Tag Archives: John Wayne

The Lawless Frontier Review

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It’s time for the return of John Wayne. He is riding with a vengeance this time as he arrives to really turn the tides in a tricky situation. It’s a pretty good all around title with a memorable main villain as well as a decent supporting cast. It ends up being one of the better John Wayne films. He’s had so many that you will probably still end up mixing them around a bit as the years go on but I can say that they did a good job with this one.

The film starts by introducing us to a legendary crook known as Pandro. He’s masquerading as a mexican and is so infamous that the guy is worth $5000 dead or alive. He also bumps off John’s father so he is now on the lookout for revenge. This crook decides to target a local girl named Ruby and so her father takes her into town to be safe. John knows that this is now his chance to take Pandro down but the tricky thing is that the local sheriff isn’t particularly smart and may end up getting in the way. How can John defeat the villains while being limited by his own allies?

I did like the fact that the sheriff was generally incompetent the whole time but still talking a big game. It makes for a fun character to have around and also made sure John’s job wasn’t too easy. This guy doesn’t even know how to properly secure his prisoners which becomes a problem later on. I half blame John too since he knew this wasn’t a good lock but decides to take a nap anyway. It’s still on the sheriff of course but John probably should have just stayed up. If not for the sheriff’s meddaling, we do see that John makes short work of Pandro in all of their encounters. Pandro is just completely out of his depth and isn’t that durable either. John easily knocks him out the first time and in the second instance the domination is even more extreme.

Despite all of that, you will at least remember Pandro because there was actually some depth to his character. He wasn’t just a random villain with a gun. He actually had a gimmick with the whole disguise part and was very over the top. It’s a way to ensure you don’t forget him and so I give the movie a whole lot of credit there. It would have been easy to have just made him generic or something like that.

As for the heroine Ruby, she was okay but did find herself constantly getting into trouble. Not much she could do about falling into the lake but it would have been nice to have seen her learning how to shoot or something. I feel like growing up in the wild west should make everyone learn how to use a gun quickly because you never know when you might need it. There are villains lurking around every corner after all.

Her father Dusty did a good job of playing defense though. His plan to outwit Pandro and his gang was pretty good and he also came in clutch during the climax. He’s the kind of guy who never gives up. Meanwhile John is a good hero as you would expect. Very down to business and is always ready to lend a helping hand. He’s the exact kind of hero that you want on your side when you are in a situation like this.

The soundtrack is very familiar if you’ve been watching the other John Wayne films in this series. They always use the same tunes over and over again but fortunately they are always very good. Nothing to really dislike about them at least. They are dramatic, if a bit overbearing. I’ll always take that over the music being too low or being generic. They don’t really make soundtracks like this anymore.

The pacing is good and the writing is on point. This is a very simple film that nails the fundamentals and that is always the right way to go about things. I don’t really have any issues here. Even though the film is very short, it still manages to cover a whole lot of ground. Even after the climax is seemingly over, the film is able to squeeze another one in right afterwards. Now that is absolutely impressive.

I’m thinking the movie did that because the initial climax actually doesn’t have much action. We get a long walking sequence and then the villain ends up poisoning himself. It actually works well as a real twist of what the climax would usually be like, but I could see some people being upset at that which is why it would make a whole lot of sense to try and get around that. Throwing in a more standard kind of climax works well there and also matches the tone of the intro scene more. The film literally starts off with a big gunfight after all so you want to end with something a little more up to that speed.

Overall, If you like a good western then this is a good film to check out. The action scenes are on point and the movie is not afraid to hit you hard with the soundtrack. John makes for a good character and the dialogue is solid from start to finish. It’s a charming film with no real weaknesses and that’s part of why the Wayne films have so much replay value. You can watch them at any time and expect to enjoy yourself. In a way the films could stand to be longer but perhaps that would break the balance of the movies. In which case, this would actually be the perfect amount.

Overall 7/10

The Dawn Rider Review

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John returns for another adventure and this time it’s more of a revenge thriller. Get ready for some classic Western hype. By now if you’ve seen John Wayne’s other films then you should understand the drill. If you haven’t seen any before, just think of this as a quick adventure film. It has a fun tone throughout and music that may be a tad generic but is catchy all the same. It’s a good film to watch.

The movie starts with John riding into town and seeing someone being forced to dance as he is shot at. John gets involved and immediately shows why he is the top gun in town. He outdraws the guy and then beats him up physically. Still, John manages to make friends with the guy and it turns out the other one being shot at was a villain anyway. It’s a small world and it turns out this guy works for John’s father but just as they arrive, the father is shot. Some hoodlums had done a heist and then they get out of there. John intends to avenge his father no matter what. How can he track these villains down though?

