Hands Across the Border (1944)

Since the first covered wagon pioneers came west, the Adams family has bred fine horses on their ranch near Buckaroo ad bronze statues of succeeding generations of Adams men stand in the town square. Their horses have always been famous and until recent years regularly won the government cavalry horse reward. The current holder of the family name, Jeff Adams (Joseph Crehan) is proud of his horses and the ranch but he prefers gambling to business; so, for several years, he has let the contract for horses slide into the hands of suave and shifty Buckaroo businessman Brock Danver (Onslow Stevens) who has his eyes set on the Adams ranch and means to get control of it. He also has an eye on Jeff's pretty, stage-struck daughter Kim (Ruth Terry.) Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers), a light-hearted, foot-loose , singing cowboy rides into town>Kim likes Roy's singing, and save him from being thrown into jail as a saddle-tramp sans cash, by Danver's stooge-sheriff Mac Marclay (LeRoy Mason) - she gives Roy and his brawny pal Teddy Bear (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) jobs as wranglers on the Adams ranch. Roy soon catches onto Danver's scheme to wreck to wreck the Adams horse-raising business in order to further his own prospects , and sets about thwarting Danver's plot. Jeff Adams , tempted by Danver to ride a half-wild stallion Trigger (Trigger) for a five-hundred dollar bet. Jeff is killed in the ride and Danver orders Trigger shot. But Roy defies the order as he knows Danver wants the horse shot to destroy the Adams' best blood-line and hides Trigger in a faraway meadow in the hills. Under Roy's patient training and handling, Trigger becomes a fine, usable horse. Meanwhile, Danver takes control of The Adams' family business affairs, and persuades Kim that it would be useless for her to continue ownership of te ranch, and offers to take it over for nothing---in settlement of the debts and mortgages her father ran up in Danver's crooked gambling house. Then, Roy steps in.