John Wayne Movie Reviews From The 1930s To The 1970s | Mostly Westerns
Welcome to part one of our two-part article on the best of John Wayne’s pre-stardom Westerns. Having spent quite a lot of time reviewing the films John Wayne appeared in before stardom beckoned with “Stagecoach” I thought I’d go back … Read more
I’ve never been that keen on John Wayne doing ‘funny’. To me, he’s just not cut out to be either a clown or the butt of someone else’s joke but Duke obviously didn’t mind, seeing as he appeared in a … Read more
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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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, … 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 … Read more