It’s nice to see John on the offensive right from the start here. He was definitely not going to back down easily and with his skills there are very few who can hope to stand against him. The film only lasts as long as it does because John has to find these guys but the fights themselves are a little quicker. One guy does put up a reasonable fight while they wrestle around but the victor is never in doubt. John is not somebody who will ever end up submitting. He would sooner die than be defeated here and that’s why he is such a living legend. You cannot underestimate him at any cost.

The main weakness that the film has is the villains are really not notable. Taking down John’s father was a big deal of course but aside from that they are just ordinary joes. Nobody to write home about or anything like that. They just exist to be absolutely devastated by John’s impressive gun combos. Another reason they last longer than they should is because they are easily able to convince Ben (The guy John became friends with) to turn against John. Now I didn’t mind this as much as I usually would since they’ve only been friends for a short while. Ben betraying him works well enough but it still does ensure that you don’t really like Ben much as a character.

The guy is just too easy to sucker the whole time and he also severely lacks in confidence. The guy feels like he needs a ring in order to propose instead of just going forward and doing it. Not really what you would like to see from a lead like this. Meanwhile the film does try to stick some romance into the picture by the end but it’s definitely more on the rushed side. The time skip at the end really comes out of nowhere.

You are hoping for a happy ending with a film like this of course but you will feel like the romance was still too out of the blue. You just didn’t need it here at all. It’s the kind of romance that is just here to check off the boxes instead of adding onto the plot. A weak romance like that will never succeed in feeling all that believable. Beyond that, the writing was solid as always. I enjoyed the script and how smug John always tends to act. He works really well as the main lead for that reason.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is fun enough even if there are no new tracks here. It’s the same tunes you’ve heard a million times but fortunately they are good tunes so it does work out well enough. The pacing is good too so the film has no main weaknesses. I think the best thing about a western like this one is the high replay value. You could re watch it at any time without any issues. The story beats will feel familiar but that’s because they are similar in all of the films so it helps stop you from thinking that you’ve just seen the exact same film.

Overall, The Dawn Rider is a pretty fun film. John really did well on the attack although as an older film it doesn’t feel as much like a revenge thriller as it probably would nowadays. It still keeps a high level of energy and all but you don’t feel the rage that you might expect. I suppose that might have been hard to picture for a film like this so the most important thing is that it’s a good film. I would definitely recommend checking it out whenever you have some time. You will get to see the power of a solid gunman in action.

Overall 7/10

The Star Packer Review

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It’s time for a little more John Wayne action. In this film he has to go up against the legendary Shadow which won’t be easy. This guy has been manipulating a small town for a long while now and shoots down any would be sheriff. So John takes it upon himself to become the sheriff and bring some justice to this corrupted world. It will not be easy by any stretch though. He has one friend but the Shadow has many. One wrong step and this will be John’s final fight.

The movie starts off with a lady getting robbed not once but twice on her way over to town! She’s heading to one of the most dangerous towns in America where the outlaws have really taken over from the shadows. Fortunately John shows up and saves her life. Once in town, John feels obligated to take on the role of Sheriff after watching another one get shot. Everyone warns him not to rock the boat or do anything crazy but he doesn’t care. John will save them all whether they like it or not.

The Shadow’s true identity becomes clear early on but he still maintains a lot of hype the whole time. You’re always wondering what kind of dirty trick he’s going to try next. You see another big goal of the Shadow is to get the main heroine to sell her place but she wants to stay strong even among the threats. John even gives her a gun at one point which really helps a whole lot. It was smart thinking to properly arm her since sometimes it does feel like the heroine is left on her own.

This film’s got a pretty straight forward story and it works out rather well I would say. It’s nice to see John outwitting everyone not through some kind of fancy plan or genius abilities but through every day actions. John was ready to clobber these guys and showed why his abilities are the real deal. He even uses the secret communication method against the villains by holding one of the minions at gunpoint and forcing him to act cool.

The town should still be ashamed of themselves for letting it get this bad but at least now they will be in a good spot for the future. Ideally they won’t let any more criminals take over the place. Maybe John will teach them a little more about self defense and how to handle things. He did well in teaching the heroine so I could definitely see that going over well. Once the whole town is prepped it will be one of the safest places to live.

As always you have the same general soundtrack and array of sound effects. I do think they ought to change this at some point but in this way I guess you could treat the movies like an anthology series of sorts. The characters may change around but they all follow very similar beats. John had a partner in this one for example, a local Indian who helped out. John’s had a partner in a few of these films but is still usually a solo act.

