John Wayne Movie Reviews From The 1930s To The 1970s | Mostly Westerns
In 1935 John Wayne made the first of eight appearances as Stony Brooke in the ongoing Three Mesquiteers five-reelers for Republic Studios. Wayne took over the role from Bob Livingston who played the character in all but one of the previous sixteen entries in the series. All of the films in which JW played Stoney … Read more
The Hurricane Express Reviewed – Episodes One to Three I’m going to cover three episodes at a time for the second of the three serials John Wayne appeared in for Mascot in the early 1930s, The Hurrican Express. As stunt pilot Craig McCoy, John Wayne successfully unmasked the villainous Eagle in his previous serial, which … Read more
Shadow of the Eagle Part I – Episodes 1 to 3 I remember with great affection the serials I saw as a kid in the 1950s at the Saturday morning picture shows. It was with this in mind that I decided to take a look at the three serials John Wayne appeared in for Mascot … Read more
One of the very first, if not the first, article I wrote for Mostly Westerns concerned the John Wayne films I remembered seeing as a kid. Having written more movie reviews than I can count over the last few years on all things JW I thought I’d return to the same theme of childhood but … Read more
Despite a claim by at least one reviewer that they actually watched the film back in 2004, it would appear that “Adventure’s End” is now considered to be missing in action, along with “The Oregon Trail”, which was released a year before in 1936. Adventure’s End (1937) Universal, Dir: Arthur Lubin, b/w, 63m Cast: John … Read more
Idol of the Crowds (1936) Universal Dir: Arthur Lubin, b/w, 60mCast: John Wayne, Sheila Bromley, Billy Burrud, Russell Hopton, Huntley Gordon, Charles Brokaw In a world where characters with names such as Swifty, Hank and Spike shout insults at each other whilst sitting on the edge of a desk chewing on a cigar like characters … Read more
I Cover the War! (1936) Universal, Dir: Arthur Lubin b/w, 65m Cast: John Wayne, Gwen Gaze, Don Barclay, Charles Brokaw, James Bush, Pat Somerset “I Cover the War!” is a contemporary comedy stroke melodrama featuring John Wayne and Don Barclay as two intrepid newsreel men, Bob Adams and Elmer “Slug” Davis, working for a company … Read more
In this, the third of the six films John Wayne starred in for Universal in the mid-1930s, he plays school bus driver Biff Smith who sings “Merrily we roll along” with the youngsters, the cynic in me anticipating that something pretty awful is going to happen to Biff, the bus, and the kids at some … Read more
I think I’m on safe ground by stating that John Wayne’s most faithful sidekick throughout his early career was George “Gabby” Hayes” who also moonlighted in the same capacity over the years for Roy Rogers, William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd, Gene Autry and Wild Bill Eliott, as well as a six-film stint with Randolph Scott. Altogether … Read more
There’s a surprisingly interesting premise at work in this film. A boxer by the name of Gus “Knockout” Corrigan, played by Ward Bond, travels from town to town challenging any local to a fight. Turning up in a community in the Northwest he finds himself face-to-face with Farmer Jones, played by John Wayne. Conflict (1936) … Read more
For a brief period of time, John Wayne took a break from his contract with Republic Studios and signed on with Universal to appear in six non-cowboy adventure films. Within a year and a half, he returned to Republic Studios who put him right back in the saddle and riding the range once more in … Read more
We’re updating this particular article as yet another contender for the films in which John Wayne died has come to our attention, meaning there are now 14 movies in which poor old Duke meets his maker. These films fall into two categories: those in which we see John Wayne’s character actually die on screen, and … Read more
So here we are almost two years after I went on to review every single film John Wayne appeared in from 1939 to 1976 before taking on all of the Westerns JW made in his wilderness years between 1930 to 1939. The following reviews are for the last two low-budget Three Mesquiteers productions for Republic … Read more
Having now made my way through all of the existing Westerns that John Wayne performed in for studios such as Warners, Lone Star and Republic from the early 1930s until 1939, I thought I’d revisit the last four of the Mesquiteer films that JW starred in before fame finally arrived via “Stagecoach” in the same … Read more
I bet even John Wayne didn’t realise that the next film he was to make after this would be the one that finally put paid to his almost decade-long stint in the wilderness as a B-movie actor. Way to go Duke. Red River Range (1938) Republic, Dir: George Sherman, b/w, 55m Cast: John Wayne, Ray … Read more
Get your hankies out for this one. The bad guys want someone else’s gold mine so bad they even kill a little girl. Lansakes, have they no heart? Santa Fe Stampede (1938) Republic, Dir: George Sherman, b/w, 55m Cast: John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune, June Martel, William Farnum, Le Roy Mason The Mesquiteers grubstake … Read more
The movie that finally put paid to the career of a one-time movie superstar – and we don’t mean John Wayne. Overland Stage Raiders (1938) Republic, Dir: George Sherman, b/w, 55m Cast: John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune, Louise Brooks, Anthony Marsh, John Archer This one had me intrigued from the word go seeing as … Read more
As with the recent article on the John Wayne movies in which Duke played real-life characters I’m going to fly by the seat of my paints and pull together all the instances I can think of in which he gets shot, wounded, knocked out and/or generally kicked around without actually giving up the ghost. For … Read more
Pals of the Saddle (1938) Republic, Dir: George Sherman, b/w, 55m Cast: John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune, Doreen McKay, Josef Forte, George Douglas Taking over the lead role of Stony Brooke from Bob Livingston who played the character in all but one of the previous sixteen entries in the series, this is the first … Read more
Whilst writing numerous articles and posts for Mostly Westerns over the years I would occasionally come across little snippets of information from various sources relating to some of the roles John Wayne played in his films. On closer examination there appear to be quite a few movies in which Duke’s character has some basis in … Read more