The Big Show (1936)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This film finds Gene Autry playing dual roles--a fat-headed movie actor as well as a nice-guy stuntman named 'Gene Autry'. However, when the actor goes on vacation and cannot be located, the press agent is able to convince Gene to imitate the guy. The problem is that Gene is BETTER than the actor and his singing is very impressive. But, the actor, other than being a jerk, cannot sing and he feels threatened by this. To make things worse, the actor is engaged and Gene's new girl finds out about this girl and thinks Gene is a two-timer. Can Gene extricated himself from this mess? This is an unusual film cause even for a B-western it has a lot of singing. While I usually hate this, the singing is among the best I've heard in a B. And, I was surprised to see the Sons of the Pioneers in the film as well--since they mostly appeared in Roy Rogers films. And, another surprise was having TWO sidekicks--Max Terhune and Smiley Burnett. This is actually the second Autry film with both sidekicks--the other being "Ride Ranger Ride"--which, incidentally used the same theme song you'll find in "The Big Show". Overall, a fun film with a silly plot--but so much fun that fans of the genre won't mind.

Gene Autry is the stunt double for a conceited western star and has to impersonate him after the actor bails out of a big personal appearance at the Texas Centennial, not knowing that the reason star went on vacation was to avoid paying his gambling debts. Gene gets in way over his head when he turns out to be a bigger hit than expected and gangsters show up to collect their money.A pleasant, fictionalized account of how Gene Autry became a star, The Big Show offers an irresistible glimpse at the duties that befall a Saturday matinée western star. Despite a loose plot, it's really a lot of fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek fun.Autry sings some great songs and along with sidekick Smiley Burnette, joins three legendary western groups, The Sons Of The Pioneers (with Roy Rodgers), The Light Crust Doughboys (a personal favorite), and The Beverly Hill Billies. Max Terhune and his dummy even show up for a quickie appearance. Sadly, The Doughboys and the singing group The Jones Boys are deleted from most, if not all video prints.Although not really much of a western, Autry fans should be satisfied.

The Big Show is about the most enjoyable to watch of all his movies for several reasons: One, Mr. Autry plays a double role. Two, there is a lot of clever stunt work, including the famous under the coach and handover hand to the horses stunt. Three, The Big Show has a very different plot from the usual Autry Western. Four, The Big Show contains some very listen-able songs. Five, it is really fun to see Roy Rogers when he was still with the Sons of the Pioneers as Leanard Slye. Six, it is also fun to see behind the scenes of movie making, with some back views of the Republic lot. Seven, since this is an earlier Autry entry, Smiley Burnett is Mr. Autry's side kick rather than Pat Butram. Eight, it is exciting to see the Texas Centennial Celebration as a background. All in all, this is one is really fun.

Mammoth Pictures star Tom Ford decides to go on vacation, but the studio's press agent Wilson needs to get ahold of him so he can make a scheduled appearance at the Texas Centennial in Dallas. The problem is solved when Wilson convinces Ford's stuntman, Gene Autry (Autry also doubles as Ford here), to go to the event impersonating Ford. The ruse works, but things go wrong when Autry decides to go on the radio singing, which Ford can not do. This ticks off Ford, who comes back to the studio to get Autry fired, but some gangsters are at the Centennial hoping to collect some of Ford's gambling debts from Autry. This film is good, but nothing more than a promo film for both the Centennial and Autry & the singing groups at Republic, as well as the studio itself. There are some pretty good action scenes at the beginning with Autry as the stuntman. Autry as Ford, however, doesn't convince anyone since his thespian abilities were never great (especially this early in his career). Fun to watch. Rating, based on B westerns, 7.