Prairie Thunder

Dick Foran who co-starred with John Wayne in Fort Apache and Donovan's Reef steps into the Duke's boots in a remake of his The Telegraph Trail which in turn is a remake of a Ken Maynard silent The Glorious Trail.

Foran plays an army scout with a corporal played by Frank Orth as a sidekick. He and Orth go out to repair a telegraph line and run into Albert J. Smith head of freighting outfit who has a nice little racket going with Chief Yakima Canutt who raids all other outfits supplying the area but Smith's. He gets to then charge outrageous prices for goods.

Of course Foran gets to dispatch him in cowboy hero fashion. Typical B western for the Saturday matinee kids. One thing though, Orth was one of the worst sidekicks ever. He was usually playing fussy, officious little men in all kinds of movies. But western sidekicks was not his thing.

"Prairie Thunder" is a remake of a John Wayne film, "The Telegraph Trail" and both films are B-westerns. However, while the Wayne film is decent entertainment, "Prairie Thunder" is just awful!

The story itself isn't bad. A scumbag named Temple has made friends with the local Native tribe. They are afraid of the trains and telegraph lines and he convinces them they are evil and must be destroyed. And, to help them in this task, he gives them guns and ammunition! When Rod (Dick Foran) discovers this, he arrests Temple and his gang. However, soon a lone member of the gang wasn't caught...and he goes to enlist the help of his tribal friends to attack and free the criminals from jail. What's next?

Why did I dislike this film so much? Well, I can think of four good reasons. While Dick Foran was a decent screen cowboy, it's hard to equal or surpass John Wayne! Also, the film is a remake...meaning that unless the remake corrects some mistakes in the first film, it really isn't necessary...which it isn't. And, finally, MUCH of the film consists of old footage from some silent film!! This is a problem since the old footage is grainy AND because crank speeds were slower than the 24 frame standard for sound movies, the silent portions move too fast...and look a bit silly. Finally, the American Indians in this film are pretty dreadful--very stereotypical and completely unrealistic. Overall, I can see absolutely no reason to watch this film...none.