In one of those odd coincidences I seem to run into time and again, one of the the last Westerns I saw and reviewed on this site was "Deep in the Heart of Texas", starring Johnny Mack Brown and Tex Ritter. That flick also came out in 1942, AND also utilized the talents of the Jimmy Wakely Trio. This film's original working title borrowed from the song that's heard prominently here a couple of times, and you can't get more Western than 'Deep in the Heart of Texas'.
With only a single appearance as Tadpole Millhouse in a prior Autry flick, Joe Strauch Jr. has the gimmick down real well as Frog's (Smiley Burnette) young companion, right down to the mannerisms that go with the look-a-like, though scaled down appearance. Tadpole has some fun at Smiley's expense, switching out his Slicko Hair Tonic (with Breath O' Roses!) for some of old Doc Hanley's Mineral Ointment. While Smiley pines away for the picture's leading lady (Fay McKenzie as Alice Bennett), Tadpole has an eye for the cute Jean Porter going by the name of Pudge. Couldn't figure that one out, Pudge wasn't pudgy, and was actually quite cute when you come right down to it.
Well the working plot here has Gene befriending an upstart teenager Connie Lane (Edith Fellows), who would rather be anyplace else than the Smoke River Ranch, recently converted to a dude ranch to help pay the bills. Gene replaces old foreman Hap Callahan (William Haade), who even though might rightly hold a grudge, I just couldn't see why he would take a gunshot at Gene during the horse round-up. What's even more questionable is that Gene shoots back! You know, they could have killed each other! I guess in simpler times the viewer wasn't supposed to be so concerned about bodily harm, as long as the good guys beat out the bad guys.
The most interesting part of the picture came when Gene did an outright commercial within the story line promoting his message for the defense of the country - 'Buy United States Savings Bonds and Stamps'. For me, that's the kind of good guys versus bad guys message I'd like to see more of today, especially when there's so many bad guys in the world to go around.
With only a single appearance as Tadpole Millhouse in a prior Autry flick, Joe Strauch Jr. has the gimmick down real well as Frog's (Smiley Burnette) young companion, right down to the mannerisms that go with the look-a-like, though scaled down appearance. Tadpole has some fun at Smiley's expense, switching out his Slicko Hair Tonic (with Breath O' Roses!) for some of old Doc Hanley's Mineral Ointment. While Smiley pines away for the picture's leading lady (Fay McKenzie as Alice Bennett), Tadpole has an eye for the cute Jean Porter going by the name of Pudge. Couldn't figure that one out, Pudge wasn't pudgy, and was actually quite cute when you come right down to it.
Well the working plot here has Gene befriending an upstart teenager Connie Lane (Edith Fellows), who would rather be anyplace else than the Smoke River Ranch, recently converted to a dude ranch to help pay the bills. Gene replaces old foreman Hap Callahan (William Haade), who even though might rightly hold a grudge, I just couldn't see why he would take a gunshot at Gene during the horse round-up. What's even more questionable is that Gene shoots back! You know, they could have killed each other! I guess in simpler times the viewer wasn't supposed to be so concerned about bodily harm, as long as the good guys beat out the bad guys.
The most interesting part of the picture came when Gene did an outright commercial within the story line promoting his message for the defense of the country - 'Buy United States Savings Bonds and Stamps'. For me, that's the kind of good guys versus bad guys message I'd like to see more of today, especially when there's so many bad guys in the world to go around.