Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

dougdoepke Roy, Trigger, a scruffy dog, and a boy like I used to be. Add some baddies, Trucolor, a pretty girl, and comic relief (Devine), and what else could this front row geezer ask for. And catch that surprise opening. As that scene shows, Roy plays a version of himself as cowboy hero. Seems some new West connivers want to steal Trigger for ransom and they've got a misguided youngster (Chapin) as part of their plan. Meanwhile, Roy's got his movie career to think about. And what would that career be without the world's smartest horse. Actually, a big part of the story is Roy and co. preventing cruelty to animals, whether horses or dogs. That means the bad guys are really bad. There's not much action til the end. The story, however, moves along nicely, with Director Witney even using close-ups astutely, especially with little Ted. But don't look for many tunes from the Sons of the Pioneers. They're mainly along for the ride. No, there's no Oscar bait here. Just the kind of afternoon entertainment that might hook some of today's youngsters if given half-a-chance.

classicsoncall I was curious about the premise of this picture, since an early scene reports that it's Roy Rogers' Tenth Anniversary in movies. Sure enough, a check of Roy's film credits shows "Under Western Stars" as his first feature role for Republic Films back in 1938. He had appeared in about a dozen films before in bit parts, usually as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and usually credited as Dick Weston or by his real name, Leonard Slye.It was a bit odd to note that Dale Evans wasn't around for this flick with the female lead going to Jane Frazee. Another reviewer on this board posits that Dale may have been in a motherly way at the time of shooting. Frazee's character is a cousin to Andy Devine's 'Cookie Bullfincher', and the story gets some comic relief from additional Bullfinchers on hand who Cookie has hired during Roy's absence. Ever the softie when it comes to his close pals, Roy takes it all in stride.The story reminded me a little of the 1946 picture "My Pal Trigger", as that one also involved a kidnapped horse. In that story it was Trigger's dad, going by the name of Golden Sovereign, and Roy was framed as the kidnapper! The villains this time though were a much more dastardly lot, as they threatened bodily harm and even death to Trigger, Roy, and a young boy who figures in the story's outcome, played by Michael Chapin. A hundred thousand dollar ransom for Trigger doesn't sound like a whole lot today, but sixty years ago I'm sure it was a pretty big deal."Under California Stars' winds up being a fairly standard Western for Roy and his sidekicks as they outwit the bad guys during the run for the ransom money. There's the usual share of double crosses that trips up the bad guy bunch, as the 'Smartest Horse in the Movies' spends a fair share of his time doing battle with the baddies as well. Fans of Rogers might notice as I did that the ten years of working for Republic must have been pretty good, as Bob Nolan and his partners all seemed to have added a few pounds around the middle. Roy however looks as trim and fit as ever, even though it's fairly evident a stand-in took his place for a running rear mount in the latter part of the picture.

bkoganbing In Under California Stars, Roy Rogers plays exactly who he is, Roy Rogers, B western star. The film opens with him shooting a last scene of his latest film and now he's headed back to his own ranch. In the meantime a star struck kid played by Michael Chapin gets a job at Roy's ranch and witnesses a dastardly crime, the kidnapping of Trigger by some really low criminals who want $100,000.00 or they'll shoot the palomino icon.Every kid in America would have been up in arms over this had word got out. But as a previous reviewer said, the whole thing is handled locally. Roy's studio, which would have been Republic Pictures, raised the ransom. I can just see Herbert J. Yates of Republic caught between a rock and a hard place on this one. He had a well deserved reputation as a tightwad, but Trigger himself was part of the Roy Rogers mystique, so he HAD to raise the money. I would at least have thought that Yates would have had Trigger insured.Of course life imitates art and Roy takes things into his own hands in ferreting out the criminals. They are in fact a pretty scurvy lot, busy doublecrossing each other as you will see if you watch the film.And despite my description it's not a bad film. Jane Frazee pinch hits for Dale Evans because I believe Dale was either pregnant or taking care of a newborn at the time. And Andy Devine is, well Andy Devine.

Brian Camp UNDER CALIFORNIA STARS (1948) is a fairly typical postwar Roy Rogers vehicle with a routine B-western plot enlivened by some excellent Trucolor photography. Roy plays himself, the movie star dubbed `King of the Cowboys,' and is briefly glimpsed on the Republic Pictures soundstage before the action quickly shifts to Roy's rural property, the Double R Ranch, for the occasion of a radio broadcast celebrating the star's tenth anniversary in movies. The event is marred by the kidnapping of Roy's palomino, Trigger, by a group of henchmen working for Pop Jordan, a local horse trader. Ted, a boy who ran away to Roy's ranch after mistreatment by his stepfather, witnesses the kidnapping but is warned to keep quiet or they'll kill Ted, Trigger AND Roy.Given the fame of Roy and his horse, it seems a mite foolhardy to go around kidnapping Trigger, especially since the event makes national headlines. But, in the insular alternate universe of the postwar B-western, the matter is left entirely up to the local sheriff of Saddleback, a town which offers no sign of a gas station, diner or paved road. Neither the FBI nor the state police nor any other pertinent law enforcement agency is called, nor do they show up on their own. (Had J. Edgar Hoover never heard of Trigger? Was he too busy chasing commies? Or did he simply not exist in this world?)Eventually, Roy and his crew, which includes Cookie Bullfincher (Andy Devine) and Roy's backup singers, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, work with the sheriff to come up with a plan to trap the kidnappers when they show up for the ransom money. There is lots of outdoors action and furious horse-riding, before a violent confrontation or two ends the problem. The action is shot almost entirely on location, with none of the studio-shot closeups that one finds in a later Roy western like NORTH OF THE GREAT DIVIDE (1950).There's a surprising amount of bad behavior and violent death on display. Even though these films were set in the modern era, they featured typical B-western type villains who were invariably local businessmen who are secretly corrupt and embark on capers which threaten Roy in one way or another. A somewhat alarming development in this film is the constant threatening of Ted, the runaway boy, first by his stepfather, Lige, Pop Jordan's chief assistant, and later by another henchman, Ed, who threatens to blow Ted's head off if he says a word about who kidnapped Trigger. These darker elements serve to counterbalance the song and comic interludes. The lead villains here are authentically crusty, hefty western types, well-played by George Lloyd and Wade Crosby.Andy Devine provides the comedy relief, a role that would be taken by Gordon Jones and Pat Brady in future Rogers westerns. Singer-actress Jane Frazee is the female lead, playing a cousin of Cookie who comes to the ranch to train horses. The catchy title song is heard more than once, culminating in a lovely duet performed by Roy and Jane. The film is not as well-plotted or packed with incident as such later Rogers Trucolor westerns as THE GOLDEN STALLION and TRIGGER JR., but it remains a must for Roy's fans. Unfortunately, public domain videotapes in circulation don't serve the Trucolor process well. This one remains a prime candidate for restoration by Republic Pictures Home Video.