Author Archive: Retro

John Wayne Sings! Singin’ Sandy Saunders tries to thwart another wealthy land owner from monopolizing local water rights. Written by Robert North Bradbury. Dir. Robert North Bradbury

Wayne resigns his badge and withdraws from civilization when he thinks he has shot and killed his friend. Coincidentally, he comes upon the dead man’s daughter and helps her run her ranch, until she learns his identity. Written by Robert North Bradbury. Dir. Robert North Bradbury

In an early role, John Wayne appears as a cowboy who enters the rodeo to deal with cheats who sponsor the events but have caused the deaths of several contestants. With the help of a local sheriff (George Cleveland), the outlaws are caught and peace rules once again.

Sent to find counterfeiters, John Wyatt joins Doc Carter’s medicine show. They arrive in the town where Curly Joe runs his counterfeiting operation. Carter was once framed by Curly Joe and Curly Joe tries to get rid of him. But John foils his attempts and learning Curly Joe is the counterfeiter, goes after him.

Cowboy Dan Somers and oilman Jim “Hunk” Gardner compete for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the favors of schoolteacher Cathy Allen.

John Wayne’s easy-going charm truly began to manifest itself in this, one of his later “Lone Star” Westerns for Monogram. Falsely accused of killing the paymaster (Henry Hall) of the Rattlesnake Gulch rodeo, John Scott (Wayne)and his girl-chasing partner Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler) trail the real killer, Pete (Al Ferguson), and his unwilling underling Jim (Paul Fix) to Poker City. Jim wants to go straight, but Pete blackmails him into robbing the stagecoach. Besides one of Wayne’s better early performances, The Desert Trail also benefitted from the presence of Frank Capra-regular Eddy Chandler, a rotund comic actor whose sparring here with Wayne is first-rate all the way. Paul Fix is equally good as the outlaw with a conscience and Mary Kornman, of Our Gang fame, is tolerable as the obligatory heroine.

One of the classic battle-of-the-sexes. In vintage portrayals by John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, the battle is on with slapstick humor and no holds barred. The story of two best friends who love hating each other makes for great entertainment as monumental egos and hurt pride battle with love that’s as passionate as the “hate” between them. Dir. Andrew V. McLaglen

One of John Wayne’s most mystical films, Angel and the Badman is also the first production that Wayne personally produced. The star plays a wounded outlaw who is sheltered by a Quaker family. Attracted to the family’s angelic daughter Gail Russell, the hard-bitten Wayne undergoes a slow and subtle character transformation; still, he is obsessed with killing the man (Bruce Cabot) who murdered his foster father. The storyline traces not only the regeneration of Wayne, but of the single-minded sheriff (Harry Carey) who’d previously been determined to bring Wayne to justice.

Based on a Zane Grey novel, this early John Wayne western stars the Dukeas a carefree cowpoke who, to the dismay of his family, joins up with rustlers. Also titled Born to the West.