Sing, Cowboy, Sing (1937)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Robert N. Bradbury

Writer:

Robert Emmett Tansey (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 May 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Kalmus is after the freight contract held by Summers. When his gang kill Summers, Tex and Duke step in to help Madge keep the freight line going...

Plot Keywords:

Freight Line | Singing Cowboy | Murder

Cast

Tex Ritter	...	Tex Archer
White Flash	...	Tex Archer's horse
Louise Stanley	...	Madge Summers
Al St. John	...	Duke Evans (as Al St John)
Charles King	...	Henchman Red Holman
Karl Hackett	...	Kalmus
Robert McKenzie	...	Judge Roy Dean
Horace Murphy	...	Marshal Tinker
'Snub' Pollard	...	Man fined $28 (as Snub Pollard)
Hank Worden	...	Henchman (as Heber Snow)
Chick Hannon	...	Henchman Joe
Milburn Morante	...	Zeke (as Milt Morante)
Oscar Gahan	...	Townsman
The Texas Tornadoes	...	Singing group (as Tex Ritter's Tornadoes)

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Boots and Saddles Pictures

Quotes:

Red Holman: That's your trouble, fella. You're meddlin' in the wrong business.
Tex Archer: What do you mean?
Red Holman: I mean, you're playing both ends from the middle and you can't do it around here. This place ain't big enough for you and me, so you better get rollin'.
Tex Archer: And suppose I don't get rollin'?
Red Holman: You will... 'cause I got you figured right. You're yellow!
[Red punches Tex in the jaw, a barroom brawl ensues and Tex knocks Red out]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I'm A Natural Born Cowboy

NIcely Done Western Action

The director Robert N. Bradbury had done over 100 Westerns by time he did this one in 1937. He is not lyrical like John Ford, but he does know how to keep things moving and entertaining. The budget seems to be a bit higher than the ones he was working with when he did the great John Wayne early westerns in 1934 and 1935. Although this was on a Mill Creek DVD release of 20 musicals, there are only four songs and they are short and well integrated into the story, so it is really a Western more than a musical.

Tex Ritter is charming as the lead and a bit more relaxed than John Wayne. Al Saint John, who worked with Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton in their early silent slapstick films, is delightful. Everyone else is competent.

Growing up on a steady diet of television westerns in the late 50's and early 60's, it is fun to see these early forerunners of the genre. The early television Westerns like "the Lone Ranger" and "Zorro" really copied the style of the 1930's westerns like this one. The later Western series, like "Maverick," "Wagon Train" and "Bonanza" took after the more dramatic/serious and slower paced ones of the 1950's like "High Noon" and "Shane."