<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Welcome to part two of our two-part article on what we consider the ten best John Wayne pre-stardom Westerns.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>West of the Divide (1934)<\/strong> Lone Star, Dir: Robert N. Bradbury, b\/w, 54m<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast:<\/strong> John Wayne, Virginia Faire Brown, George Hayes, Lloyd Whitlock, Yakima Canutt, Lafe McKee<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nAlthough I wasn\u2019t expecting too much from yet another of Duke\u2019s early period oaters, I have to say that on occasion something comes along that really makes you sit up and take notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWest of the Divide\u201d is one of those films because I can\u2019t even begin to describe how amazed I was to stumble across a relatively unknown JW death scene that I had not been aware of before. But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
George Hayes, playing alongside Duke for, I think, the third time, definitely appears to have been working on his screen persona in between John Wayne movies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can see in this film that there\u2019s a real sense that the actor is starting to make his mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The constant chewing of tobacco and the perpetual gurning of his unshaven face along with the occasional incomprehensibility of his speech indicate the imminent birth of the one who would forever be known as \u201cGabby\u201d Hayes. And it all started here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duke, playing a character called Ted Hayden, and his trusty sidekick Dusty, played by Hayes, are reclining in the countryside a spell when a stranger appears from out of nowhere muttering that he\u2019s drunk poisoned water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the man dies, Duke Ted a wanted poster on the body of the dead guy, who turns out to be a hired gun called Gatt Gans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dusty points out that Gans and Hayden look awfully alike so Ted decides to impersonate Gans, who it turns out has been hired by the villain of the piece, a Mr. Gentry, to help run off an old man and his daughter from their ranch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It then becomes clear why Wayne is dressed in black on account of him taking on the guise of a killer. Not only that but Gatt Gans is actually played by none other than Wayne himself, meaning that we can add yet another film to the list of those movies in which JW cops it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At some point in the proceedings, Ted finds out that Gentry was the one who shot his pa and also left Ted for dead as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of that, the AK (annoying kid) who\u2019s actually not that too annoying, probably a maximum of four on an AK scale of one to ten, turns out to be Ted\u2019s little brother. What with Duke playing a \u2018villain\u2019, he\u2019s apt to get a little ornery every now and then, telling his little brother\u2019s guardian \u2018You ever whip that kid again I\u2019ll break every bone in your carcass.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is before he finds out the kid is family. Imagine what he would have done to the guy if he already knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a ridiculous fistfight at the end between Duke and the villainous Gentry. Why JW didn\u2019t just plug him on account of Gentry making his play first is beyond me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess the fight is basically padding to make the film hit the fifty-four minute mark. In the meantime, Gabby \/ Dusty disappears from the film for almost a good twenty minutes \u2013 he was probably trying to master the art of frontier gibberish for the next film – then turns up just in time for the denouement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a nice stunt at the end in which Duke, being doubled by his stand-in, Yak Canutt, who plays yet another bad guy in the film, rides up to a cabin and throws himself through a window from his horse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s yet another bout of fisticuffs between Duke and Gentry, Gentry then running from the cabin only to be met by a hail of bullets from the group of bozos that constituted his gang. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duke gets the gal, so no surprise there. On the other hand, when you see for the very first time a rarely mentioned scene in which JW takes off for the pearly gates, you need to cut the film makers some slack every now and then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quite a memorable film for obvious reasons, and one I certainly won\u2019t forget for a long time to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Santa Fe Stampede (1938)<\/strong> Republic, Dir: George Sherman, b\/w, 55m<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast:<\/strong> John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune, June Martel, William Farnum, Le Roy Mason<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nGet your hankies out for this one. The bad guys want someone else\u2019s gold mine so bad they even kill a little girl. Land sakes, have they no heart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mesquiteers grubstake their friend Dave (William Farnum) to work a gold mine on their behalf. When they turn up to say \u2018hi\u2019 to Dave his kids, Billy and Julie, fire at the Mesqs then come out from behind a rock brandishing a rifle each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucky this wasn\u2019t \u201cEl Dorado\u201d or they\u2019d both have gone the way of Johnny Crawford and ended up gut shot, kids or no kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stony and the boys find