What this film did better than in most is having an actual villain. I’ll be reviewing another John Wayne film shortly and a weakness that one had was in not having any big villains or notable characters. That is always a big mistake because you want someone for Wayne to bounce off of. Instead, he really had to do everything on his own against ordinary henchmen in most films. Still not a terrible thing or anything like that but you would absolutely prefer to see a worthy foe. The Shadow delivered on that and we even got some decent banter as a result. It goes without saying that the writing and pacing were really good as always so this film nailed the fundamentals.

Overall, The Star Packer is a pretty fun film. In most of these western adventures, John plays the role of the lone cowboy or a guy getting framed. It’s a nice change of pace to actually see him become the sheriff who is calling the shots here. Definitely very impressive indeed. The film has less shootouts than in some of the other ones but we still get a solid climax here and also see just how fast John is on the trigger. He’s also not the kind of guy to back down from a fight. Sometimes you just want a fun film that is straight to the point like this one.

Overall 7/10

Texas Terror Review

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Texas Terror brings us back into another classic John Wayne adventure. It’s fairly short as with the last few so things have to move fast but it doesn’t feel like there is as much of a sense of urgency as in his other films. It makes for a fun adventure but nothing that I would consider to be top tier. Still, these films always have strong fundamentals and this one is no exception. You will certainly get to see some solid fights.

In Texas Terror you have some outlaws running around as always and unfortunately they bump off a man and escape. The timing of it is rough though so John actually blames himself for this. He gets on the trail and ends up saving a helpless young lady while posing in his disguise. He then has to go back to town and pretend not to know her. It turns out that she is the daughter of the guy who was murdered. The problem is that the villains are around and one of them decides to further frame John for the death of her father. Can John clear his name and save the day or is it all over for him?

He probably could have had a good talk with her a bit sooner and saved on some of the drama to be honest. Yeah it wouldn’t have been the best story based on his understanding of it at the time but at least it would be coming from him and not some third party. At the same time I get it because she does panic a whole lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she let the cat out of the bag too soon and would spoil everything. At the very least you have to consider the possibility here. She is just not ready for this. As it is, she faints rather easily and is quick to believe this random guy at the town dance. With everyone being so secretive, I get why she might believe things but she still could have stayed a little more calm to really think things through.

One thing I enjoyed in this film is that John actually has a good relationship with the Sheriff this time around. He’s not running around and being a vigilante or anything like that. Yeah his methods might be a little more intense than the average person’s, but he gets results. Ultimately it’s not like the others were able to really do much of anything here. One guy does spot the fact that the villains were using stolen currency which was really clever. You don’t see this used all that often but using serial numbers to track stolen money is actually a really clever idea.

I would have liked the heroes to have been a bit more proactive at that point rather than waiting though. The middle is the only part of the film that is a little slow since we know who the crooks are and the heroes do too. For a film this short, you don’t usually want it to have any slow moments. Ah well, it is what it is I suppose. At least we do get the classic climax with some real fights as John shows why he is the top dog around here. He really gets in some powerful shots. In a way I feel like John shows off more in hand to hand combat than in marksmanship in these films.

As always you have the classic soundtrack here. A little bit of eerie music every time the villains make a move and it really lets you feel what the movie creators were going for the whole time. This way you aren’t left in suspense of anything like that. While the music may really be on the nose, it’s still better than not having a soundtrack. Somehow these old movies actually understood the balance more than some of the modern ones. They may not have had the budget for a whole lot of songs but at least they were able to get in the main ones that counted.

Overall, Texas Terror is a bit of a misleading title. You’re certainly not going to be too scared while watching this film and it’s not like it is going for that vibe either. At best you could say that John’s early disguise was pretty scary. They actually did a really good job with that one since you really could not recognize the guy. It was an impressive disguise, especially since he makes sure to act a lot different as plain ole John. The fact that the heroine almost saw through it might make him look a bit bad but hey that’s just how it goes. If you like classic Westerns then you’ll like this one as well. It feels like there is just not a whole lot to it compared to some of Wayne’s other films but that doesn’t make it a bad film or anything like that. Standard or not, it’s still a fun adventure.

Overall 6/10

The Desert Trail Review

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It’s time for another old Western and I dare say this one was having the most amount of fun with the concept. I would even call it a comedy before a Western if I was ranking the genres. There’s a ton of in fighting and slapstick around here with none of the characters being very smart. Whether you enjoy it or not will definitely come down to how much you enjoy the absurdity. Me personally? I got a real kick out of it. This is definitely a film with a lot of replay value.

