The Last Round-up

While it is true that many movies of the 1930s-50s portray the American Indian in a rather negative way, this was not true with nearly all the B-westerns I've seen...and I've seen plenty. In most, the hero is good friends with the natives and they are shown as decent people...and this is exactly the case in "The Last Round-up".

The town of Mesa City is growing...and at the same time, their water supply is dwindling. So they plan on building a reservoir on Indian land and relocating them to even crappier land. However, when Gene hears about it, he convinces the local government to relocate the tribe to the best land...and the deal should be no problem. But a greedy and selfish man and his son are trying to stop the land deal...and Gene has to work hard to get the land deal across.

As I mentioned above, the film is very positive in the way it portrays the Indians, though having Robert Blake play one isn't great. It would have been better had they chosen a native kid to play the role, but this was the 1940s and such ideas were very rare. But the film is otherwise very progressive in its portrayals...and the story well worth seeing.

By the way, this was Gene Autry's first film for Columbia Pictures. Previously, he'd almost exclusively made movies for Republic and its earlier subsidiaries. Also, to heighten realism, they chose to film in the Sonoran Desert...hence the many, many Saguaro cacti.

Mesa City's plans for a new aqua duct set the stage for conflict between the local ranchers and the Native Indian Tribe. Rancher Gene Autry becomes involved when he uncovers a scheme by land baron Charlie Mason (Ralph Morgan) to cheat the local ranchers out of their land by pitting the Indians and ranchers against each other. Mason, with the help of his equally criminally inclined son (Mark Daniels) try to undermine peacemaker Gene's credibility with both sides as he attempts to help resolve the dispute,

This was Gene's maiden voyage for Columbia Pictures. He had just wrapped up a five picture deal with Republic to settle a contract dispute. The move to Columbia gave him a chance to produce a more expansive, higher budget western, which this one is. At a running time of 77 minutes this is one of his longer films. "The Last Round-up" also marked a turning point in the focus and content of Gene's westerns. His previous five post-war Republic pictures were an uneven bunch, playing out more like 1930's screwball comedies or contemporary dramas. "The Last Round-up" was a welcome relief. Directed by John English, it definitely has a more somber feel than his prior movies, though Gene does get in four or five tunes to retain some of the feel of his earlier works.

Beginning with this movie through 1951's "Hills of Utah", Gene's westerns, directed by English are arguably the best he ever did, before eventually succumbing to higher production costs. After watching this movie it's clear Gene got the message change was in the air. His films, for the larger part, adopted a more earthy, socially themed format that reflected the progressive thinking of post-war America. Under English's direction the comic sidekick role was toned down or in some cases eliminated and the Fairytale Automobile-age set was transitioned to a more contemporary type western. Gene's ability to sense the change in public sentiment goes a long way to explain his success not only in movies but in his business ventures and other areas of life. As an indication of things soon to come, Gene uses the new medium of television in this movie to broadcast his message to the Indian Tribe. The same medium in which he would be a pioneer within a few short years.

Ranks up there with Gene's best. 8 of 10*

Reviewer Henchman's commentary furnishes an excellent context for the movie. Columbia studios gave productions like this many more resources than the average Autry programmer. There's lots of action, some good desert backgrounds plus alpine scenery. The plot's more complex than usual, minus many tiresome clichés. I really like the amusing classroom version of "She'll be Comin' 'round the Mountain". It's charmingly done. Also, I had to look twice to make sure that was an actual TV broadcasting in the Stone Age of TV, 1947, and in a western, no less.

Note that there's no buffoonish comedy relief that came to identify Autry's later programmers with kids entertainment. In fact, the movie's good enough to be considered a B-western instead of a matinée programmer. Note too the presence of a young Bobby Blake as Mike. Whatever his adult transgressions, he was certainly an affecting child star. All in all, the movie's a superior entry in the Autry series.