out that Dave hasn\u2019t got around to filing the claim yet on account of the corrupt mayor of Santa Fe Junction, Byron (LeRoy Mason). Meantime the trigger happy kids scare off a couple of hombres attempting to steal the Mesqs horses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our heroes give chase and take one of them, Joe Moffatt, off to jail. The other hombre meets up with Byron and shows him some samples from Dave\u2019s mine which Byron intends to use in order to claim ownership of the mine for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As usual, the town is a nest of corruption with the sheriff and the judge in hock to the mayor. When Stony tries to get Moffatt sent to jail his efforts are side-tracked by <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byron and a false witness. Moffatt goes free and the Mesqs demonstrate their contempt for the lack of justice by trying to beat up everyone within reach for which they end up being fined a hundred dollars each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of going down the vigilante route and running those dad-blasted hornswagglers out of town on a rail, Rusty urges them to do it legal like and issue a \u201cright of appeal under the constitution\u201d. Sounds kind of boring to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cue a montage of lots of signed petitions and men riding around on horses for no particular reason. Meanwhile, Julie, the little girl with the loaded gun, starts lollygagging and lets on to one of Byron\u2019s gang that she and JW and her daddy are off to lodge a petition of protest with the state governor in order to run the bad guys out of town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge gets an attack of conscience when he realises that Byron is going to try and steal the mine from Dave and also stop Sandy and Dave from taking the petition to the governor, even if it means endangering the little girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know. The one with the gun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moffat and another crony kill Dave and his daughter Julie and get the petition back, not realising that Stony has ridden off earlier to file a claim on the mine himself in Dave\u2019s name. The dastardly Byron decides to frame Stony for Dave\u2019s murder, making sure Stony doesn\u2019t live to stand trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After filing the claim Stony is arrested by a friendly sheriff for the murder of Dave and the kid. Realising their friend is about to be railroaded the sheriff deputises Tucson and Lullaby and they accompany Stony back to Santa Fe Junction, much to the disappointment of Byron and the boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byron then cooks up an idea to ensure that Stony doesn\u2019t live to stand trial by spreading word around town that he\u2019s going to go on trial elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This results in the townsfolk transformed from law-abiding citizens into a mob of torch and pitch-fork wielding thugs straight out of a Universal Horror movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically this is the exact thing Stony argued against in the first place. Not so much hung by his own petard as about to get just plain hung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge eventually rediscovers his moral compass, ordering the corrupt telegraph operator to send a telegram asking for help for the beleaguered sheriff who is trying to protect Stony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What more can I tell you? Billy the kid comes to the rescue, riding off to find Stony\u2019s hapless companions and untying them so that they can then beat up their captors and ride back to town to help their boss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Stony starts looking more nervous than Joe Burdette whilst he sweats inside the jailhouse and the town mob grow uglier and uglier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They eventually set fire to the place with JW still inside but a helpful stick of dynamite thrown into the mix blows out the back of the jail and he escapes, rescuing the unconscious <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nancy, played by June Martel, who hasn\u2019t really figured all that much up until now, and won\u2019t do for much longer seeing as the flick is nearly over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a bit of a lame ending with Stony confronting the bad guys, ending in the usual fistfight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byron gets away and for a moment, bearing in mind the film has broken the taboo of having a child killed for plot purposes, I thought that maybe little Billy might be skulking somewhere in the dark shadows ready to blast the villain with that gun of his, but it is not to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stony punches Byron in the face instead and everyone lives happily ever after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>The Desert Trail (1935)<\/strong> Lone Star, Dir: Cullen Lewis, b\/w, 54m<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast:<\/strong> John Wayne, Mary Kornman, Paul Fix, Eddy Chandler, Carmen LaRoux, Lafe McKee<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThe opening sequence in this film is actually quite entertaining. Wayne, as rodeo rider John Scott, is travelling with his gambling friend, Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler), to Rattlesnake Gulch and the next rodeo where JW hopes to earn money roping a bunch of defenseless cows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Charlie on the other hand is looking to rope in a bunch of loser gamblers by cheating in every hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wisecracks and quips between the two of them as they vie for the attention of fellow stage passenger Juanita (Carmen Laroux), flow thick and fast, almost as if the resident scriptwriter, in this case, Lindsley Parsons, has been wired up to the mains in order to craft a script that literally crackles with witty wordplay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parsons also previously wrote the screenplay for \u201cThe Man from Utah\u201d, for which I suggested in my review that things were starting to improve a bit on the Lone Star productions front. