The folks of Sage City pony up $35,000 for shares in a movie produced by Murray Alper and Joe Sawyer to star John Wayne. After the producers head down to Mexico for location scouting, Gene Autry discovers they're con men. He, Smiley Burnette, and ex-bandito Harold Huber go in pursuit, but when they arrive down in Mexico they find Sidney Blackmer and Arthur Loft by that name, raising money off rancher Julian Rivero to star his daughter, Fay McKenzie.
It's a very pleasant example of the Autry corpus, with lots of Mexico-themed songs and an exciting final chase sequence. Autry's popularity was a proven fact by this point, and the final cost of the film, $135,520 on a budget of $124,947 -- no rounding off at Republic! -- was 50% higher than Autry's movies at the beginning of the year. It's certainly not an MGM budget, but it spoke of an enormous audience for well-produced oaters.
It's a very pleasant example of the Autry corpus, with lots of Mexico-themed songs and an exciting final chase sequence. Autry's popularity was a proven fact by this point, and the final cost of the film, $135,520 on a budget of $124,947 -- no rounding off at Republic! -- was 50% higher than Autry's movies at the beginning of the year. It's certainly not an MGM budget, but it spoke of an enormous audience for well-produced oaters.