Riders in the Sky (1949) User Reviews (10)

Good Story, Great Title Tune

[boblipton · 6/10 · 5 September 2023]

Steve Darrell is found guilty of murder and sentenced to prison, though he claims it was self-defense. County Attorney Roy Gordon's investigators, Gene Autry and Pat Buttram find out the hard way when Darrell's daughter, Gloria Henry, chucks stuff at Gene in the mistaken belief he's Gordon. Autry doesn't care. He's inherited $16,000, and he and Buttram have quit to go buy a ranch, following Miss Henry to the town where her father's ranch used to be. Now she's a real estate agent, and everything in the town is controlled by Robert Livingston. He wants Autry's money, too, but is it going to be so easy to take it?

There's some good atmosphere in this movie, even if it's shoehorned in by having Autry sing "Ghost Riders in the Sky" three times, have someone hum it, and dying Tom London talk about the legend that inspired it. Gene also sings "Streets of Laredo" and another song, but the production money is in having a chorus back Gene in the title song and running it through the reverb.

London was one of those Gower Gulch cowboys with more than 600 screen appearances to his credit, although usually it was just as a background character, often a barfly; he was a comic sidekick to Sunset Carson for a while. He died in 1963 at the age of 74.

Riders in the sky

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 27 February 2024]

Just before resigning the investigator business to open a cattle ranch with his pal Chuckawalla, Gene Autry (played by himself) takes one final case and agrees to help Anne Lawson clear her father, Ralph, on a false murder charge.

The famous song adds an unusual quality to the Gene Autry Western, though the link between ghost riders in the sky and the intrigue on offer is tenuous at best. Still a fairly engaging Autry western, with a limited number slow spots. There's some interesting characters, especially Mary Beth Hughes' character, who is the lover of the bad guy. She looks like she is out of a film noir.

A MEMORABLE SCENE AND A MEMORABLE SONG

[frontrowkid2002 · 11 July 2004]

I was never a Gene Autry fan, being a Roy Rogers fan from age 5, but of all the Autry movies, I recall this one. Tom London who plays the dying prospector tells Gene that the "Ghost Riders" are coming after him. Autry goes to the window and looks out to see the image of shadowy riders coming through the clouds. At this point, Gene sings the song. It is introduced more logically into the plot than any of his other songs. There is also a reprisal at the end of the movie. Even today, when I look up into a stormy sky, the song comes immediately to mind. It was written by Stan Jones, an ex-park ranger, who appeared in Autry's films and who also wrote another Autry hit, "Whirlwind." Tom London, who had appeared in several Republic films as Sunset Carson's sidekick, has said that this particular scene got him other parts in movies and television.

Dull programmer, redeemed by the title song and 1 powerful sequence

[FilmFlaneur · 4/10 · 26 September 2000]

For the most part this is a movie only of interest to Autry enthusiasts and those who like the superb title song (around which the script was presumably cobbled together). Sure enough, the song pops up twice and is easily the film's highlight on each occasion. The way that it is sung here, with emotion and zeal, and the mythic quality of its lyrics means that it transcends the B-material in which it is embedded.

The exception to boredom is the sequence in the film where the song plays out over the stark mono images of the old timer's grizzled face (as a character he dies shortly afterwards.) For an all too brief few minutes the power of the music asserts itself and the cinematography comes alive in high contrast black and white photography. The old timers' face becomes epic, stark, and deeply moving. In fact, at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I was reminded of Eisenstein's framing of facial 'types' in his Alexander Nevsky or October. So poetically powerful is this scene that it seems to have wondered in from another, more prestigious, movie (a good Western candidate being perhaps Anthony Mann's The Furies, where such stylisation abounds).

Then like a pan handler's lucky strike, the moment of glory fades and we are back to cinematic mediocrity, and a negligible, undramatic oater of most interest to hard core fans and completists.