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never mind though, we can\u2019t always be right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as with \u201cThe Man from Utah\u201d the film is padded out with stock footage of a real rodeo event and, just as with the previous film also, Wayne stumbles into yet another one that is crooked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Charlie tells him he\u2019s going to be cheated out of his winnings the two of them confront the organizer and threaten him at gunpoint unless he pays up. After they skedaddle, a couple of tough hombres, including Paul Fix as Jim (back on the John Wayne Soon-To-Be Stardom Express after a break of two years), try to rob the organizer of the rest of his money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aided and abetted by his partner-in-crime Pete, Jim plugs the rodeo guy in the process. Guess what happens next? Yup, that\u2019s right. JW and his side-kick carry the can for the shooting instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the cold-blooded murder committed by Jim, the film still steers a comedic path. There\u2019s a certain bedroom farce vibe going on with bad guy Pete turning up at Juanita\u2019s hacienda, having to hide when JW then barges in to try his luck as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Charlie then follows suit, his hands manacled after having been wrongly arrested by the sheriff and his posse earlier for the murder of the rodeo organiser. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete, who\u2019s been in the closet all the while \u2013 not the kind of closet that dare not speak its name but the one located in the living area of the hacienda \u2013 emerges from his hiding place and robs JW and Charlie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They separate for reasons too complicated to go into here, with Charlie disguising himself as a Preacher by turning his short collar back-to-front before he and JW follow Pete to Poker City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They then bump into Jim as well, unaware that he\u2019s partly responsible for them being on the run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete appears to have a bit of a conscience regarding the killing of the rodeo guy but more importantly than that, he also has a hot sister called Anne (Mary Kornman), who will obviously at some point indulge in a bout of tongue wrestling with the Dukester \u2013 but there I go, getting ahead of myself again as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
JW and Charlie go off to apprehend Pete and Jim who are intent on robbing the local stagecoach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The heroes interrupt the villains during the robbery, JW riding off to stop the runaway coach and Charley chasing after Pete and Jim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shoots Jim from his horse, Charlie telling him that he was the last person he ever thought would ever get involved in this kind of thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jim replies \u2018Pete made me do it and he made me take the stuff. Please don\u2019t tell Anne\u2019. Wimp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete gets JW and Charlie arrested back in town by informing the sheriff they\u2019re wanted for murder in Rattlesnake Gulch. Pantywaist <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jim finally decides to take matters into his own hands and help to exonerate his friends on account of his sister having the hots for Duke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Jim helps JW and Charlie break out of jail he gets it in the back from Pete who then goes on to rob the bank before fleeing on horseback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
JW and Charlie follow in hot pursuit, at the same time as being trailed themselves by the sheriff and his posse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inevitable shootout occurs, with presumably Yakima Canutt doubling for Wayne as he does that really clever diving from his horse through a cabin window thing, after which the proceedings are wrapped up by what I assume is a death-bed confession to his sister by Jim, who comes out with the usual \u201cPete made me do it\u201d stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don\u2019t actually find out if Jim dies but seeing as he shot the rodeo guy he\u2019s going to get strung up anyway so it all ends quite happily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out of the early 1930s JW films I\u2019ve reviewed up to this point \u201cDesert Trail\u201d is definitely a notch above what I\u2019ve seen so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wayne and his co-star Eddy Chandler spar with each other really well and I\u2019m hoping it\u2019s a partnership that makes it into the next few Lone Star entries in this series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duke comes across as more relaxed and even quite exuberant at times as if he\u2019s finally starting to get into his stride as an actor, not just delivering his lines in a monotone as he did too frequently in the films that came before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, when watching these early JW efforts it\u2019s always worth keeping an eye out to try and catch the first appearance of a mannerism, idiosyncrasy or gesture that contributes to his later acting style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this film, I detected for the first time the habit Wayne eventually adopted of stopping in mid-sentence as if to catch his breath before then finishing what he has to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Check this one out. You\u2019ll like it. It\u2019s a real delight to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>King of the Pecos (1936)<\/strong> Republic, Dir: Joseph Kane, b\/w, 55m<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast: <\/strong>John Wayne, Muriel Evans, Cy Kendall, Jack Clifford, Arthur Aylsworth, Herbert Haywood<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s another JW Western in which Yakima Canutt plays the bad guy again, this time a character called Henchman Pete. Don\u2019t those outlaws ever have a surname?