Don't Believe the Hype

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

. . . is borne out once again in WEST OF THE DIVIDE. What DOES this title mean? On most any map, West is to the Left--that is, it's on the Sinister Side. Clearly, it's Wayne's "Ted" character who's standing WEST OF THE DIVIDE here, in full alignment with the Forces of Evil (namely, his father's murderer, Squire Gentry). Wayne easily slips into the role of "Gat Ganns," a notorious assassin-for-hire, facing the Hangman's Noose. Though Wayne's Real Life defection to the Dark Side was still a decade away, his penchant for Jekyll and Hyde movie roles during the 1930s is as much an indicator of future behavior as Middle Schooler Omar cheering for the hijackers on 9-11. Preachers discourage us from Playing with Hellfire, as Wayne does in WEST OF THE DIVIDE and most of his other early flicks. When Damien fatally runs down his Mommy with his tricycle in the original OMEN, it's hard not to think of the baby-faced Wayne in a picture such as DIVIDE, cutting his teeth for the deviltry to come in THE ALAMO, RIO BRAVO, and CHISUM. (Perhaps the inevitable "666" birthmark is the reason Wayne never appears shaven-headed in a movie.)

"Ted Hayden" (John Wayne) joins an outlaw gang under the guise of a man he found dying to find the one or ones responsible for his father's death. Only to discover the gang leader's is the one responsible, but love and previously unknown family.This is not a bad movie, but may not be for all. First of all, there are a lot of audio problems throughout the film, which is fairly short by today's standards. There are times that you have to strain to hear some performers with weaker voices. I noticed, in a scene at the end of the film, a sound from the microphone when they switched to close-ups of the actors in scene possibly due to changes in the audio.John Wayne is possibly the best performer in this film. He is easily the easiest for the audience to connect with. His sidekick (George "Gabby" Hayes) is, in my opinion, completely forgettable only due to not being on screen much. I also found Virginia Brown Faire, who played Wayne's love interest, to be pretty poor in her performance. I just could not believe her as she said many of her lines.A big problem with this movie is that, due to the short length of the movie (under an hour), there was just not enough time to develop the characters or any subplot. If you ask me, the romantic subplot was really rushed. There was just no time to expand any of the main plot as well.The chemistry between performers was pretty good. I would have liked to have seen more between Wayne and Hayes, as well as Wayne and the young boy who Wayne's character befriends. Due to Faire's lackluster performance, it was hard to believe the relationship between her and Wayne at times.Like the audio, the sound effects were pretty bad. There were more fist fights than gun fights in this movie. While you could hear gun shots in this film, it was nearly impossible to hear punches "connect." You have to really strain to hear the smack of the punches apparently connecting during fights, especially when they were fairly distant from the microphone on set.As for wardrobes, they were all pretty nice. However, none of the clothing appeared to have been worn for some time by the people, it looked pretty much new. All the clothing looked really nice though, and fit the classic Old West stereotype created by Hollywood.There was absolutely no music in this film. Music could have helped enhance the mood of some scenes, but because the movie was from the early days of Hollywood, it wasn't needed.There is an extremely little amount of violence in this movie. Due to the time it was made, there is absolutely no blood. The most violent thing in the entire film is a fist fight. Parents, young children could watch this without you worrying about an excessive amount of blood.This movie wasn't bad, but it's far from perfect. Fans of "The Duke" will probably like this a lot more than others. However, his fans will most likely enjoy it more.

An average Lone Star film -- built on convenient coincidences (Gat Gann just happens to walk into the scene and dies, and, as luck would have it, just happens to bear a letter of introduction to the man, "Gantry" who, as fate would have it, just happens to have killed John "Ted" Wayne's father and for whom Ted goes to work because Ted just happens to look just like Gannon in his "Wanted" poster, etc., etc.) and clichés. Interesting for: 1) the stunt work of Yakima Cannutt-- riding a buckboard hitch with a boy on his back,and later diving through a window from a horse; 2) the child abuse theme that culminates in John Wayne's heartfelt hugging of young "Spud" at the end. Other than that, not much here, even by Lone Star standards. No real character development, except for John Wayne's passionate presence; George Hayes just chews tobacco.

I bought this film because a book I read stated that it was the firstfilm that was important in the development of the "Gabby" (George)Hayes character who was so enjoyable in the Hopalong Cassidy &Roy Rogers (& others) films of the 1930s & 1940s. Hayes hereplays a character named "Dusty." He has a scruffy, grizzled look,but doesn't yet have the beard that came later. Hayes has thesame voice & intonation as he used later, but engages in none ofthe comedic antics that where such a big part of his "Gabby"character. Is it a coincidence that John Wayne rides a white horse,wears a big 10 gallon black hat & black shirt, & has the samesidekick as Hopalong Cassidy did, all two years before Hoppy gotstarted in the movies? The Hopalong Cassidy movie characterseems to bear more resemblance to John Wayne in this moviethan he does to the Hoppy character as portrayed in the ClarenceMulford books! Blooper: John Wayne's kid brother calls him "Dad"in one scene! This is an enjoyable film, especially if you like GabbyHayes. What ruined it for me was a new soundtrack (basically,swirling organ music) that was unnecessary & detracted from themovie. I have the SONY release, copyrighted 1985 by Fox/Lorber,so beware of that version if you like your old movies to beunadulterated, as I do.