Customer Reviews

Lawless Frontier [VHS]

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I love all of the old John Wayne westerns from the 1930s. Sure, they all have basically the same plot, the same actors, and the same locations and settings, but they are good, clean fun wherein good always prevails over evil. In this particular case, the frontier is lawless because of the ruthless, murdering, cattle-rustling, half white/half Apache "Mexican" Pandro Zanti (Earl Dwire) and his gang of desperadoes. Zanti kills the father of John Tobin (John Wayne) and then sets his sights on the lovely Ruby (Sheila Terry), whose grandfather Dusty (Gabby Hayes) naturally has to be dealt with. Dusty tricks the bad guys and manages to get Ruby to town, meeting up with Tobin along the way. As is usually the case, the sheriff is either crooked or incompetent or both, and Tobin's efforts to get his hands on Zanti to avenge his father's death and save Ruby are needlessly complicated by the sheriff's arrest of him for a crime he didn't commit. While I did enjoy this movie a great deal, it did feature just a few too many lucky coincidences for my liking, able horse riders suddenly falling off their horses at the most opportune of times being only one example. You would also think that someone would go back to check on a "dead" man within a day or two after his "murder." The ending is a little hokey, but all in all this is your basic John Wayne saves the day movie. Unlike some other Lone Star Productions films from this era, this 1935 film looks and sounds its age at times, but the video and sound are certainly sufficient to allow an enjoyable movie experience to those hankering to see John Wayne in his early days.

JOHN TOBIN [JOHN WAYNE] FINDS HIMSELF HOT ON THE TRAIL OF MEXICAN BANDIT PANDRO ZANTI [EARL DWIRE] AFTER PANDRO KILLS HIS FATHER. A LITTLE DATED, BUT IT'S FUN ENOUGH AND IT HAS ENOUGH ENJOYABLE ACTION TO MAKE THIS A DECENT WESTERN. ALSO, TAKE A LOOK AT THE INCREASING ACTING ABILITY OF THE YOUNG JOHN WAYNE.