THE ROUGH RIDERS

THE ROUGH RIDERS: translation

This trigger trio consisted of Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton. They personified “the theme of irreversible progress” (Loy 2001, 42). The Rough Riders were rangers called out of retirement for each episode, working together, often secretly, to rectify wrong. When their work was finished in each film, they would ride their separate ways back to retirement—Hatton, to Texas; McCoy, to Wyoming; and Jones, to Arizona—and bid each other “So Long, Rough Riders” as the theme song began: “The Rough Riders ride, beware/The Rough Riders ride, take care.” Eight Rough Riders films were made between 1941–1942: Arizona Bound (1941), The Gunman from Bodie (1941), Forbidden Trails (1941), Below the Border (1942), Ghost Town Law (1942), Down Texas Way (1942), Riders of the West (1942), and West of the Law (••1942).