Heart of the Rio Grande is a 1942 American Western film directed by William Morgan and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Fay McKenzie, and Edith Fellows.

[2] Based on a story by Newlin B. Wildes, the film is about a singing cowboy and dude ranch foreman who helps a spoiled teenager and her business tycoon father discover what is most important in life.

[1] The film features the songs "Let Me Ride Down in Rocky Canyon", "Deep in the Heart of Texas", "Dusk on the Painted Desert", and "Rainbow In the Night" performed by Edith Fellows.

[3] Spoiled teenager Connie Lane (Edith Fellows) has no desire to join her classmates on a two-month vacation at the Smoke River Dude Ranch.

While Gene and his sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) compete for Alice's attention, Connie complains about being stuck on an unsophisticated ranch.

The next day, after Hap ignores Gene's order to fix the brakes on the ranch truck, Connie steals the vehicle in another attempt to escape.

As the group moves through a narrow mountain pass, Hap shoots at Gene and misses, but the sound causes the horses to stampede.