The Old Chisholm Trail

In "The Old Chisholm Trail", Universal Pictures decided to combine the star power of Johnny Mack Brown with Tex Ritter. Plus, while Brown isn't a singing cowboy, Ritter was and the film featured quite a bit of singing for a Johnny Mack Brown flick...too much for my taste. In addition, the film features some of the most one-dimensional and annoying characters I can recall in a B-western, such as Belle as well as an American Indian which will make most folks a bit ill watching him!

Dusty (Brown) is on a cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail. However, their trip comes to an abrupt halt when they run out of water and a local nutty woman, Belle, tries to charge them exorbitant rates to water the animals...so much so they cannot possibly afford it. But Dusty and the gang don't realize that this feisty lady isn't above a lot of dirty tricks...and the local sheriff seems unwilling to intervene.

Belle is the sort of tough, liberated cowgirl that would make feminists today cringe. She isn't so much a liberated western woman but a walking stereotype of an annoying lady boss...the sort that old westerns enjoyed making fun of because, as they all knew back in the day, ladies should really just be pretty and nice.

Overall, a really dumb film that doesn't age well. Plus, Johnny Mack Brown was a terrific cowboy star...but here he just seems overshadowed by all this silliness.

The corn is higher than "a elephant's eye" in this obscure Western trifle. Tex Ritter and Jimmy Wakely provide dandy singing of some excellent songs, elevating what is otherwise a superficial (and sometimes downright tedious) story about the battle for water rights along the old Chisholm Trail.

Johnny Mack Brown and his gang of cowboys are trying to get their thirsty cattle to market, but the only water left on the old Chisholm Trail is controlled by a flashing-eyed, raven-haired beauty played by Mady Correll who demands an extortionate fee from the cowboys in order to cross her land to water their cattle. When the cowboys, hopelessly broke and righteously indignant at this transgression of the Code of the Old West, refuse to pay, this feisty vixen spends the rest of the film double-crossing everyone, rustling cattle, sending her bully boys into several ridiculously harmless gunfights with the good guys, and otherwise making herself utterly repulsive to all right-thinking He-Men... when she isn't vainly tempting Our Hero with her Fatal Beauty, that is.

Unfortunately, I'm making this sound like much more fun than it actually is. The film treads the boundaries of campy parody without actually crossing that line... but it comes mighty close.

One of the highlights of the film is a cat-fight between our villain and the blonde-haired proprietress of the local saloon (played by the lovely Jennifer Holt), which is tremendous fun and over far too quickly. One of this movie's charms is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, which makes it acceptable to watch... although I found the comic relief provided by Fuzzy Knight as a cowboy-turned-sideshow-magician and Earle Hodgins as an outraged cigar-store-like Indian who wants his money back to be tiresome.

The film is at its best when the cowboys are singing their excellent songs and the plot disappears, but, to give the film its due, the script mostly makes logical sense (however far-fetched the motivations might be) even if you don't really care about anything that happens. The only cliché missing from this film is Jennifer Holt being the saloon girl with the heart of gold... she's too pure for that. Otherwise, this is pretty formulaic drivel with the exception of Mady Correll as the villain rather than some black-hat-wearing hombre.

If you happen to catch this film, there are several moments of campy goodness to amuse you. The songs are good (especially The Old Chisholm Trail, the opening number of the film). But don't go out of your way.

The Old Chisholm Trail which is about Johnny Mack Brown trying to drive a herd to Abilene on said trail has three bona fide cowboy heroes in the cast. In addition to Brown, Tex Ritter and Jimmy Wakely get to do a bit of singing. Unfortunately Johnny Mack Brown could not sing a note and didn't try.

Brown runs into a bit of a problem with Mady Corell who has staked a claim on the only waterhole around and she wants $5.00 a head for every steer and cow that drinks there.

It's enough to make Brown stop driving his herd and start drilling for water on Jennifer Holt's property. Holt and Correll have a dandy fight that's broken up way too soon.

In the picture are medicine show entertainers Jimmy Wakely and partner Fuzzy Knight and a mysterious singing gambler in Tex Ritter. Ritter is the wild card in this film. Sad to say though his part is badly written, it could have been more interesting, but he's letting his hormones in regard to Holt and his jealousy of Brown interfere with the job at hand.

The Old Chisholm Trail boasts some nice musical numbers which don't get in the way of the plot. Still it's the storyline that could have used some beefing up.