Twilight on the Rio Grande

When Gene Autry returned from WWII's military service, he found his spot as Republic's top Western star had been usurped by Roy Rogers. Rogers had been in some of Autry's early movies as one of the Sons of the Pioneers. Autry was interested in producing his own films, but he had to first win a court battle with Republic who said that he still owed them time on his contract. Autry made a deal with the studio that he would continue to make films while the courts figured if he was still obligated to honor the contract. If he won, then he was free to go. Autry made five films during this period, using the light musical touch that he had used previously. Sterling Holloway was chosen as his sidekick since Smiley Burnette had left for Columbia. In Twilight on the Rio Grande, Autry is teamed with Bob Steele, who had been part of Republic's three Mesquiteer series. Steele's role in the film is short-lived since he is murdered. Since the plot is in Mexico, there are plenty pretty girls, singing gauchos and romance. While Gene does a good job with the title song, he never released it on record. The song could have been a hit when paired with the other featured song, The Old Lamplighter. For the record, Gene finished his series at Republic in 1947 and went to Columbia to produce his own series which competed with Rogers at the box office.

Oddball entry in the Autry cowboy cycle. The year is 1947, perhaps the peak year for film noir in Hollywood. The presence of shadowy lighting, darkened streets, and ambiguous characters in "Twilight..." shows how the European film style reached into even the unlikeliest of genres, the matinée Western. About a third of the way through, the movie takes a really surprising turn since Bob Steele was then a cowboy star in his own right. How he came to take this role which could have gone to dozens of non-star supporting players is a mystery to me (I don't want to give away the surprise). But it does seem a curious piece of casting.

The plot is also unusual for a Western-- it's a not-very-well-hidden "who dun' it ?" -- a novel idea, but with a plot too complicated and a mystery too meandering to work very well. There are a few character surprises, along with some mangled Spanish accents. Don't expect much gun play or hard riding, but there is enough knife throwing to satisfy a Ninja warrior. As I recall, the central song "The Old Lamplighter" was a huge popular hit of that day and is nicely staged here. Anyway, the film amounts to something of a curiosity among the Autry Westerns, so the hour should be worth a tune-in..

For us Bob Steele fans, I didn't like the fact that he was bumped off early on but the movie continued with a great adventure thereafter. Gene Autry and his pal Pokie (Sterling Holloway) are in Mexico when Steele is killed. The Cass Country Boys play some great songs with an earlier Autry song at the beginning. The most lovely senorita and pinup girl of the year Adele Mara is a wonderful songtress herself. As Elena Del Rio, she has a knack for throwing knives and vitriol at approaching males but is she a cold-blooded killer? Mucho (Martin Garralaga) is a man on the low-down and Autry is bent on getting him to spill the beans. Charles Evans as Henry Blackstone and Howard Negley as Jake Short may be tied to the killings and a jewel smuggling scheme and Captain Gonzales (George J. Lewis) is in close pursuit. Many great scenes and songs especially the theme "Twilight on the Rio Grande" by Autry and Mara which unfortunately was never released.

Gene Autry goes to the local cantina to get his hands and partner Bob Steele back to work. Steele is busy, though, seeing if he can put the moves on singer Adele Mara, so they decide to stay overnight. That's a mistake, because Steele winds up dead, and the local police don't seem to be interested in any of the clues that Autry put before them, nor the jewelery being smuggled across the border. So Gene investigates, primarily with the help of comic sidekick Sterling Holloway.

It's a rather dull and poorly put-together effort for Republic, who seem to have lost interest in Autry, despite the $200,000 this film cost. Indeed, Medved and Lowell include it among their book The Fifty Worst Films Of All Time (and how they got that way. There are lots of things wrong with it, including the erratic manner in which the songs are plopped into the proceedings, the odd plot turns, the occasional efforts of cinematographer William Bradford to do random scenes with a film noir look, the lack of anything funny for Holloway to do, and the performance of Charles Evans.

Even so, it's not among the 50 worst films of all time; it's not even among the 50 worst films I have seen this year. Medved & Lowell might have it in for singing cowboys, but I've seen worse than this, and a lot of B westerns that might qualify better. Clearly they were aiming at movies with players and associated talent that were well known, and this is a poor -- although not uniquely so -- film for Autry.

This film is listed in Harry Medved's "Fifty Worst Movies" book but this really doesn't make sense, as it's a decent little B-western. I usually agree with Medved but this time the film isn't particularly bad, nor good--just a very typical programmer.

While much of the film doesn't make sense (such as the extensive use of phones and trucks in the West and a guy patronizingly named "Mucho Dinero"), the film is rather likable and is pretty indistinguishable from other Gene Autry films. The usual singing, light banter and adventure is all here, though I must admit the "action" was very, very muted. I guess Gene was getting older and exerting himself just wasn't in his contract! However, he did sing some lovely songs and I was surprised how much I enjoyed the title song--especially since I usually hate cowboy music! So is it a bad film or not? Well, it all really depends on your perspective. All of Autry's and Roy Rogers' films were pretty cheesy--with very simple plots, incredibly dumb sidekicks and lots of pointless singing. If you can't stand them, then this film is a "must avoid" film. However, if you like the genre, then it's pretty typical and well made compared to these films--though not the average non-B Western.