The film starts off by introducing us to John and Kansas who are friends that get very competitive with each other. They may be friends but when a girl is involved they will suddenly become total enemies. Things start off rocky right away when a lady is having a lot of trouble with her clothes and both guys fall head over heals for her. They keep on insulting each other with John usually getting the upper hand but Kansas being pretty good at pretending to be rich. This lady named Juanita is definitely someone who likes digging up a bit of gold and she takes a liking to both of them as well as to a crook who is also good at getting money. Can she make it so that she can take all 3 of them? It’ll be a tough mission.

Wait that’s the actual plot? Well it might as well be but technically a corrupt town festival tries to short John on his winnings so he holds them at gunpoint and steals the money. Then some other guys come in and rob the place for the rest of the money and make it sound like John took it all. John must now evade the cops by going to a whole new town and also doing his best to one up Kansas by getting a girl there to fall for him instead. There’s definitely a whole lot going on here.

Naturally you will have a hard time rooting for John and Kansas because of all the infighting. John is constantly goading Kansas into trying to fight back and that guy is immediately falling for the bait every time. The problem for him is that John is much stronger than he is. So this means each time that John just beats him up and Kansas is forced to make an excuse to regain his honor. This happens numerous times throughout the movie and keep in mind that this is a fairly short film. So yeah it’s really rough on poor Kansas who is really just trying to hang in there. Of course Kansas isn’t much better since he is still to blame in a lot of instances too.

Then John doesn’t always make the best moves like firing back at the cops while in the house. At that point he is only making things worse for himself although he was probably going to be doomed either way. Holding up the store owner was probably valid for trying to short change him on the money but I dare say that it would probably have been good to have tried going through the sheriff first. Worst case he would still be a fugitive either way which would not make things any easier for him.

The actual villains aren’t the most inspired. You have one who knows that stealing is wrong but he just can’t bring himself to say anything about it. He meekly goes along with everything and even shoots someone. He may feel bad about the whole thing but it’s hard to sympathize too much. He simply made way too many mistakes at that point and he had direct victims so it’s not like he did something mild like have a quick lie. As for the other villain, he doesn’t really have a ton of character but he does show up the two leads at one point. I’ll give him credit for that.

The two main characters may make a ton of mistakes and all but like I said at the start, it’s still just a really fun film. I enjoyed the constant jokes and the pacing is really fun. The soundtrack at this point is completely recycled from other Western titles but at the same time I would still say it is pretty good. I like how on the nose it is. You can almost predict when the music will appear based on what is happening on screen. Some may call that generic timing but I would say that means the timing is very appropriate. It fits in with what the film is trying to show you.

You may wish there were more gunfights here but there was enough to satisfy the Western part. The characters being so over the top is what you should really savor here because you’re just not going to see that very often. I would even say that there may not be any others quite like this one. Now that may be too bold of a claim since there are a lot more Westerns that I haven’t seen yet but this one was just so different in all the right ways. Yeah, I was definitely real impressed here.

Overall, The Desert Trail is a film I can really recommend. It reminds you of why you need to be careful about getting too enamored with someone to the point where you start trying to make your best friend look bad. It’s important to keep your priorities in order and to not be led astray. As long as you enjoy a cheerful film and like some good jokes then you will have fun here. If you can find the antics to be a little too exaggerated at times then that might work against this one. So it is hard to say for sure how much you will like the film until you check it out. You can’t really go wrong with a quick comedy like this though right?

Overall 7/10

Randy Rides Alone Review

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Next up we’ve got another one of those really quick John Wayne films. Sure enough, the guy is back into the mix trying to solve cases and save the day. It’s a pretty simple film that has an effective beginning, middle, and ending. I didn’t really have any issues with the film and of course it end pretty fast so it’s not like there is enough time for anything to drag out. It’s a very focused story from beginning to end and at the end of the day that’s all that we need.

The film starts off with Randy arriving at a halfway house where everybody has been murdered. Whoever the culprits were, they were ruthlessly efficient and there must have been more than one of them. The fact that they took everyone down so easily really speaks to their abilities. Unfortunately Randy took too long to inspect the safe so he is caught red handed when the cops arrive. He is now being framed for the robbery and must try to get out of jail and solve this before it’s too late. It won’t be easy though because it turns out that the leader of the villains is the right hand man to the sheriff.

