The Last Round-up

While it is true that many movies of the 1930s-50s portray the American Indian in a rather negative way, this was not true with nearly all the B-westerns I've seen...and I've seen plenty. In most, the hero is good friends with the natives and they are shown as decent people...and this is exactly the case in "The Last Round-up".

The town of Mesa City is growing...and at the same time, their water supply is dwindling. So they plan on building a reservoir on Indian land and relocating them to even crappier land. However, when Gene hears about it, he convinces the local government to relocate the tribe to the best land...and the deal should be no problem. But a greedy and selfish man and his son are trying to stop the land deal...and Gene has to work hard to get the land deal across.

As I mentioned above, the film is very positive in the way it portrays the Indians, though having Robert Blake play one isn't great. It would have been better had they chosen a native kid to play the role, but this was the 1940s and such ideas were very rare. But the film is otherwise very progressive in its portrayals...and the story well worth seeing.

By the way, this was Gene Autry's first film for Columbia Pictures. Previously, he'd almost exclusively made movies for Republic and its earlier subsidiaries. Also, to heighten realism, they chose to film in the Sonoran Desert...hence the many, many Saguaro cacti.