Indian Territory

Indian Territory comes right at the beginning of the paranoid Fifties as Gene Autry is pitted against a megalomaniacs Austrian bent on establishing an empire in our southwest. And he's going to use the Indians to do it. Is there no end to the dastardly schemes that movie villains have?

Phil Van Zandt plays the Austrian late Confederate raider and formerly of his Imperial Majesty Franz Joseph's Hussars replete with monocle and German accent. But he's not doing this alone. He's got James Griffith playing the Apache Kid, a most charismatic fellow, a mixed racial individual that the Indians do listen to.

Autry's on detached duty from the army to do this and has a running feud with Lieutenant Kirby Grant for rancher's daughter Gail Davis. It would have been nice to have given Grant a song here as the future Sky King of radio and television had a good singing voice as well. Would that were all that was wrong with the film.

The Indians, the young ones are made out as pretty stupid, of course not as stupid as the old ones who Autry gets to take care of the younger ones who are enamored of the Apache Kid.

But a megalomaniacs Austrian bent on conquest. Just where did they get the idea for that villain?

In a sense, I agree with the previous reviewer. James Griffith is horribly miscast as an Indian. He's too tall, and too old to be classified as a "kid" (with a die-job and the proper makeup, Dick Jones would have been much better in the role). That said, this is one of the best Autry films, mainly due to the added action (outlaws actually get shot and die, instead of roped or getting their gun shot out of their hand). Most of Autry's movies were horribly benign, but this one is not. Even James Griffith gives us his best, even if he is miscast. Gene does some fine singing in this one, notably Chattanoogie Shoeshine Boy. Green Acres alum Pat Buttram is on hand, along with lovely Gail Davis. A good one.

I like all of Gene's movies.

But this one has a glaring historical error.

He sings "Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy" which was published in 1950.

Problem is, the setting of this movie is set sometime in the 1870's, 80 years before the song was written.

Oh well, a minor detail .

I suppose the writers paid little attention to accuracy when it came to Gene's singing and his tendency to interrupt the story line to entertain us with some music.

But as a former history teacher and historical buff, it is disconcerting to me to watch this play out in a movie as I try to enjoy it.

At any rate I will continue to enjoy Autry's westerns.

Gene produced this entry, while Columbia distributed. I mention this because the programmer includes stock footage from Columbia that I'm sure they made available to Gene. It wasn't uncommon for budget productions to use stock footage for expensive scenes, and I'm sure shrewd businessman Autry did it in an entirely legal manner.

Anyhow, the movie is a better-than-average entry, with some unusual touches— for example, a longer run-time (70-minutes); Gene loses out more than usual; he shares good guy chores with Kirby Grant; and no buffoonery from Buttram in an unusual straight role. The plot's a fairly standard one where Gene helps pacify hostile Apaches and stop gun-running from an ex-Austrian nobleman and his half-Apache hit-man. There're lots of flying fists, but not much hard-riding or fast-shooting. There's also lots of striking desert scenery, along with a really good sing-along "Chatanooga…". Gail Davis doesn't get much screen time, but makes the most of what she has. All in all, I thought the programmer was an entertaining effort, breaking some of the standard matinée conventions.

A "7" on the matinée scale.

I watched the movie Arizona from 1940, starring Jean Arthur and William Holden.

A scene in the movie had a cattle herd being stampeded by Indians. William Holden had the cowboys turn the herd against the Indians. Later, the cattle were herded through the town.

In the movie, Indian Territory 1950, the same scenario was used by Gene Autry, to turn the stampeding herd into the charging Indians. He, also, convinced the owner of the herd to drive the herd through town.

Because I saw the movies on back-to-back days, it became clear to me the scenes used were exactly the same in each movie. Even the scene, of the Indian camp, before the stampede, were the same.

Is it possible that Autry "stole" the scenes from Arizona and used the same footage in his movie, Indian Territory? I saw nothing in the credits of Indian Territory, referencing the use of clips from the movie, Arizona.