Due to the success of the song "Ghost Riders in the Sky", this Gene Autry was altered just before release...adding the popular song as well as changing a few scenes to include references to Ghost Riders. It is a terrific song...one of the best country western songs of the era.
Gene and his sidekick (Pat Buttram) have decided to buy their own spread and raise cattle after Gene inherits a small fortune. So, he quits his job with the City Attorney's office and is ready to begin his new life when a friend of his is convicted of murdering a gambler. Gene knows the guys involved and believes the defendant that he killed the man in self-defense. But another local gambler (Robert Livingston) is not about to let there be a real investigation because he is deeply involved in evil and corruption. Can Gene get to the bottom of all this and make things right?
The cast for this film is very familiar. Not only do you have Autry and one of his more popular sidekicks, but the film also has appearances by Gloria Henry (the mother on the "Dennis the Menace" TV show), Alan Hale Jr. (of "Gilligan's Island"), Hank Patterson (like Buttram, of "Green Acres") and Robert Livingston. Livingston is interesting as earlier in his career he played heroes in B-westerns, such as in the Three Mesquiteers series. Here, however, he's a baddie and he did play villains in some of his later movies.
So is this any good? Well, as I already mentioned, the opening song was one of Autry's best. As for the acting and writing, the biggest weakness I noticed was Gloria Henry's character. Like too many women in B-westerns, she is inexplicably angry and argues a lot with Autry...even though he's done absolutely nothing wrong. I've seen this in too many other westerns and it is a bit of a cliché. It does, sadly, weaken the story a bit. Otherwise, it's a pretty decent western with a reasonably interesting story. If she'd been less angry, I would have scored this one a 6.
