Rainbow Over Texas (1947)
Heart of the Rio Grande (1942)

Directed by William Morgan

Republic Pictures Corp. Producer: Harry Grey. Screenwriter: Lillie Hayward, Winston Miller. Cinematographer: Harry Neuman. Editor: Les Orlebeck. With: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Fay McKenzie, Edith Fellows, Pierre Watkins.35mm, b/w, Sound, 68 min.

Heart Of The Rio Grande was Gene Autry’s fifty-first film in less than eight years, most of them bottom-of-the double bill programmers, so probably a bit of inertia had set in. It was also made when the Western as a genre had barely been rehabilitated with Stagecoach (1939, John Ford), The Westerner (1940, William Wyler), and Fritz Lang’s The Return Of Frank James (1940), making Autry programmers that usually ran only an hour for the Saturday matinee crowd in town and all week for the hayseeds, the norm rather than the exception. But Heart Of The Rio Grande was also different, because it’s a contemporary Western, taking place in 1942, the first year of America’s involvement in World War II, reflected in the narrative in Gene’s plea for folks to buy war bonds. It’s less of an action film than many of Autry’s westerns, and more of a lyrical, musical western.

Autry runs a dude ranch and must contend with the spoiled daughter of a millionaire and a disgruntled ex-foreman, but the plot is strictly routine. Gene manages to find time to sing a few tunes of course, including “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” “Dusk on the Painted Desert” and “Rumble Seat for Two.” Autry’s regular sidekick, Smiley Burnette, provides added comic relief in tandem with his pint-sized double, Joe Strauch Jr. The girl is played by Fay McKenzie, who was the flavor du jour in 1941-42, lasting for five Autry films. Here she gets rescued and serenaded a few times and is generally cute.

Jan-Christopher Horak

Preserved in cooperation with Paramount Pictures from a 35mm nitrate composite dupe negative. Laboratory services by The Stanford Theatre Film Laboratory, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio.