It’s been quite some time since I’ve written an entry in this series, inspired by Pierre Berton’s immortal tome of the same name. While flipping thru the filmography appendix, I noticed the unofficial prequel to the last film I reviewed, Gene Autry’s Blue Canadian Rockies. 1951’s Gene Autry and the Mounties has Gene singing the title track to the former film and the usual reliable mix of horse chases, shoot-outs, brawls and sidekick hijinks, all wrapped up in Autry’s usual family-friendly branding.
As you may guess, Mounties sees US Marshall Autry (playing another version of himself) and sidekick Scat Russell (Autry regular Pat Buttram) wandering north of Montana to what would geographically be Alberta, but for dramatic purposes is the mythical Canadian wilderness of wooden cabins, dastardly Frenchmen, inaccurate Indigenous people and Mountie outposts. It’s the latter the pair run into first as they find several of the boys in red tangling with the villainous Pierre Lablond (Carleton Young), whom Autry suspects might be responsible for a string of robberies south of the 49th.
It turns out that not only is Lablond their man, but he plans to use the money to help finance plans to seize former Hudsons Bay Company land to start a new nation in the Canadian West with what sound suspiciously like Marxist ideals. Perhaps ahead of the character’s time (the film’s time period is vaguely turn-of-the century), but certainly appropriate for a film produced amidst a Red Scare.
As Autry and Scat assist Mountie Sgt Dillon (Richard Emery) in tracking the French Canadian and his gang down, they may find assistance in homesteader Marie Duval (Elena Verdugo) who has family connections to the gang. But they encounter resistance in the same household from her younger brother Jack (Jim Frasher) who hero-worships Lablond and has little more than contempt for the local Mountie detachment. At least Jack’s dog King seems more cooperative as Gene certainly has a way with animals beyond his faithful horse, Champ.
Autry and co again manage to deliver a satisfying and entertaining package that played well back then and may still play alright today if you can look past the complete disregard for Canadian historical accuracy and eyebrow-raising Indigenous comic stereotypes. There’s no complicated narrative themes or dirty, dusty moral quandaries to grapple with here. Just the clean-cut and righteous white hats vs. the dastardly (and very french!) black hats. Autry has a fine singing voice and amiable screen presence, but Buttram handily steals every scene he’s in and the more experienced thespians keep the B-movie drama elevated.
Gene Autry and the Mounties delivers nostalgic and decent entertainment value. The golden California hills once again sub in for the Blue Canadian Rockies in what is now a reversal of the Pacific Northwest currently subbing for the various 50 states on countless episodes of TV. What it lacks in verisimilitude, it makes up for in charm and sometimes that’s more than enough to make for happy trails.
7/10
Gene Autry and the Mounties can currently be streamed on Prime Video