I love it

[morninglory2504 · 10/10 · 15 June 2008]

Being a twenty two year old female, westerns from before my Mom was born aren't what you'd expect me to be watching... but here I am. I have to confess, I love Gene Autry and I love cheesy old westerns. Cheesiness is part of their charm! The Singing Cowboy- how much more Americana can you get? I adore Pat Buttram, too, and I have to admit that he's half the reason I had this movie ordered special from FYE. Anyway, I'm a huge sucker for this song and for old-timey westerns, and if this sounds like your cup of tea go for it- and if it doesn't, give it a shot anyway. It's adorable, funny, stirring, and it's got some cool fight scenes too. One minute you're laughing at Pat Buttram getting throwed off Gene's horse Champ, and the next minute you're biting your fingernails going "oh no he's going for his gun!" or something like that. Go on, watch it, it's fun.

A Great Song But the Film Doesn't Match It

[Chance2000esl · 4/10 · 26 December 2008]

It was a common practice for a western film to have a current popular song's title as its own title, but the song almost never related to the theme, content or action of the movie. Here an attempt was made to integrate the terrifying story song 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' into this Gene Autry vehicle.

Over and after the opening credits, Gene is riding the trail with his wranglers singing the song and then starting to tell how he believes in the ghost riders. When his foreman asks why, Gene starts telling the story in flashback. Towards the middle of the film he sings the song again in full, and a third time at the end, when we rejoin Gene on the trail where the movie began.

Oh, that the story of the song could have really been what the movie was about! Instead we get your third rate oater. The only high point is seeing Gene sing it during a lightning filled rain storm in an almost music video production number, with Tom London playing the old prospector, with multiple exposures of sky and ghost herds and riders, and a dark close up of London reminiscent of those in 'The Passion of Joan of Arc' (1928)! Another of Gene's films with a music video like production number is 'Boots and Saddles' (1937), in which he sings in a slightly resigned tone 'Ridin' the Trail' a lament about how he'll be ridin' the trail the rest of his life.

The other high point is seeing a thin Alan Hale, Jr. (Gilligan's 'skipper') as an evil sheriff. But that's about it. Mary Beth Hughes, the 'breakout' star of 'I Accuse My Parents' (1944) is a saloon hall girl; the 'Prairie Flower' is played by Gloria Henry, who went on to fame as Alice, Dennis' mother in TVs 'Dennis the Menace' (1959-1963). Pat Buttram appears as Gene's sidekick, a role he played from 1948-1955. Before his 1960s TV successes, Pat had his own daily radio show in the 50s. The author of 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' Stan Jones? He graduated from Petaluma High School, where I also went to school.

The movie only gets a 4.

An epic Western, no matter what THEY say!

[corporalko · 10/10 · 26 July 2015]

This Gene Autry Western, made during the period of his best pictures, is a stunner, not only for the title song which was the biggest tune of 1949, but for the plot, which adds elements of the supernatural seldom seen in a "B-Western." As a matter of fact, a good friend of mine who is like me a fan of the old-time Western movies has said that this one is a "B-plus" -- almost an "A."

The plot involves Gene and his sidekick Pat Buttram with an old drover, Tom Ford, who witnesses a murder in front of his town's saloon, but is intimidated by the bad guys into denying having seen anything other than "self-defense." Ford dies later in a run-away wagon accident, and as Gene sings the title song, this is where the "supernatural" aspect begins to manifest itself.

In a list of the "100 best movie Westerns" selected by film critics, that I once found on line, this movie was one of those 100. It's obvious that several of the previous reviewers not only didn't think much of this one, but they don't seem to like ANY Autry movies very much. I wonder why they keep watching them and writing reviews?

"He's gone, I've shot him out of the saddle".

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 3 February 2011]

This film has one of the coolest transitions in an Autry flick; it's when Old Man Roberts (Tom London) is about to die, and Gene immediately goes into the title song, actually cut short a bit from 'Ghost Riders in the Sky'. There's a lot of poetic imagery and the cinematography is quite good for the sequence. It almost raises the level of the film above it's B Western origins. Almost, but not quite. When you stop to consider what just happened, you realize that star Autry is singing a song while the old guy is dying, it's very incongruous.

