''Call of the Canyon'' is a 1942 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Joseph Santley Joseph Mansfield Santley (born Joseph Ishmael Mansfield, January 10, 1890 – August 8, 1971) was an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, and producer of musical theatre, musical theatre, theatrical plays motion pictures and tel ...

and starring

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

Smiley Burnette Lester Alvin Burnett (March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967), better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and ...

, the

Sons of the Pioneers The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music per ...

, and

Ruth Terry Ruth Mae Terry (born Ruth Mae McMahon, October 21, 1920 – March 11, 2016) was an American singer and actress in film and television from the 1930s to the 1960s. She claimed her stage name came from Walter Winchell, who combined the names ...

. Based on a story by

Maurice Rapf Maurice Harry Rapf (May 19, 1914 – April 15, 2003) was an American screenwriter and professor of film studies. His work includes the screenplays for early Disney live-action features ''Song of the South'' (1946) and '' So Dear to My Heart'' (19 ...

and

Olive Cooper Olivette "Olive" Cooper (1892–1987) was a prolific American screenwriter known for movies like '' Cocoanut Grove'', ''Bandit King of Texas'' and ''Three Little Sisters''. She wrote many of the screenplays for Roy Rogers and Gene Autry vehicles. ...

, the film is about a singing cowboy who leads a group of cattlemen against the corrupt agent of a large packing company looking to swindle them by undercutting the buying price for beef. The film features three songs by Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers, including the classic "Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle".

Plot

Singing cowboy Gene Autry (

) and his fellow ranchers in Whippasaw are outraged to learn that the purchasing agent for the Grantley B. Johnson Packing Co., Thomas McCoy (Edmund MacDonald), is only offering them $65 per head of cattle. Unknown to the ranchers, McCoy is a gambler in debt to a bookie who sent his henchmen Horace Dunston and the Pigeon to ensure that McCoy pays up. McCoy plans to raise the money by pocketing the difference between what he is offering the ranchers and what the packing company sent him. Gene encourages the ranchers to stick together and wait while he travels to the city to speak directly with the packing company owner, Grantley B. Johnson (

Thurston Hall Ernest Thurston Hall (May 10, 1882 – February 20, 1958) was an American film, stage and television actor.Aylesworth, Thomas G. and Bowman, John S. (1987). ''The World Almanac Who's Who of Film''. World Almanac. . Pp. 186-187. Career Stag ...

). Arriving at Johnson's offices, Gene meets Katherine "Kit" Carson (

) and her friend, Jane Oakley (

Dorothea Kent Dorothea Kent (born Dorothea Jane Schaeffer; June 6, 1916 – December 10, 1990) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1935 and 1948. A former model, she often played dumb sidekicks of the heroine, and rarely ...

), who want Johnson to sponsor them on a radio show. Kit is unimpressed with Gene's Whippasaw origins, especially after he accidentally breaks her demo record. During her meeting with Johnson, Kit notices he is still a cowboy at heart, and lies to him, saying she intends to broadcast a western show from her ranch—in Whippasaw. Johnson agrees to visit her ranch, and then leaves before Gene has a chance to see him about the cattle prices. Returning to Whippasaw, Gene learns that his sidekick, Frog Millhouse (

), rented their ranch to Kit and her fellow entertainers. Kit's feelings for Gene warm after he rescues her from a runaway carriage. Gene convinces the ranchers to move their cattle out of McCoy's holding pens and back to grazing land until they can find a fair price. The conniving McCoy arranges to have a pilot fly over the herd and stampede the cattle. Just arriving in Whippasaw, Johnson attempts to help round up the herds, but falls from his horse and is saved by Gene from being trampled. Believing that McCoy is taking direct orders from Johnson, Gene blames G.B. Johnson for the stampede, not realizing that the stranger he just saved is in fact Johnson. Calling himself Grantley, Johnson persuades the ranchers to fight McCoy. When Kit arrives to bring Johnson back to the ranch, she agrees to pretend he's a radio promoter named "Grantley" while he gets to the bottom of the pricing scheme. Later, after hearing Gene and his friends singing, Johnson offers them a spot on his radio show, thinking they are part of Kit's troupe. Johnson, Gene, and Frog confront McCoy one last time about the cattle pricing, but McCoy repeats his low offer, claiming that G.B. Johnson himself is setting the price. Deciding that he and the ranchers will sell to another packing company in Cloverdale, Gene tells the others, "We're not going to play into the hands of a profiteering crook." Johnson convinces Gene and the other ranchers to transport the herds the old fashioned way, by trail drive, and not rely on G.B. Johnson's railway lines. Meanwhile, Kit and her troupe are packing to leave, convinced that Johnson is only interested in Gene. When he finds out that she's leaving, Gene persuades Kit to stay in Whippasaw and put on the radio show. That night she performs at a party and later dances with Gene. The next day, while Gene and the ranchers are moving their herds by trail to Cloverdale, McCoy sabotages their efforts by using explosives to stampede the cattle into a train tunnel and then sending a hijacked train in to kill them. As the train approaches the tunnel, Gene jumps aboard, runs to the locomotive, and stops the train in time. During the stampede, Frog's young brother Tadpole was hurt, and one of the ranchers, Dave Crosby, was killed. Upset at Crosby's death and believing that Johnson knew what was going to happen, Kit reveals his identity to Gene, but Johnson convinces Gene that he is innocent and McCoy is acting on his own. Using a microphone set up in McCoy's office, Gene obtains evidence of McCoy's guilt, then captures him, Dunston, and the Pigeon before they can escape. Afterwards, Gene and his friends join Kit Carson's Harmony Ranch radio show.

