This 1941 Gene Autry Western deals with a more detailed and complicated plot than most, and the climactic scene may disturb you, and even make you cry. There are moments in the film that reveal the genuine emotion of a young girl over her dad's being in mortal danger that you seldom see in movies of this genre.
Having said that, I'll add that in my opinion it's one of the best Westerns that Gene ever starred in, just a year or so prior to his leaving Hollywood to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II.
Gene and Frog (Smiley Burnette) are watching the parade through their Western town of the performers from a showboat that has landed in town, when two evil men rob the local bank, taking $140,000, which includes money Gene had encouraged some of his fellow ranchers to invest there instead of wasting it on things they didn't really need.
The two thieves not only rob the bank, but they also kill the owner. And the down-on-his-luck father of a young, talented singer from the showboat cast, played by Mary Lee, foolishly has gone in with them, feeling that he needs money so bad that he has to.
The thieves escape (Mary's father doesn't go with them), despite Gene's chasing them unsuccessfully on Champ. Gene and Frog then talk the owner of the showboat into hiring them as entertainers in the cast, so they can keep an eye on the foolish father and his daughter.
Of course the young girl singer is loving and protective of her father, even after he flees with the loot that the thieves have left in his hands. She is hostile to Autry for being suspicious of her father, until one evening she accidentally falls overboard from the boat, and Gene has to dive in and rescue her. It's obviously him (and her) in the water, too, despite the fondness of some who review his movies on here of implying that Gene had stuntmen to fake being him for anything more difficult than walking across the room.
Anyway, the climax of the movie includes some very hard riding, a big gunfight, Gene fighting it out with the two bank robbers (and doing his own stunts there, too), and finally the crooks shooting and killing poor Mary's father. Mary's weeping and screaming as Gene tries to comfort her sounds very genuine. Mary Lee was a fine actress.
As I said before, I enjoyed this movie tremendously. There was a lot of great music included in it, too. I highly recommend it.
Having said that, I'll add that in my opinion it's one of the best Westerns that Gene ever starred in, just a year or so prior to his leaving Hollywood to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II.
Gene and Frog (Smiley Burnette) are watching the parade through their Western town of the performers from a showboat that has landed in town, when two evil men rob the local bank, taking $140,000, which includes money Gene had encouraged some of his fellow ranchers to invest there instead of wasting it on things they didn't really need.
The two thieves not only rob the bank, but they also kill the owner. And the down-on-his-luck father of a young, talented singer from the showboat cast, played by Mary Lee, foolishly has gone in with them, feeling that he needs money so bad that he has to.
The thieves escape (Mary's father doesn't go with them), despite Gene's chasing them unsuccessfully on Champ. Gene and Frog then talk the owner of the showboat into hiring them as entertainers in the cast, so they can keep an eye on the foolish father and his daughter.
Of course the young girl singer is loving and protective of her father, even after he flees with the loot that the thieves have left in his hands. She is hostile to Autry for being suspicious of her father, until one evening she accidentally falls overboard from the boat, and Gene has to dive in and rescue her. It's obviously him (and her) in the water, too, despite the fondness of some who review his movies on here of implying that Gene had stuntmen to fake being him for anything more difficult than walking across the room.
Anyway, the climax of the movie includes some very hard riding, a big gunfight, Gene fighting it out with the two bank robbers (and doing his own stunts there, too), and finally the crooks shooting and killing poor Mary's father. Mary's weeping and screaming as Gene tries to comfort her sounds very genuine. Mary Lee was a fine actress.
As I said before, I enjoyed this movie tremendously. There was a lot of great music included in it, too. I highly recommend it.