The Big Show (1936)

A non-singing cowboy star finds that his life has been temporarily taken over by his own stand-in who does sing, and a desperate publicity mab finds himself possibly out of a job. Gene Autry shines in a dual role, one an egotistical movie star, the other an easy going stuntman looking for a break. The scene is the Texas Centennial and movie star Tom Ford cannot be found to attend as promised. It turns out that the hero of the screen isn't so clean, and the threat of exposure threatens both men's futures with ruin. Smiley Burnette is delightfully obnoxious, and Autry's future rival Roy Rogers has a role as one of the members of the sons of the pioneers. A satisfying and fast moving comedy with musical and western interludes, this is one of the best Autry films and gives a nice look at how B westerns are made behind the scenes. This shows that movies can have preposterous situations and still be good fun.

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.

In this movie, Gene Autry is a stunt man for Tom Ford, and then does a stand-in for Ford at a Texas Centennial celebration when Ford goes on a fishing trip. At the end of the movie Gene is the star and Tom Ford is now his stunt man.But look! When the Sons of the Pioneers do their singing part in the back of the wagon, who is the guy singing, right front? Why, it's Leonard Slye, one of the original members of the Sons of the Pioneers.The movie was filmed in 1936. Five years later, when Gene Autry left the studio to serve in World War II, the studio needed another singing cowboy and Leonard Slye was chosen. Of course, the studio had to change his name, so Leonard became Roy Rogers.

The likable Gene Autry plays a dual role and has some good opportunities to use his variety of talents in this enjoyable B-Western. The story is light but entertaining, and it has some good musical numbers plus some comic relief from Smiley Burnette. The Texas Centennial setting also gives it some additional historical interest.Autry plays both a bad-tempered movie star cowboy and his talented, good-natured stunt double, so the setup offers some good lighter moments in its look at the movie industry. The story starts with the stunt double filling in for the star at a public appearance, with numerous complications arising from there. Autry gets many opportunities to sing, and there are also some good action sequences.Most of it works pretty well, because it generally allows Autry to use his strengths. Burnette also gets some good moments, and while the story is mostly used to showcase Autry and the other musical entertainment, it works too as a way of pulling things together.