by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Gene Autry's summer release for 1953 was the 56-minute Pack Train. In this one, Autry is assigned to safely transport supplies to a band of settlers. The villains, headed by Ross McLain (Kenne Duncan), intend to bushwhack Autry, grab the supplies, and sell them at high prices to a local mining camp. It must needs be that Autry and the bad guy duke it out in the final reel; the climactic fight, which takes place on a speeding train, is the best scene in the film. McLain's partner in crime is played by Sheila Ryan, the real-life wife of Gene Autry's perennial sidekick Pat Buttram (who also appears in the film). The heroine in Pack Train is Autry-contractee Gail Davis, who later in 1953 began filming on her own TV series, Annie Oakley.
characteristics
- Outlaw [Western]
- Mining
- Mine
- Homestead
- Owner
- Selling
- Store
- Settler
- Settlement [land]
- Bad-guy
- Gunslinger
- Company
- Commerce
- Business
- Bandit