The Old West (1952) User Reviews

Don't mess with Gene's horses ..........

[revdrcac · 7/10 · 21 June 2006]

In this later film from Gene's Columbia days, he does battle with ruffians diverting his much-needed horse supply. The action, script and casting here are quite good. Fans of less music/more action in their B-westerns should like this one.

Pat Butram provides several funny gags and both House Peters Sr AND Jr. appear in this one! The great Lyle Talbot is at his villainous best, (worst ?).

In many ways , this film was a departure from the song-filled light entertainment that Gene provided in the '40's. He did both well, but I feel this was one of the best of his later films ! Enjoy, pardners ...

"Well those plugs of mine could beat your windjammin' clodhoppers."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 3 October 2007]

"The Old West" offers a few curious elements for Gene Autry fans; for one, it looks like he learned a few judo throws for that stable fight against the bad guys. The other was seeing Dick Jones in the role of a villain, something I hadn't seen before. Jones doesn't really have the face for a villain, nor the voice or body language to be a nasty henchman. As a pair, Jones and House Peters Jr. had me going WHAT!?!? when they agreed to come back to Saddle Rock after the mob that wants to hang them cools down. And they came back!!!

The story is told in somewhat of a flashback style, though it needn't have since the action looks like it all might have happened just the day before. It's always curious to me why these old Westerns from the 1930's and '40's often had a father of a youngster who looked more like they should have been the grandfather. In fact, stage driver Jeff Blecker looked like he could have been Gene's father, even though the actor playing his character, Louis Jean Heydt, was only two years older than Autry.

The story itself contains a fairly common plot element, with bad guy town boss Doc Lockwood (Lyle Talbot) challenging Gene for the right to supply horses to the Southwestern Stage Lines. Doc feels his ranch raised horses are superior to Gene's trained wild mustangs, but it turns out there will be a ringer in the outcome. Gene's pal Pat Buttram is on hand as Panhandle Gibbs, and when the two main opponents fall out of the race with complications, (read that as their wagons got wrecked), Panhandle comes up the winner by default.

Even as a kid, I could never understand why as the noose starts to tighten for the film's main heavy, he winds up shooting the guy who starts to spill the beans, and with a room full of witnesses including the story's hero. That's exactly what happens here, with Doc Lockwood plugging his boy Pinto (Dick Jones), who's behind bars! How does he figure he'll get away with that one?

I guess that's why you have to take a lot of these old oaters with a shaker full of salt, and focus on the entertainment value, not the credibility of the story. A couple of years later in 1953, Republic Pictures put out a film starring Rex Allen in a picture that also had a competition at it's center to decide on a winner for a government mail contract. It's called "Iron Mountain Trail" and would be of interest to anyone who enjoyed this picture.

Enjoyable...though not quite a masterpiece for me.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 3 October 2022]

"The Old West" is a Gene Autry film he made towards the tail end of his career. So, instead of the youthful guy you see in his early pictures, here he's a middle-aged cowboy hero.

The story begins with a religious service and soon a wagon master begins to narrate the story...letting you know what happened leading up to this meeting. It seems that the town has been lawless and full of riffraff for some time...all thanks to Doc (Lyle Talbot). This jerk wants to control everything...including who supplies the stage coach line with horses. And, ultimately this all comes down to 'the big race'...which is pretty much the theme of an earlier Roy Rogers film, "Man From Oklahoma".

The film has a sort of vague religious message that likely won't satisfy religious viewers but won't offend others. It's odd how a preacher in the film talks and talks and preaches...yet never mentions God or the Bible or anything that is actually religious! I understand why they did it...they didn't want to drive away viewers. But it also comes off as a bit hard to believe.

So is the rest of the film any good? Well, it's not bad...but certainly not a masterpiece. I noticed one reviewer called it this...and I'm glad they enjoyed it. But I just think Gene made far better films than this rather run of the mill picture.

Gene Autry Masterpiece!

[hines-2000 · 10/10 · 1 March 2022]

The movie was brilliantly directed by George Archainbaud. The wonderful opening scene had Autry singing, "Somebody Bigger Than You and I" and Louis Jean Heydt telling his daughter (Kathy Johnson) about the Old West and the contrast is striking. Heydt adds, "Every other building was a salon or a dance hall. The man behind all the corruption was Doc Lockwood" (Lyle Talbot). Of course the incomparable Pat Buttram had a strong presence throughout but not as a sidekick but more of an old acquaintance of Autry's. Gail Davis proved why she's the 'perfect western actress' putting the henchmen in their place when they came a calling. It all seems like typical western fare until House Peters arrives on the scene as Parson Jonathan Brooks. Would the town choose faith in the Lord over their lawlessness and corruption? Even today, every town has to search their souls for the faith that will lead to their salvation.

Oh My Gosh, Gene Gets Shot

[dougdoepke · 4 February 2015]

Gene's clearly trying new movie mixes as TV's co-axial cable crosses the continent in 1952, bringing service to the entire nation. In The Old West there's not as much music, while what comedy there is is non-buffoonish. In fact, Pat Buttram is far down the cast list in what looks like a cut-back, at least in terms of screen time. Then too, leading lady Davis has little to do but stand around and look pretty. At the same time, boyish Dick Jones plays a henchman, though not an irredeemable one. And catch little Judie (Johnson) who's got a fairly big role, as if girls might be joining boys among Gene's Front Row kids. Good to see that fine utility actor Louis-Jean Heydt getting an unusual role and hopefully a big payday.

Anyhow the story's got some surprises, among which Gene gets badly shot-good thing he heals quickly. Otherwise, who would we root for among all those flying fists. There's lots of action as Gene competes with sneaky Doc Lockwood (Talbot) to get the contract for stagecoach horses. Autry thinks mustangs will work better than broke ones, so they have a thundering stage race. And catch those impressive wild horse herds.

All in all, it's an action-filled hour with Gene and a performing Champion who gets to show us his many four-legged tricks.

A "7" on the Matinée Scale

(In Passing-- Can't help noticing the unusual religious overlay with the parson {Peters Sr.} and the gospel hymn that gets repeated into a big production number. Judging from the release date, Jan. 1952, I expect the programmer was produced at the height of the Korean War, when patriotic feelings were uppermost. Nothing hangs on this- just a surmise, since I don't recall anything like the over-lay before, though I could be mistaken.)