Sagebrush Troubadour: Songs, Horses, and Not Much Else

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school singing cowboys, you will probably get a kick out of this. If you are looking for a gritty thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, you might want to skip this one. Honestly, the plot is just an excuse to get to the next musical number.

Gene Autry is fine, but the real star is clearly the horse. Champion shows up and has more personality than half the supporting cast. There is a moment where the horse is just standing there while a song happens, and it is weirdly mesmerizing. 🐴

The whole thing feels a bit like Bull Arizona - The Legacy of the Prairie in how it treats the setting as a stage. The desert landscape looks nice, but it never feels dangerous. Nobody ever really seems to be in true trouble, even when guns are drawn.

The songs... oh boy. They just appear out of nowhere. It is like the characters are waiting for a musical cue to start having feelings. One minute they are chasing a murderer, and the next they are harmonizing by a campfire. It is charming, sure, but it is also a bit distracting.

Smiley Burnette as Frog is doing a lot of heavy lifting for the comedy. Some of his bits land, some really don't. He has this one scene with a hat that felt like it went on for ten minutes. I started looking around my room just to avoid the awkwardness.

It is not as bleak as The Sea Wolf, obviously. It is much lighter, almost to a fault. The bad guys are so cartoonish they might as well be wearing signs that say 'I am the villain'.

• The singing is actually pretty solid, if you are into that kind of thing.
• The editing is a bit choppy. Scenes jump around like they were cut with safety scissors.
• That one guy in the background of the saloon scene is clearly reading his lines off the wall. 📜
• Why is there always a guitar in the desert? Does it not get dusty?

Look, it is a relic. It is simple, a bit silly, and doesn't try to be anything more than what it is. It isn't a masterpiece, but it’s a nice way to kill an hour if you are tired of modern movies trying too hard to be smart.