JohnHowardReid Copyright 23 August 1937 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 23 August 1937. U.K. release through British Lion. Australian release through British Empire Films: 18 May 1939. 6 reels. 60 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The movie opens with a sequence showing big city crooks bringing modern cattle rustling techniques to the prairies. In a scene that must have seemed then like a sophisticated James Bond caper, we see rustlers operating a mobile slaughter house. A plane spots the herd and radios its location to trucks hauling men and horses. Riders quickly round up the cattle and butchers clout them over the head as they come through a chute. They remove their hides, quarter them and load the beef aboard refrigerated trucks for shipping to a packing house. Then, it's a quick fadeout before Sheriff Matt Doniphon (William Farnum) and Gene Autry, his first deputy, come to the scene. The slick operation has brought mounting headaches to the sheriff. The raids, combined with a rancher's killing, have brought a storm of protests. Headlines in the Prairie County Courier blare: "Rustlers Strike Again. Another Herd Vanishes Overnight." "Reign of Terror Sweeps Prairie County." "Sheriff Doniphon No Match for Modern Rustlers." Newspaper editor Helen Morgan (Ann Rutherford) thinks the sheriff's old-time methods are outmoded. She is campaigning to have him ousted. COMMENT: Kane's 21st film as a director, but he was still young enough here to experiment a bit with the camera, what with whip pans, running inserts, diagonal angles, dollying-back shots, even a combination whip pan and running insert. True a lot of his direction is expectedly routine and some of it is even a bit rough around the edges, but overall it has a vigor lacking in his later more polished (if still thoroughly routine) efforts.Fortunately the accent is firmly on action in this Public Cowboy, though Gene does get to sing four or five songs, including happily "The Old Buckaroo". The budget is high with lots of extras, plus location shooting. Our only complaint is that the long-anticipated big action climax starts off big enough but ends rather tamely.Autry is as personable and ingratiating as ever, whilst Burnette provides amusing support. Miss Rutherford is much more appealing here than in her childish impressions over at M-G-M's Andy Hardy stables. Silent star William Farnum has a meaty role. Arthur Loft is okay as the villain, James C. Morton equally acceptable as an additional comedy relief.

thefensk This is a pretty typical early Gene Autry Western. Cowpokes and cattle and horses and cars/trucks/airplanes ... yeehaw.Anyway, the most unusual scene in this movie, very subtle indeed, is the opening sequence. Gene, ridin' and singin' along, the titles rolling by. Check out behind him and see if you see anything odd.What's that? Looks like a dummy or something. No, it's Smiley Burnette, riding backwards with a forward facing mask on the back of his head. Even funnier, once the titles and song are finished, Gene and another guy have a long conversation before they even mention the bizarre Smiley and his "disguise" ...His explanation: It was a disguise so that he could keep an eye out so no one could sneak up on them from behind. Ah, Smiley. Ah, humanity.

John W Chance We watch Gene Autry movies for his sincerity, his interplay with a female lead or Smiley Burnette (all on display in 'Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge' from 1937), a mean villain or an interesting story (as in 'The Big Show' from 1936) but in this film we get none of these.Too much of it is outdoors with new or stock footage of cattle movements, rustlings and chasing of the rustlers. Unless Yakima Canutt is available for doing Gene's stunts, we get more singing than slam bang action. The only good song is "Old Buck-a-Roo" about an old man hanging up his boots and saddles.We get to see the spunky Ann Rutherford, who went on to play Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy movies. But in this one, too much time is wasted on poor low comedy (Smiley Burnette sitting backwards on a horse, trapped in a meat packing truck, and paired as the head in a two man steer costume), and outdoor landscape chases. One of Smiley's songs was cut from the edited version I have ("I Got the Heebie Jeebie Blues")and his "Defective Detective from Brooklyn" is certainly one of the high points (?) of his career as a singer-composer.Hardly any character interaction or development to speak of. Only good if you like to watch lots of men on horseback chasing more men on horseback across the plains. I'll give it a two and half.

bkoganbing Times are changing out in the west and there's this gang of rustlers who've got sheriff William Farnum and Deputy Gene Autry baffled. The local newspaper editor Ann Rutherford is calling for sheriff Farnum to be replaced and that's not sitting well with Gene. Besides that political differences are interfering in a promising romance.Who'd ever have believed it, but Gene's perennial sidekick Smiley Burnette decides that a short wave radio just might be the key to things and son of a gun he turns out to be right. Ham radio operators the world over must have loved this picture.No really great songs for Gene come out of this particular film, but Smiley Burnette is a sight to see in a disguise as a cow trying to fend off the attentions of an amorous bull. All in the line of doing some undercover work. Worth watching Public Cowboy No. 1 for that alone.