Tumbling Tumbleweeds

In all starts when America's sheriff, Jack Rockwell playing a ranch hand tips off Autry Sr. Of a coming raid from the nesters. Edward Hearn stirs up the pot with "The only thing left for us to do is fight, dog eat dog." The action and entertainment heats up when Autry joins Dr. Parker's (Gabby Hayes) "Phamous" elixir selling sideshow. Smiley Burnette takes it up a notch with his wit and wisdom and Eightball (Eugene Jackson) does some amazing dance scenes. The western's number one leading lady, Lucille Browne shows why she was a fan favorite. Great to see the best henchmen in the business George Chesebro and Charles King.

Surprisingly enjoyable Western where Gene solves the murder of his father, rights the wrongs attributed to his old friend, and gets both the horse and the girl – all in just over one hour! The writing is clever and Gene's acting is both more fluid and his lines more subtle than in many follow-on films. The substance of the dispute – water rights: a very real part of the history of the American West.

George "Gabby" Hayes (it appears with all his teeth) does yeoman service as Doctor Parker. Smiley Burnette is good as the sidekick that cannot quite find the mate to a missing spur.

Good songs and the use of a modern record player allow Gene to trap three of the bad guys. Good chase scene. Best line in move is when the good guys line up the three bad men and Smiley (angry that they just shot a hole in his guitar) tells them to dance. The bad guys say that they can't dance and the response is "anyone can dance if they are properly persuaded." Sure this is a low budget Saturday matinée special, but it appears that someone was trying very hard to show that this team of actors and director Joseph Kane would be able to produce a winner that could be replicated. Highly recommended.

Gene Autry, an early country and western singer, appeared as a guest in two Ken Maynard western movies. Then he starred in the surreal serial, "The Phantom Empire." His fourth movie and first starring role in a feature was "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," obviously with Republic Pictures (which had just begun operations as a merger of six smaller studios).

After the credits the opening crawl reads, "In the Old West there was no law." Those among the newcomers who became the strong divided their empires. Later arrivals, who wanted just a small piece of land and water, were the Nesters. Before long, bitter warfare ensued between the landlords and the Nesters. Thus we have the movie's setting. There are good actions scenes early on (possibly stock footage?). Gene's dad – a landlord but handicapped – incorrectly assuming that his son did not contribute to his cause, banishes him from his homestead. Five years later, as part of Dr. Parker's Medicine Show, Gene returns to the town of Gunstock. Dr. Parker is Gabby Hayes, toothed and beardless, but mustachioed. In Gene's absence, his unrelenting father was murdered and his friend, Harry Brooks, charged with the crime. Gene recognizes Harry to be innocent, so he and his sidekick, Smiley Burnette, set out to solve the crime. They soon discover that Barney Craven and his gang are also after Brooks. It seems that there is a conflict over water rights, even though the main problem with the landlords and the Nesters has ended. If Smiley can only find the mate to the spur that he found at a crime scene! And who smokes Red Top cigarettes? Gene will surely get to the truth.

Sometimes it is difficult to place the time-frame for Gene Autry westerns, which, as his movie aficionados know, range from 1829 to about 1950. Gene's movie settings of the late 19th and early 20th century are not his "mythical" westerns of the 1930s and 1940s, when the old West was long gone. These mythical westerns showed modern cars, radios, and even early televisions! And yet there were "sections" of towns that catered to men who still rode horses and carried six guns.

"Tumbling Tumbleweeds" shows a "modern-looking" portable phonograph (circa 1930, without the cylinder) and disc record, and women are seen in 1920s or 1930s hairstyles and clothing. The Indian tribes have been subdued; there are telephones, but still no automobiles. Despite the anachronisms of the hairstyles, clothing, and phonograph, we may surmise that we are in the historic West of the nineteenth century, but very late (1890s). The movie has nice action and some good close-up shots. See the fist-fight scene about 39 minutes into the film, which runs slightly under an hour in time. The western town of Gunstock obviously has black residents, a nice touch for the time. Eightball (Eugene Jackson), part of Dr. Parker's show, dances some cool moves with a split that obviously wowed 1935 audiences. The title tune is a treat. And the ending … not only does Gene get the girl, but also he gets hitched!

Autry's first movie under the banner of Republic is a good one. Catch those great panoramic shots of gangs hard-riding across the flats, taking aim at each other courtesy director Kane. They're real eye-grabbers, unusual for a matinée western. In fact, the 60-minutes is full of imaginative touches like the brawl inside the traveling show wagon, with the losers getting dumped unceremoniously onto the rocky roadway.

And I kept wondering where grizzled old Gabby from the credit crawl was. But there he was, hiding behind a brown mustache, a nice suit, and even a set of false teeth. Yes sir, it's Gabby like I'd never seen before. Plus, Gene's all duded out in cowboy finery of his own, trying to get a bead on whoever murdered his dad, and you just know he will. Even at this early stage he's got an easy way with a song, including the great title tune. And who is that black kid with feet faster than the proverbial flying bullet. Yes indeed, that's quite a medicine show old Gabby puts on. And I love the way he fills his bottles of elixir with muddy water, just the thing to cure everything from a nosebleed to gout.

Anyhow, I think there's a flaw in IMDb's rating system. I'd hate to put this programmer-- good as it is-- up against quality A-pictures. So instead, I give it an '8' on a scale strictly for those great old matinees that are still a lot of harmless fun.

I occasionally like to watch old B-westerns...Roy Rogers, Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Gene Autry. The Autry and Rogers films are different--a little less realistic and filled with lovely music. All can be quite enjoyable.

The story begins with a bunch of ranchers ganging up on Gene's father....a stubborn old guy who has the biggest ranch in the territory. The father responds by going into battle along with his men....but Gene is unwilling to fight as he thinks his dad is rushing too quickly and talking might end these problems. As a result, his father disowns him and Gene spends the next few years on his own. During this time, he pals up with three guys in a traveling medicine show.

Out of the blue, one of Gene's old friends, Harry Brooks, arrives. He's been shot and is on the run from the law. But Gene knows that Harry isn't the sort to harm anyone and he hides him....and eventually learns that at least one of the deputies is more interested in killing Brooks instead of bringing him to justice. But why??

A bit later, Gene returns home...only to learn that his father was murdered and Brooks is the man wanted for that killing! Again, Gene knows this cannot be the truth and he decides to investigate it with his friends.

"Tumbling Tumbleweeds" is one of Gene Autry's best films and it's worth seeing for a variety of reasons. First, it's Republic Pictures' first release. Autry had been making films for Mascot...and in 1935, Mascot became Republic. Second, it's rare to see TWO top sidekicks in one of these films...but this one has both Smiley Burnette AND Gabby Hayes---two of the very best. I love both and here you get both. Third, the music is among Gene's best....and with his lovely voice, it's a real pleasure hearing the title song as well as "That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine". And, not surprisingly, Smiley sings a tune that is quite enjoyable....though he didn't use his frog-like singing voice in this one....just the normal singing voice.

Fortunately, the copy of this film I saw on my Roku was in pristine condition...something you can rarely say about any of these old B-westerns. It's currently on the Shout Factory channel...hopefully you'll be able to find it.