Heart of the Rio Grande
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
William Morgan
Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette
Fay Mckenzie
Edith Fellows
Pierre Watkins
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Teenager Connie Lane runs away from her teacher, Alice Bennett, to plead with her tycoon father, Randolph Lane, not to send her with her schoolmates to the Smoke River Dude Ranch. Lane, preoccupied with his business, is ignorant of his daughter's spoiled nature, and sends her off to the two-month vacation with Alice. Meanwhile, Smoke River's ex-foreman, Hap Callahan, berates the new foreman, Gene Autry, for turning it into a dude ranch, but Gene reminds him that the owner, "Skipper" Forbes, hired him because Hap's mismanagement drove the ranch into debt. When the train carrying Alice, Connie and the other girls arrives, Connie bribes the porter to keep her luggage on, and in the confusion, no one notices that Connie has not disembarked until the train pulls away. Gene races the train on his horse "Champion" and soon takes the willful youngster to the ranch. While Gene and Frog compete for Alice's attention, Connie laments her fate at being stuck on the unsophisticated ranch. The next day, Gene orders Hap to fix the brakes on the ranch's truck, but when the lazy Hap does not do it, Gene is forced to rescue Connie from the runaway truck after she steals the vehicle during another escape attempt. Angered at being stymied again, Connie uses lipstick to doctor her back to look as if she has been whipped, and takes photographs. After she has sent the film to her father, Connie learns that Gene has taken responsibility for the truck's destruction, and the grateful girl tries to give him a reward. She is mystified by Gene's explanation that people should do favors for each other out of friendship, but soon sees what she believes is an opportunity to repay the favor when Gene and Hap stage a contest to determine who is a better rider. Connie tampers with Hap's saddle and he is hurt in a fall. Gene discovers the sabotage, after which Connie admits her mischief. Hap starts a fight with Gene, and Gene fires him after Hap draws a gun on him. Surprised at Gene's defense of her, Connie is won over, and as the weeks pass, the two become good pals. Connie's happiness soon ends, however, when Lane, shocked at the photographs she sent him, arrives at the ranch and demands that she leave instantly with him. Her explanation that the pictures were a prank does not dissuade him, and it is only after Frog disables Lane's plane and Gene goads him into accompanying them on a roundup that the businessman stays. During the roundup, Lane discovers that he enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his daughter. While the group is in a narrow mountain pass, Hap shoots at Gene, and although he misses, the horses stampede. Gene saves Connie as she is about to be trampled, and after returning to the ranch, Lane finally realizes that his daughter is more important than business. He then sends his secretaries away and joins the others on a hayride.
Director
William Morgan
Cast
Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette
Fay Mckenzie
Edith Fellows
Pierre Watkins
Joe Strauch Jr.
William Haade
Sarah Padden
Jean Porter
The Jimmy Wakely Trio
Jimmy Wakely
Dick Reinhart
Johnny Bond
Champion
Gloria Gardner
Gladis Gardner
Jan Lester
Patsy Fay Northrup
Frankie Marvin
Budd Buster
Reed Porter
Harry Depp
Ira Buck Woods
Mady Laurence
Nora Lane
Allen Wood
Howard Mitchell
Eddie Cobb
Milt Kibbee
Frank Mills
Betty Jane Graham
Kathy Frye
Jean Herbers
Crew
Gene Autry
Helen Bernard
Johnny Bond
Smiley Burnette
Al Frisch
Don George
Harry Grey
Lillie Hayward
June Hershey
Raoul Kraushaar
Frank Marvin
Johnny Marvin
Sol Meyer
Winston Miller
Harry Neumann
Charles Newman
Les Orlebeck
Fred Rose
Jule Styne
Don Swander
George Webster
Ray Whitley
Allie Wrubel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Dusk on the Painted Desert and Heart of Texas. According to a January 9, 1942 Hollywood Reporter news item, the picture was shot on location at Bronson Canyon, in Los Angeles, CA. Heart of the Rio Grande marked the first time that "Deep in the Heart of Texas," one of the most popular songs of the 1940s, was sung in a film.
