Really Surprised!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

. . . once novelist Zane Grey saw this flick allegedly based upon one of his stories, he demanded that they reissue the movie as "Satan's Saloon," "The Devil's Dare," or "Hell Town." "HELL TOWN it is," responded the honchos in charge of Favorite Films Corp. This cautionary tale features John Wayne as slacker "Dare Rudd," a would-be cowboy with no sense of Situational Awareness. Dare enters the picture unable to tell good guys (cowboys) from bad ones (rustlers). As a Chuckwagon cook (complete with frilly white apron), he cannot differentiate rocks from biscuits. When it comes to a brawl, he's always running into some guy's fist. When a lady falls head over heels for him, he chalks it up to a snake. At the poker table, he's too busy smirking over two pair to notice that he's being "cold-decked." He gets his brainy community pillar of a cousin shot, than swipes his cousin's fiancée. Dare's all hat, no brains, as they say Out West. But Today's Red Staters are mostly descended from the shallow gene pool of Yesteryear's Dares, NOT from the level-headed guys such as Cousin Tom. It's not hard to see why any of their communities could be dubbed as HELL TOWN.

After six non-western B-movies, John Wayne returns to the saddle for what would be the beginning of the final chapter of his B-movie career. Rather than the standard formulaic B-western where Duke is the known hero who will get the girl, here his cowboy hero status is in question – he has to chase the girl and he's not exactly the squeaky clean character we have always known him as up to this point in his filmography. The story is by acclaimed western novel writer Zane Grey which helps explain how this is different from all that came before it for the Duke.5.7 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

I am giving this film ten stars, not because it is a great film (although it is one of the best of its type), but because it is a remarkably important transitional film for one of the real originals of American cinema, John Wayne.This is one of the last of the many 'Saturday matinée' potboilers Wayne acted in for a half-dozen marginal studios during the 1930s; two years later, Ford would give him the big break of his career in "Stagecoach".Unlike the other potboilers he appeared in, "Hell Town" (aka "Born to the West", although I have never seen a print with that title on it) is well-written, well-directed, nicely photographed, and well-acted by all involved (but especially Johnny 'Mack' Brown) - surprising quality for a cheapie, but I suppose the fact the story it derived from had been written by Zane Grey - already a legendary Western writer - probably impressed cast and crew to make a best-effort presentation here. At any rate, the film, under 55 minutes long, has the look and feel of a feature-length Western of the time, and it survives far better than any other of the Western shorts of the period.The story is solid, with relatively serious overtones concerning the possibility of redemption. Wayne's character, a gambling addict, is rightly transformed when he discovers that his cousin is a better gambler than he is, but just prefers not to gamble.Wayne himself is in top-form for the period. All the little gimmicks and gestures we associate with him are here in a way never seen in any film of his before this - his cautious smile, his frown, his ability to strike a pose leaning his weight on one leg, his soft but firm voice of warning, his ability to face a tough situation with grace and even, one must admit, an oddly noble humility. This is no longer the "Singing Mesquiteer" of the earlier potboilders, this is finally the Duke, who would star in "Stagecoach" and lead an army of fans (including myself) through film after film for four more decades.This is where the filmography of John 'Duke' Wayne rightfully begins - a film that has survived well, and may yet survive a few decades more.(Note: in another film made the previous year, Winds of the Wasteland, Wayne can also be seen coming into his own as an actor; but this is the better film.)

John Wayne and sidekick Syd Saylor are heading from Montana to Wyoming to the ranch of Wayne's cousin Johnny Mack Brown. Wayne's a cocky sort, fancies himself a great lady's man and poker player. The Duke even in his later and more irascible years usually didn't have parts that called for that, but here he does show that side of his character and shows it well.Wayne moves in on Marsha Hunt who is Brown's girl friend. That does throw a monkey wrench into the relationship between the cousins. Later on at the hands of cardsharps Monte Blue and James Craig, Wayne gets himself in quite a hole. Johnny Mack Brown had an interesting career. He was an All American back for the Crimson Tide of Alabama before Paul Bryant took over the team. He opted for a Hollywood career and appeared opposite stars like Mary Pickford and Greta Garbo in silents. His Alabama drawl made him a natural for westerns and he was grinding out the B films just like the Duke was at this time. This is their only film together and they both complement each other's persona well.Although another great football player Jim Thorpe has a bit role in this film, some lists have Alan Ladd in the cast. I have to say that I examined it frame by frame and there's no trace of Mr. Ladd.Even without Ladd it's a passably good B western, could have used some better editing, but better than some of what Wayne was doing at Monogram at the time.