Ride, Ranger, Ride

The Texas Rangers are about to be demobilized because the U.S. Cavalry is coming to Texas. They've got garrison duty as the Comanches are allegedly at peace. That's not what Gene Autry says and that's not what grizzled scout Max Terhune says, who actually does say the only good Indian is a dead one. And that's allegedly without the dummy.

Gene and the whole troop of rangers join the cavalry including Max as a scout and even Smiley Burnette. They really don't take to military life to well. In addition Gene's got a romantic rivalry going with George J. Lewis over Kay Hughes.

Somebody is stirring up the Indians, acting as agent provocateur and for those interested in seeing this ancient oater I won't reveal who it is.

Usually Autry westerns at least included some decent cowboy numbers. But even after seeing this only a couple of hours ago on TCM, I can't remember a one of them.

The Indians are really presented in a bad light. Oafs and Dupes at best and savages at worst. But you can't expect too much from a B western.

Although saying B is giving this one too high a grade.

This Gene Autry film has two distinctions. First, it's one of the few westerns I've seen with TWO sidekicks--Max Terhune and Smiley Burnett. I've never seen this before and doubt I ever will again, as it's completely against the usual formula. Second, the film has the distinction for begin the most anti-American Indian film I've ever seen--and I've seen a lot.

The film begins with Gene and Max leaving the Texas Rangers and joining up to help the Cavalry. However, it soon becomes clear that the Colonel is a complete potato-head--with the brains to match. He loves the Indians and refuses to accept the idea that any of them could be in any way bad. Gene and Max (particularly Max) think the only good Indian is a dead one--and they are sure to say this again and again. In their estimation, Indians are an evil that needs purging--and they sound like they are about to go on some ethnic cleansing. So guess who is proved right in the end?! Aside from having a hate-filled and historically inaccurate script in regard to Indians, the film repeats the myth of the attack on the wagon train and circling the wagons--things that, despite being in films, didn't happen in the old west. An accurate view of the tribes would have been that SOME are pretty hostile and some are not--much like what you would say about any group of people. I don't say all this because I am Mr. Political Correctness but as a retired history teacher, I just like to see the facts straight. Overall, a stupid and terribly written film that is sure to ruffle a few feathers!

So every one of the rest of you reviewers think "Ride, Ranger, Ride" is a third-rate "oater," is "routine and dated," "cartoonish," you can't recall any of the music two hours later, etc.? Well, maybe, just maybe, we didn't watch the same movie.

The title song of the movie is one that has echoed in my head ever since I saw the film the first time, when I was about 10 or 11. I've never had any trouble remembering it. In fact, it was considered so good that it was used again in the last Autry film of 1936, "The Big Show."

The big, if a little brief, fist fight that Max Terhune and the other Rangers deliberately start in a saloon to try to get thrown out of the cavalry is one of the most realistic I've ever seen in an old Western. It ends with a close-up of Terhune and Smiley Burnette, but most of it is viewed in a room-wide shot, which would make it more difficult to have the fisticuffs look genuine. But they did!

Yes, Terhune does say, once, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian," or words to that effect. I don't remember Autry ever saying it. But remember this movie was made in 1936, long before the era of "political correctness." Even in the movies, people were more apt to say just what they thought in those days.

And yes, the horse race involving Gene and his rival for the affections of leading lady Kay Hughes, was a fine one. Gene Autry was a very accomplished rider -- which few of the reviewers are willing to acknowledge.

The final and unique plus for this Autry film, for ME, at least, was that Monte Blue, playing a fake Indian chief, and Max Terhune, were both native Hoosiers! Can't beat those actors from Indiana! And Max Terhune was a very talented ventriloquist and card shark, too.

The most interesting part of this sub-par Autry oater is poor Kay Hughes. I don't know what wardrobe put her in, but the frou-frou is eating her alive. Only her head is still visible. Meanwhile, all the white lace, bustles, and brocade have consumed the rest of her. Too bad, because she could easily pass for Elizabeth Taylor's younger sister, if Liz had one.

Too bad too, that the script's a mess, that is, if you can keep up with it. Something about Texas Rangers, the US Cavalry, and American Indians, all learning to get along. Well, at least the former two. Already, it seems, Texas hates the Feds since they quarrel over who gets to fight the Indians. That's because from the movie, it seems "the only good Indian is a dead one". After all, this is back when red men were mainly circling targets for cavalry target practice. Then too, if I'm not mistaken, the script manages to slight just about everybody at some point.

Meanwhile, the tunes are forgettable, the barroom brawl badly staged, and absolutely no hard riding, while the comedy consists mainly of a scalping wannabe. I will say the stock footage is nicely blended into the film as a whole, which at least lends visual continuity. I don't know what Republic had in mind with this 60-minutes, but as a fellow reviewer remarks, they should have sent the script back for a rewrite. And, for gosh sakes, put poor Hughes in a dress instead of a pile of woman-eating frills and frou-frou. All in all, Autry fans should skip this one.

A "4" on the matinée scale.

A good Western film is built around the Good Guy- Bad Guy conflict and their eventual Showdown. Here, that showdown is there, but it's not the major focus of the film.

It's mainly about how we must fight against Indians. Gene and his Texas Rangers know about Indians; the cavalry does not. ("Make your peace sign with one hand, and keep a gun in the other.") We get that awful 'Tarzan talk' in the way the White Man speaks to the Indians. We get the cliché (it was used in John Ford's 'The Iron Horse' in 1924!) of a white man masquerading as a warlike Indian -- except this time he's a saloon owner.

There is the throwaway of a love interest (surprisingly, Gene marries her and rides off into the off screen). There is Republic's 'comic relief' of Smiley Burnette and Mex Terhune (he is actually good in this film!); and the dreadful running gag of Chief Thundercloud, who was so evil in the serial 'Custer's Last Stand' (1934), trying to scalp Frog Millhouse; but there's really nothing of substance going on in this picture. It seems too have been made from the "let's crank out another one" mode as part of the new Republic formula of cheapie B pictures.

There are much better Gene Autry films that seem more authentic, such as 'Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge' (1937) than this third rate formulaic cranked out film. Gene is genial, but overall this movie is worth only a 3.