Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm

Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm has Gene Autry and his favorite sidekick Smiley Burnette on the trail of cattle rustlers. They've got a special interest in going after these because it's Gene's cattle they've stolen.

Unfortunately what was supposed to be comedy in this film is just general silliness. Gene and Smiley finding some abandoned clothing belonging to some notorious rustlers decide to shed their outfits and go incognito to get a line on the gang. That little bit of undercover work gets them nearly killed because the outlaws they thought were dead show up most inconveniently.

As for how they get out of it, Smiley Burnette has developed a new line of practical joke items like squirting flowers, exploding cigars and whoopee cushions. One of those actually saves Gene and Smiley.

Despite the silliness Gene has some good songs to sing including Mexicali Rose. That was a big hit in 1937 with Bing Crosby gaining one of his gold records with his version of it. But the Autry version here is OK too, especially since we get to hear the verse as well.

Gene's fans will like the movie and everyone will like the song.

By the time Gene Autry made this film, he had been starring in B-Westerns for almost two years, and was right on the verge of being named "Public Cowboy No. 1" for 1937, based on the box-office returns from his movies. He held that honor for six straight years, before entering the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II.

Gene and Buffalo Brady (Hal Taliaferro) are co-owners of a large Western ranch from which cattle are being rustled. Gene and his sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) set out to try to find the rustlers, at one point changing clothes with two lawmen they have found murdered, to aid in hiding their identities in their search. Their journey brings them into some shenanigans with two attractive ladies, and climaxes with a wild stagecoach chase. And I may be wrong, but I'm fairly sure Gene himself did the transfer from Champ's back to the stage.

Hope I haven't posted any "spoilers" here, because the movie is much better than the other posters here have implied, with their lukewarm descriptions like "OK," "Pleasant enough," etc. And when one posts, "Not up to Autry's usual standard," I'd like to know which "usual standard" of his movies they're talking about, as they almost always say that in their reviews.

By the way: Gene Autry's movies are known for their music -- naturally -- and the credits for this one feature a great, Western Swing-sounding instrumental that I've never heard before or since. The scene behind the music is that of a slam-bang rodeo -- which has nothing to do with the story. Explanation? Beats me! But I sure enjoyed that song!

If you've seen as many westerns as i have from the early 30's to the mid 50's you'll have recognized the alabama hills scenery ... it seems lone pine was a favorite location of directors especially if you needed a big cast of riders ... most were engaged on multiple films being shot around the same area ... the only thing that threw this oater off pace was the singing

Not one of Gene's better programmers mainly because of the cluttered plot that becomes confusing at times. The 60-minutes does have some good Lone Pine scenery, which means they get out of the woodsy San Fernando Valley. (I don't know about today, but in those days if the filming took place 50-miles or more from LA, the producers had to pay location costs, which is why so many of these low-budget oaters were shot just north of LA.) There's also some great stunt work hopping around on a wagon and a team of horses, while Gene and company offer up a tuneful version of Mexicali Rose, and Frog shows us how to squeeze a squeezebox. All in all, the movie's compensations come from the margins instead of the over-done plot.

Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm has everything it takes to make a good cowboy movie, all the right cast members, great music, and beautiful scenery. Most of all it has a lot of action. This one has Gene Autry's best sidekick, Smiley Burnette as Frog Milhouse. That right there is enough to guarantee some fun.

The plot does not follow a clear line, and Gene makes a decision that is questionable. Rather than focus on the jumpy plot, one just has to follow the hero, Gene Autry, and all will work out in the end. Once the introductory scenes at the beginning of the movie are through Gene and Frog a constantly confronting bad guys and the women who think Gene and Frog are bad guys.

There are familiar faces in the cast. Charlie King was not utilized much in this movie, but his presence as a bad guy was part of so many westerns that his name alone justifies watching one more B western. Hal Taliaferro could be a good guy or bad guy. His roles varied in significance from movie to movie. In this movie he serves a purpose to the plot that ties things together at the end, but he really could have been on screen a bit more. Monte Blue was another actor who could be anything, good guy or bad guy, cowboy or indian. Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm had some of Republic's heavy hitters.

In his book, Singing in the Saddle, author Douglas B. Green wrote that regional western performers would make appearances in movies to get attention for those movies in their respective parts of the country. Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm is the only screen credit at IMDB for Al Clauser and His Oklahoma Cowboys. Notice how many songs they played to showcase their music. The promotion had to work for the cowboy band as much as it did for the movie producers.

Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm has everything for the B western fans and lovers of western music including Gene's hit song, Mexicali Rose.