Simply Perfect

Powerful

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This Gene Autry Western, made during the period of his best pictures, is a stunner, not only for the title song which was the biggest tune of 1949, but for the plot, which adds elements of the supernatural seldom seen in a "B-Western." As a matter of fact, a good friend of mine who is like me a fan of the old-time Western movies has said that this one is a "B-plus" -- almost an "A."The plot involves Gene and his sidekick Pat Buttram with an old drover, Tom Ford, who witnesses a murder in front of his town's saloon, but is intimidated by the bad guys into denying having seen anything other than "self-defense." Ford dies later in a run-away wagon accident, and as Gene sings the title song, this is where the "supernatural" aspect begins to manifest itself.In a list of the "100 best movie Westerns" selected by film critics, that I once found on line, this movie was one of those 100. It's obvious that several of the previous reviewers not only didn't think much of this one, but they don't seem to like ANY Autry movies very much. I wonder why they keep watching them and writing reviews?

Great rendition of the title song in the opening scene. The tune did indeed take the country by storm in that long ago year. The movie's plot is more complex than usual. I understand from IMDb that a second storyline-- one to justify the title-- was added to an almost completed first one, resulting in two story threads. One involves the old man (Tom London) and the ghost rider effects; the other involves the crooked Mc Cleary and the main plot line. The screenplay itself does a pretty good job combining the two. The real Gene was never one to pass up a good business opportunity, along with his ability to spot a popular song hit when he heard it. Both are in evidence here.Except for the "ghost rider" angle and effects, the movie is fairly standard matinée action. Gloria Henry shows a lot of spunk as good girl Anne, helping to liven up the talk. However, old movie buffs can take special pleasure in catching cult favorite Mary Beth Hughes in a patented role of brassy blonde saloon girl. And check out that hat she sports in one scene-- it's big enough to shade a whole army. Also, Alan Hale Jr., the skipper on Gilligan's Island, puts in an appearance as a marshal. But it's the title song and ghostly effects that most mark this entry as one for Autry fans to catch..

This film has one of the coolest transitions in an Autry flick; it's when Old Man Roberts (Tom London) is about to die, and Gene immediately goes into the title song, actually cut short a bit from 'Ghost Riders in the Sky'. There's a lot of poetic imagery and the cinematography is quite good for the sequence. It almost raises the level of the film above it's B Western origins. Almost, but not quite. When you stop to consider what just happened, you realize that star Autry is singing a song while the old guy is dying, it's very incongruous.There's something else that's kind of unusual. During the scene when Gene chases the runaway stagecoach driven by Old Man Roberts, a long shot of the driver from a distance shows clearly that it's not Tom London in the driver's seat. He's only there for the close-ups. And once again, if you're a B Western fan like myself, how many times have you seen the stage driver go for his shoulder after getting shot from behind? Pat Buttram is Gene's sidekick in the story going by Chuckwalla Jones. I thought it a bit unusual that Champ bucked Chuckwalla off his back after being invited to ride double by Gene. It looked cool as a comedy gimmick, but why wouldn't Champ adhere to his master's request? It just came across as a little odd, but maybe it's just me.I must have missed something in the translation of the film, because the main villain Rock McCleary (Robert Livingston) is done in by the fact that the water rights to the land he's selling go along with the land. That revelation was made out to sound like a big deal, but I could only go 'Huh'? It seemed only natural to me. But McCleary was having the water piped in, so at that point I couldn't make any sense of it at all. I'm going to have to see this again for whatever it is I missed, just not right away.

I was never a Gene Autry fan, being a Roy Rogers fan from age 5, but of all the Autry movies, I recall this one. Tom London who plays the dying prospector tells Gene that the "Ghost Riders" are coming after him. Autry goes to the window and looks out to see the image of shadowy riders coming through the clouds. At this point, Gene sings the song. It is introduced more logically into the plot than any of his other songs. There is also a reprisal at the end of the movie. Even today, when I look up into a stormy sky, the song comes immediately to mind. It was written by Stan Jones, an ex-park ranger, who appeared in Autry's films and who also wrote another Autry hit, "Whirlwind." Tom London, who had appeared in several Republic films as Sunset Carson's sidekick, has said that this particular scene got him other parts in movies and television.