User Reviews

Gene Autry's movies are so much more complex than Tex Ritter or Ken Maynard, and it is hard not to admire the way that his movies have more explicit social messages. This movie is particularly intriguing because it is both pro-environment and pro-DDT. Remember, this was 1949, and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring came out in 1962, in part a reaction to the fire ant eradication program of 1957. Not only was DDT seen as a boon to forest management, but the previous year (1948) its inventor won a Nobel Prize for "for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT."

At the core of this movie is an effort to control an infestation by aerial spraying, similar to the fire ant eradication effort a decade later. It is also about a lumber company's effort to first hide the infestation and then sabotage the spraying, so as to make a fortune harvesting the diseased trees. So, DDT is used by protectors of the forest, but the ones intent on letting a natural infestation decimate the forest to profit are trying to convince the farmers that DDT is killing their livestock. One of the townsfolk even says something like "once it gets in the fish, then it gets in everything..."

Which all goes to show that what is environmentally sound changes as our understanding of nature changes. Autry keeps insisting that DDT had been tested and couldn't be killing off the animals. Of course, by the time it was banned in 1972 its persistent toxicity and effect on animals were scientifically well-documented.

Which, to me, makes this a fascinating movie. Yes, the greed of the timber companies led them to do bad things. But the concern of Gene Autry for the forest also led him to do something that we now know was bad, too -- albeit unknowingly.

"Riders of the Whistling Pines" is a cool sounding title, and the story itself is not your run of the mill Western. Set in 'modern' times so to speak, automobiles and airplanes are very much in evidence, and there's even a reference to World War II. After being exonerated for the accidental death of a forestry agent, Gene Autry's character is ready to give up his newly formed sportsmen's club and move away. However when his singing buddies (The Cass County Boys) admit they tampered with his rifle sight, Gene decides to stick around to find out if the death of Charles Carter might have been murder.

It seems to me that Gene found himself on the wrong side of an environmental issue in this one though. He repeatedly defended the use of DDT to control a larval outbreak that threatened the forest, and by extension, the area's logging industry. Every time he stated that the spray was safe for animals and fish, he sounded like an apologist for the chemical industry. If filmed today, Gene might have turned out to be the villain of the piece instead of lumber company owner Henry Mitchell (Douglas Dumbrille). Instead, Mitchell employed two henchmen to do his dirty work, one of them being a virtually unrecognizable Clayton Moore hiding behind an unkempt beard.

No matter how tough things get, there's always plenty of time for a passel of songs, and for a film coming in at just over an hour, Gene knocks out five tunes while the Cass County Boys add another; and let's not forget the tune by the Pinnafores trio.

For this viewer, there was a major sit up and take notice moment near the end of the story. When Gene sets up Mitchell with word that his buddy Joe will be able to identify the man who shot him, Mitchell and his boys make for Gene's camp to do away with him. Mitchell shoots who he thinks is Gene in a rocking chair on the porch, but it turns out to be a life size dummy of Gene! Now why would Gene Autry have one of those???

"Riders Of The Whistling Pines" was originally released back in 1949.

Anyway - As the story goes - In an early version if eco-terrorism, a villainous trio, Henry, Bill, and Pete, lead an outlaw band that is destroying the virgin Timberland. Gene decides to come to the rescue, but instead, the unscrupulous gang frames him for cattle poisoning and murder.

"Riders of the Whistling Pines" is a Columbia/Gene Autry entry about a forest infestation. Discovered by ranger Charles Carter (Jason Robards Sr.) he is murdered by Bill Wright (Damian O'Flynn) who was accompanying him so that the disease cannot be reported. Gene Autry and Joe Lucas (Jimmy Lloyd) discover the body. Gene feels that he shot the Ranger since he had been shooting at a cougar.

Henry Mitchell (Douglass Dumbrille) runs a lumber camp that has a government contract to supply lumber. He is concerned that if the infestation is learned of, he will lose his contract. So along with Wright and henchman Pete (Clayton Moore) they plan to foil the Rangers attempts to spray the area. Wright arouses the local ranchers into blocking Gene and the Ranger's attempts to spray the area with the insecticide DDT.

Young Joe, who seem to have a drinking problem crashes a plan while under the influence. Gene learns that Joe is mourning the loss of his wife atfer discovering her picture among his belongings. (That's Marilyn Monroe's picture by the way).

Gene hears a plane flying overhead one night. Joe later discovers a plane in Mitchell's barn that had been used to spray a deadly toxin over the ranches that kills their live stock. Joe is shot down by Wright for his trouble. Carter's daughter Helen (Patricia (White) Barry) cares for his wound. This all leads to a showdown between the Rangers and the ranchers when............................................

Gene gets to sing a couple of songs while riding around a lake and performs a song along with The Cass County Boys and as an added attraction the female trio The Pinafores. Leon Weaver and Loie Bridge play The Weavers who buy Gene's camping site. Roy Gordon and Lane Chandler play the Ranger leaders.

Lots of action and a couple of murders to boot. O'Flynn surprisingly plays the chief villain over the veteran baddie Dumbrille. Clayton Moore was on the verge of portraying TV's "Lone Ranger" that same year.