There's something else that's kind of unusual. During the scene when Gene chases the runaway stagecoach driven by Old Man Roberts, a long shot of the driver from a distance shows clearly that it's not Tom London in the driver's seat. He's only there for the close-ups. And once again, if you're a B Western fan like myself, how many times have you seen the stage driver go for his shoulder after getting shot from behind?

Pat Buttram is Gene's sidekick in the story going by Chuckwalla Jones. I thought it a bit unusual that Champ bucked Chuckwalla off his back after being invited to ride double by Gene. It looked cool as a comedy gimmick, but why wouldn't Champ adhere to his master's request? It just came across as a little odd, but maybe it's just me.

I must have missed something in the translation of the film, because the main villain Rock McCleary (Robert Livingston) is done in by the fact that the water rights to the land he's selling go along with the land. That revelation was made out to sound like a big deal, but I could only go 'Huh'? It seemed only natural to me. But McCleary was having the water piped in, so at that point I couldn't make any sense of it at all. I'm going to have to see this again for whatever it is I missed, just not right away.

Best Song of 1949

[dougdoepke · 11 February 2011]

Great rendition of the title song in the opening scene. The tune did indeed take the country by storm in that long ago year. The movie's plot is more complex than usual. I understand from IMDb that a second storyline-- one to justify the title-- was added to an almost completed first one, resulting in two story threads. One involves the old man (Tom London) and the ghost rider effects; the other involves the crooked Mc Cleary and the main plot line. The screenplay itself does a pretty good job combining the two. The real Gene was never one to pass up a good business opportunity, along with his ability to spot a popular song hit when he heard it. Both are in evidence here.

Except for the "ghost rider" angle and effects, the movie is fairly standard matinée action. Gloria Henry shows a lot of spunk as good girl Anne, helping to liven up the talk. However, old movie buffs can take special pleasure in catching cult favorite Mary Beth Hughes in a patented role of brassy blonde saloon girl. And check out that hat she sports in one scene-- it's big enough to shade a whole army. Also, Alan Hale Jr., the skipper on Gilligan's Island, puts in an appearance as a marshal. But it's the title song and ghostly effects that most mark this entry as one for Autry fans to catch.

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A great opening song sets the stage for a nice western.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 3 October 2022]

Due to the success of the song "Ghost Riders in the Sky", this Gene Autry was altered just before release...adding the popular song as well as changing a few scenes to include references to Ghost Riders. It is a terrific song...one of the best country western songs of the era.

Gene and his sidekick (Pat Buttram) have decided to buy their own spread and raise cattle after Gene inherits a small fortune. So, he quits his job with the City Attorney's office and is ready to begin his new life when a friend of his is convicted of murdering a gambler. Gene knows the guys involved and believes the defendant that he killed the man in self-defense. But another local gambler (Robert Livingston) is not about to let there be a real investigation because he is deeply involved in evil and corruption. Can Gene get to the bottom of all this and make things right?

The cast for this film is very familiar. Not only do you have Autry and one of his more popular sidekicks, but the film also has appearances by Gloria Henry (the mother on the "Dennis the Menace" TV show), Alan Hale Jr. (of "Gilligan's Island"), Hank Patterson (like Buttram, of "Green Acres") and Robert Livingston. Livingston is interesting as earlier in his career he played heroes in B-westerns, such as in the Three Mesquiteers series. Here, however, he's a baddie and he did play villains in some of his later movies.

So is this any good? Well, as I already mentioned, the opening song was one of Autry's best. As for the acting and writing, the biggest weakness I noticed was Gloria Henry's character. Like too many women in B-westerns, she is inexplicably angry and argues a lot with Autry...even though he's done absolutely nothing wrong. I've seen this in too many other westerns and it is a bit of a cliché. It does, sadly, weaken the story a bit. Otherwise, it's a pretty decent western with a reasonably interesting story. If she'd been less angry, I would have scored this one a 6.