On Top of Old Smoky

"On Top of Old Smoky" is a film made during Gene Autry's final year making full-length films. On the positive side, the print for this movie is great...clean and crisp. On the negative, the writing seems very weak and confusing. As a result, it's one of his lesser films.

Normally in Gene Autry films, he's a paragon of virtue and would never lie. Inexplicably, here he poses as a Texas Ranger but isn't! Why? Well, supposedly he plays a Ranger in some stage act and Smiley has convinced others that he really is a lawman....and Gene doesn't work all that hard to convince people otherwise.

The story involves a woman who owns a toll road (something odd in the old west). But some local shark wants her land because of its mineral rights...and he stokes the locals into fighting to stop the road once and for all.

So, Gene lies and pretends to be a lawman...and it's something that just didn't fit his squeaky clean image in other films. For me, this is a deal breaker...making the movie a tough one to like. Additionally, I felt that the townsfolks were right in many ways...making the plot a bit muddled.

Gene often named his movies after popular songs (usually to promote his recording of the tune). Seldom did the song title have much to do with the plot of the story. "On Top of Old Smoky" is a traditional American folk song most likely from the Appalachians that was given a new life in 1951 by the famous folk group The Weavers, selling over a million records that year. The catchy call and response rendition received an added oomph by the tongue-in-cheek interpretation of a young Pete Seeger. Over a year later, Gene's version came out. At the beginning of the film, Gene rides the trail alone singing a plaintive version of the unrequited love ballad. And it's not bad. He even adds a final cowboy verse making the song apropos to the prairie where a person is unlikely to find a "mountain all covered with snow."

There are other pleasant songs sung by Gene with help from the Cass County Boys (you've probably heard the voice of one member of the trio without realizing it - Jerry Scoggins sang "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," the theme to long-running (and still re-running)"The Beverly Hillbillies") and Smiley, the best being "I Hang My Head and Cry," co-written by Gene. Smiley does some great harmony with Gene on this one. "If It Wasn't For The Rain" is also a fine ditty.

For a change, Gene plays a phony rather than a real Texas Ranger as a result of a misunderstanding. Seems Gene is with group of singers known as the Rangers (Cass County Boys). Those who see the fake badge think it's real. This leads Gene and Smiley into all kinds of chases, fisticuffs, and shenanigans trying to get evidence against a band of crooks attempting to force Jen Larrabee (Gail Davis) to sell her toll road and station to them because of valuable minerals found on her land. An added oddity in this one is Gene taking Smiley's girlfriend away from him. Usually, Smiley's women were more like female frogs, but this go-around she's the lovely Gail Davis from Arkansas (TV's Annie Oakley). Shelia Ryan has a small role as a small-time thief and showgirl, but she makes every minute before the camera count. The redoubtable Kenne Duncan is around to supply meanness and mayhem.

Though this viewer favors the early Gene Autry Republic westerns, "On Top Of Old Smoky" is a winner and the music is infatuating, especially if you're already a Gene Autry fan.

The matinée western had pretty much migrated to TV by 1953. Certainly, Gene was getting involved with producing series, such as his own show and Range Rider (1951-53). But he still managed to pack six feature-length movies into that year, the last year for his features. This is one of them.

Nothing special here, except a pretty good script that uses a toll road as a crux. Freight haulers in town want to get hold of the road in order to haul without having to pay a toll, and also to mine the isinglass minerals on the land. They're led in secret by an unlikely eye doctor (Rhodes), while Gene is coming to the rescue of the besieged girl (Davis) operating the toll. One notable aspect is a general absence of gunplay, even for the showdown. At the same time, it looks like the feature was shot in the same locale as the Autry TV series, so he likely worked it in between episodes. Also, catch Sheila Ryan as tough girl Lila, who was married at the time to Gene's other sidekick, Pat Buttram.

All in all, I agree with reviewer krorie—Gene's best movies were his more elaborately produced early ones. Nonetheless, there is that great Old Smoky tune that topped the charts of 1951.