Truly Dreadful Film

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Copyright 27 June 1939 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 27 June 1939. U.K. release in 1940 through British Lion. Never released theatrically in Australia. 6 reels. 62 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The mesquiteers meet up with a dust-bowl family impoverished by a local politician.NOTES: Number 24 of the 52-picture series.COMMENT: An interesting precursor to several later films. The dust-bowl setting reminds us of Wayne's Three Faces West, whilst the climax with the outlaw trapped on the hilltop by the posse, as reporters cover the story, is very reminiscent of High Sierra. The story in fact is not only very unusual by "B" western standards, but it provides some uncommonly bright opportunities for solid acting. Donald "Red" Barry is particularly memorable as the hard-luck outlaw. Also giving the best performance of his entire career is Charles Middleton, forsaking his normally stiff and heavy-handed mannerisms, to pen a searing sketch of an honest man, hard done by yet scrupulously resigned to his fate. Adele Pearce, a startlingly realistic heroine, makes the most of her opportunities; whilst Wayne has not one but two all-in fist fights, the first with his old nemesis Yakima Canutt (in which, aside from a single shot, both men do all their own tussling), the second with chief villain LeRoy Mason. David Sharpe is oddly miscast in the role of a bartender, but it's good to see Elmo Lincoln (the screen's first Tarzan) as the marshal.The story synopsis in the studio press book is the same as the script as filmed - with one notable exception. Wayne was originally to pursue and best the villain. Doubtless for economy reasons a different ending was used, the villain disposed of in a most uncommon manner, leading into a somewhat abrupt riding-off farewell.Although the production credits have been removed from the TV print under review, there is certainly nothing for anyone to be ashamed of in this creditable entry, which was actually filmed after Wayne's huge success in Stagecoach. It's certainly odd to find Wayne still being cast in a "B", though he has the lion's share of the action. Both Corrigan and Hatton (replacing ventriloquist Max Terhune who retired from the series after the previous "Three Mesquiteers", namely Three Texas Steers) are obligated to provide no more than perfunctory support. Wayne does all the fighting as well as all the thinking.

This was one of John Wayne's final film roles before getting his big break-out in the same year's "Stagecoach" directed by John Ford. He appeared in eight 'Mesquiteers' flicks for Republic, six of them with Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune, followed by two more with Corrigan and Ray Hatton. What I found unusual about this story was how introspective the writing was, almost like a Warner Brothers film of the era in which they tackled a serious social problem. In this case it was the scheming villainy of a local town boss selling jobs for political favors and campaign contributions, in some cases driving poverty stricken ranchers even deeper into a hole.Throughout the story, the Mesquiteers acquitted themselves well as stand up guys, as evidenced by Stoney Brooke's (Wayne) covering for Irene Parker's (Pamela Blake) theft of twenty dollars from his own wallet, or when Rusty Joslin (Hatton) paid Will Parker (Red Barry) as a trail hand even though he wasn't allowed to join the drive by a dutiful forest ranger for alleged violation of game laws. As Parker, Don Barry evokes a genuine sympathy from the viewer for fighting against the odds and constantly coming up short, often through no fault of his own. In fact, when he expresses his concern to a newsman near the end of the story, the comeback from the reporter is stated as "Sort of radical, aren't you"? The political connotation in the reporter's reaction caught me somewhat by surprise.Say, here's something that caught my eye when the Mesquiteers stopped in town to have some lunch. The menu offered up hamburger steak for thirty cents, beef strip for twenty three cents, corned beef and cabbage for thirty cents, and pounded steak for forty cents. I was wondering what a pounded steak was and marveling at those prices when I really got blown away by a sign that announced that dessert was included in the meal!!! How's that for a bargain! Then there was this sign posted on the outside of a building that encouraged voters in the coming election to 'Keep Your Friends In Office"! That provided another telling moment in the story when Will Parker's father refused to participate in graft and corruption to keep Joe Balsinger (Leroy Mason) in office by collecting campaign contributions for him from neighboring ranchers. The story really made you sympathize for the little guy who faced loss of work and starvation if he didn't play along with the system.With the way the story was headed, the thing that surprised me most was the way in which it ended. With Will Parker hanging on to his dignity by a thread, he takes outlaw Balsinger hostage, and in the confrontation with the town folk, both Balsinger and Parker are shot dead. It wasn't your traditional satisfactory ending and left you with a tinge of melancholy that things didn't work out for the guy who tried and couldn't make it. For a B Western, this one could have been a feature with a little more effort.

Part of this movie is available on DVD in Germany (I paid EUR4). In around 1977, the German ZDF TV channel produced a serial "Western von gestern" with episodes of around 25 minutes length, for which they also remoulded several early John Wayne movies, like this. You of course just get less than half of the images, with a completely new soundtrack (including new music) in German. I liked the "culture shock": at first, people rode around on horses like we're used to, but suddenly in the manhunt scene, radio broadcasting cars of around 1930 fill the screen. Later, the outlaw hitches a car ride and steals the car to go back to town :^)

The 32 year old John Wayne was fortunate enough to have talented writers around him to write novels that could be adapted into vehicles for his career, as well as short stories and screenplays that would immortalise him as the American hero. This film is one such example. When you watch this film you're not watching it for the story (like you would do in 'Rio Grande' or 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'), you're watching it to see John Wayne in action. He is the romantic embodiment of what it was like for the settling community to live in the post-civil war era. Despite the fact that most of these westerns distort history, what Wayne delivers gives you access to his humanity. That's what we like about him.