Matt the Mute definitely has a big role here since he is basically doing double duty as a hero and villain here. As one of the heroes he can’t talk so he is always using his notepad to chat with the others. Definitely an interesting gimmick and I wonder how long he has kept up the pretense of not being able to talk. That must have been a hard role to keep up with but I guess money is a good incentive right there. He actually makes for a pretty good villain. You see superheroes with the double lives a whole lot, but less so for villains.

The rest of the group don’t get as much to do but the fact that there were so many villains is impressive. We actually have a fairly large scale battle of the cops and robbers going at it with Wayne trying to get through that to secure the treasure. He did a good job of setting up the fight and manipulating both sides to a good outcome. Definitely a good look for Randy and at the end of the day he made sure everything turned out right.

The heroine Sally goes through a lot here as she is threatened and put into harm’s way but eventually she did manage to come out on top thanks to Randy. She did help him escape and so that means she ended up directly contributing in the film. I give her full credit there since a lot of characters would have just panicked or something. The romance at the end was super rushed and made no sense though.

Meanwhile the sheriff didn’t look great here. He was a little too quick to nab Randy as the guilty party. The optics were against the hero so I don’t blame him for locking the guy up or anything but he could have at least heard the guy out. Why keep cutting Randy off over and over again? It’s almost like the sheriff was afraid to hear anything and that’s a bad look for him. He needed to just listen and try to evaluate the situation.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is basically the same as in the other short films. There isn’t a whole lot of variety here but at least I do like the tracks so that definitely helps. If the tracks were bad then we would really be in some trouble here. The writing is on point which is also very important for a film like this. Poor writing could make the experience boring at best but that’s never a problem here.

Overall, There’s not a whole lot to talk about here since the film is so short. You definitely have some pretty interesting moments and fun retro fights but it’ll probably blend in with the other westerns eventually. It is a very easy plug and play though because of how short it is though. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good adventure film. You get to see Randy not just taking down foes with his skills but with his wits as well. It makes him a very complete character and a hero who is quite compelling. I would definitely be up for watching more adventures with him in this continuity because you can imagine that there are always more villains around the corner.

Overall 7/10

West of the Divide Review

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It’s time for a fairly short western this time around. Watching these old 1930s titles is pretty fun to see what would stick around for future generations of films and what wouldn’t. One thing’s for sure, the black and white camera doesn’t help make it any easier to differentiate the characters. For some reason they had the main duo and villain duo wearing similar hats and outfits. Ah well at least you can usually tell who is who based on what’s happening in the story but they sure could have made that a whole lot easier.

The movie has all of the classic corruption themes going around as one guy is trying to steal cattle and money from everyone else. A lady named Fay is even attacked for her money but fortunately Ted and his partner Dusty manage to get it back. This is a full on villain group they’re dealing with though so they decide to deceive the enemies into thinking that Ted is an unfamous murderer. Now he can be involved in the plans and find a way to make sure that Fay and her father are able to get out of this in one piece. Ted will need to really make sure that his gun skills are up to task though or this will be a very short adventure for him.

One difference compared to newer films is that there is a much bigger emphasis on fist fights over gun fights. Ted takes on different opponents as the film goes on and the battles tend to be rather close. He eats some really nasty shots during the course of the film which really puts him in a rough spot. I guess these villains actually train in hand to hand combat or maybe Ted’s just weak. We can’t rule that out either because his opponents didn’t exactly look to be in the best shape of their lives.

The important thing is that Ted wins in the end though and that’s what happens. He puts up a good fight each time and is definitely a strong competitor. Naturally he is unbeatable with a gun as well and looks pretty good in those fights. His partner Dusty is also a trusty sidekick. The guy doesn’t really get much action but he brings in the backup whenever they are needed so the guy has a key role. Additionally it’s just nice to have someone as support. The whole film would be way more difficult if Ted was all by himself.

Meanwhile the villains are fairly generic. There isn’t a lot to these guys, they just want to get rich and do it fast. They figure that might makes right and had been succeeding before Ted got there. Fay doesn’t do much as the main heroine to be honest but I guess there’s not really a lot that she could do at the time. It’s not like she was secretly great with a gun or anything like that.

Probably the most noticeable area where the film feels old is with the soundtrack and sound effects. When the music plays, there aren’t any real sound effects that can be played. It also seems like there is only one piece of music in the film so they just keep on reusing it for all of the action scenes and everything. Not a ton of variety to be found here. At least the music is good but it’s also the same one that was used in a previous film so I guess there weren’t many options back then. It’s not like this holds the film back but it gives you a greater appreciation for the future where there were a ton of tracks going on at all times.