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Villain Alexander Stiles (Cy Kendall), has a habit of wandering into new territory and claiming it for his own under a concept known as \u201cright of discovery\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He soon discovers himself though that the locals don\u2019t exactly appreciate this wanton act of land-grabbing, in particular, Ma and Pa Clayborn, who stand up for their rights and end up on the wrong end of a gun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a particularly brutal scene for the time their young son John, who grows up into a strapping young man with a heck of a resemblance to John Wayne, gets punched and whipped to the ground by one of the villains, Henchman Ash (Jack Clifford), for standing up to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A quick flashforward to ten years later shows JW practicing his gun skills whilst at the same time revealing he\u2019s been studying law with one intent \u2013 to try the case of John Clayborn versus Alexander Stiles. I know who my money\u2019s on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Travelling on the stagecoach to the town of Exposition, JW hears that Stiles now owns the whole town of Cottonwood and a million acres of land as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, in the last ten years, he\u2019s become \u201cthe richest cattle king of the Pecos\u201d. And Duke\u2019s on his way to take the fat cat down, either with a law book or a gun. Or both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and there\u2019s a pretty girl by the name of Belle (Muriel Evans) on the stage as well, and we all know how that\u2019s going to turn out too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within two minutes of hitting Cottonwood, JW finds himself face-to-face with the man responsible for the death of his parents and takes on his first case for a couple of locals who have been swindled by Stiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court case never happens on account of Stiles being powerful enough to railroad the local sheriff and the county judge so JW decides to get his two clients to round up all the people who\u2019ve been swindled seeing as he now has a case against Stiles which he\u2019s going to pursue legally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a while anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
JW \u201cPerry Mason\u2019s\u201d bad boy Stiles in court and paves the way for the swindled ranchers to get their water rights back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being the villain Stiles gets all the best dialogue, issuing the command to one of his minions to \u201cTake the shortcut to Red Rock Canyon\u201d, in order to waylay the crowd on their way to file for water rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To cut a long sequence short, JW and the good guys outsmart Stiles and the bad guys and manage to successfully file their claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stiles decides to fire his lawyer who lost the court case on his behalf, and when we say fire we mean fire, on account of the lawyer getting shot full of lead in an out of court settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The upshot of all this legal toing and froing is that the local ranchers are now very rich seeing as they can water and feed their cattle and sell them for twenty dollars per head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henchman Pete overhears them loudly agreeing to herd all of the cattle together and drive them to the cattle market in Abilene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stiles decides to deprive the animals of all drinking facilities seeing as he owns the town and water rights through which the herd will travel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belle\u2019s dad gets a bullet after remonstrating with the Stiles gang when they try and relieve him of his cattle, which for some unexplained reason he\u2019s decided not to sell just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a big shoot-out at the end between the opposing parties with Stiles making a run for it and getting shot in the process. JW catches up with Henchman Ash and settles the score with him in a genuine \u201cHigh Noon\u201d-type showdown at the end of the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comedy duo of Hank (Arthur Aylsworth) and Josh (Herbert Haywood respectively \u2013 one of them is profoundly deaf and can\u2019t hear what his partner has to say \u2013 grows a bit tiresome by the end but on a scale of one to ten I\u2019d give this effort an eight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is, without doubt, the best so far of all the films John Wayne appeared in during his exile from stardom after the box-office failure of \u201cThe Big Trail\u201d six years before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wayne still has a long way to go before he gets to the point where he appears comfortable in his own skin onscreen but the storyline is quite compelling and the locations in Lone Pine are magnificently captured by