Apache Country on AllMovie

The "B"-western field of the 1950s was laid low by increasing budgets and decreasing box-office appeal. Gene Autry's series for Columbia was still turning a profit in 1952, but films like Apache Country were a lot stingier-looking than his earlier efforts. Autry plays a government agent who rides into Indian territory to find out who's been selling guns and liquor to the Apaches. Hoping to keep his identity a secret, Autry is betrayed by a "mole" for the crooks, and gunplay ensues. TV and radio soap-opera veteran Mary Scott does an adequate job as the heroine, while movie veteran Francis X. Bushman brings his usual polished professionalism to a disturbingly minor role. And, oh yes, Gene Autry and his traditional cohorts Pat Buttram and Carolina Cotton do a lot of singing.