YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Cissy Évelyne It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

dougdoepke Good imaginative mix of music, action, comedy, and man vs. machine. Gene's trying to stop a gang of cattle rustlers. Trouble is they're using modern technology like airplanes (spotters) and refrigerated trucks (hauling carcasses) to elude capture. Old Sheriff Doniphon and younger deputy Autry are not having much success, so ranchers call in a high-falutin' motorized detective company (think Pinkertons). So how's this all going to work out—will the new win out over the old. There's a little more story depth here than usual.Catch ace director, old Joe Kane using an off-angle camera shot to heighten effect of careening cars. Good touch even if on the arty side. Then there's cutie Ann Rutherford showing why she had such a durable Hollywood career. Heck, I even got laughs out of Frog and buddy donning a cow hide, especially when the horny and apparently near-sighted bull chases them. Okay, these are basically kid's shows, not to be taken seriously. So I have no problem with all the goofy anachronisms as long as they add to entertainment, which they do. On the matinée scale (not to be confused with adult westerns) I give this Autry entry a solid 8.

MartinHafer "Rustlers using modern technology (airplanes, shortwave radios, refrigerated trucks) are Gene's target."--IMDb Summary The version of "Public Cowbiy No. 1" I saw was only 53 minutes long instead of the time listed on IMDb. This is most likely because in the early days of TV they cut down many B-westerns to make them fit TV time slots. However, it's odd that this abbreviated version STILL has so many songs in it, as usually they shortened the films by clipping off a few songs. Actually, clipping a song or two isn't a bad thing, as it tended to speed up the films and keep them much more coherent! But, with ALL the songs seemingly intact in this film, it's not among Autry's best.The film begins with Gene Autry doing what he does best--singing a song. Soon you see the most amazingly ridiculous cattle rustlers strike nearby. Although this is a western, the baddies drive up in a HUGE modern truck--one that was awfully ridiculous. With meticulous precision, folks pop out of the truck and they quickly butcher and skin the cattle--and hide them in this refrigerated truck! What sort of western would have this any many other oddities in the old west? Yep...a Gene Autry film! You'll also see Gene's Sidekick, Frog (Smiley Burnett) using a shortwave radio, Gene chasing a truck down a highway...with his horse and airplanes! It's the weird sort of melange that even Roy Rogers films tended to avoid--and Autry films abounded with over the years.So is it any good? Well, not particularly. But, it's also pleasant enough as a time-passer...and it IS funny to see all these modern devices along with so many old fashioned at the same time.

John W Chance We watch Gene Autry movies for his sincerity, his interplay with a female lead or Smiley Burnette (all on display in 'Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge' from 1937), a mean villain or an interesting story (as in 'The Big Show' from 1936) but in this film we get none of these.Too much of it is outdoors with new or stock footage of cattle movements, rustlings and chasing of the rustlers. Unless Yakima Canutt is available for doing Gene's stunts, we get more singing than slam bang action. The only good song is "Old Buck-a-Roo" about an old man hanging up his boots and saddles.We get to see the spunky Ann Rutherford, who went on to play Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy movies. But in this one, too much time is wasted on poor low comedy (Smiley Burnette sitting backwards on a horse, trapped in a meat packing truck, and paired as the head in a two man steer costume), and outdoor landscape chases. One of Smiley's songs was cut from the edited version I have ("I Got the Heebie Jeebie Blues")and his "Defective Detective from Brooklyn" is certainly one of the high points (?) of his career as a singer-composer.Hardly any character interaction or development to speak of. Only good if you like to watch lots of men on horseback chasing more men on horseback across the plains. I'll give it a two and half.

bkoganbing Times are changing out in the west and there's this gang of rustlers who've got sheriff William Farnum and Deputy Gene Autry baffled. The local newspaper editor Ann Rutherford is calling for sheriff Farnum to be replaced and that's not sitting well with Gene. Besides that political differences are interfering in a promising romance.Who'd ever have believed it, but Gene's perennial sidekick Smiley Burnette decides that a short wave radio just might be the key to things and son of a gun he turns out to be right. Ham radio operators the world over must have loved this picture.No really great songs for Gene come out of this particular film, but Smiley Burnette is a sight to see in a disguise as a cow trying to fend off the attentions of an amorous bull. All in the line of doing some undercover work. Worth watching Public Cowboy No. 1 for that alone.