This one you have to see just so you can say you watched the great singing cowboy and phenomenally wooden actor Gene Autry (the same guy who eight years later bravely popularized "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" when nobody else wanted anything to do with it). This little film features the righteous Autry singing fine renditions of the title song and "You Are My Sunshine," but the most fun are his duet with teenager Mary Lee doing "I'm an Old Cowhand" and her swingin' solo on "Swingin' Sam." Surprisingly topical is the film's story line about a ruthless mining magnate whose pollution is killing cattle. Autry was a major contributor to the American public's absurdly romanticized version of the Wild West, and this movie comes complete with shoot-outs, a cattle stampede, and a big band sound in an old saloon.

This Autry flick has a somewhat offbeat opening with New York City street scenes and a glimpse of the first Madison Square Garden hosting a rodeo show complete with stock footage of cowboys and bucking broncos. Gene and Smiley are in the big town to bring their Bar Cross Ranch owner Tom Bennett (Edward Norris) back home; Tom's father wanted him to take a working interest in the spread. Bar Cross sounded awful similar to Bar 20, so I wonder if the writers were thinking of Hopalong Cassidy when they put this together.Most of the time these stories offer your standard good guys versus bad guys scenario and it's no different here, but the attitude of copper mine owner Blaine (Arthur Loft) really bothered me in this one. How hard would it have been for the guy to suspend his mining operation for a week or so in order to put in some drainage ditches so the runoff from the mine would stop poisoning the local water supply? That seemed like such an easy fix to the problem the ranchers faced and yet Blaine would have none of it. Served him right in the end I guess.Well this one offers a lot of musical numbers starting out with the title tune, along with a fair number of standards like 'In the Jailhouse Now', 'I'm an Old Cowhand', and 'You Are My Sunshine'. I always liked it that Gene would share the singing duties with other players like he does here. Entertainer Taffy (Jacqueline Wells) offers up 'Where the River Meets the Range' and younger sister Patsy (Mary Lee) has a nifty number called 'Swingin' Sam the Cowboy Man'.Meanwhile Smiley's trying to perform the old Indian rope trick after reading 'Dr. Wofford's History of Black Magic and Superstition'. He isn't successful, even after 'purifying his spirit' with his ninety nine bullfrogs song, but you can't blame him for trying. All that standing on his head might have wound up confusing him though because he called his horse Nellie at one point; everyone knows it's Ringeye.Well this one had quite the unusual finale you have to admit. With the town of Midland sheriff (Joe McGuinn) in cahoots with Blaine attempting to frame Gene and Tom Bennett with a jail break, Smiley and the rest of the good guys stampede their cattle into town to make the save! How that wound up working I'll never know, I guess you just have to take it on faith.

I saw the expanded 72-minute version, which includes a lot of songs, some of which probably got elided in the 60-minute edition. Anyway, it's a typically good Republic production with Gene. The action picks up in the latter half after a slower first part. The plot is surprisingly topical. A copper mine is dumping chemical wastes into stream water the ranchers use, poisoning the cattle. Gene wants to work out a deal whereby a new, safe disposal method is used. But some baddies have different ideas. On the action side is a big cattle stampede, a well-done barroom brawl, along with the usual hard riding and fast shooting. Frog's got some comedy relief, but also plays a more serious role with guns and fists. Also, Gene's little duet with a teenage Mary Lee is utterly charming. All in all, it's Gene's usual good pre-war mix of action, comedy, and song. Though I can't comment on the edited 60-minute version.

Gene Autry provides a wealth of old-fashioned entertainment in Back in the Saddle, one of the factory-issue B Westerns that played to packed Saturday afternoon movie palaces full of kids who dreamed of life on the open range. Besides crooning the legendary title tune, Autry foils a dastardly mine owner who has been poisoning cattle to drive the local ranchers off their land. An interesting opening section depicts Gene and faithful, hopeless sidekick Smiley Burnette (here in his "Frog" incarnation) retrieving the son of a friend from the decadent big city -- a perfectly set-up showdown between wholesome country and degenerate city played for maximum effect. Back in the Saddle's most prominent set-piece, however, is an exciting shoot-out set in and around a jail with plenty of whizzing bullets and flaming hay-carts to set the heart pounding.