I sentence this silly musical western to a low rating and less than mediocre review. Tex Ritter is wrongly accused of murder and must expose the villains with the help of his trusty horse White Lightning and idiotic sidekick Al La Rue. Justice obviously ain't on Ritter's side and he is in the courtroom of the dumbest judge ever to cross the legitimate bar and claim to be sober while a sleazy attorney makes it obvious who the real villains are. So what does Ritter does every time that it appears that he is heading closer to the hangman's noose? Why sing of course! There are a few exciting moments of action, but the lame dialogue continuously interrupts it along with the poor songs. Louise Stanley, a heroine in many a Z-grade western, is once again along for the ride, and is simply window dressing and not much else.

Over the last couple years I have watched a huge number of B-westerns--such as the films of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Tim McCoy, Bob Steele and many others. As a result, I have noticed that although these films were very quickly and cheaply made, some tend to be a lot better than others--and some tend to be a lot worse. While it might sound a bit cruel, Tex Ritter's films are among my least favorites. While he might have been a nice person in real life, his career was hindered by the incredibly poor production values of his films. Quite bluntly, the writing, budgets and acting were all strictly bargain basement compared to most of his contemporaries. "Sing, Cowboy, Sing" in no way changes my opinions.The film begins with Ritter and his sidekick (Al St. John) come upon a group of incredibly bad shots who are begin slaughtered by a gang of equally well-armed and equal number of men! The pair arrive too late, though one member of the party is still alive--the rancher's daughter. Why were they attacked? Well, eventually it turns out that there is a freight business and the local baddie wants that franchise for himself--and killing off the rancher and his workers would normally do the trick. However, Tex and his friend decide to stay and help the woman with her business. Unfortunately, it will be tough, however, as the local judge is THE dumbest man in the history of westerns. Through most of the film, he just seemed corrupt and in the pocket of the baddie--but it turns out he's just an idiot! Can the boys defeat the idiot and the big baddie boss-man? While I enjoyed watching Snub Pollard and Al St. John since they were silent comedy stars, there isn't a lot to recommend this film. The plot is very derivative and predictable. The acting rather suspect. And, while Ritter sings a whole lot better than I ever could, he isn't even close to being the equal of Roy Rogers or Gene Autry in this regard. And, on top of that, he sings too much--including once when he's in jail! Overall, a weak film but pretty typical of what I've seen of the Tex Ritter films.

Like any faithful B Western fan, I've seen my share of Tex Ritter films, so I'll have to be honest here and state that this isn't one of the better ones. A lot of it probably has to do with the age of the print I saw, with a lot of scratches and a real poor synchronization of speech and lip movement which got to be comical at times, especially during Ritter's songs. Speaking of which, Tex sounded absolutely terrible here, and the starry eyed Madge Evans (Louise Stanley) had to be lying when she said he sounded real fine after serenading her with one of his tunes.As far as the story goes, Tex and sidekick Duke Evans (Al pre-Fuzzy St. John) make their initial appearance by driving off an outlaw bunch led by Red Holman (Charles King), who've raided a freight hauling team with the intent of driving them out of business for their boss Kalmus (Karl Hackett). With the Kalmus gang in control, there'll be no rival freight outfit leaving them to jack up prices and drive the local ranchers into submission for their properties. It sounded a lot like vulture capitalism to me if I can draw a comparison to present day political debate framed in class warfare rhetoric.Anyway, you've seen the same story before with any number of cowboy leading men, but even so, there are a couple of unique elements here which managed to surprise me. For one, Duke takes out one of the bad guys with a slick pro wrestling move, a drop-kick to the chest! It would have been more effective if filmed horizontal to the viewer instead of head-on, but it still looked pretty cool. Then you've got that final battle chase between the good guys and bad guys, and there's a particularly nasty spill by a pair of horses pulling a wagon that appeared totally unplanned. I had to play it back a couple of times to see how they did it, but I think it was really just an accident during filming. Nevertheless, it looked very painful for the animals involved.

