Loaded Pistols

Loaded Pistols one of the early films Gene Autry made for Columbia Pictures finds Gene in one of his few films without a sidekick. I guess he left Smiley Burnette over at Republic with Herbert J. Yates.

Autry has his hands full in this one. Someone got Russell Arms to put up his pistol during a crap game and when the lights went conveniently out one of the other participants in the game was dead. Quite frankly anyone during the darkness could have picked up that gun and fired it, but Jack Holt and Robert Shayne have their own reasons for wanting to see Arms get the blame and they whip up public sentiment against him.

Although no one would have blamed him from walking away from the situation Gene sticks his neck out for Arms. Not that Arms is looking for help in fact he and his sister Barbara Britton are more of a hindrance than a help to Autry. But Barbara Britton who was one of the most beautiful actresses ever to appear on the screen is more than enough reason for Gene to stick it out.

Chill Wills is also in this film as a foxy sheriff who doesn't quite believe the neat frame that Holt and Shayne have put Arms in, but he's not about to buck public opinion.

Loaded Pistols is a bit too long by about 15 minutes. Still it's a competently made B film that Gene Autry fans were pleased with in 1948 and today.

The lights go out at the dice game, shots are fired, and Stanley Blystone is dead. Hot-headed young Russell Arms is the obvious suspect, and he bolts. Gene Autry was a friend of Blystone, so when he finds Arms with his sister, Barbara Britton, he's surprised. He doesn't think Arms did it. So he gets him away before sheriff Chill Wills can arrest him, and begins to investigate.

The singing cowboy pictures that Autry did are a couple of steps above his Republic fare. First, the story is a lot better set out and run. And second, there's a much better cast in the small parts. Jack Holt, Robert Shayne, and Clem Bevans have good parts, and Wills is an absolute delight in his role, at ease and natural. The songs seem a bit less of a grab-bag, with "Pretty Mary" being quite charming. If much of the behind-the-screen talent is the same, with John English directing, and William Bradford handling the camera, everyone seems far less focused on letting Autry carry the picture, and more on seeing what they can do to make it all work.

Not one of Autry's better entries from the post-war period. With Columbia Pictures' backing, the result should have been better than it is. Gene is chasing after fugitive Russell Arms to clear him of murder charges before a vengeful posse can catch up. It's a novel idea for an Autry Western since almost all the screen time is taken up with the three parties playing tag with one another. However, the script has trouble integrating the mystery part into the chase. So we get passages like Gene and Arms watering their horses with Gene saying to Larry (Arms) something like "By the way, Larry, where were you standing when the shots were fired?", and then riding off. Ten minutes later, we get a similarly disconnected question with a similarly fleeting answer. It's like trying to follow a bread-crumb trail where the crumbs are a mile apart. With a different, better integrated, approach the two plot angles could have really gelled into a single current of suspense and excitement. I know, some will say this is, after all, only a matinée Western, so why expect more. But it's also a time when Autry was trying to break the matinée formula. With a better script, this entry could have equaled the superiority of contemporaries like Sioux City Sue or Trail to San Antone.

What Loaded Pistols does have is the sparkling and gorgeous Barbara Britton, whose smile could light up a city block. Too bad her career never equaled her talent. Also, the comic relief is down-played and comes from the nimble Chill Wills instead of the annoying Sterling Holloway. Then too, I like the way the songs are integrated into menial tasks, such as fixing breakfast, instead of the usual, more elaborate production numbers. I know many Autry fans object to anything negative about his movies. Nonetheless, I don't think Columbia Studios served him as well here as they did in other productions.

The likable Gene Autry and a good story make this a worthwhile B-Western in spite of a pace that is rather slow at times. The story starts with a shooting in the middle of a dice game, and when Gene thinks the sheriff is accusing the wrong man, he has to perform a difficult balancing act. Autry wants to find out who the real killer was, and why he did it, but he also has to stay on the good side of both the sheriff and the rather excitable suspect, who does not always appreciate Autry's help.

It's a scenario with some good possibilities, and as it unfolds, they get some decent mileage out of the situation. Chill Wills gets a couple of good moments as the sheriff, and Barbara Britton is lively as the suspect's loyal sister. Overall, it's better than average for a B-Western.

This film was one of Autry's Columbia features that was edited for television. When it opens, Autry is riding Champ in a long shot and you can just barely hear him singing until he gets closer to the camera. I dubbed the song from his soundtrack CD album of movie songs, and right at the beginning, you can hear a gunshot. It probably was like that on the edited film I saw, but the card game is not shown only referred to throughout the film, until Gene recreates the game at the end of the picture, causing the villain to make his escape on a stagecoach conveniently parked outside. When Melody Ranch Theater aired on the Nashville network, I wondered if they ever showed the complete version or just the one that was already available to television. I always did like the song and recall it was used in the background when they did a documentary on the TV westerns of the Fifties, showing Chuck Conners spin his rifle, etc.