Winning of the West

This Autry western was released at the start of the last year Gene made feature-length movies, 1953, and both he and the genre look tired. We're at least 10 to 12 minutes into the film before the star makes his initial appearance, and nearly all of the time prior to his arrival is taken up by Smiley Burnette's hamming it up while he's the one center stage. The director always needed to keep Burnette on a tight rein to prevent his running off with Autry movies; apparently this one didn't do that.

Gene Autry had a way of knowing when he had a good vehicle to work in, and when it was mediocre or a dud, and he doesn't seem to have his heart in this one. Not only does the actor playing his brother look nothing like Autry, but his performance is rather lifeless, too.

Add to that the fact that the musical interludes tend to slow down the action instead of advancing the plot, and that the stunting in the fight scenes is poorly done (it's imprecise and half-hearted), and you have a movie that it's just hard to get into -- even for a lifelong Gene Autry fan like myself. Not one of the better offerings from late in his career.