Apache Country (1952)

You won't be disappointed!

Wow! Such a good movie.

Pretty Good

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.

Apache Country finds Captain Gene Autry on a special mission out west to find out who is stirring up the Apaches now that Geronimo is retired from warmaking. He's to pretend he's now retired from the Army and he and Pat Buttram are to pretend to be looking for ranch property to settle down in.The head of this scheme is Harry Lauter and I have to say it's an interesting one. He's the one supplying weaponry and whiskey to the Apache and he wants them stirred. I won't reveal it, but he's got a nice deal cooked up with them for his own outlaw band.Of course what Lauter wants could not happen without the connivance of the Indian agent and Sydney Mason along with his daughter Mary Scott is most conniving.Unlike his number one rival Roy Rogers who featured of course Dale Evans and other female musical performers as leading ladies, Autry usually didn't in his films. This one is a glorious exception with Carolina Cotton as a singing and shooting Annie Oakley type. No romance though is written in the script for them.Apache Territory is a nice Gene Autry western both dramatically and musically.

I watch these old Westerns in which Indians play a large part and I can't help but think about those folks who insist that the Washington Redskins change the name of the team. They'd be absolutely apoplectic over the way Native Americans are depicted here, even when Gene narrates a respectful tribute to rituals like the Eagle Dance and the Buffalo Dance. Oh well, times certainly do change.Gene goes under cover in this story, ditching his military garb and returning to the town of Apache Springs as a regular rancher, taking along sidekick Pat Buttram. He's also got a female operative helping out, as singer and Medicine Show owner Carolina Cotton seeks justice for the murder of her father at the hands of villain Dave Kilrain (Harry Lauter). I'm always curious to see how Lauter turns up in Autry's stories, sometimes cast as an outlaw and sometimes as a good guy. My first recollection of him is from the old TV Western "Tales of the Texas Rangers" where he played the amiable Ranger Clay Morgan. Just checking his credits here on the IMDb and he's got over three hundred career listings! In the story, Kilrain creates local havoc by supplying Indians with guns and stoking up trouble as a cover for his own gang's bandit activities. I got a kick out of an opening scene when his raiders attacked the stagecoach with Gene, Pat, Carolina and Kilrain's fiancée Laura Rayburn (Mary Scott) on board. At one point, an outlaw bullet shoots off Carolina's bonnet, but when she pulls back into the stagecoach it's back on her head! Probably the highlight of the picture, at least for me, had nothing to do with the story per se. When Carolina Cotton goes into song and begins to yodel it's a wonder to behold. She did a number here that was absolutely incredible in the way she controlled her voice to create those musical sounds. You really have to hear it to appreciate it.As for the story itself, well it was pretty standard when all is said and done. For an Autry film, I think it might have set a record in a reverse direction for number of tunes; I only counted two which would be the least of any picture I've seen. Pat Buttram got my summary line in when he prefaced it by stating Gene should get a promotion. I thought about it, and it sounded like something Leo Gorcey would have come up with.

No where close to classic, but evocative of Saturday morning at the movies. Ridin', shootin', singin' and Indian uprisings. Gene Autry never lets you down. His movies are simple and very predictable. APACHE COUNTRY is no different. Gene's sidekick Pat Buttram joins Mary Scott, Francis X. Bushman, Carolina Cotton and Iron Eyes Cody in this sagebrush drama. 62 minutes of wholesome escape.

When I think of classic westerns, no Gene Autry flicks come to mind. But, when I think of western stars, he's among the FIRST to come to mind. So, it never surprises me when I give his films just mediocre marks. Such is my grade for this effort. It has what you'd expect in a Gene Autry movie: plenty of tunes (even a Hank Williams standard and a female singer/yodeler); a plot and action which seems somewhat contrived; and lots of Pat Buttram foolishness. Here we have pseudo-resigned cavalrymen Autry and Buttram planted in Arizona as start-up cattlemen. Actually, they're there to learn why Indian raids are occurring in an area where a no-raid treaty exists. Only SLIGHT bellicose Apache behavior is shown, however; and, it's clarified that THAT is encouraged by caucasians. As always, after enduring intrigue from many angles, Gene and Pat get the job done and the bad guys are quelled.