Cow Town (1950) Online

Well-done Autry oater, longer than usual (70-min.). I guess I'd never thought about a homely item like barbed wire and its significance before now. Thanks to the movie, however, I know a lot more, and have a greater appreciation. Plot-wise, Gene has to prove the wire's worth to ranchers despite land grabbers who want to sabotage its effectiveness. There's a great scenic climax with more sweep and manpower than usual, along with a lot of hard riding. Those Sierra vistas in the background are majestic as heck, while the guys thread through the rock spires of the familiar Alabama Hills.

Too bad Gene sings only snatches of some classic western tunes. I could have used more of "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie". No comedy sidekick here, though Buddy Burroughs (Duke) carries the youth angle. I do, however, wonder whether using the towering Tarzan (Mahoney) as a two-fisted foil for Autry was a good idea. Gene may be a heckuva stunt man, but visually Mahoney's got a big edge. And catch the spunky Gail Davis. Unlike most leading ladies, she looks like she belongs outdoors. Speaking of outdoors, these oaters give a geezer like me a chance to get back out in the Big-Open, if only vicariously. I guess you can take the kid out of the matinée, but you can't take the matinée out of the kid.

Anyhow, an "8" on the matinée scale.

Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, faces opposition when introducing barbed wire to thwart cattle rustlers. Stringing barbed wire around his own ranch causes ranchers to believe the wire is causing damage to their cattle. Friends against friends, neighbors not trusting neighbors; cowhands rebelling against the use of barbed wire thinking their jobs were in jeopardy. And someone is using the wire as an excuse to stampede cattle. Gene's strongest opposition comes from a beautiful ranch owner(Gail Davis).

Also in the cast: Jock Mahoney, Harry Harvey, Steve Darrell and Harry Shannon. Along with stopping fence wars and rustlers, Gene sings a few tunes like "Powder Your Face With Sunshine", "Cowboy's Lament" and "Down In The Valley".

Compared to some of Gene's other pictures like "Carolina Moon" and "Heart of the Rio Grande", "Cow Town" isn't one of the more romantic sounding titles in the cowboy actor's prolific lineup. Probably just as well considering the subject matter. The story seems to tell the unofficial history of barbed wire and even though the theme has been used in other TV and movie Westerns, I don't think I've ever seen it given the emphasis it has here.

Specifically, Gene and his fellow ranchers have been irked by stolen cattle, so he brings in a load of this new fangled contraption that he intends to show everyone how it can be used to keep livestock in their place. Added benefits include keeping a firmer rein on breeding stock and preventing herds from mixing with each other on open range land. But there's always a fly in the ointment. This time, partners Reeves (Harry Shannon) and Hilliard (Steve Darrell) use the well tested plot device of buying up foreclosed ranches so they can move in with sheep in direct competition with the cattle ranchers. So they go about tearing down the fences and maiming cattle in an effort to prove that barbed wire isn't a solution to the cattlemen's problem

There's a scene in the movie that's positively a head scratcher. Remember when Reeves pins down the two henchmen Mike and Ed during the posse chase - he tells them to throw down their guns and come out in the open. So with their hands up in the air, they step out and Reeves shoots them both for reasons we find out about later. But when Gene arrives on the scene with the sheriff, both dead men are shown with a gun in their outstretched hand to support Reeves' claim that they were about to shoot him. There's just no way to rationalize that event, so I won't even try.

Very cool to see one of my favorites, Jock Mahoney here as a villain working for Reeves and Hilliard. At the time he was still using the name of O'Mahoney. I thought about his fist fight with Gene early in the picture, and in the real world, I don't think even a hero like Gene at forty three could have whipped up on the athletic Mahoney who was a decade younger at the time. But this was Gene's picture, so I don't have a problem with it. Mahoney of course would get his own 'Range Rider' TV series the following year while Gene would be filming his own show as well.

And boy, Autry regular Gail Davis sure takes her lumps in this story. I can't believe she had to fall in a mudhole three times over the course of the picture. Gene must have felt bad about it because in the final scene he joins her and they both have a good laugh about it. Besides that, the only other puzzler in the movie has to do with outlaw Hilliard - who in the world names their dog Nick?

This movie is very disappointing. The four songs are extremely unconforming; character actions are too changeable and illogical; and there's no sidekick. Rancher Gene intends to hinder rustlers by putting barbed-wire fencing around his spread, but not all cattlemen favor this tactic. In addition, many hired-hands think that it'll jeopardize their jobs. Concentrating on an ensuing confrontation instead of profitable herding, COULD result in some failures, which would cause non-payment of taxes, leading to a sheriff's sale of not-too-expensive real estate, which the bad guys would buy for sheep-grazing. Ginger and her younger brother, Duke, are Autry's wavering neighbors. Liveryman Sandy and his bogusly-estranged partner keep things riled up. Look elsewhere, however, if you're seeking an exemplary western.