Well you have to hand it to Gene Autry, he wasn't intimidated by other Western cowboy heroes. In 1942's "Heart of the Rio Grande", there was a line that referenced The Lone Ranger. In this picture, Nancy Drew (Louise Currie) comments on her sister Judy's (Edith Fellows) infatuation with a boy named Curly by stating "Last week it was John Wayne!"
This time out, Gene manages to get jammed up by some inadvertent comments he makes to radio entertainer Nancy Drew, and winds up having them go out on the air completely out of context. It turns out he recommends the local ranchers invest in a failed mine just as the head of the Cattlemens Association, Jeff Drew (William Henry) is about to go broke by investing in the Atlas Mining Company. You guessed it, the villain of the piece, Dan Pearson (Emmett Vogan) has just bought out the Atlas stock, thereby controlling the funds that the ranchers have invested.
If Republic Pictures was going for a record here for how many songs they could cram into a sixty four minute film I wouldn't be surprised. I think the most I could come up with in a prior Autry film would have been about seven, but by my unofficial count I came up with nine in this one. Granted, there was a quickie single chorus of 'You Are My Sunshine' at the finale, followed by a sing-a-long of 'Home on the Range' and the words to 'Deep in the Heart of Texas' on screen to help guide the viewing audience. The earlier musical chores were creatively divided among Gene and his co-stars, with Smiley Burnette doing 'Wouldn't You Like To Know?', and Edith Fellows joining Gene in a duet on a couple more tunes.
If Gene seemed perplexed in this one, it would have been for good reason. Just like one time presidential candidate John Kerry, it looked like Gene was for investing in the mining company before he was against it. Somehow it all worked out, as Gene managed to keep everyone just enough off balance to finally save the day.
This time out, Gene manages to get jammed up by some inadvertent comments he makes to radio entertainer Nancy Drew, and winds up having them go out on the air completely out of context. It turns out he recommends the local ranchers invest in a failed mine just as the head of the Cattlemens Association, Jeff Drew (William Henry) is about to go broke by investing in the Atlas Mining Company. You guessed it, the villain of the piece, Dan Pearson (Emmett Vogan) has just bought out the Atlas stock, thereby controlling the funds that the ranchers have invested.
If Republic Pictures was going for a record here for how many songs they could cram into a sixty four minute film I wouldn't be surprised. I think the most I could come up with in a prior Autry film would have been about seven, but by my unofficial count I came up with nine in this one. Granted, there was a quickie single chorus of 'You Are My Sunshine' at the finale, followed by a sing-a-long of 'Home on the Range' and the words to 'Deep in the Heart of Texas' on screen to help guide the viewing audience. The earlier musical chores were creatively divided among Gene and his co-stars, with Smiley Burnette doing 'Wouldn't You Like To Know?', and Edith Fellows joining Gene in a duet on a couple more tunes.
If Gene seemed perplexed in this one, it would have been for good reason. Just like one time presidential candidate John Kerry, it looked like Gene was for investing in the mining company before he was against it. Somehow it all worked out, as Gene managed to keep everyone just enough off balance to finally save the day.