Ride, Ranger, Ride

Gene Autry doesn't get much of a chance to stand out in this routine and rather dated feature. The plot had potential, with Autry leading a group of Texas Rangers who are trying to stop an Indian attack while working against the skepticism of a cavalry commander.

But what follows is not very entertaining, and most of the problems can probably be blamed on the script. The characters remain one-dimensional, with little or no justification for their actions, and none of them really appears in a very good light. It does not help that the Indians are portrayed in a rather dated and cartoonish fashion, even for the 30's.

Nothing at all against the talented and very likable Autry, but this one just does not work very well at all. Even the most devoted fans probably won't find much here to get excited about.

This Gene Autry film has two distinctions. First, it's one of the few westerns I've seen with TWO sidekicks--Max Terhune and Smiley Burnett. I've never seen this before and doubt I ever will again, as it's completely against the usual formula. Second, the film has the distinction for begin the most anti-American Indian film I've ever seen--and I've seen a lot.

The film begins with Gene and Max leaving the Texas Rangers and joining up to help the Cavalry. However, it soon becomes clear that the Colonel is a complete potato-head--with the brains to match. He loves the Indians and refuses to accept the idea that any of them could be in any way bad. Gene and Max (particularly Max) think the only good Indian is a dead one--and they are sure to say this again and again. In their estimation, Indians are an evil that needs purging--and they sound like they are about to go on some ethnic cleansing. So guess who is proved right in the end?! Aside from having a hate-filled and historically inaccurate script in regard to Indians, the film repeats the myth of the attack on the wagon train and circling the wagons--things that, despite being in films, didn't happen in the old west. An accurate view of the tribes would have been that SOME are pretty hostile and some are not--much like what you would say about any group of people. I don't say all this because I am Mr. Political Correctness but as a retired history teacher, I just like to see the facts straight. Overall, a stupid and terribly written film that is sure to ruffle a few feathers!

So every one of the rest of you reviewers think "Ride, Ranger, Ride" is a third-rate "oater," is "routine and dated," "cartoonish," you can't recall any of the music two hours later, etc.? Well, maybe, just maybe, we didn't watch the same movie.

The title song of the movie is one that has echoed in my head ever since I saw the film the first time, when I was about 10 or 11. I've never had any trouble remembering it. In fact, it was considered so good that it was used again in the last Autry film of 1936, "The Big Show."

The big, if a little brief, fist fight that Max Terhune and the other Rangers deliberately start in a saloon to try to get thrown out of the cavalry is one of the most realistic I've ever seen in an old Western. It ends with a close-up of Terhune and Smiley Burnette, but most of it is viewed in a room-wide shot, which would make it more difficult to have the fisticuffs look genuine. But they did!

Yes, Terhune does say, once, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian," or words to that effect. I don't remember Autry ever saying it. But remember this movie was made in 1936, long before the era of "political correctness." Even in the movies, people were more apt to say just what they thought in those days.

And yes, the horse race involving Gene and his rival for the affections of leading lady Kay Hughes, was a fine one. Gene Autry was a very accomplished rider -- which few of the reviewers are willing to acknowledge.

The final and unique plus for this Autry film, for ME, at least, was that Monte Blue, playing a fake Indian chief, and Max Terhune, were both native Hoosiers! Can't beat those actors from Indiana! And Max Terhune was a very talented ventriloquist and card shark, too.

A good Western film is built around the Good Guy- Bad Guy conflict and their eventual Showdown. Here, that showdown is there, but it's not the major focus of the film.

It's mainly about how we must fight against Indians. Gene and his Texas Rangers know about Indians; the cavalry does not. ("Make your peace sign with one hand, and keep a gun in the other.") We get that awful 'Tarzan talk' in the way the White Man speaks to the Indians. We get the cliché (it was used in John Ford's 'The Iron Horse' in 1924!) of a white man masquerading as a warlike Indian -- except this time he's a saloon owner.

There is the throwaway of a love interest (surprisingly, Gene marries her and rides off into the off screen). There is Republic's 'comic relief' of Smiley Burnette and Mex Terhune (he is actually good in this film!); and the dreadful running gag of Chief Thundercloud, who was so evil in the serial 'Custer's Last Stand' (1934), trying to scalp Frog Millhouse; but there's really nothing of substance going on in this picture. It seems too have been made from the "let's crank out another one" mode as part of the new Republic formula of cheapie B pictures.

There are much better Gene Autry films that seem more authentic, such as 'Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge' (1937) than this third rate formulaic cranked out film. Gene is genial, but overall this movie is worth only a 3.

Although made in 1936, this film has the stodgy, choppy, primitive look of a B western of 1930 or 1931. I'm not particularly an Autry fan, but I've seen far better examples of his work than this. The script is forced, the "humor" involving an Indian repeatedly trying to scalp Frog (Smiley Burnette) to collect on a bet is not only unfunny but insulting and degrading, even for the 1930s. The songs are uninspired and leaden, Autry's delivery of both dialogue and lyrics are even more wooden than usual, and the tinny, uneven sound quality is reminiscent of the worst of PRC. Republic's westerns are usually much more technically proficient and accomplished, and director Joseph Kane has done far, far better work both before and after this film came out, so I'm not quite sure what the problem was with this picture, but it had more than its share of them. On the other hand, there's a somewhat exciting horse race, and Kay Hughes, as the girl fought over by rivals Autry and George J. Lewis, is ravishingly beautiful, much more so than many of Autry's other Republic leading ladies, and that goes a long way toward making up for the film's deficiencies, both technically and otherwise. But it's not quite enough to cover the fact that this picture is definitely one of Autry's weakest efforts. Skip it; you won't be missing much.