To fight a poisonous weed, ranchers are burning their land. Gene is the Inspector brought in and he recommends spraying. The spraying goes well until the Larabee ranch is reached. When Larrabee refuses to allow the equipment on his land, Gene has it sprayed by airplane. Cattle must stay off recently sprayed land and when a Larrabee man shoots down the plane, the crash sends the cattle stampeding toward the newly sprayed land.
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Reviews
Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
This is the second time I've seen Gene Autry in a flick where he could be considered on the wrong side of an environmental issue. The other was "Riders of the Whistling Pines" in which DDT is mentioned by name, and where Gene sounds like an apologist for the chemical industry. DDT was eventually banned, but the offending chemical is never mentioned by name here.Fay McKenzie appeared fairly regularly in Gene's pictures during the early Forties, and she shows up here as well as the daughter of George Larrabee (Robert Homans), one of the ranchers opposed to chemical spraying. However the threat of a poisonous 'devil weed' has him and his neighbors boxed into a system of burning rangeland, only to have the noxious plant return with a vengeance. There didn't seem to be any other solution besides the spraying though, and the Larrabee's fell in line by the end of the story, thanking Gene for his perseverance.Sierra Sue - that would be McKenzie - as well as the title song. Gene gets in a few other tunes, along with 'Ridin' the Range', but Smiley Burnette turns in the best with 'I Got the Heebie-Jeebie Blues' while spending the day in jail with Gene over a robbery misunderstanding. Now that I think about it, nothing ever came of those bags of money the boys found in the crashed plane. What's up with that? For all his effort, Smiley has just the toughest time in the romance department, but he goes the extra mile to impress Sierra Sue with the old cannonball gimmick. The way he sailed through the air was a well done effect, and I'd be curious to know how they did that. Still, Gene gets the title girl at the end of the picture, but Smiley's Frog Millhouse didn't do so bad winding up with the psychic Miss Featherstone (Dorothy Christy). I wonder if she saw it coming?
Better than average Autry programmer. Producers are an often overlooked item in the production crew. However, whoever produced this 60 minutes for Republic (not listed by IMDb) deserves real commendation. There are more thoughtful and expensive touches than usual. The location scenes are excellent with a minimum of process shots. The stampede sequence is central to the action and surprisingly is a real stampede with an actual herd on location. No stock shots, although there are a few shots of Gene against a back projection screen. Also, the aerial shots appear real, without the usual shortcuts. Great location photography of mountains, sky, and clouds-- after all, what else do cowboy movies celebrate but the great American outdoors. The plot's an interesting mix of old and new. The appeal of the New Deal's federal government is in evidence here. Autry represents the capacity of the feds with their research labs to help the stubbornly independent ranching industry deal with a menace (killer weeds) beyond their usual skills. None of this is meant to take away from the easy-going humor and charm of this Saturday afternoon special that kept me enthralled as a boy and still does as a gray-beard adult.
Autry and "Frog" are experts on weed control and staunch advocates of herbicide use in this fast-paced oater. Brought in to help control an epidemic of "devil weed" that's killing cattle, they must overcome opposition to chemical solutions and figure out which one of them gets the girl (Autry, of course). Along the way there are some pretty amusing scenes, including one where Frog's shot out of a cannon to impress the gal. When one angry ranch hand shoots down the airplane Autry and Co. are spraying with, it's up to Gene to stop the stampede that ensues and save the day for a chemical future.
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