The Cowboy and the Indians

One of the interesting things about the picture is that Jay Silverheels plays a WW2 vet (Lakohna) living on the reservation and Clayton Moore is one of the thugs who is sent by the local thief/merchant to rob the Navahos. He steals and kills some sheep, and then mugs a chief for a squash blossom necklace. He and Autry do most of the fighting in the film.

The kicker is, the movie, and the premier episode of The Lone Ranger, both arrived on Sept 15, 1949.

An interesting moment comes when Autry sees Lakohna's medal and asks, "Guadacanal?" to which Silverheels replies, "Iwo Jima."

Superior Autry, with lots of hard-riding, fast-shooting, and flying-fists, along with a good storyline not often seen in those days. The voice-over prologue actually explains why Indians were often hostile to the white settlers, something not often done, since their exotic looks served as useful movie canon fodder. Anyhow, the Indians are portrayed here as ordinary human beings, with a different culture but with the same needs. Then too, except for Lucy Broken Arm (Drake), real Indians are cast in leading parts, something else Hollywood did not often do.

Trouble is a slippery white merchant is cheating his red man customers, such that they're having to steal food, which brings rancher Gene into the picture. Catch the great staging around the rock spires and boulders. They make a great backdrop for shootouts, and I don't think that setting was the picturesque Alabama Hills so familiar from many Hollywood oaters. Anyway, the emphasis here is on action, a humane message, and a dollop of charm (the kids) making this an unusually well-rounded Autry entry.

The assumption is that back in the old films, American Indians were always on the warpath and were basically evil. While that might be true in a few films, most westerns (especially the B- westerns) made a much worse mistake--they acted as if the West was completely independent of these indigenous people. In other words, they were mostly absent from the films. Because of this, it was great to see "The Cowboy and the Indians"---a highly unusual film for its time due to its focus on the natives as well as its sensitive portrayal of them. Because of this, this film manages to rise above the humble roots as a B-movie.

When the film begins, Gene (Gene Autry) has just bought a ranch and he is angry. After all, the local tribe has their sheep grazing on the land and they are clearly trespassing. In a huff, Gene goes to confront them. However, his anger quickly dissipates when he sees the sorry state that they are in--with malnutrition and illness wracking these people. Soon, he's determined to investigate why they are so poor and hungry. It seems that a scum-bag named Martin and his cronies are exploiting the natives and are stealing from these already destitute people. Gene's anger has been aroused and with a nice doctor and a war hero member of the tribe (Jay Silverheels), he's determined to bring justice to the west.

Like most of Autry's westerns, this is set in the present day and the film goes way out of its way to present the Indians far better than they'd been shown in the past. They are seen as heroes, patriots and all-around decent folk. Additionally, while they need help, they are not helpless nor are they stupid--as the two leading American Indians in the film are extremely well- educated and do NOT talk in broken English (this must have been a relief for Silverheels who OFTEN was forces to utter lines that made him sound a bit like Charlie Chan--with very few objects in sentences!). Overall, a wonderful change from the typical western of the day and a film well worth seeing.

By the way, if you do see the film look for Hank Peterson as one of Gene's friends--he later played Mr. Zipfel on "Green Acres". Also, at the end, Gene croons one of his biggest hits from earlier in his career, "Here Comes Santa Claus"--and it's a classic.

It passed one hour and it 8 minutes. To be honest though, Gene Autry should have just stuck to singing.

A couple of comments about this film and the lack of a sidekick. Smiley Burnette, although with Columbia at this time could not be used because of still being under contract for the Charles Starrett Durango Kid series as HIS sidekick. Pat Buttram had done an introductory appearance in the Autry film "The Strawberry Roan." He did not start as Autry's sidekick until the film "Riders in the Sky" in 1950. There were several films between Roan and Riders where Autry had no sidekick. Of course, WWII was the reason Burnette signed a long contract for the Durango Kid films with Starrett, Autry having reported for duty in the war. Buttram started on Aurtry's radio show "Melody Ranch" right after the war but apparently was reluctant about appearing in films right away. I think we're all glad he did decide to do so finally and happy that Autry's last 6 films were with original sidekick Smiley Burnette in 1953.