A Ferro e Fogo

John Wayne made a slew of B Westerns for major and minor studios in the '30s before he hit it big with "Stagecoach" in 1939 for RKO. This was made for Monogram, a minor studio, and directed by Harry Fraser, a quirky director who spent his entire career grinding out B (and D, and Z . . . ) movies for long-forgotten studios like Resolute, Atlantic, PRC and Screen Guild. Working at a cheapo studio like Monogram would be considered the start of a downward slide for most directors; for Fraser it was a step up the career ladder, and he was ready for it. This could well be called one of, if the first, gothic Westerns; such things simply did not exist in 1934. It's eerie, atmospheric and has an especially shocking (for the time) opening scene. Randy (Wayne) rides into town after a long, dry trip and stops by the local saloon to wet his whistle. As he approaches it, he hears the tinkle of a piano coming from inside. Entering the establishment, however, he's greeted by a grisly sight: the piano is a player piano running by itself, and there are dead bodies lying everywhere. This film shows what can be done with almost no money but a lot of imagination and talent. This kind of movie wouldn't have been made at any of the big studios, but the independents could get away with a lot of things the majors couldn't (and wouldn't) do. This is an extremely offbeat, well done little film, not at all like Wayne's other westerns of the period. It's too bad Harry Fraser was never able to capitalize on the success of this movie (reportedly it made quite a bit of money and Wayne got along especially well with him); it would have been interesting to see what he would have been capable of with a bit more money and some major studio backing. Instead, he stayed pretty much where he was and ended his career making trash like "The White Gorilla" and "Chained for Life", about a murder committed by Siamese twins (!). Sorry, Harry.

John Wayne rides into a saloon and finds the player piano running and everyone in the place dead. The safe has been broken into as well. As Wayne investigates the scene the sheriff and posse arrive and promptly arrest Wayne vowing to get his gang as well. Breaking out of the jail with the help of the saloon owner because she knows he didn't do it Wayne is off to find out who did.

Though held by many as a classic, I'm not too sure of its status. Its certainly got some good moments and at least one classic moment in it, but its not really a classic sort of film. The opening of the film where John Wayne walks into the saloon and finds everyone dead is one of the creepiest sequences I've ever seen in any sort of film. There is something unsettling about the whole affair that really gets under your skin. Its the type of thing that makes you sit up and pay attention, I just wish the rest of the film was on on par with that one scene.

Unfortunately this 53 minute film also has a great deal of filler. There are frequent stretches were people just ride between locations. This doesn't include the chases which seem to spring up every five minutes or so. Its deadly and it kills the pace of the film which would be a taut 30 or 35 minute with out them.

Worth a look for that one scene if nothing else.

John Wayne enters a saloon to find a player piano tinkling the ivories to a room full of dead people and is promptly arrested! The real culprit is Hayes, who masquerades as kindly Matt the mute (!) and had the men killed as part of a land grab scheme.

There isn't as much action in Randy Rides Alone as there is in some of the other John Wayne/ Lone Star productions, though there are a few good stunts courtesy of Yakima Canutt, the one where he leaps forward off a rolling horse being a particular standout.

What really makes this good is the irresistible chance to see one of the few performances in which the clean shaven George Hayes plays a black-hatted heavy.

Waynes quip, "That's the end of Matt the mute.", is priceless!

I've never been a fan of westerns, which is probably why up until last night I'd never seen a film starring John Wayne. Of course it doesn't help that our lives only overlapped by a year, so I didn't have a great deal of opportunity to see any of his films (in the theater at least). I received this film in a VHS films lot that I won from ebay, so I finally popped it in last night and gave it a whirl.

I went in expecting a really low budget, really old western...needless to say, my expectations were pretty low. All in all, I'd have to say the film really isn't that bad. I don't have any other John Wayne films to compare it to, so thus far it's my favorite. I can however, compare it to other westerns, and frankly, it was no "Tombstone", but it was worth my time.

The story is nothing fantastic, but it's has it's moments. The acting was just fine as far as I could tell and overall production value was OK, granted it was made in the 30's, so again, I wasn't expecting much. One scene in particular made me laugh out loud. Whenever the halfway-house is shown from a bird's eye view it is CLEARLY a scale model, it's hilarious how bad it actually looks...but again...30's.

In any case, I have no idea who to recommend this film to, but I will say that it's really short (60 minutes) so it won't take up too much of your time and it's kind of fun to see a film this old to appreciate films of today and how far they've come, not to say that this is bad, but just to further appreciate film-making.

Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. I just realized that this film has the honor of being the 3rd oldest film I've ever seen (as of 7-26-2006).

RANDY RIDES ALONE (Monogram Pictures, 1934), directed by Harry Fraser, stars John Wayne in his seventh "Lone Star" western presentation. With story/screenplay by Lindsley Parsons, production values still on a low-budget scale, but plot summary is tightly edited with everything told under an hour. Overall, it's still an interesting little item with a mixture of western and mystery.

The story introduces Randy Barlow (John Wayne), a lone cowboy riding through town to meet with Ed Rogers. Coming to the saloon called the Half-Way House which Rogers owns, Randy enters to the sound of piano playing music only to be surrounded by a massacre of dead bodies, one of them being Rogers. Unknown to him is a picture on the wall with moving eyes watching his every move. Moments later, the sheriff (Earl Dwire) and his deputies enter with Matt the Mute (George Hayes), who had earlier notified the sheriff of the gunshots. He insists the cowboy be arrested as a possible suspect connected with a gang of killers. While in jail, Randy is met with Sally Rogers (Alberta Vaughn), the niece of the deceased, whom she believes is not the guilty man. Sally arranges for Randy's escape and for him to meet with her at sunup. Sally is informed through a letter of introduction by the Adams Express Company in Denver, Colorado, that Randy is a government agent sent by Ed to investigate Marvin Black, a man pressuring him to sell him the saloon. After Randy is pursued on horseback by a posse, his escape leads him to the cave hideout of Marvin Black where he finds sally being held hostage. Supporting players include Yakima Canutt (Spike); Tex Phelps and Perry Murdock.

What makes RANDY RIDES ALONE watchable is the prescense of the unrecognizable George "Gabby" Hayes years before his bearded sidekick roles in a straight role playing a mute speaking through his written messages. Though never addressed verbally as Randy, Wayne's character is only known through camera closeup to his letter of introduction, otherwise to others he's simply a nameless cowboy who rides alone. Alberta Vaughn, the heroine in the story who hides in secret panels, whose distrust is on everybody except for a the cowboy stranger in town. Some good stunts with interesting finish make this worthwhile viewing.

A long unseen western turned up regularly on public television starting in the early 1980s, leading for its rediscovery on video cassette and later the DVD process. Cable television broadcasts include American Movie Classics (1996-2000), Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: May 1996) and Encore Westerns. Although clocked at 53 minutes, some sources time RANDY RIDES ALONE at 57 minutes, though jump cuts don't seem visible in existing prints. Beware of RANDY RIDES ALONE often shown with inferior intrusive underscoring added during its long muted sequences. (**)