Here's a film that takes no attention span to follow, suitable for the squirrelly, fidgety little boy in all of us. The plot is thin as a supermodel, a typical "save the poor beautiful widder woman's property from the evil cattle baron." Doesn't matter. With this cast and music, who needs a plot anyway?
Tex Ritter is the guy in the white hat here. His son is a lot more recognizable to anyone younger than 60, but you can sure see the resemblance in his face. Sidekick Slim Andrews is a kick indeed, carrying off some fun singing and otherwise reminding me of John Huston's old coot in Treasure of the Sierra Madre. His "Village Blacksmith" song is so enjoyable you don't even notice the haphazard lip-synching.
But the real show-stealer here are Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. I'm not sure why Tommy Duncan isn't singing in this one, but Leon McAuliffe was the vocalist for the band before Duncan, and he does just fine. This isn't their best time period for my money; I prefer the stuff from the 30s myself. But it's still fresh, and the contrivedness of the musical scenes just makes them more corny. And corny was Bob Wills' stock in trade.
So saddle up and become seven years old again:
Yee-haw!
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