Oh, Susanna! (1936) Poster

(1936)

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5/10
The Real Gene Autry
bkoganbing19 May 2006
An outlaw named Wolf Benson escaping from a posse boards a train from horseback. On the train is radio singing cowboy Gene Autry on the way to an engagement. Benson slugs Gene and changes clothes with him and throws the unconscious Gene off the moving train.

Fortunately our singing hero doesn't break his neck from the fall and he gets rescued by a couple of itinerant actors played by Smiley Burnette and Earl Hodgins. From then on it's a merry chase through the west as Gene tries to prove who he is and foil the dastardly plans of the man who's stolen his identity.

One of the funnier scenes in the film is when all three of them, Autry, Burnette, and Hodgins are locked up in jail with Autry insisting who he is and one of the deputies saying if you're Gene Autry, I'm Bing Crosby.

But the plot situations are forced to say the least and I can't believe the folks out west are such a gang of rubes they don't know Gene Autry.

But Gene does get to warble a couple of nice, but forgettable cowboy ballads and he even gets a duet partner in the form of co-star Frances Grant. Unlike Roy Rogers who married his regular co-star Dale Evans and sang many a duet with her, Gene was usually a solo act in the musical department.

Strictly for those who love Gene and the singing cowboy genre.
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7/10
Gene therapy
Spondonman2 May 2008
According to the records this was Gene's 12th film - with June Storey nowhere in sight yet but with the formula of chasing baddies with a few songs and a tiny romance that wouldn't bother the kids well in place.

It starts with a baddie being chased by the law, jumping onto a moving train, immediately coshing the unsuspecting Autry, thieving his identity and dumping him overboard to his supposed death. All in a minute's work! However, the dazed Gene gets picked up by two travelling entertainers, one of them Frog, and the hunt is on to track the baddie and his gang down who are using his name and not in vain. Favorite songs: Dear Old Western Skies and Water Wheel, while the Light Crust Doughboys got to do a breakneck Tiger Rag and As Our Pals Ride By that put me in mind of La Golondrina from The Wild Bunch. Gene has his usual whirlwind romance, this time with Frances Grant for their 2nd time.

At only 53 minutes long a lot gets packed in here, whether you think it was worth it is up to you, but personally I've always enjoyed Autry's films - nothing heavy to ponder about during or afterwards. I have no problem enjoying things meant to be pleasant. It's freely available as public domain on the internet too, the only cost to really consider being your time.
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6/10
Young Gene Autry
malcolmgsw20 May 2005
This is a fairly early film from Gene Autrys career.I bought the VHS by air mail.I have to say that the manufacturers have copied from a very battered print.So much so that the film is stated to be 59 minutes in length but in fact is only 53 minutes.I have to say that the fact that it is entertaining is despite not because of the screenplay.The plot hinges on the fact that nobody can recognized Autry and therefore accept that because an escaped murderer has changed clothes with him he is the murderer and vice versa.At the end there is a fight on a moving car which defies logic.However there are the usual quota of songs,although i believe that one or two may be missing.To conclude it will entertain you if you are an enthusiast of Western films.Otherwise you would be better off spending 53minutes digging in the garden.
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5/10
"What are we gonna do, I'm sung out"!
classicsoncall3 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
In this early Gene Autry film, Gene's identity is assumed by outlaw Wolf Benson (Boothe Howard) and he spends the rest of the story attempting to clear his name. Helping him out are Smiley Burnette as Frog Millhouse, and Earle Hodgins as Professor Ezekial Daniels, together forming the Millhouse-Daniels Entertainment Company. Smiley's comedy relief efforts go without saying, but having Hodgins around is always a bonus because you never know what his character is going to do. To distract the folks of Sage City while Frog springs Gene from jail, he bites off a chunk of soap and goes into a mad dog act that's just classic.

Another bonus for this picture occurs early when the trio first arrive in Sage City, and Gene walks through town with all the citizens thinking he's Wolf Benson. Passing a local general store, the viewer gets a great view of some vintage commercial ads for products like Mobiloil, Morton's Salt, and Lipton's Tea (retaining the 's'). I've seen those before, but was startled to see a couple more for Butterfinger and get this - Champion Spark Plugs! You could have stopped the picture for me right there!

There's also a great 'in' joke for folks like me who've been around a while. When Gene insists to the Sage City sheriff that he's really singing star Autry, one of the deputies replies "Yeah, and I'm Bing Crosby". I wonder if Autry had a handshake deal with Crosby to mention each other's names in their pictures; in his 1947 film with Bob Hope, "Road to Rio", Crosby name drops Autry and Bogart while on the run from angry fathers of jilted females the boys have left behind.

As far as the story here goes, there's not a lot new for fans who've seen a bunch of B Westerns, with or without Gene Autry. The good guys smoke out the bandits in fine fashion, and manage to throw in at least six songs by my count. Gene does a couple of duets with female lead Frances Grant, and the Light Crust Doughboys send up a spirited rendition of 'Hold That Tiger'. Smiley appears in drag, believe it or not, in a vaudeville type skit with Hodgins while riding a bicycle-like contraption. I could tell what a good idea Hodgins thought it was when I saw him spike his beer with a shot of whiskey from his vest flask.
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7/10
Enjoyable but kind of weird.
planktonrules5 September 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Gene Autry films are often rather strange westerns. That's because in many cases, the film were set in modern times with an odd mixture of the past. So, you might see Gene chasing a pickup truck while on horseback or someone calling the sheriff on the telephone! In this case it's even weirder because Autry plays himself! While no mention is made of his movies, Autry plays a radio and recording star named Gene Autry! Now considering that he had a great voice (better than Roy Rogers' in my opinion) and sang many classics such as "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer", making him a famous singer was a case of art imitating life!

