Shooting High

Shooting High is a 1940 American Western film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Jane Withers, Gene Autry, and Marjorie Weaver. Written by Lou Breslow and Owen Francis, the film is about a generationsold old feud between two families that is resurrected when the town banker tries to contrsuct a highway through the area bearing a monument to the frontiersman ancestor of one of the families. Shooting High was Gene Autrys first film away from Republic Pictures, his first as a mere costar, his first without the comic presence of Smiley Burnette since 1934, and his first playing a character other than himself.

The long simmering feud between the Carsons and the Pritchards erupts over Wills accusation. Just as the families renew their bickering, Gabby Cross Jack Carson, a publicity agent for Spectrum Pictures, arrives in town and offers the townspeople 20,000 to use Carsons Corners as a filming location for a movie he is making about Wild Bill Carson, Wills grandfather and the founder of Carson Corners. Still angered by Wills undermining his highway plan, Calvin refuses Gabbys offer. His youngest daughter, Jane Jane Withers, suggests a compromise that would allow Spectrum Pictures to use the town as a filming location if the highway proposal were approved by the Carsons.With all parties agreeing to the proposal, the movie company arrives in town and begins production. The star of the film, Bob Merritt Robert Lowery, begins to court Marjorie. Wanting her sister to marry Will, Jane and the sheriff devise a plan to frighten Merritt out of town, telling him a lynch party is after him. After Merritt leaves town, the head of Spectrum Pictures threatens to sue Pritchard for the defection. Gabby suggests giving the part to Will, who agrees on the condition that Pritchard extend the Carson mortgages. ........

Source: Wikipedia