Pretty Good

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

First off, let me inform planktonrules, above, that the title, "Rim of the Canyon," DOES have something to do with the movie! It's the title song, which Gene sings early on; and there is mention made in dialogue of a particular place in the Western area where the film takes place, referred to locally as "the rim of the canyon." So there.Gene Autry's movies for Columbia, which were filmed starting in 1947, tended to include darker plots, less music, more action, and a more mature, better actor as the star. And "Rim of the Canyon" is one of the best.Autry is sabotaged out of winning a stagecoach race, and, with an injured leg, limps into a ghost town where he meets a rather plain, bespectacled young school teacher Ruth Lambert (Nan Leslie). She goes to the town to be alone and write when she has time, and as Gene discovers, she is friends with an older man who lives there secretly, and who faked his own death years before, Big Tim Hanlon (Thurston Hall).Meanwhile, three outlaws who were captured after a $30,000 robbery 20 years before have broken out of prison and are headed for the ghost town to reclaim the money one hid there before their capture. The connection? They were captured by Sheriff Steve Autry, Gene's father, also played by Gene in a flashback. While preparing to head for the ghost town, they steal Gene's horse Champ, who was waiting for his master to return from the stagecoach race. As a result, Champ plays a much larger part in this film than in most Autrys, including getting his own revenge on one of the three outlaws.Autry is informed by the elderly stranger in the ghost town that Ruth is in love with the cowboy. He also tells how he (Hanlon) has come to be known as the "ghost" in the "ghost town." Shortly after, the three crooks arrive, and the plot thickens and includes much more action than in the first half of the movie -- including two knock-down, drag-out fights between Gene and the towering Jack Mahoney, playing the youngest of the thugs. Some serious gun play and riding is also included before Gene finally wins out in the end -- and wins Ruth also. She has been transformed into a beautifully gowned, strikingly lovely young woman at a "magic moment" in the film.Gene Autry's riding, fighting and acting are outstanding in this movie. The others also turn in fine acting jobs, especially Thurston Hall as the "ghost." In fact, when he's walking away from the camera, chuckling, near the end, did it seem to anyone else that he just suddenly disappeared into the night? ...This is a very fine B-Western, one of Gene's best, never mind what some of the "nay-sayers" above think about it. I heartily recommend it.

I guess I would consider this a ghost themed Western, even if the title didn't use the words 'ghost' or 'haunted' to describe the picture. I find this to be a neat little sub-genre of the Western movie experience, and find particular delight in these kinds of stories. The only thing is, this wasn't much of a ghost story, as the 'ghost' turned out to be a character who faked his own death some twenty years earlier. On the face of it, I'm not buying that premise but what the heck, it's a Gene Autry picture.You know, if you keep an eye on Gene in the early going, it looked like he really might have hurt himself when his stagecoach crashed during the Frontier Days Celebration race. He grabs his right thigh as if in pain, and actually grimaces as the scene transitions to the next part of the story. Gene uses a makeshift cane for the ensuing scenes, so I'm curious now whether the story was written that way, or around the fact that he might have been slightly injured.Nan Leslie appeared in quite a few B Westerns but I have to say, she never looked more glamorous than she did here once she shed the bookworm image used when Gene first found her at The Bonanza. The story goes on to reveal how she became aware of Gene back in Canyon Junction and fell in love with him from afar, knowing that he had a thing going with saloon gal Lily Shannon. I was curious about a phrase Lily used when she showed Gene her new dress - "Isn't it pash"? I had to look that up - a slang expression for passionate, which I take would be the way she felt about Gene, even while Alan Hale was making his move on her. Interestingly, she didn't show up in the story again.So what we have here is a story about a trio of outlaws out to recover some stolen loot after serving a twenty year hitch for a stagecoach robbery. Well, two of them anyway, the third outlaw was shot and replaced by Jock Mahoney, appearing as he did in these early B Westerns as O'Mahoney. It's too bad he didn't get to show off his riding skills here, he was one of the best in my book. But this was Gene's picture.Now I've got to say, I was at a loss for words at the finale when Champion got in on the action and stomped one of the baddies to death. It was done off screen, but it still resonated with this viewer. You could say that villain Jake Fargo (Walter Sande) had it coming to him, but gee, that was tough way to go. As far as movie horses go, I'd say he was one up on Trigger.

Rim Of The Canyon finds Gene Autry without a sidekick, usually a necessary character in the B western. But the film does make up for the lack of a Smiley Burnette or a Pat Buttram in it with a somewhat unusual story about a ghost town and a ghost.Gene Autry comes to town to drive in a stagecoach race and learns of the escape of three convicts from prison, Walter Sande, Jock Mahoney, and Francis McDonald. Sande is someone that Gene's father, Marshal Steve Autry sent to prison for a $30,000.00 robbery from which the loot was never recovered. In a flashback sequence where Gene plays his father we see how the capture was made.Getting thrown from the stagecoach and seeking shelter and help, Gene arrives in a ghost town where the local school marm has taken to spending some time. Nan Leslie is there fascinated by the ghost of a mining tycoon who haunts the place. She and Gene will need all the help they can get from this world and the next when the three escaped convicts arrive looking for the loot which by coincidence Sande stashed there.With this glimpse into the supernatural, Rim Of The Canyon is a cut or two above the average B western. Gene was making them at this point for Columbia having left the cowboy stable of Republic and Herbert J. Yates. The stories and the treatment reflect that, there are some brutal scenes in Rim Of The Canyon that Yates would never have allowed his cowboy heroes to participate in.Rounding out the cast in Rim Of The Canyon are Alan Hale, Jr. as Gene's rival in the stagecoach race, Thurston Hall as a very avuncular ghost who hosts Gene and Nan, and Clem Bevans playing his usual old codger prospector.Gene wrote and sang the two songs from this film, the title song and one of his most enduring hits, You're The Only Star In My Blue Heaven.A good western for Mr. Autry even if he didn't have a sidekick.

Riding, shooting and singing...Gene Autry plays in a dual role chasing bad guys that his dad Marshal Steve Autry(Autry)jailed over twenty years earlier. Wonder horse Champion is stolen and Gene has tracked the culprits to a ghost town where school teacher Ruth Lambert(Nan Leslie)believes to have talked to the ghost of an old prospector(Clem Bevans). Gene finds Champion and the horse gets his revenge by trampling a villain. Gene finds time to romance Ruth and gets to sing the popular "You're The Only Star In My Blue Heaven" as well as the title song "Rim Of The Canyon". It is easy to see that Columbia Pictures has a larger budget than Republic. Also in the cast: Thurston Hall, Jock Mahoney and Alan Hale Jr.