Gene Autry and “Santa” (Hank Patterson” deliver Xmas presents in The Cowboys and the Indians.

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than looking at two very loosely Christmas-themed singing cowboy pictures?

First, it’s Roy Rogers and “Trail of Robin Hood.” There are no merry men or archery contests, but we do have a turkey shoot in a story about a businessman, his daughter and their nefarious foreman trying to corner the marker on Christmas trees. Leave it to Roy, Trigger and Bullet to put a stop to it.

Then, it’s Gene Autry in “The Cowboys and The Indians.” For 1949, this is a fairly progressive picture about the maltreatment of Natives on reservations, in this case by a villainous and greedy trading post owner. Gene teams with a female doctor and a local tribesman to try and expose the corruption going on. The Christmas stuff doesn’t come until the end when Gene sings one of his famous holiday songs (we won’t spoil which one he sings).