Sunset in Wyoming
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
The Wentworth Lumber Company has been clearcutting trees on Mount Warner without considering the consequences. After one heavy rain, the ranchers in the valley suffer flood damage to their lands, the result of recent logging activities. The ranchers approach company manager Phipps (John Dilson) and camp foreman Bull Wilson (Stanley Blystone), urging them to plant new trees to prevent the dangerous runoff. Phipps and Wilson ignore the requests, and when confrontations with the ranchers turn violent, singing cowboy and rancher Gene Autry offers to appeal directly to the lumber company's president, Asa Wentworth (George Cleveland).
Gene and his sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) meet with Asa, who tells them he recently turned control of the company over to his granddaughter Wilmetta "Billie" Wentworth (Maris Wrixon) and general manager Larry Drew (Robert Kent), and he is not happy with the way they've been running the business. Asa is also concerned about Billie's romantic interest in Larry, whom he does not trust. He asks Gene to meet with her at her country club and talk some sense into her.
At the country club, Frog has a difficult time adapting to the fancy surroundings. After Gene accidentally pushes Billie into a swimming pool, they are thrown out of the club. They return to Asa's house where the old man decides to throw a party and introduce Gene to Billie's influential friends. Later he sends out the invitations under Billie's name. At the party, Asa tells Gene to impress animal lover Susannah Hawkins Peabody (Sarah Edwards), whose husband Cornelius (Dick Elliott) is the state lieutenant governor. Hoping to preserve Mount Warner by having it declared a state park, Gene tells Susannah that the mountain is a haven for wild animals. As Gene and Susannah make arrangements for her to inspect the area, two of Billie's other friends grow suspicious of her absence and telephone her at a nightclub. Thinking that Gene and Frog have arranged the party on their own, and unaware of her grandfather's involvement, Billie has them arrested.
The next day, Asa arrives at the jail, bails them out, and returns with them to the valley to organize a campaign to create a state park at Mount Warner. Despite the violent opposition of Bull and his men, Gene is able to convince a state committee to inspect the area, which has now been stocked with wild animals by Frog. When Frog leads out a lion and a panther, however, Susannah realizes that she has been tricked, and she, Cornelius, Billie, and Larry prepare to leave in anger. As a huge rainstorm approaches, Gene warns them that the roads will be washed out, but they ignore him. While the desperate citizens of the valley are being flooded out of their homes, Gene and Frog chase after Asa's car, which they find stuck on a bridge. After getting everyone out of the car, Asa is swept into the river and saved by Gene.
Back at Gene's house, Billie sees all of the displaced ranchers and realizes that Gene has been telling the truth about their hardship. She also realizes that Larry was only interested in exploiting the area. In an effort to correct her past mistakes, Billie fires Larry, asks Asa to take back control of the company, and supports the state park legislation. Sometime later, on the day the park is dedicated, Asa and Frog watch with satisfaction as Gene and Billie walk off together to a new life.

Review: Tamer Than Usual. It's a rip-roaring opening and close, but the in-between smacks of tame, high-toned city life. Frog and Gene are out to help local ranchers save their land from timber harvesters who've de-nuded the hillsides, causing mudslides that ruin the land. Sounds like a modern environmental message, especially when Gene and co. want the state to take over the forest and turn it into a protected wildlife park. But to do that, they've got to get political heavy- hitters in the city to support them.It's not a typical Autry programmer, tamer than usual. No hard riding or fast shooting. There are a couple of gang fights where lumbermen square off against Gene's men.Then too, the song lineup unfortunately is pretty undistinguished for an Autry film. Nonetheless, Frog gets some amusing bits, especially when his down-home ways mix with city sophisticates. Should say those roaring river effects are real well done nail-biters and worth waiting for. Anyway, if you like to see mainly dress-up, this may be your Autry programmer.A "5", at best, on a matinée scale.. "Well boys, there goes a little sand in their gears.". This hasn't happened to me on a Gene Autry flick before. There are no other reviews here, even though I know it's been shown at least a few times on the Encore Western Channel over the past year. Today I got a chance to see it.Well now, a lot of Gene and Roy's pictures had romantic sounding titles like this one, but I'm wondering if something like "Storm Clouds Over Wyoming" might not have been more appropriate for this one. The story had to do with the Wentworth Lumber Company strip logging an entire side of Mount Warner, leaving the mountain prone to mudslides that threatened rancher homes in the valley below. Starting out, the ranchers led by Jim Haines (Monte Blue) intended to take their argument directly to the lumber men, but were roughed up pretty badly by Bull Wilson's (Stanley Blystone) crew, so Gene decided that going the political route might prove to be a better way.The interesting thing about the story is that it didn't take long for Gene to convince the owner of the lumber company (George Cleveland) that a different approach was in order. However since the operation of the company was headed by his granddaughter Billie (Maris Wrixon) and her fiancée Larry Drew (Robert Kent), Gene's challenge was in convincing them to change their minds as well. Putting together an impromptu get together at the Wentworth's, Gene proposed converting Mount Warner into a state park and animal refuge.Most of the humor in the story occurs when Smiley Burnette introduces an assortment of wildlife to convince the legislators that the animals on Mount Warner deserve protection. The deer and water fowl made sense enough, but Smiley got a little too creative with a cow outfitted with moose antlers, an African lion, and a zebra-like striped donkey that he called a 'jasshonkey'. Don't look at me, it was in the picture.Well that whole scheme sort of blew up, but then nature took a hand in turning things around when a major storm washed out the hillside and Gene had to rescue Asa Wentworth from a flash flood that overcame his vehicle. It was at that point that Miss Wentworth realized how her company was affecting the lives of so many people and her better judgment called for a stop to the unrestricted logging.Of course, sprinkled throughout were a fair amount of Autry tunes including a nifty version of 'Casey Jones'. Just as in many of his pictures, Gene closes out the story by serenading the leading lady, but this time it didn't really seem credible since he was on the outs with Miss Wentworth for the entire story. I guess it was a standard feel good ending for Gene and his fans, but for once I didn't think it was all that necessary.