Public Cowboy No. 1 (1937)

Expected more

Best movie ever!

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"Rustlers using modern technology (airplanes, shortwave radios, refrigerated trucks) are Gene's target."--IMDb Summary The version of "Public Cowbiy No. 1" I saw was only 53 minutes long instead of the time listed on IMDb. This is most likely because in the early days of TV they cut down many B-westerns to make them fit TV time slots. However, it's odd that this abbreviated version STILL has so many songs in it, as usually they shortened the films by clipping off a few songs. Actually, clipping a song or two isn't a bad thing, as it tended to speed up the films and keep them much more coherent! But, with ALL the songs seemingly intact in this film, it's not among Autry's best.The film begins with Gene Autry doing what he does best--singing a song. Soon you see the most amazingly ridiculous cattle rustlers strike nearby. Although this is a western, the baddies drive up in a HUGE modern truck--one that was awfully ridiculous. With meticulous precision, folks pop out of the truck and they quickly butcher and skin the cattle--and hide them in this refrigerated truck! What sort of western would have this any many other oddities in the old west? Yep...a Gene Autry film! You'll also see Gene's Sidekick, Frog (Smiley Burnett) using a shortwave radio, Gene chasing a truck down a highway...with his horse and airplanes! It's the weird sort of melange that even Roy Rogers films tended to avoid--and Autry films abounded with over the years.So is it any good? Well, not particularly. But, it's also pleasant enough as a time-passer...and it IS funny to see all these modern devices along with so many old fashioned at the same time.

With many of Gene Autry's pictures taking place in the 'modern' era, it's only fitting that modern methods be used to tell the story. Consequently, cattle rustlers resort to spotter planes, short wave radio and refrigerated trucks not only to steal cattle, but butcher them and load the meat out before anyone can figure out how it's being done. With the times passing him by, old time sheriff Matt Doniphon (William Farnum) is approached to resign in favor of the Quackenbush Detective Agency, using the latest in scientific criminology techniques to put an end to cattle rustling in Prairie County.Interestingly, Gene himself finds himself on the side of the old timers in this one, which is probably not the way you want to present your leading man, but he manages to make it work. With a play list of a half dozen tunes or so, "Public Cowboy No. 1" demonstrates that experience and loyalty can sometimes trump innovation.The one to watch in this picture is Gene's sidekick Smiley Burnette. His character, Frog Millhouse goes for more slapstick than usual, with an unusual opening scene where he's riding on his horse backwards with a goofy mask on the back of his head. It's distracting enough by itself, and you're left wondering quite a while what's up with that until Gene finishes his first song, 'Wanderers of the Wasteland'. Later on, Smiley dangles from a meat hook, trapped in the back of a meat packing truck, and takes a swipe at Oriental Detective Charlie Chan with his rendition of 'The Defective Detective From Brooklyn'. One thing about that meat hook scene - after Smiley falls off the truck, there's no longer a hole in the back of his jacket! There shouldn't be any doubt about the picture's eventual outcome. Gene and his cowboy posse track down villain Shannon (Arthur Loft) and his bad guy bunch, and manages to win over the pretty editor of the Prairie Junction Courier (Ann Rutherford). For their part, the methods of the Quackenbush Agency turn out to be all wet, and you have to hand it to Smiley and pal Stubby (Frankie Marvin). As a pair of would be cattle rustling detectives, it turns out they did their best work under cow-ver.

Gene Autry helps out a sheriff who is besieged by rustlers who are using spotter planes and short wave radios to get the cattle. A good, if some what forgettable, tale that plays in a way more like one of Republic Studio's serials with electronic gadgets and solid action. The problem with the film is, like with many Autry films, is that there is perhaps a bit too many songs. Granted the songs are nicely shoe horned into the tale, but at the same time they slow the momentum of the story. (I like Autry's films, I even like the songs, I just don't like the number of songs in the movies.) Worth a look especially if you're doing more than one movie.

We watch Gene Autry movies for his sincerity, his interplay with a female lead or Smiley Burnette (all on display in 'Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge' from 1937), a mean villain or an interesting story (as in 'The Big Show' from 1936) but in this film we get none of these.Too much of it is outdoors with new or stock footage of cattle movements, rustlings and chasing of the rustlers. Unless Yakima Canutt is available for doing Gene's stunts, we get more singing than slam bang action. The only good song is "Old Buck-a-Roo" about an old man hanging up his boots and saddles.We get to see the spunky Ann Rutherford, who went on to play Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy movies. But in this one, too much time is wasted on poor low comedy (Smiley Burnette sitting backwards on a horse, trapped in a meat packing truck, and paired as the head in a two man steer costume), and outdoor landscape chases. One of Smiley's songs was cut from the edited version I have ("I Got the Heebie Jeebie Blues")and his "Defective Detective from Brooklyn" is certainly one of the high points (?) of his career as a singer-composer.Hardly any character interaction or development to speak of. Only good if you like to watch lots of men on horseback chasing more men on horseback across the plains. I'll give it a two and half.