Cast

as Gene Autry *

as Frog Millhouse *

as Musicians, cowhands *

as Katherine "Kit" Carson *

as Grantley B. Johnson * Joe Strauch Jr. as Tadpole Millhouse *

Cliff Nazarro Clifford Nazarro (January 31, 1904 – February 18, 1961 ) was an American double-talk comedian, vocalist, and actor of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s who appeared in films such as ''You'll Never Get Rich'' (1941) as Swivel Tongue with Fred Asta ...

as Pete Murphy *

as Jane Oakley * Edmund MacDonald as Thomas McCoy *

Marc Lawrence Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence. Early life Lawrence w ...

as Horace Dunston * John Harmon as The Pigeon * John Holland as Willy Hitchcock * Champion as Gene's Horse (uncredited)

Production

Casting

''Call of the Canyon'' was the third and final Gene Autry film featuring the Sons of the Pioneers, preceded by '' The Big Show'' and ''

The Old Corral '' The Old Corral '' is a 1936 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Irene Manning. Based on a story by Bernard McConville, the film is about a sheriff of a small western town who sings his ...

'' (1936). The group had been making films at Columbia since 1935 and had just been signed to Republic Pictures in time for this film.Magers 2007, p. 405.

Filming and budget

''Call of the Canyon'' was filmed June 6–27, 1942. The film had an operating budget of $129,808 (equal to $ today), and a

negative cost Negative cost is the net expense to produce and shoot a film, excluding such expenditures as distribution and promotion. Low-budget movies, for example '' The Blair Witch Project'', can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the ne ...

of $129,132.

Stuntwork

* Joe Yrigoyen (Gene Autry's stunt double) * Tex Trry (Smiley Burnette's stunt double) * George Havens (Joe Strauch Jr.'s stunt double) * Mary Ellen Huggins (Ruth Terry's stunt double) * Bud Wolfe

Filming locations

Iverson Ranch A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate. Movi ...

, 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA *

Lone Pine, California Lone Pine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States, located south-southeast of Independence. The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens ...

, USA * Morrison Ranch, Agoura, California, USA *

Bronson Canyon Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles that has become known as a filming location for many films and television series, especially Westerns and science fiction, from the early days of motion pictures to ...

, Griffith Park, 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Soundtrack

* "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place" (Dick Howard, Bob Ellsworth, Russ Morgan) by Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers * "Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle" (Walter G. Samuels, Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell) by Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers * "Coronation March" (Giacomo Meyerbeer) arranged by Mort Glickman and Raoul Kraushaar * "Montana Plains" (Stuart Hamblen) by Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers * "When It's Chilly Down in Chile" (Jule Styne, Sol Meyer) by Ruth Terry * "Call of the Canyon" (Billy Hill) by Gene Autry * "A Cowboy Has to Sing" (Bob Nolan) by the Sons of the PioneersMagers 2007, pp. 216–217.

Memorable quotes

* "We're not going to play into the hands of a profiteering crook." (Gene Autry) * "I'll never know 'til I try. So I'll try." (Gene Autry)

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * *

External links

* * {{Joseph Santley 1942 films 1942 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Films shot in Lone Pine, California Republic Pictures films Films scored by Raoul Kraushaar Films directed by Joseph Santley 1940s American films Films with screenplays by Maurice Rapf English-language Western (genre) films