Watch Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride For Free

As Good As It Gets

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Oh boy, where to start! For a cowboy hero, Gene Autry sure takes part in some questionable and seriously folks, unethical behavior, in this Republic oater, in the interest of saving his inherited meat packing company. I don't know which was worse actually, faking a marriage to a fourteen year old girl, or beating the tar out of an opposing company's lawyer to get back an already signed contract selling his business! Can you picture him running the California Angels using those kinds of tactics? You've really got to chalk this one up to being a product of simpler times, way, way simpler, when movie viewers didn't put too much thought into their pictures.Helping keep things in a lighter perspective, Smiley Burnette's up to his old tricks as Frog Millhouse, but I think he might have been upstaged in the comedy relief department by that glib suit salesman (Joe Frisco). The guy was so smooth I think he used double talk that I was able to understand, and that's pretty smooth. Smiley walks away with an armful of haberdashery and I don't think he had a clue. But you know, Smiley earns his nickname when he takes that hop into the swimming pool at the Randolph party; he actually looked like a frog!I also got a kick out of Autry's save on that runaway dynamite wagon, keep an eye on that scene and you'll see it takes place on two different terrains, mountainside and desert. That Gene sure knew how to steer! I was a little curious going in about the film's title, but it had nothing to do with Gene as a cowboy, but with his being a novice as a businessman. He gets to sing the title song while riding on horseback with the Randolphs, and I'd really like to believe the setting of the movie was somewhere in Texas. That would make sense; if you listen closely to the scene at poolside during the Randolph party, you'll hear Ann Randolph (June Storey) call out to Mr. Bush!!!

Many miles removed from the courtly, stodgy, and synthetic quasi-cowboy epics normally associated with Gene Autry. Spry and amusing script must have been snuck into Republic via some crew member's lunchbox (even the studio's trotting out their complete library of ancient stock footage for an obligatory stampede climax plays as DELIBERATE high comedy). Add a delightful score, an excellent supporting cast, and a young and almost relaxed looking performance from the star and you come up with a very rare package: an Autry that even an audience allergic to cowboy camp can enjoy. All in all a small delight.