Sagebrush Troubadour

This Gene Autry film from 1935 features all the elements that helped make the Oklahoma crooner a superstar. The film features action, the usual Autry cowpoke songs and several hilarious bits by Smiley "Frog" Burnette.

Gene, astride Champion (The World's Wonder Horse) , takes on a few greedy villains, warbles a few cowboy songs and saves the day in this one-hour movie that thrilled fans of yesterday & today.......

Gene Autry was able to take his modest talents and create a new film and musical genre that dominated the screen for decades. This film is a fun example of Gene and company in the early days of the Singing Cowboy. Enjoy!

Ranger Gene Autry and sidekick Ol' Frog trail a murderer and they ride into town with the bait. Everyone wants the old swayback horse to lead them to the gold mine. To start things off, Green Acres alum Barbara Pepper as Joan Martin runs Autry off the trail with her team of horses and he gets plenty of revenge. With great songs and Gene and Frog's slapstick antics, they just may be able to charm her back to their side. The crooked lawyer Henry Nolan (Hooper Atchley) is sceaming with John Martin (J. Frank Glendon) to steal the mine and make claim. They have some stiff competition from Hank Polk (Fred Kelsey) and Lon Dillon (Dennis Moore) who also tries courting the gorgeous Pepper. In the meantime, henchman Pablo (Julian Rivero) has an uncanny knack of throwing lead at the rangers when they least expect it. Who can forget the most popular western character actor, Ol' Tom London and the West's favorite sheriff Jack Rockwell.

Early Autry entry where he's near his physical peak, and looking great in colorful cowboy get-up. The hour's nothing special—some good hard riding, very little gunplay, plus Gene's easy way with a song though the selections are pretty forgettable. Still, I hope Burnette got double pay for all the pratfalls and belly flops he does in comedy relief. And catch Barbara Pepper as the pretty blonde ingénue. Certainly a long way from the chunky wisecracking types she later slid into.

The plot's something about finding a killer and a lost mine, but as in most Autry films, there's a lot more going on besides the plot. I have to echo reviewer classicsoncall. I ran back the DVR twice to see if a trip-wire was used on Gene's horse when it takes a really bad fall. I couldn't tell, but I doubt they would risk Champion in such a risky stunt. Anyway there's lots of stunt work for the doubles, and catch Gene when he takes not one, but two guys off their horses at the same time. I don't recall seeing that before. All in all, it's an easy, if unexceptional, hour of action and song, courtesy Gene and our friends at Republic.

The Gene Autry films often featured a lot of actors who later starred on "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres". Gene's first sidekick, Smiley Burnett, was one of the train conductors on the train in the TV shows, as was Rufe Davis (the other conductor) often appeared in Autry's films as well. One of Autry's later sidekicks, Pat Buttram, played Mr. Haney on the TV shows. And, here in "Sagebrush Troubadour", Barbara Pepper plays the love interest...and she later played Doris. Ziffel on the shows! This is an odd connection...and perhaps some folks associated with the Autry series later was involved in these two Filmways productions. If you can explain this to me, let me know!

An old man has discovered gold in his hidden mine. Some baddies killed him to take his treasure but have no idea where the mine is located. So, they want to find the guy's swayback horse so they could follow it...hoping it will lead them to the place. But before they can do this, Gene and Frog find the animal. When they come to town EVERYONE seems to want to claim it...so Gene holds on to the horse until he figures out WHY or if someone can show him some proof of ownership. Because of this, the baddies all go to the sheriff...insisting that Gene and Frog are the killers...and now they are wanted me.

Gene, however, is not about to run away, as he knows the same folks responsible for the old man's death might also make an attempt on his granddaughter's life. So Gene keeps an eye on Joan (Barbara Pepper) in case the guitar string killer returns.

So is this early Autry outing any good? Well, the songs Autry and Frog sing are nice but not memorable. As for the story, it's very good and most enjoyable...and different enough to make it stand out compared to many of Autry's later films.

Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette are trying to figure out who murdered Frank Martin. They have two pieces of evidence to serve as clues: a broken guitar string and Martin's old swayback horse. Daughter Barbara Pepper is in town for the first time in years. She's Martin's principal heir. Martin's adopted son, J. Frank Glendon, is next in line, followed by lawyer Hooper Atchley. Those are good reasons for murder, and for more deaths. But why does everyone want the horse?

There are eight musical numbers, and Burnette demonstrates his musical versatility in "Lookin' For The Lost Chord". Fred Kelsey is on hand, not playing a comic law man for a change, and the movie proceeds at a good clip under Joseph Kane, aided by a good and efficient editing pace by Joseph H. Lewis and Lester Orleback. There are a couple of good stunt sequences enacted by Joe Yrigoyen. Overall, this is a good little B Western, and far superior to the usual slothful offerings by Gower Gulch. It's clear that Republic had a winning combination in the starring and production team.