Gene Autry's Rarely Discussed '30s Western Is Streaming On Prime Video

If you're unfamiliar with Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, ask your grandparents. Or, better yet, check out his work in 1936's "Oh, Susanna!," which is currently streaming on Prime Video.

Autry, you see, was one of the most popular performers of his day, best known for his cowboy songs and gentle, croon-y singing voice. In addition to appearing on the radio and TV, he launched a film performing career in the mid-1930s. With time, Autry became known for playing some version of himself in nearly all of his movies, emerging as something of a folk hero. He was gentle, talented, and easily consumed, and for a spell, he was part of mainstream pop culture.

Autry's first movie was 1934's "In Old Santa Fe," which was actually a vehicle for actor Ken Maynard. In that film, Autry sang a rendition of "Wyoming Waltz," accompanied by Smiley Burnett on accordion. He then landed his first leading role in "The Phantom Empire," a 12-episode sci-fi Western serial that paved the way for the likes of "Westworld" and "Firefly." From there, Autry proceeded to appear in multiple films every year over the next two decades. In the end, he enjoyed quite the impressive run.

This brings us to Joseph Kane's "Oh, Susanna!," a musical Western that only runs 54 minutes long yet features many, many songs. Naturally, the movie gets its title from Stephen Foster's popular folk tune "Oh! Susanna," which you almost surely learned at some point in your school days. Indeed, it's worth pausing here to discuss the history of Foster's tune in more depth before we turn our attention fully to Autry's film.

Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna" is now one of the bedrock anthems of a young nation. If one were to look up its lyrics, one would likely find something similar to what's listed on the Song of America website. Because of these lyrics, I and many others had long assumed that "Oh! Susanna" was a cowboy song. It's also weird that Gene Autry's movie is called "Oh, Susanna!" since the tune doesn't play a large part in the film and there are no characters named Susanna in it. It's possible that the song's reputation as a cowboy melody merely came from people seeing Autry's smiling face on the movie's poster over the years.

If one visits the Poetry Foundation website, one can even see the lyrics as they were originally penned in 1849. Unfortunately, they were penned with a pointedly racist patois, as Foster wrote the n-word into his song. It's most certainly not about cowboys. Rather, it's about a banjo player who travels from Alabama to Louisiana to be reunited with his sweetheart. 

Foster died in 1864, and, according to the Highbeam Research website, he was never rich in his lifetime. Rather, he was paid a mere $100 for "Oh! Susanna" and, since copyright laws were so lax back in the day, he didn't get royalties until much later in the song's life. Nevertheless, pretty much the entirety of the United States is still singing his songs these days, and many might know Foster melodies thanks to old Looney Tunes cartoons (which are dominating streaming for free, in case you're looking for additional viewing ideas).

Now, back to "Oh, Susanna!"

The plot of "Oh, Susanna!" is pretty wild. Gene Autry is traveling to a distant ranch to visit an old friend when his train is held up by the vicious criminal Wolf Benson (Boothe Howard). Recognizing Gene, Wolf then tries to kill him by throwing him off the train before posing as Gene (!) and heading off to said ranch in the hopes of collecting a debt in his name. Gene, of course, survives the fracas, having been rescued by a group of itinerant musicians that includes Frog Millhouse (himself played by Smiley Burnett).

Of course, by this point, there's an active identity swap at the ranch. Thus, Gene winds up in jail after being mistaken for Wolf, and while he intends to prove his identity by singing with his velvety smooth voice, he cannot because he was choked a little upon his arrest. Gene is later exonerated when he lip-synchs a record in court (!), after which he takes on the identity of "Tex Smith," sneaks onto the ranch, and, through various complex machinations, manages to catch Wolf cracking a safe. Everyone sings, everything is pleasant, and the heroes win.

Did I mention that this film is under an hour long? It really crams in a lot of story to go with all its music. Stephen Foster snippets pepper the film's opening credit sequence, and Autry even sings one of his own songs, "Dear Old Western Skies." You're in, you're out, and you're ready for your next Gene Autry offering. For sure, once you're done streaming "Oh, Susanna!" on Prime Video, you ought to check out "The Gene Autry Show." It even has Alan Hale "The Skipper" Jr. himself playing multiple villains.