cinematographer Jack Marta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One to watch for that small band of Western fans who have yet to see all of the films John Wayne ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Wyoming Outlaw (1939)<\/strong> Republic, Dir: George Sherman, b\/w, 55m<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast:<\/strong> John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Raymond Hatton, Charles Middleton, Don \u201cRed\u201d Barry, Pamela Blake<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nGood news, pardners. Someone at Republic saw the light and dropped Lullaby Joslin, the weird one with the wooden dummy, and replaced him with Raymond Hatton as Rusty Joslin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only that but \u201cWyoming Outlaw\u201d is a far cry from the previous Mesquiteer vehicles I\u2019ve seen up to this point. The reason for this is a great central performance by Don \u2018Red\u2019 Barry\u2019 as a down-on-his-luck farmer, Will Parker, who is forced to steal food in order to sustain his family after the price of wheat drops and forces him into penury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing as this is a Three Mesqs film you naturally still get the usual punch-ups, misguided intentions and hammy acting as before, but this time around the violence is real and people don\u2019t get to dodge the bullets as before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s as though someone with a sense of reality and social commitment has been let loose on the script and the end result is an entertainingly adult B-Western with not one wooden dummy in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only issue is that the timeline is skewed again, the story taking place in 1918 and apparently the Mesquiteers and their fellow cow herders were not aware America had entered the First World War. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hiding from a huge dust storm, Stoney finds a conveniently placed newspaper that provides a little bit of social history for the audience as regards the reason for the storm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems it\u2019s the result of the land being farmed specifically to provide wheat during the conflict in Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the war ended the price of wheat fell and most of the farmers were bankrupted, a situation not even the Mesquiteers could sort out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chancing upon the daughter of a dirt-poor farming family, Irene Parker (Adele Pierce), the Mesquiteers try and help as best they can but her brother Will ends up in trouble with the law when he insists on hunting protected game to feed his family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parker points out that \u2018the right to eat should come before the right of game to live\u2019. \u2018Sounds like pretty good sense\u2019, agrees Stoney. Not a film for animal rights campaigners then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the story starts rolling the Mesquiteers take a bit of a back seat. They\u2019re depicted more as bystanders in a situation that this time is taken out of their hands as Parker crosses the line into lawlessness and becomes an outlaw on the run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main thrust of the film is the animosity between the Parker family and crooked politician Joe Balsinger (LeRoy Mason), a situation created by the father Luke Parker (Charles Middleton) who stood up to Balsinger at one point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their enmity is compounded by Balsinger\u2019s designs on Irene, a situation resolved by Stony\u2019s fists. The Mesqs themselves fall foul of Balsinger when they offer to help out the Parker family, intervening when Ma Parker is forced to pay extortion money to Balsinger in the hope that he will give her husband a job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mesqs get her money back which sets them up for a showdown with the politician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After hot-headed Will is jailed for killing a deer for food, Luke Palmer is beaten up for attempting to testify to Balsinger\u2019s nefarious dealings, forcing Will to break out of jail and visit some violence of his own on the villain of the piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He kills a couple of Balsinger\u2019s henchmen during the escape and then hunts Balsinger down. The Mesqs try to do all they can to stop the violence before it gets too much out of hand but Will is determined to make Balsinger pay for his dishonourable behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will finally catches up with his nemesis and confronts him, forcing the law to shoot both of them in the ensuing showdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a very good entry in the series, with co-stars such as Elmo Lincoln, the first Tarzan, and Charles Middleton, of Ming the Merciless fame, along for the ride. Don Barry packs a real punch as the doomed Will Parker and apart from the tacked on happy ending I\u2019d thoroughly recommend this to anyone who professes a liking for all things Wayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If anyone would like to put forward their favourite Western from John Wayne\u2019s pre-stardom days then please feel free to let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to part one of our two-part article on the best of John Wayne\u2019s pre-stardom Westerns. Having spent quite a lot of time reviewing the films John Wayne appeared in before stardom beckoned with \u201cStagecoach\u201d I thought I\u2019d go back … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6611"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6628,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611\/revisions\/6628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}