Overview: Verdugo Entertainment proudly presents this 2-Disc Collector’s Set of Hollywood Western Legend Roy Rogers in his first and last films, Under Western Stars (1938) and Mackintosh & T.J. (1975).

Blu-ray Verdict: UNDER WESTERN STARS (1938): In his first feature film, Roy Rogers stars as himself as he gets elected to congress in order to bring water to the ranchers in his district. In Washington Roy learns he needs the backing of a key congressman and gets that man to go west for an inspection trip, but when the Congressman is initially unimpressed, Roy gets the inspection party stranded without water to show the true conditions.

Considering Roy Rogers politics which favored the Christian Right, his debut film as a singing cowboy star is a most unusual one. He’s essentially Billy Jack some thirty years ahead of time.

Roy plays the son of a late Congressman who fought on behalf of the small ranchers who are being starved out because of the dam the water power company has built and the exorbitant rates being charged. Definitely a film of the New Deal times.

After some typical direct cowboy action in dealing with the company Roy decides maybe Washington is the proper venue for dealing with the problem. He runs against flannel-mouth Congressman Dick Elliott who, thanks to some action by sidekick Smiley Burnette, gets dumped in a horse trough during his re-election campaign. A place more of our elected officials should visit unannounced.

Roy’s made wise to ways of Washington by Carol Hughes who is the daughter of the water power company president, but has a hankering for Roy just the same. Then it’s back to the west for some more of the kind of riding and shooting action not usually normal with Congressmen.

Under Western Stars was an interesting film in another way. Very soon such local country & western performers like Jimmie Davis in Louisiana, Wilbert Lee O’Daniel in Texas, and Glen H. Taylor in Idaho would be elected governors and/or senators from their respective states with just the kind of country singing campaign Roy does in this film. Maybe Under Western Stars had more influence than originally thought.

This picture even got an Oscar nomination, for the song Dust for Best Song of 1938. The rather more well known Thanks for the Memory was the winner that year. But Dust is a highly dramatic item, sung by Roy as he’s narrating a newsreel he put together about the dust bowl conditions in the west.

In conclusion, Under Western Stars is a decent enough B western and definitely a worthy item for the King of the Cowboys to step up and claim his crown.

Mackintosh & T.J. (1975): In his triumphant final film role, Roy Rogers (Lights of Old Santa Fe) stars as Mackintosh, a migrant cowboy traveling across the West Texas plains in his rundown pickup truck.

While looking for work breaking horses, Mackintosh befriends T.J. (future ProRodeo Hall of Famer Clay O’Brien), a runaway teen. The two form an unlikely bond and find jobs together at a cattle ranch where Mackintosh impresses the owner with his bronco-taming skills.

Trouble, however, is on the horizon, but Mackintosh proves himself as a man who is not afraid to take a stand.

Here the title roles are played by Roy and young Clay O’Brien respectively. Roy’s an old time working cowboy who’s not settled down and O’Brien is a young kid of 14 on the road. He’s run away because his father has died and he’s not liked his mother’s choice in companions.

The two hit it off and eventually find work at a ranch where Walter Barnes is the foreman and Edith Atwater his wife.

O’Brien did roles in two John Wayne films before this one, The Cowboys and Cahill, US Marshal and the same easy chemistry he had with the Duke he also has with Roy Rogers. Most of the screen time is spent with these two.

It looks very much like they’re going to stay on Barnes’s ranch, but a jealous husband, a battered wife, and a cowboy with some issues all get involved in their business. It ends in tragedy. The three parts are played respectively by Billy Green Bush, Joan Hackett, and Andrew Robinson.

Of the three Hackett is the one to watch. Charlton Heston who worked with Joan Hackett in Will Penny in his memoirs paid tribute to her grace and talent. Without much in the way of dialog she does a marvelous job in portraying a battered spouse.

For those who remember Roy Rogers in those fancy western shirts and fancy designed boots seeing him dressed as just a regular cowboy takes a bit of getting used to. It was over 20 years since he made his last big screen appearance and a little less for when his television western series ended its run.

I wonder what made him decide to do this film? I guess it might have been to see if he could play a character. He sure didn’t need the money. Oh, and Roy is wearing reading glasses at times so you know he’s conceding his age.

When I heard he was doing this film back in the Seventies I wanted to see it, but it never played in New York. Mackintosh & TJ apparently only played in the red state market like so many films that never make it to the east. So when I finally did get to see it, it was a double pleasure in it was good.

Roy only did two more acting roles, on the television series Wonder Woman and The Fall Guy. Mackintosh & TJ is a very nice farewell big screen performance to the most famous of cowboy heroes. This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Lone Pine Cast Reunion with Clay O’Brien, Andrew Robinson and Larry Mahan
Interview with Billy Green Bush
Audio Commentary with Clay O’Brien, Andrew Robinson and moderator C. Courtney Joyner
Original On-Set Footage
EXPLORING THE ALABAMA HILLS (Lone Pine Location Documentary)
New Trailer for Under Western Stars
Mackintosh and T.J. original 1978 Theatrical Trailer