All you need to know: If you have to pick a single movie to introduce someone to B westerns, Bad Man of Deadwood is a good choice.Bad Man of Deadwood starts off with Roy, Gabby, and the always likable Sally Payne putting on a show with Roy singing a song. They meet the bad guys soon into the story and Roy is shooting it out with the bad guys for the rest of the movie in one gun fight after another. Each shootout fits into the story. Nothing is wasted.Roy Rogers was a big star, and his movies got extra attention. Bad Man of Deadwood has the look of the perfect cowboy movie in the way scenes are set up and edited together. This one never slows down, hits a lull, or has any filler.

In the second film playing Brett Starr, a singing cowboy fighting for justice (well, what else did he always play?), Roy Rogers takes on the law of Deadwood which seems to be able to do nothing to stop a ruthless gang from running everything. Even the federal judge is unable to put any of this gang behind bars, but when Brett shows up, the knife- throwing villain whom Brett catches does end up behind bars, even if only briefly, and that makes Brett intent on taking this gang down and the lawmakers who aide them. It's the typical repetitive scene of shoot- outs, chases and good vs. evil, with George "Gabby" Hayes getting a $36,000 bequest and stupidly taking it all out of the bank with predictable results. That shows the mentality of this quickly produced follow-up to "Sheriff of Tombstone". With town names like "Deadwood" and "Tombstone", is there any wonder why Roy always found criminal activity going on while visiting? "B" westerns are basically fun, if mostly alike, and fortunately extremely short. The lack of comedy from Gabby here is also quite noticeable, although he is acting quite a lot more fatherly to diminutive Sally Payne who is pretty heroic here too in her own right. Carol Adams provides menial services as the romantic interest here and shows a bit of feistiness in her minimal role.

Roy Rogers, a sharp-shooter in Gabby Hayes' medicine show, helps the refugee townsfolk of Deadwood battle a crooked bigwig and his outlaw gang, who've forced them out of town and stolen their businesses.Meanwhile, Gabby collects a sizable inheritance that gets stolen by the bad man of Deadwood.Though not as good as some of Roy's later features, this is fast paced enough, has some good gun-play by Rogers, and features a snappy opening scene featuring Gabby's medicine show that all help make this decently entertaining. However, it does run out of steam a bit near the end.Once again, George "Gabby" Hayes is quite a scene stealer.

Better than usual Roy Rogers film, from the refreshingly different pre-Dale days, when Roy's films had plots with a few musical numbers added, instead of being musical reviews with a few plot elements added. You won't feel insulted watching this. And, if you are a B-western fan, you'll enjoy the familiar faces in the fine supporting cast.