The Man from Utah

"The Man From Utah" is another of the Lone Star Westerns Wayne made in the 30's. This one has a rodeo setting with the Duke trying to outsmart the gang behind the murders and deceptive practices occurring therein.

The producers make extensive use of footage shot at some long forgotten rodeo. With the money they saved they actually were able to come up with a pleasant enough musical score, a rarity for poverty row quickies. They even were able to incorporate a left over "musical" number from one of Wayne's ill-fated "Singin'" Sandy Saunders efforts at the beginning, even though it has nothing to do with the rest of the picture.

The cast includes Polly Ann (sister of Loretta) Young as the heroine and Anita Compille as the good/bad girl competing for the Duke's affections. George (pre-"Gabby")Hayes is along again, this time as a Marshal. Edward Piel Sr. is the chief bad guy and once again proving that as an actor, he made a great stuntman, Yakima Canutt.

Not the best of the Lone Star series, but not the worst either.

Oh, brother, this one starts out with John Wayne riding his horse and singing like he's high on wacky tobacky. His singing voice is dubbed but that just makes it more embarrassing, I think. Anyway, this singing cowboy rides into town just as the bank is being robbed. He helps marshal Gabby Hayes stop the robbers and is immediately recruited to do some undercover work with a gang that's fixing rodeos...or something like that.

Polly Ann Young plays the female lead and she wears 1930s clothes even though this is supposed to take place in the Old West. There are also telephone poles throughout the entire movie that they don't even try to shoot around. They use stock footage during the rodeo scenes that clearly have people in 1930s attire in the audience. Historical accuracy was not a concern to the good people at Lone Star. This is one of many B westerns Wayne made in the '30s before he hit it big. The vast majority of these were forgettable but watchable oaters with little or nothing to recommend about them. A select few were better than average and many others were worse than average. This one's kind of crappy but if you have a good sense of humor and like to poke fun at bad movies, you might like it. Beware modern copies that have a terrible electronic score that often just starts at random spots in the movie.

An American Western; A story set in Nevada about a saddle tramp who collaborates with a U. S. marshal to infiltrate rodeo racketeers who are secretly murdering any competitors so that they collect all the prize money. Simultaneously lively and dull, with its histrionics, simplistic dialogue, and simplistic storyline. John Wayne struggles along in the embarrassing glare of low production values, resorting to showcasing his trick-riding skills. There is stock footage of a real rodeo, the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, which provides some interesting footage of good stuntwork, but otherwise this is an unremarkable film.

I just watched a couple of John Wayne's old B-westerns on the Encore Channel and was taken aback by someone's brilliant idea to replace the musical soundtrack! Instead of the original music, new and much louder music is present--and it sounded especially weird with the electronic instruments used to make it. After all, it wasn't like they used synthesizers in 1934!! Overall, this is a BAD thing--and I recommend you just download the free movie as linked by IMDb, as the music is just annoying--and even worse than in "The Lucky Texan". What idiot thought doing this was a good idea?!

Like the other new tricked-out B I just saw ("The Lucky Texan"), this one also featured George "Gabby" Hayes. And, like "The Lucky Texan", you might have trouble recognizing Gabby at first, as he doesn't sport his usual huge raccoon-like beard...and is a bit more macho than usual. After all, you certainly don't expect to see him playing a US Marshall!

As for the plot, it's pretty bad...even by B standards. That's because HUGE segments of the film consist of nothing but old rodeo footage and the plot involving a fixed rodeo competition is a cheap way to make use of this film. Wayne plays 'Weston'--a guy who shows himself to be very handy with his fists, on a horse and with a gun. As far as his singing goes, like Wayne's 'Singing Sandy' films, it is very, very obvious that it's not him doing the singing and fortunately this singing persona soon was abandoned in upcoming films.

As a result of lots of padding and the Encore soundtrack, it's definitely among the least watchable of Wayne's B-westerns. It's really a shame, as normally Wayne's Bs hold up pretty well...just not this one.

By the way, please note the 1930s fashions on the leading lady. I guess historical anachronisms weren't much of a concern with this film!

At the start of this Lone Star cheapie, the Duke strays into Roy Rogers territory as he warbles in a worryingly light voice while trotting along on his trusty steed - and one can only speculate on how foolish he must have felt. Thankfully, our hero quickly becomes too involved with a crooked rodeo gang to 'entertain' us with any more serenades as he 'bulldogs' and 'Roman Rides' and does all the other things an honest cowboy has to do to get in with a gang of crooks.

Subsequent fame has given us a kinder opinion of Wayne than he probably deserves in terms of his potential in these early days. Ford saw something there, but nobody else in Hollywood did, and Wayne spent most of the 30s trudging from one no-budget potboiler to another. He's better than most of the cast in this flick, but there's little to indicate the massive star power he would one day possess - it's only his size that seems to give him a presence (and that, if truth be told, is what Wayne was - a screen presence rather than an accomplished actor).

All these flicks were padded out with interminable shots of cowboys riding very fast on their horses, and this one's no different. But in this one we're also treated to lengthy scenes of rodeo riders - which are actually more interesting than the horse-riding fillers, even though the numerous shots of men twisting steers' necks to near-impossible angles in order to floor them and prove their macho status are not pleasant to watch. And the Indians - who were rarely a feature in the Lone Star flicks - are relegated to the status of rodeo sideshow acts here.

THE MAN FROM UTAH is by no means the worst of the Lone Stars pics (of the ones I've seen, that particular wooden spoon is reserved for RANDY RIDES ALONE) although the superhuman status given to Wayne's character is a bit over the top. Probably the best from this era is THE LUCKY TEXAN, so if, for some bizarre reason, you're in a position to choose between the two, be sure to plump for the Texan.