Wyoming Outlaw

Although the acting on the part of some of the supporting cast is a bit raw what I really liked it how real the outlaws looked, scraggly hair and beards, missing teeth, etc. Just wondering if that's how they look in real life??? Some of them look as though they really are outlaws or maybe homeless people they found on the street. The special affects were especially cheesy but probably and innovation at the time. Such as the snow, isn't that what our TV screens look like when the cable's out? This is one of the first John Wayne black and white's I have seen since my beginning days of watching his movies. I would rate this as my second favorite in the black and whites.

An American Western; A story about a trio of cowboys who bring their herd to a Wyoming town and end up investigating local political corruption when a thief is subjected to wicked deception. This 'B' movie, set during the Great Depression, is based on characters known as "The Three Mesquiteers" from a series of Western novels by William Colt MacDonald and billed as such for a series of films. Each episode would blend the traditional Western period with the topical issues of the day. This installment is based on a well-publicised real-life incident about a would-be modern Robin Hood who escaped the law and, while hiding in the Wyoming hills, was shot by a citizen. The story is trite, a routine oater, though more serious in tone for the series. John Wayne makes it a show with his feisty persona, albeit from a reduced on-screen presence, and Don 'Red' Barry is compelling as a hopeless, desperate outlaw. The ending is abrupt and spoils what is a good final act.

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.

Interestingly for this routine B-feature, the usual "Three Mesquiteer" characters are not really at the centre of the plot. The story belongs more to 'Red' Barry ("Parker") whose father has been deceived by a crooked politician and so his son ends up having to steal to feed himself and his family. It's when he pinches a cow from Messrs. Wayne, Corrigan and Hatton that the story starts to hot up a bit and, of course, they try to redress the balance for him and his sister "Irene" (Pamela Blake). It's takes a while to get going, this one - but once the scenario has been defined, it moves along nicely with a little more chemistry between Wayne and his female co-star than we are used to. "Ming" himself, Charles Middleton appears sparingly as the hard-done-by father, and LeRoy Mason is adequate - though nothing more - as "Balsinger" - the devious villain of the piece. The film aims squarely at some of the "New Deal" policies of post WWI US governments where opportunists frequently ended up with the whip hand over those who had worked hard during the war feeding the troops, but whose services were now surplus to requirements and they were left very vulnerable to pretty ruthless exploitation.

Wyoming Outlaw is one of the most unusual entries in the Three Mesquiteers series of films. John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton are not the center of the film. The center is Donald 'Red' Barry who plays young outlaw Will Parker who gets befriended by the Mesquiteers even though he tries to steal a steer from them.

This Mesquiteer film is set in the modern west of the dustbowl and has some themes that John Wayne later used in McLintock. During the World War, the cattle country was converted to wheat and after the demand from Europe subsided after World War I a lot of farm land was left arid and abandoned. That is exactly what happened to American agriculture in the boom period of the Roaring Twenties where the farmers did not share the prosperity.

Along comes the New Deal and a lot of local political bosses took advantage of government relief programs to entrench themselves in power. Such a boss is played by LeRoy Mason who was one of the shrewdest villains I've ever seen in a western. In fact during the course of the film, Mason really outsmarts our heroes at every turn as they try to bring him down legally.

Anyway though the Mesquiteers are really subordinate to Red Barry who's tired of having his family exploited by Mason and his gang. Circumstances make him turn outlaw and the chase for him is reminiscent of High Sierra a year later. In fact the just as Humphrey Bogart is referred to as Mad Dog Earle, Barry is called Mad Dog Parker by the radio and print media of the time.

High Sierra was an A film for Warner Brothers and this was just a quickie B western that probably didn't get too much notice. It's a pity that the production values were those of a B film because the story was very well done.

This is one of the few John Wayne Three Mesquiteer films that is not available on VHS or DVD. When TCM shows it again, catch it by all means.