Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm

Even for a B western, this wasn't very good. Compared with A westerns of the period, this is really bad.

The plot is confusing as to who is who in all that dust and with all those costume changes. There's lots of shooting, but not many dead bodies. The action scenes are interspersed with some fair to middling western tunes by the hero and others.

Gene Autry made better movies than this. This one appears to be thrown together as the movies was being shot. The ending is completely predictable and dull.

Gene even has a half-hearted love interest that comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. And he leaves her with a song.

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.

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!

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.

1st watched 10/7/2001 - 6 out of 10(Dir-Mack V. Wright): Light-hearted western fare with Gene Autry and his sidekick 'Frog' mistakenly seen as outlaws who restled cattled, but end up being the heroes in the end. Good combination of music, action, a little romance, and the good repertoire between Autry and Frog make for a good time had for all. This is the 1st Gene Autry flick that I've seen and I'm hooked. Without the music, it would be pretty boring and the plot isn't that detailed but we don't really care because we know the good guys will win out in the end. Autry isn't the greatest actor but he has a good set of side kicks that help out this flaw, and besides when things start looking rough he can just pick up the guitar and get us all singing and toe-tapping. I see why my dad used to like this guy, and I'm glad they've preserved some of his films for us new guys to see.