood almost never got its history right, and really should have avoided such a misleading title.
ANY name would have been preferable because the whole story was fiction. The film I watched is in a collection, Volume 36 of supposedly more than 40 in The Great American Western series from Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.
The quality of the print is generally OK, although some scenes seem to be missing or out of place. And that is inexcusable.
All in all, though, I liked and can recommend this.
Roy Rogers is, as nearly always, great to watch, and he sings only two songs. His sidekick is Gabby Hayes, also always fun.
The rest of the cast is generally not or little known, yet the quality of the acting is high.
Hank Bell has a nice part but is uncredited, a real shame. He deserves better.
Iron Eyes Cody is in it, according to IMDb, but I didn't see him. He too is uncredited.
Chief Thundercloud is the leader of the Comanches, and I think it is one of his largest roles. He is very good with it.
Again, I can recommend it, especially to Rogers or Hayes or Western fans generally.
Added 22 January 2017: You can watch it at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEE9MnW6u7Y -
frank412214 May 2019Despite the title being totally misleading, that's Hollywood for you, this is a very entertaining movie. Roy and Gabby not only have to help Col. Calhoun played by Wade Boteler, but also have to protect his bumbling son. Beautiful Pauline Moore is wonderful as Roy's love interest and the daughter of the main land owner. Although he doesn't have a major role, it was good to see Chief Thundercloud of Geronimo and Tonto fame.