"Springtime in the Rockies" is probably one of the more romantic sounding titles in Gene Autry's filmography, but the story boils down to a fairly standard cattle men versus sheep men plot. Better make that sheep women though, as new college graduate Sandra Knight (Polly Rowles) heads West to assume her role as the head of the Knight Ranch, managed by Gene. Sandra brings along three of her college gal pals, all graduates with degrees in animal husbandry, but you'd think by their conversation that they have a different type of husbandry on their minds.
While Gene tries to walk a tightrope between the cattle and sheep factions for the sake of the story, it's pretty clear he's on the side of the cattle ranchers. However to be sure Sandra Knight gets a fair shake, he makes sure she doesn't become the victim of a slick land grab by villain Briggs (Al Bridge). Still, that was a pretty shady move with the mercurochrome trick. For a while there, I thought Smiley might become the victim of a smallpox ruse as well. What made me wonder though was why one of the college grads didn't figure out the whole 'hoof and mouth' scheme.
I haven't seen a whole lot of Autry's Westerns for Republic Pictures, so I can't say for sure if he was as lucky with the ladies as John Wayne was in his early films, where he almost always closes out a picture in a clinch with his leading lady. But Gene does so here, proving as he stated earlier in the story, that it was hard to sing and be mean at the same time.
While Gene tries to walk a tightrope between the cattle and sheep factions for the sake of the story, it's pretty clear he's on the side of the cattle ranchers. However to be sure Sandra Knight gets a fair shake, he makes sure she doesn't become the victim of a slick land grab by villain Briggs (Al Bridge). Still, that was a pretty shady move with the mercurochrome trick. For a while there, I thought Smiley might become the victim of a smallpox ruse as well. What made me wonder though was why one of the college grads didn't figure out the whole 'hoof and mouth' scheme.
I haven't seen a whole lot of Autry's Westerns for Republic Pictures, so I can't say for sure if he was as lucky with the ladies as John Wayne was in his early films, where he almost always closes out a picture in a clinch with his leading lady. But Gene does so here, proving as he stated earlier in the story, that it was hard to sing and be mean at the same time.