The film begins with a guy from death row escaping and sneaking onto the train where Autry is traveling for a radio broadcast. The crook bashes Autry over the head, trades clothes and tosses him out the window! Soon, folks recognize the clothes and think Autry is the escaped con and lock him up--and are planning on hanging him! It's only with the help of his two new friends (one includes the old familiar Smiley Burnett) does he escape. However, in the meantime, the crook is posing as Gene and kills a man--so the authorities are looking for both of them! Can Gene manage to prove his innocence? Can he be persuaded to sing a few songs (what do you think?!)? The film is a bit surreal but fun. And, while I never thought I'd say this, but I liked the music a lot. Overall, while not a great B-western, it is unusual and likable...and a bit weird!

By the way, Fred Toones is billed as 'Snowflake'. It's a sad and derogatory thing that because he was black he didn't even merit having his name in the credits--just this awful nickname.
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5/10
Lacks Decent Writing
boblipton7 August 2023
Killer Boothe Howard hops on a train, knocks napping radio singer Gene Autry on the head, rifles his pockets dumps what he assumes is a corpse out the train, and assumes Autry's identity. Musicians Smiley Burnette and Earl Hodgins rescue him, none the worse for wear, and make for Carl Stockdale's ranch. There, everyone thought Howard was Autry, until Howard asked for the $10,000 he had lent Stockdale back, whereupon Stockdale realized it wasn't Gene; so Howard killed him. Now the police are looking for Autry, who's been hired to perform at the ranch with Burnette and Hodgins.

As you might guess form that description, it's a carelessly plotted western,and the title is a random one too, although they do play the title song about two-thirds of the way into the film, just before The Tiger Rag. Director Joseph Kane does keep up the pace of the movie, and the music is pretty good, but the reliance on Autry to carry the movie, rather than having a story that burnished the brand was far too typical of the poorer sort of B westerns of the era.
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6/10
Autry wanted for murder!
JohnHowardReid30 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Oh, Susanna! (1936). In this unusual but even more ridiculously far-fetched plot, Gene Autry, would you believe, is wanted for murder?

Perhaps Republic boss, Herb Yates, firmly believed that Texas lawmen were not only corrupt but incredibly stupid?

Never mind, just sit back and enjoy the fast action. Director Joe Kane even has a couple of speeding cars run over the camera!

This time, Smiley Burnette teams up with Earle Hodgins to provide not only comedy relief but acting support for Autry's rather stoic hunted man.

And railroad buffs will have a ball at the beginning of the movie when the villain's very obvious double boards a moving train from horseback!
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A different type of Western -- so the others don't like it
corporalko11 November 2015
In his first full year of turning out B-Westerns, Gene stars in this one that has a different slant than many of his films. He is knocked out early by a prison escapee and thrown off a train; the escapee, Wolf Benson, then heads for a ranch operated by a friend of Autry's from many years before, to masquerade as Gene Autry and try to wheedle a big "loan" from the man.

Meanwhile, Gene is found, just coming back to consciousness, by Smiley Burnette and Earle Hodgins, a two-man traveling medicine show. They take Autry to the nearest town, where he was heading anyway, with them being unaware (and evidently Gene is, too) that Benson changed clothes with Autry while he was unconscious, and that the clothing he is now wearing is depicted on a "wanted" poster of Benson. Autry winds up being arrested and thrown in jail as "Wolf Benson".

The story goes on from there, with Gene and the "good folks" from his friend's ranch coming out on top at the end -- naturally.

This movie has some fine music of the early Western Swing variety, including two songs by the famous band the Light Crust Doughboys. In addition, Gene does a brief riding stunt about halfway through, standing up in his saddle as Champion gallops alone. Did he do it himself? Or was it "obviously a stunt man," as the Autry haters who post most of the reviews of his movies would insist? I don't know; could have been either way.

And for the first, but not the last, time in his movies, Gene displays his ability to spin a lariat, a la Will Rogers. Not as well as Rogers could, but he does it. Autry often used his lariat in movies, usually to lasso an escaping bad guy.

As I said above, this is a "different" B-Western. But then, most of Gene's were, with a mix between the "Old" and the "New" Wests. Of course, the Autry haters voice frequent dislike of this. But it's just what makes Autry's movies unique -- an element of fantasy. And the American people loved it, with Gene being the leading movie cowboy for six straight years, from 1937 to 1942. They loved the Singing Cowboy. Some of the people who post on here, obviously don't. Well, that's their problem. Gene cried all the way to the bank.
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A Stolen Identity
dougdoepke10 January 2018
Uh Oh, it's Gene who gets thrown from a train, not the bad guy. In fact it's bad guy Wolf who's done it to escape the law and assume Gene's identity. So, our hero spends the rest of the movie getting back his real name and putting Wolf where he belongs.

Good Autry mix, with songs, scenery, and flying fists. Some good touches as well, like Gene's scattering walk down Main Street where everybody thinks he's the bad guy. And how about that chase where Gene and the bad guy use roadsters instead of horses. The process photography may be fuzzy but the results are still a hoot. Also, pairing big talker Hodgins with portly Burnette is good for some laughs, but note that neither is mocked in his comedic role. And, wow, I don't think I've seen faster fingers than the '...Crust Boys jamming away on one of their numbers. I guess my only gripe is not seeing more of the Alabama Hills and their rocky spires; only nature's hand can carve such mighty sculptures. Anyway, the hour's a fun slice of old time matinees for us front row geezers, thanks to a rather hefty Gene Autry.
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