The film also has time to throw in some twists which was surprising. For example we find out that Ted is related to someone which was unexpected. It definitely makes the situation more personal and it’s good that Ted stopped someone from beating the kid up. Ted would have done it anyway of course but it was a good example for the kid. The kid doesn’t look great here as he messes up his first horse ride but I suppose there wasn’t a whole lot that he could have done about that. At least the kid never complained or anything and was just doing his best the whole time.

Overall, West of the Divide is a good film. If you like westerns then you should get a nice kick out of this one. It is old and definitely feels dated but at the same time you can definitely say that it is a quality picture. It doesn’t really have any glaring weaknesses and the pacing is really good at all times. It is the kind of movie you can easily recommend to anybody passing by. The short runtime also makes it very accessible. It’s easy to see why people really enjoyed these short films back in the day.

Overall 7/10

The Man From Utah Review

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It’s time for a film where John Wayne plays a character named…John? Yeah you already know this is going to be a good one. It’s a very old film since it’s from the 30s but it still does have a full soundtrack and everything so that was nice. The film does feel its age but it still holds up as a solid experience. It is incredibly short though so things have to move quickly but in a way that may be a good thing. I think the novelty could have worn off if this was too long.

The film starts off with John singing and having a good ole time as he dashes through the wild west. This is clearly a man on a mission but then he bumps into a bunch of bank robbers. He holds his own against them but they run off and John nearly gets framed for being one of them. Fortunately, John gets away but the Marshall catches up to him and enlists the guy’s help. See there is going to be a big contest in a few days and these crooks have been cheating to win a bunch of them. If John enters, they will try taking him down as well and then the Marshall will have caught them in the act. John agrees to help.

Now I do have to admit that the whole thing does make the previous heroes look sloppy since they didn’t notice the villains fiddling with the equipment all the time. These guys don’t exactly seem like top professionals or anything like that after all. They’re also not the smartest crooks in the bunch as they desert the girl member of the group right before the heist. Seems like an easy way to get yourself double crossed right? They should have brought her along or made up some lie on why she would be joining them later on. Just straight up ditching her is absolutely the worst decision you could make there. It makes them look real bad there.

Granted they still put up a fight at the end and overwhelm the bank worker. It would have been nice if they could have been stopped a bit sooner but at the end of the day the heroes still took care of business. John could have been one of the ultimate sheriffs but instead he decided to go for the romantic life. This won’t surprise you but the romance here is very rushed. When a film is only around an hour or so that is very likely though.

The actual competition is okay but all of them involve animals which is not a pastime I can really support. Having to tie up bulls or stay on horses that don’t want you there just feels mean spirited. If the animal is not having fun then I’m not either. I can appreciate that it is difficult to pull off these challenges and yet I feel like it just should not be a thing. I would have had more fun with it being able lassoing different objects or something like that.

This is the main chunk of the film though as it builds up to the villains getting ready to cheat. The Marshall was a fun character for his limited screentime though. You actually feel bad for him and the town when John says that he just wants to settle down now. He was the best shooter that they had and so it was crazy to lose a mega asset like that. No sirrrrrrr, but I imagine off screen he would probably get back into the action at some point. The Wild West has a way of dealing you back into the fold.

Interestingly the film seemed to have a hard time having music on during any dialogue scenes. So when the characters are running with the horses it can get eerily quiet and that’s how you know they’re about to start talking. Then you have some chase scenes where some fun music plays so you know there won’t be dialogue for a while. I’m guessing there is probably some kind of really old technical reason for why this is the case. Maybe you could not mix the different audio tracks together at once or something like that. It makes for a pretty interesting gimmick though.

Again it comes down to that novelty factor. It was fun while watching this movie but I probably would not want it to be a regular thing. The shooting and everything was fun enough though. The film had good action and a fun story. It almost goes without saying that the writing and the script were good as well. These old films rarely ever missed on that angle. I would say the movie did as much as it could within the runtime.

Overall, The Man From Utah is sort of like an abridged wild west film. It goes by really quickly and its got all of the usual elements you would expect to see from a Wild West but doesn’t take too long with them. It basically has to jump from story beat to story beat with impressive speed. As a result it is easy to keep your attention though and I did enjoy John as the main character. Most of the others don’t get a whole lot of screentime though. If you’re looking for a retro film then this one is as good as any to check out. Sometimes you just want to watch a peaceful film like this where there is a little danger but you know you’re on your way to a happy ending.

