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John Wayne and sidekick Syd Saylor are heading from Montana to Wyoming to the ranch of Wayne's cousin Johnny Mack Brown. Wayne's a cocky sort, fancies himself a great lady's man and poker player. The Duke even in his later and more irascible years usually didn't have parts that called for that, but here he does show that side of his character and shows it well.

Wayne moves in on Marsha Hunt who is Brown's girl friend. That does throw a monkey wrench into the relationship between the cousins. Later on at the hands of cardsharps Monte Blue and James Craig, Wayne gets himself in quite a hole.

Johnny Mack Brown had an interesting career. He was an All American back for the Crimson Tide of Alabama before Paul Bryant took over the team. He opted for a Hollywood career and appeared opposite stars like Mary Pickford and Greta Garbo in silents. His Alabama drawl made him a natural for westerns and he was grinding out the B films just like the Duke was at this time. This is their only film together and they both complement each other's persona well.

Although another great football player Jim Thorpe has a bit role in this film, some lists have Alan Ladd in the cast. I have to say that I examined it frame by frame and there's no trace of Mr. Ladd.

Even without Ladd it's a passably good B western, could have used some better editing, but better than some of what Wayne was doing at Monogram at the time.

John Wayne fans should watch this film right after seeing a few of the ultra-low budget B-westerns Wayne made for Lone Star Pictures in 1934-5 (conveniently, you can get a 2-DVD set with this film, nine of Wayne's Lone Star cheapies, and ANGEL AND THE BADMAN for six bucks at Wal-Mart).

In the earlier films, we're clearly watching young Marion "Duke" Morrison appearing under a stage name. By the time BORN TO THE WEST (aka HELL TOWN) came out in 1937, Morrison was really growing into the John Wayne persona. The swagger, the drawl, and the squint are all there. Perhaps the character wasn't quite perfected yet, but the seeds of Wayne's future superstardom are there on the screen.

And the film itself is much better as well. No longer is Wayne a goodie-two-shoes, milk-drinking, kiddie-matinee hero. His character here is flawed--even a bit of a screwup. The script, the direction, and the acting are miles ahead of his early films. It's certainly not one of the greatest movies he ever made, but it's a solid, enjoyable little Western.

7/10

According to author Tony Thomas, this film shot adrenaline into the careers of both John Wayne and Johnny Mack Brown. It's pretty entertaining, with a good story, fine cast, terrific scenery and excellent camerawork.

John Wayne, (Dare Rudd) plays the role of a drifter who gambles his money away and just can't seem to settle down until he goes back to his relative, (Tom Fillmore) Johnny Mack Brown who owns a great deal of cattle and runs the bank in town. Tom knows that Dare has a bad reputation but he gives him a chance and offers him a job to cook for his cattlemen. Tom has a girlfriend named Judy Rustoe, (Marsha Hunt) and Dare soon becomes very interested in her and they both start falling for each other. Judy persuades Tom to give Dare a different job than being a cook and so Tom makes Dare a foreman in charge of his cattle and wants him to take the cattle to market and sell them in town for $10,000 dollars. However, there are many problems that face Dare as he travels with the cattle and the story begins to get very interesting. John Wayne was 30 years of age when he made this picture and Marsha Hunt was 20 years old, they both gave outstanding performances and Marsha looked very beautiful. Today, Marsha Hunt is 91 years of age as of 2008. WOW

While it has a story that is not bad in itself, "Born to the West" (or "Hell Town") is mostly carried by John Wayne's screen presence, with some help from Johnny Mack Brown and the rest of a pretty good cast.

Wayne plays a gambling-addicted cowboy who runs into his respected and influential cousin (Brown) while passing through Montana. The two become rivals for the affections of Brown's girlfriend (Marsha Hunt) while at the same time they must join up to deal with cattle rustlers and crooked card players. A lot of the story is routine, but there are some interesting features, and it moves at a good pace. The scenery is also pretty good at times.

The film is a decent Western in its own right, and is also worth watching to see Wayne's performance as a man who has to combine action with some careful thinking about his future. It's not hard to see why soon after this movie he started to get the big roles and the attention due to a star.