While I like watching Gene Autry films, I must admit that "The Singing Cowboy" is a bit of a disappointment. First, the villain (Lon Chaney Jr.) is pretty dull. Second, and more importantly, the film is awfully schmaltzy...much more so than usual.
When the story begins, a rancher is killed and Gene becomes the guardian of the dead man's young daughter. However, when a baddie starts a fire, she is injured and needs an expensive brain operation (I am not kidding)! To earn the money for this, Gene begins performing on a television show sponsored by a coffee company. Later, the grown daughter of this coffee magnate disappears....and appears singing in Gene's show. How does this relate to the expensive operation? Tune in and see.
Apart from the film being very forward-thinking with its television angle (at a point in time when it was definitely in the experimental stage), the film is bogged down with a cute keep needing some unspecified expensive brain operation! This is schmatziness to the nth degree...and really seriously hurt the film. Instead of being tough and action-packed, it's almost like a parody of a B-western...just the sort of sticky stuff I hate and I am pretty sure audiences of the day felt the same way! As for Chaney, he later developed into a decent actor but here he is completely wooden and unconvincing.
Oh, and one other thing....early in the film when the girl's father is killed, he confronts the evil Martin (Chaney) in the act of stealing and announces that he's going to the sheriff and will put Martin in jail for this....all the while Martin is holding a gun!! Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's happening next....and this scene is written terribly.
When the story begins, a rancher is killed and Gene becomes the guardian of the dead man's young daughter. However, when a baddie starts a fire, she is injured and needs an expensive brain operation (I am not kidding)! To earn the money for this, Gene begins performing on a television show sponsored by a coffee company. Later, the grown daughter of this coffee magnate disappears....and appears singing in Gene's show. How does this relate to the expensive operation? Tune in and see.
Apart from the film being very forward-thinking with its television angle (at a point in time when it was definitely in the experimental stage), the film is bogged down with a cute keep needing some unspecified expensive brain operation! This is schmatziness to the nth degree...and really seriously hurt the film. Instead of being tough and action-packed, it's almost like a parody of a B-western...just the sort of sticky stuff I hate and I am pretty sure audiences of the day felt the same way! As for Chaney, he later developed into a decent actor but here he is completely wooden and unconvincing.
Oh, and one other thing....early in the film when the girl's father is killed, he confronts the evil Martin (Chaney) in the act of stealing and announces that he's going to the sheriff and will put Martin in jail for this....all the while Martin is holding a gun!! Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's happening next....and this scene is written terribly.