Tex Archer (Tex Ritter) and his bewhiskered pal Duke Evans (perennial western sidekick Al 'Fuzzy' St. John of "Gentlemen with Guns") are riding along the prairie peaceful like minding their own business when they hear gunfire galore. A gang of dastardly desperados led by trigger-happy Red Holman (Charles King of "Hearts of the West") descend on a procession of freight wagons that belong to George Summers (Jack C. Smith of "The Fighting Deputy") and his daughter Madge (Louise Stanley of "Yukon Flight") on their way to the town of Tonto. These heinous hombres wipe out everybody except Madge and set fire torch two wagons. By the time that Tex and Duke intervene, they are too tardy to make a difference. However, they do manage to scare off Red and his henchmen who flee the scene because they fear that they will be recognized. Madge finds her father shot dead and sprawled on the prairie. Meanwhile, Red and his gunmen hightail it back to town and report to their black-clad, mustached sidewinder of a boss Kalmus (Karl Hackettof "Wild Horse Rustlers") that they have carried out his orders and wiped out the Summers' outfit. Kalmus explains to Red that Summers brought catastrophe on his daughter and himself when he ignored Kalmus' warning. Kalmus gloats smugly over his good fortune. Avariciously, Kalmus assures Red, "Now, with that freight hauling franchise, we're in line to make some fancy money and we can run this community as we see fit." When Red gets word to Kalmus, the latter is smoking a cigarette and having a drink in a saloon owned by a quasi-Judge Roy Bean type called Judge Roy Dean (Robert MacKenzie of "Death Valley Outlaws') and Dean isn't exactly thrilled that Kalmus casually makes use of his saloon as headquarters for his nefarious exploits. "It's liable to get people to thinking things," Dean points out unhappily and refers to Summers and the freighting franchise. Kalmus tells the bartender/judge that everything is okay, but Dean frets that Kalmus' presence in his bar will lead people to think that Dean and Kalmus are friends. Imagine Kalmus' surprise when Tex and Duke show up driving one of the freight wagons with Madge. Initially, Kalmus thinks that Red has double-crossed him, but his top henchmen vows that he would never lie to him. Meanwhile, a grateful Madge thanks Tex for his help before she realizes that she doesn't know her hero's name. "You see," she explains, "I'm almost frantic. Dad put everything that he owned into that freight line and he had to make two trips a week to own the franchise." Tex decides on the spot to help out the damsel in distress. "We'll get a wagon over that line somehow tomorrow, "he cheers her up. When the town lawman, Marshall Tinker (Horace Murphy of "Ghost Valley Raiders") starts asking questions, Madge explains that a gang of ruffians waylaid her father and his men at Rock Pass. Everybody died but her. She points out that Tex and Duke rode to her rescue. When Tex offers to lead a posse to investigate the massacre, Tinker informs him that the town cannot afford to pay for a posse and that strangers shouldn't poke them noses into business that doesn't concern them.Prolific director Robert N. Bradbury--with 125 low-budget, B-movie westerns to his credit--helmed this concise 59-minue black & white oater for the short-lived, poverty-row studio Grand National. Some of Bradbury's sagebrushers, among them "Westward Ho," "The Dawn Rider," and "Texas Terror," starred John Wayne. Bradbury also directed his son, cowboy star Bob Steele in several horse operas. Tex Ritter warbles about four or five songs, but he wears outfits considerably less ostentatious than Gene Autry. Inevitably, Tex and Red tangle when Red tries to knife Tex in his sleep. Everybody downstairs in the saloon hears a gun discharge and Kalmus rushes to investigate. At first, Kalmus believes that he can railroad Tex for Red's death, but Duke discovers that Red is only wounded—not dead. When Duke escorts Red into the courtroom at gunpoint, Kalmus has one of his assassins kill his second-in-command before the man can reveal the villain's evil deeds. Kalmus convinces Judge Dean that Tex may have had a hand in the massacre. Despite incredible odds and a stacked deck against them, Tex and Duke save Madge's freight line and Kalmus bites the dust. Before Kalmus dies in Tax's arms, he observes,"I knew the first time that I saw you, you'd be tough to beat. You win.""Sing, Cowboy, Sing" is one of 20 movie musicals in a 5-pack of DVDs released by Mill Creek Entertainment. The print is scratchy and time has not been kind to it. The dialogue is not synchronized with the actors' mouths because this vintage film has been mercilessly ground up over time by projectors and has lost bits and pieces of film. Nevertheless, for a predictable western, "Sing, Cowboy, Sing" isn't as obnoxious as most musical westerns. Tex Ritter makes a likable enough hero and Fuzzy provides the appropriate comic relief.