Who payed the critics

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A different way of telling a story

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Neath the Arizona skies is one of the better early John Wayne efforts. It is clear watching this film that he was growing in stature as an actor since the very early efforts where he was often a bit wooden. It's quite crisply filmed and has a more interesting if still quite clumsy plot than many of his early efforts. Here he attempts to keep safe a little Indian girl ( a cute Shirley Jean Rickett) who who a price on her head. There are the familiar stunts including one great one near the end, the obligatory shootout and of course his usual sidekick Gabby Hughes manages to get involved as well. This is another one that is really just for John Wayne fans only but if you are one this is worth watching.

I recently saw several John Wayne films shown on the Encore Channel. I was shocked when I heard the soundtracks on these public domain films. Instead of the original music, the films all featured modern electric music--stuff that sounds really out of place with films from the 1930s. In addition, the music and new sound effects are just too loud and out of place during much of the film--making it pretty annoying viewing. My advice is to instead follow the IMDb link and download these films and watch them the way they were meant to be viewed.This finds Wayne playing nursemaid to a small girl who is heir to a fortune in oil. He's taking care of her until he can locate her missing father, but baddies want to kidnap her and steal her claim. The child is supposed to be half American Indian, but frankly aside from the silly black wig, she looks and sounds just like a typical Hollywood child actor--a.rather poor one at that, as she often flubbed her lines or delivered them very unconvincingly. Perhaps I should cut her some slack, as she was pretty young. But teaming any cowboy with a kid like this is a recipe for disaster or, at best, mediocrity. Even a small appearance by an uncredited Gabby Hayes wasn't enough to overcome this. Now this isn't because it's a bad film--it just isn't all that great either.

When your child presents its newest painting, a parent often doesn't apply art critic standards, but just enjoys and applauds it. Funnily, I'm somehow feeling the same for Lone Star westerns.I've started to discover them only yesterday, when I bought The Lucky Texan at the supermarket, for €2.99. I watched it, torn between disbelief and fascination.. and went back to the shop the same night, and bought all others they had, Diamond Valley, West of the Divide, Neath the Arizona Skies. And had an increasingly joyful weekend with them :) The more I watched, the more I got a warm fuzzy feeling, the cast of John Wayne, George Hayes, Yakima Canutt.. Up to and including the Ford Model T, which featured in the others, but not this one - and I already missed it.But what Arizona Skies offers, in addition to the usual welcome fare, is the "Indian" girl (who happens to call for Daddy Chris in unsuitable situations), the lasso/elevator trick which made me laugh out loud, the cliff-to-river stunt.. The hostage exchange and the last bullet idea were good, too.This is a different kind of cinema from what I normally watch. Somehow more resembling old TV serials, like Bonanza (and some 30 years older than that). I can only say it gave me a good fun time, and I'm looking forward to the next items I'll find.

"Daddy" Chris Morrell (John Wayne) is the guardian of a young Indian girl who stands to inherit fifty thousand dollars, whether or not her rightful father is ever found. Bad guy Sam Black wants that money, and is hot on the trail of Morrell and the girl. The action takes place in Snake River, used as the locale in a much later (1951) Durango Kid film - "Snake River Desperados". Safe to say, with John Wayne in these mid 1930 Lone Star films, Yakima Canutt or George (later Gabby) Hayes are usually close by, in this case both are, Yakima as gang leader Sam Black. Sheila Terry portrays the love interest, as the sister of a local bandit who trades shirt and scarf with a battered Wayne early on, putting him on the defensive in a plot line that goes nowhere. There's a very cool horse dive off of a rock face near the end, that actually looks pretty exciting. But everything else is fairly standard for the day, as John Wayne ends up in a clinch with Terry in the closing scene, with Gabby and Indian girl Nina giggling their approval.