Uriah43 Roy Rogers is a cowboy working for a rodeo who is asked by the Governor of Texas to help him track down a band of saboteurs operating in the United States during World War 2. In order to do that he has to quit his job and go undercover as a singing cowboy at a carnival. What he doesn't know is that these saboteurs have an elaborate system and a spy in a very high capacity who quickly become suspicious of anybody who ventures too close to their operation. Anyway, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that while I don't especially care for "singing cowboy" movies this one wasn't too bad. Although it's filmed in black and white and lasts only 67 minutes, it still has some decent action which keeps the film moving along. Not only that, but the songs aren't too bad either. In any case, I rate this movie as about average and recommend it to those who enjoy movies of this type and produced during this era.

Michael_Elliott King of the Cowboys (1943) *** (out of 4) Once America entered WWII Hollywood starting throwing everything into a variety of war pictures. The biggest stars were cast in war movies and even fictional characters like Boston Blackie and Sherlock Holmes were placed into war pictures. Roy Rogers had the same fate and this thriller turned out to be one of his best pictures. Rogers is hired by the government to go undercover and try to locate some saboteurs who are blowing up warehouses throughout America. He finally tracks down the bad guy and must get involved in his fair to try and put a stop to him. The title pretty much tells you where Rogers was at during this portion of his career and seeing a cowboy in a WWII film might make you think it wouldn't work but the end result is very effective. Yes, the film still has that low-budget feel but for the most part the film contained a nice story, some fine performances and some great action. In regards to the action I'd say this probably contains more than any other film I've seen from the legend. We get a really exciting fight sequence where Rogers is in the back of a car when two men jump him. There's also an excellent sequence towards the end that I won't ruin but the gunfight is a lot of fun. There's also some fine laughs with a fake clairvoyant. As you'd expect, Rogers has no problem playing the good guy and the American, flag-waving is something is does with ease. The supporting cast includes Smiley Burnette adding great comic relief and Peggy Moran is good as the love interest. KING OF THE COWBOYS is a film that I think even those who hate "B" Westerns would enjoy. There's certainly a lot going on and yes there's some nice songs too.

MartinHafer I would have to say that of all the Roy Rogers films I have seen, this has got to be the worst. The plot makes little sense, the writing is very, very poor and it's bizarre they'd call this film "King of the Cowboys" considering it really has nothing to do with cowboys! The film begins with the Governor asking Roy to go undercover. This is a VERY familiar role for Rogers--he'd done this in tons of his other films. But, because the film is like a long talent show, Roy infiltrates a traveling show. This show somehow holds the key as Rogers figures out that they are transmitting secret codes. So, it's up to him, Smiley Burnett, the Sons of the Pioneers AND Dale Evans to sort all this out and save America. So what does this have to do with cowboys? Well, folks wear cowboy clothes--but that's really about it! As I said above, the writing it pretty bad for this one. Now seeing Rogers playing a character in modern times is not at all unusual, but the pitiful writing is. Here are a few examples how bad it got: In the psychic show, audience members are told to 'talk into the magic ring'. It's obvious to anyone that it's a microphone and I can't see how anyone but the dumbest folks on the planet would see this as magical or even interesting. Sadly, it's a VERY important part of the film.When the baddest of the baddies (Gerald Mohr) is about to shoot Rogers (who is unconscious), the wimpy baddie says "I'm going to turn myself in--I'll talk and take what's coming to me!". Who would say that as their partner is standing there with a gun about to shoot someone?! Is it any surprise that only seconds later this wimpy guy is killed?! Duh--can anyone be THAT dumb?! To help break Roy out of prison, his friends get the jailer to put a handkerchief over his head and leave the key to the cell sitting on the table in front of him while they show him a magic trick! Is anyone THAT dumb? Can anyone be that dumb?!Late in the film, Roy and his lady friend discover who the boss-man is of the baddies and they 'forget' and accidentally leave the loud speaker on so the baddies can hear that they've made this discovery!! Again, can anyone be that dumb? You must have noticed that again and again, the film relies on EVERYONE being 100% stupid. And, now that I think about it, they also rely on the audience being that stupid as well! Well, I might not be Einstein, but I am not THAT stupid--I give this one a well-deserved 2.

bkoganbing Roy apparently earns his title as King of the Cowboys by helping out Governor Russell Hicks of Texas track down a nest of Nazi saboteurs who are wreaking havoc across the Lone Star State. Did Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson know about this?Herbert J. Yates put the best creative minds at Republic Pictures to work on this and they came up with a script that's a combination of The Thirty Nine Steps and This Is My Affair. Like the Robert Taylor MGM classic where he's a secret agent working directly and reporting to President McKinley because McKinley like Governor Hicks can't seem to trust anyone in his official capacity. And like The Thirty Nine Steps the key is Gerald Mohr with a carnival memory act. If you're going to borrow at least Yates felt you should borrow from the best. You can't do too much better than Alfred Hitchcock.Roy gets a nice group of songs and I particularly liked the fact that he gets to sing I'm An Old Cowhand which in fact he had a hand in introducing seven years earlier. When Roy was just one of the Sons of the Pioneers who also appear in King of the Cowboys he backed Bing Crosby when he introduced the Johnny Mercer classic in Rhythm on the Range. Now Roy's a star and does a nice solo turn accompanying himself on the guitar.While Republic's other big singing cowboy Gene Autry was off to war, Roy inherited for a while, Smiley Burnette who does his usual comedy bit.Sadly though the film that gives Roy the title he was forever known by is a badly dated war propaganda flick that simply doesn't wear well or age well. The King had been better served by his subjects at Republic before and after this film. They'd also done worse by him as well.