Terreur dans la ville

Pretty fair oater from the Duke's early years has some unusual casting. Yakima Canutt has his idea of some "skookum fun" as a good guy for a change from his normal villainous role, and Gabby Hayes plays against type as the bad guy. Canutt's part would seem to be an early model for another famous Indian buddy of a lawman, namely that of "Tonto." (Note also the Duke's horse could pass for "Silver.") As a resident from the same part of Yakima Canutt's home state, I was pleasantly surprised when Wayne as Travers identifies one of the Shadow's gang as a "lifer from Walla Walla" which is the site of Washington's maximum security state prison. Incidentally, Walla Walla is about an hour and a half's drive from Colfax, where Canutt was raised, and whose hometown he shares with Turner Classic Movies' host Robert Osborne. Fellow gangster Loco Frank, shown in the same scene, turns out to be Glenn Strange, who later had a famous role as Kitty's bartender in "Gunsmoke." The action scenes are not particularly outstanding, although the climactic chase scene is very distinctive involving the villain's canoe being chased downriver by the Duke on horseback. Although the title's a misnomer in that the Duke is never seen with a badge, that's the biggest fault in what I'd otherwise heartily recommend for something a bit out of the ordinary in the Duke's apprentice stage of his career. Dale Roloff

The reason I like these matinée westerns from this era is probably because they make me feel like a kid again but I have other reasons that I think are pretty good. For one thing they are utterly without pretense. They do not pretend to be anything but entertainment for kids and unpretentiousness is real hard to find. There may be some out there but if you look for it you will find that it doesn't grow on trees. And they're just fun. The female lead is always charming, and the horsemanship, these films are always loaded with extras that are real cowboys. Apparently the reduction of manpower needed on the large cattle ranches coincided with the rise of the film industry so all these unemployed cowboys went to Hollywood. And could they ride. They just tore around like a house on fire and the ease and control that they demonstrate with these horses is a wonder to watch for a tenderfoot like me. But the plots get a little monotonous, I think there's only about two of them or three, maybe. You have to kind of overlook that. Anyway Star Packer is no exception. What makes it stand out is for one thing it has George "Gabby" Hayes one of the greatest character actors ever. But the main thing is that it has one of my Hollywood favorites, Pendleton Round-Up Rodeo champion and pioneer stuntman Yakima Canutt. Now John Wayne made a lot of westerns in this era and Yakima Canutt was in every one of them as Wayne's stunt double. He was also in practically every one of the as one of them as one of the bad guys, usually the leader. What makes this movie special is that, as far as I know, this is the only time he ever appears as a good guy.He has a very entertaining part as John Wayne's Tonto-like side kick. This includes an extremely charming and hilarious final scene in which he completely enthralls Wayne's young son with his Indian dancing and attempts to corrupt him into becoming an Indian himself. This is much to the amusement of Wayne and his wife, Verna Hillie. I have noticed that a bunch of these John Waynes have been colorized. My brother won't look at them but I think that as long as I have access to the original, I like having them. The landscapes are particularly beautiful. It's the sound that's bad. They dub in new voices that are terrible. And the music, it's some kind of spaghetti western sounding stuff that has nothing with the charm of the era. View at your peril.

This is a real B movie, right down to the historical imprecision of a location featuring both stage coaches and telephones, its clichéd dialogue, a totally predictable plot straight out of the comics and enough protracted chases and gunfights to fill in the gaps left by a very thin script.

The Duke and his entourage provide plenty of ironic laughs but, if you want to take the movie at face value, it is quite enjoyable. The good guys win, the bad guys get their comeuppance, the Duke gets his gal and Yakima Canutt shows his tricks all in a setting that engrossed generations of schoolboys over most of the 20th century.

The Star Packers should also be of interest to students of cinema as its structure encapsulates the early movement of silent film into the talkies.

JOHN WAYNE is slim and lithe as a cowboy who anoints himself sheriff after the bad guys rub too many of the town's citizens out. From then on it's like watching a Hopalong Cassidy movie except this one is from Lone Star and is obviously a poverty row project with a few interesting moments for anyone who stays with it for 53 minutes.

The tree stump idea puzzled me, as did the wall vault which served as the device behind which The Shadow gave orders--and the whole plot is so rushed that there's little time to digest any of the backstory that leads up to the main storyline. A pretty girl is the romantic interest for Wayne but has little to do and GEORGE HAYES is beardless for this one before he grew his trademark stubble.

Actually, the slender story seems like something borrowed from a Zane Grey western--the one where the girl is part owner of a ranch, the bad guy is actually someone she knows but never suspects, and a cowboy with strong capabilities comes along and rescues her when she's in danger.

The covered wagon going over the cliff into water is a neat sight toward the end and some of the stunt work involving riders and horses is on the mark. YAKIMA CANUTT is fun to watch as Wayne's Indian sidekick, a sort of Tonto to Wayne who rides a white horse.

Passes the time quickly, but is clearly John Wayne as an apprentice actor.

This is an early John Wayne oater. It is very typical for that era. John Wayne, of course, plays the good guy and a lawman, and Yakima Canute, who is in a ton of John Wayne's early movies, usually as a bad guy, plays a good guy for a change. even it it is a very stereotypical Indian sidekick, (insensitive by today's politically correct idiots). Of course this movie is in black and white, since color was still on the horizon, so some of the video does leave a bit to be desired but I did and still do enjoy the good guy versus bad guy movies where most things are pretty clear. I also like his later movies that had a bit more suspense.