Rancho Grande

This Gene Autry film is about as good as musical westerns get. The songs are beautifully performed by Gene, Mary Lee, and Smiley Burnette. The movie also features a Great performance by June Storey who portrays Kay Dodge.Smiley Burnette and Mary Lee add comedy to the movie in two scenes that you would not want to miss, and the extra musicians pitch in to compliment the musical aspect of the movie in songs like Rancho Grande and The Swing of the Range.

The plot is exciting from star to finish with 68 minutes packed with action and excitement. This movie definitely ranks as one of Gene's best movies along with Melody Ranch, South of the Border, and Whirlwind.

In "Rancho Grande", Gene Autry is the foreman at a ranch where the owner recently died. His will leaves the ranch to his three very irresponsible and foolish grandchildren and it also appoints Gene as the executor. As such, he has the unenviable task of trying to get these brats to do work and care about something other than themselves. With the youngest, this isn't a major problem...but the older two seem hopeless and not the least bit grateful. So why does Gene stay? Well, that isn't clear...but what is clear is that if the irrigation system isn't soon finished, the ranch will face foreclosure. To make matters worse, greedy folks try to encourage the grandkids to behave like jerks so they can grab the ranch for themselves.

I cannot recall the name of the film, but Republic Pictures made a similar movie...with a spoiled brat taking over the ranch but Gene being made the executor. I assume since "Rancho Grande" was made in 1940, it came first...but regardless the story's been done. And, with the grandkids being so despicable and stupid, it's not an especially enjoyable story. Making them less awful might have made me care as to whether or not they lost the ranch. As it was, I just wanted it to end...or have Gene give them all a good hard spanking! Because of this, it's not one of Autry's better films.

There is a lot of music in "Rancho Grande" including the title song which is performed perhaps too often, although it's good to hear Gene sing it one time in Spanish. Frog gets to perform, which is always a treat. He was a wonderful songwriter and musician who could play over a hundred instruments, including a few concoctions of his own. Even his rather sophomoric humor is not bad this time. The writers give him a sparing partner in the guise of Effie Tinker (Ellen Lowe) and their scenes together are funny. The famous band leader Pee Wee King (co-author of "Tennessee Waltz") is a bonus in the music department, shown leading the Pals of the Golden West. One weakness is the lack of action except for a casino fracas during the first part of the movie. It's all music and melodrama until the final chase and shootout, Gene's cowboys and ranch hands versus Emory Benson and his gang of saboteurs who are attempting to keep a dam from being constructed. Gene's early films usually surreptitiously supported the President's New Deal which promised to end the Great Depression and help the working people get started once more.

The story is similar to other Gene Autry oaters where easterners go west because of a ranch inheritance which usually involves Gene being the foreman with Frog his helper who have to westernize the dude or dudes. This time there are three youngsters, the youngest, Patsy Dodge (Mary Lee), wants to be a cowgirl, the older boy and girl, Kay and Tom Dodge (June Storey and Dick Hogan respectively) want fun and games instead. Kay and Tom fly a private airplane to claim their share of Rancho Grande. Both decide it would be entertaining to stampede horses that Gene and his cowboys have just rounded up, by buzzing the equines. Ultimately, the three Dodge's are rounded up to hear a reading of their grandfather's will. Gene is put in charge, but the main instructions involve the completion of a dam being built to provide water and electricity for those who live on the Rancho Grande. The executioner of the will Emory Benson (Ferris Taylor) turns out to be a snake in the grass who wants to poison the minds of the Dodge kids so they will go back east and he can get control of the land. Part of his ploy is to prevent the dam from being finished. How Gene and Frog westernize the kids and foil Benson's scheme takes up the rest of the film.

Without much action, those who enjoy Gene's crooning and Frog's funning will like "Rancho Grande." Others may get bored before the final chase sequence which has plenty of excitement and marvelous stunt work. Also look for a few familiar faces in the cast, many having only cameos. Hank Worden (later Mose of "The Searchers") appears briefly as a cowhand. Look too for Roscoe Ates who would go on to play comical sidekick Soapy Jones; former cowboy star Rex Lease; Slim Whitaker, Bud Osborne, Cactus Mack, Jack Ingram, and even Roy Barcroft. The viewer may not know the names but will certainly recognize the mugs.