Overall 7/10

McQ Review

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It’s time for one of those thrillers that doesn’t always make a ton of sense and people act out of character for no real reason but at the end of the day we accept this for the plot. I wouldn’t put it in the same conversation as any of the truly great thrillers but at the end of the day it’s not bad. It will keep you entertained on just how over the top it can be the whole time. McQ definitely does whatever he feels like.

The movie starts off with a cop looking corrupt and there are some shootings and handling of mysterious packages. Shortly afterwards the final cop is murdered and then we’re introduced to McQ. McQ is one of the most intense detectives out there but as a result he doesn’t play well with others. He’s an absolute solo act and I can tell you this right off the bat, you don’t want to get in his way. His partner was one of the guys who got bumped off so he wants to quickly find out what happened. He will have to get through a whole conspiracy though.

Whether you like the film or not will probably depend in large part on how much you like McQ. The guy always has a bit of an odd look on his face although I would describe it as he looks like he’s going to cry as opposed to it being a tough guy look. It’s pretty true to form with how often he gets rocked in the movie though. He walks into every possible trap and is on the back foot almost the whole time. I think he’s meant to be portrayed as an absolute powerhouse but it just didn’t come across that way for me. He had me shaking his head when he walked in on the villains and they made him drop the gun. Which time? Oh that’s tough since it happens more than once…

I do appreciate that he just beats up the villains whenever he wants but of course that makes it easy for him to be demoted as well. Then once he’s off the cops it is even harder to gather evidence…or is it? He basically has free reign to all of the police facilities and equipment anyway since nobody seems to care that he quit. He’s pals with everybody so they just laugh and give him experimental new guns. In some ways I might even say that this is super realistic but still I think it was maybe played up just a litttttttle bit more than I would think it should.

It’s at the point where they may as well have had him working for the cops the whole time because it didn’t actually impact the plot pretty much at all. He’s basically still a cop the whole time although where things get crazy is near the end as the cops are hunting him with the dog and are definitely going to injure him badly before he escapes. Makes the ending a little more interesting hehe. Again this is not a film that you are really watching for the logic so you don’t want to pay too much attention to any of that. Just remind yourself that this is just how things go when McQ is on the case.

I think the real low point for him is when he goes to get intel from one of the girls who has been on the scene for a while. You might be expecting a James Bond type moment where he woos her into revealing the info and that would be a bad enough scene but it actually gets worse for him. She basically says that she won’t say anything unless he has a one night stand with her and the guy has no rebuttal so he just goes ahead and does it. The guy has absolutely no main character energy to be letting himself get pulled into something like that. It’s such a sad scene for him and he needed to find another way. I mean it’s not like he has too many morals since he brought her some drugs to bribe her but I was still expecting a little better.

Yeah McQ is pretty shady. At least he is a good shot like when he takes someone down at the beginning of the film from a long distance. The film just can’t decide if he’s this ultra powerful vigilante or someone who is completely out of his depth. I’m inclined to pick the latter. Meanwhile his supervisor is absolutely unhinged the whole time. He tries to say that he is McQ’s friend but the actions would have you believing otherwise. He is constantly yelling and doing his best to destroy McQ while also yelling “I told you so”s throughout the movie.

In the climax we have a pretty interesting shootout but McQ forgets that he has the mega cluster gun for part of this battle. He should have used that as the cars were driving in and it would have easily murdered the driver both times. Instead he plays it safe so the climax takes a bit longer. In true thriller style we get a whole bunch of twists near the end. One of them feels like it was spoiled during the intro scene tbh but the characters don’t act like it’s a big shock anyway so maybe that’s the point.

All in all, the story itself is interesting but I dare say that the film’s leaps in logic are even more interesting. Yes, you want to see what’s going to happen but you’re more curious about what McQ is going to do next. Is he going to buy a gun while he is forbidden from owning one by the cops? Will he try playing vigilante as he chases a laundry truck down the street only to pick the wrong one? Will he even go as far as to beat someone up in the bathroom? McQ is always one step ahead of the movie audience and in a way that’s admirable. I feel like the film is 2 degrees short of going into comedy mode at times with how seriously the film portrays itself as.

Overall, I had a good amount of fun with the film. I feel like it’s not always in the way that the film had planned but hey it works for me. The film balances the seriousness of the case with a good amount of light hearted moments as well. The over the top cheesy ending is really the cherry on top here. I would recommend checking this movie out. It’s not great but as a random stand alone film it actually manages to be rather memorable. Whether you keep up with the film or not, you will certainly be entertained. Just try to make it past the unbearable romance scenes which do drag quite a bit.

