CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Candida
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
bkoganbing
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.
FightingWesterner
The 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.
wes-connors
Roy 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
Michael O'Keefe
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.