I guess I've seen about a dozen Gene Autry films in recent months, but the hook for this one is that I happen to have the original theatrical poster for it, proclaiming that 'Gene's Rangers ride herd on the killers who tried to take Texas for a ride'. In the story, Gene and his sidekick Pat Buttram put the word out to his former Ranger allies to band together once again to smoke out corruption in the Texas State Police in the decade following the Civil War. The affidavits they obtain from local ranchers are expected to discredit police adjutant General Slaydon (Robert Livingston) when presented to the state legislature at Galveston. That's the connection to the title, as Gene drives the stagecoach and the supporting documents to their destination in the finale.
Did you notice something odd in that opening scene in the shop of the Galveston Sentinel? Right after Pat's trousers get caught on the tray of newspaper type to send it all careening, Pat's face is shown with a face full of printer's ink. Nicely done for comic effect, but the way the scene plays out, that would never have happened. The other somewhat 'messy' scene had to do with Pat commenting on young Cathy's (Judy Nugent) washing some clothes - he couldn't have been more chauvinistic in expressing that that's one of the reasons to keep women around.
Gene has his share of singing chores in this story, showcasing such Texas themed songs as "A Heart As Big As Texas" and "Eyes of Texas". I didn't realize that the melody to the latter tune actually had words, recalling it mainly as the theme song bookending episodes of the classic TV Western series, "Tales of the Texas Rangers". Seems to me that the song for that show had a different set of lyrics specifically written for it.
Fine supporting cast in this one, with Thurston Hall as newspaperman Colonel Bellamy, and Virginia Huston as his daughter Ann. Judy Nugent is called upon to witness the murder of her father to set up part of the plot whereby she's taken in by the Bellamy's, as Gene and Pat serve as her surrogate uncles. As Cathy Evans, she's got quite a lot to do actually, including a climb up the chimney escape to make the save for the good guys.
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