Overall 7/10

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Review

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It’s time for a fairly retro film and a pretty fun one at that. It’s sort of part western to an extent while also being pretty original in its own way. It really deals with the power of the pen vs the gun and lets just say that back then the latter always had a tendency to win. The film has good writing and a likable cast of characters which ultimately makes this a big winner in my book.

The movie unfortunately does start in the future which removes a ton of tension. I still think this is an awful movie technique but yeah we start with Senator Ransom and his wife Hallie heading over to a small town to pay their respects to someone who died. The local newspapers figure they have a right to know what’s going on here and pester the guy until he finally tells the story. So the rest of the film is a flashback but hey we now know that the main two characters get out of this alive. Why would you do this? Seriously whyyyyyyy.

Yeah so in the past Ransom is attacked by a group of thugs led by Liberty and that’s when he realizes that it’s time to clean this town up. The problem is that he’s effectively a stranger in this town and while he wants to begin practicing law, it’s difficult when the villains don’t respect him. He doesn’t lose hope though and wants to hold an election and make this a safe town. It will take a lot of guts though and some planning because Liberty makes it clear that he will shoot Ransom. There is one guy who isn’t afraid of this villain, a guy named Tom.

Tom is an excellent shot himself and has taken many opponents down in the past but he’s really not going to go after Liberty. If Liberty gets in his way then Tom will shoot him dead but Liberty is mainly gunning after Ransom so Tom holds his peace. The villain is making allies though so soon the whole village may be doomed. In the meantime Tom is in love with Hallie but she is in love with Ransom making things a little tricky. Gee I wonder who she picks….after all we already saw the flash forward from the first scene….

So for the good parts, as I mentioned earlier I did really like the writing here. The characters are very reasonable and the dialogue is strong. I thought the movie did a good job of also showing why Ransom’s ideals were not going to be enough here. At the end of the day you do need some power in order to push through with your convictions. That’s the way that it’s always been as otherwise you will just be destroyed and nobody will remember you. Ransom starts working on his shooting later on but it’s just a little too late.

You’re not going to beat a lifelong gunman when you just started training. I mean you can possibly win because in a shootout all you need is one good shot but the odds aren’t in your favor. At times I do think Ransom was a little overly naive though like when he yelled at Tom for saving his life in the diner. Liberty would have kept escalating and Ransom just didn’t want to admit that having a gun was real useful at that point. Ultimately while he would likely never admit it to Tom, he does see the value here. The ending works really well with this as Ransom has a really good life but will always have some memories about the past that he would rather forget.

Tom is absolutely the standout character here though. I like how tough he is and that he was the only character who would actually stand up to Liberty the whole time. You always got the feeling that he would have crushed Liberty in a straight fight and the villain knew it which is why he always backed down. Tom wasn’t the hero type so he wasn’t going to save the town but I just liked the idea of him being a wild card. The guy was having his own cinematic adventure off screen as we hear about him winning fights and shooting opponents down.

He also gets the best directed scene in the movie involving a flashback to a scene we saw earlier in the film but with a different camera angle. Not only does it fix a potential power levels issue but it just enhances the film quite a lot. At the end of the day Tom’s a fairly complex character but someone you can count on. He definitely starts to slip a lot in the end and things don’t always go great for him, but he was definitely a lot of fun.

His partner Pompey was also great. You can’t forget that he saved Tom’s life on several occasions and you can assume the same has been true for a while. There are many situations where being on your own would be fatal in these fights. Having a strong ally makes for a world of difference. Then you have the heroine Hallie who is nice enough. She probably could have been a little more direct in who she wanted to be with between Tom and Ransom but I would put the least amount of pressure on her because Tom was the one trying to pull moves the whole time. Even if you don’t get a direct rejection you can often tell where the wind is blowing and he was being intentionally oblivious I’d say hoping that he would win.

As a villain Liberty isn’t bad. I think the film did a good job of showing how he would act really tough and cocky around people who can’t fight back but would shrink to the actually powerful opponents. I’d say that’s probably true for many villains. This guy could look rather whiny and weak at times but it made for a fairly realistic villain. Then we have the comic relief Link who was mainly here to show how this town got so weak in the first place. He was definitely not ready to fight off anybody and naturally that empowers the villains.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film and I really don’t have many complaints. Of course I would have cut out the first scene so it doesn’t spoil almost the entire movie’s stakes but the actual movie is still high quality. Also the reporters are completely unlikable with how they forced Ransom to tell them the story. He honestly should have told them to get lost instead of answering their questions with the kind of attitude they were having but I guess that’s just how it goes. In the end Ransom was always a nice guy even if it was to a fault at times.

Overall 7/10