Riders of Destiny (1933)

Copyright 22 January 1934 by Monogram Pictures Corp. Presented by Lone Star Productions. No New York opening. U.S. release: 10 October 1933 (sic). U.K. release through Pathe: 16 July 1934. 6 reels. 58 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Undercover government agent helps ranchers get their rightful water rights.NOTES: Wayne's first of sixteen Lone Star westerns. Negative costs rarely exceeded $12,000 on an incredibly rapid shooting schedule of less than a week.COMMENT: The first of the Lone Stars starts off on a distinctly wrong track by attempting to pass John Wayne off as a singing troubadour. Mouthing to the somewhat inappropriate voice of Smith Ballew, Wayne "sings" two songs. We like the one about "There'll be blood a-runnin' in town before night. There'll be guns a-blazin; and singin' with lead. Tonight you'll be drinkin' your drinks with the dead." Wayne seems definitely uncomfortable in this warbling role, but fortunately is obviously much more at ease in the action spots, especially when doubled by Yakima Canutt. In addition to doubling Wayne and general stunting (he performs a fine quota of spectacular falls and leaps), Canutt has a minor genuine on-screen role as one of the villain's henchmen, though he disappears from view at an early stage. G."G". Hayes, on the other hand, has a major part, doing a variant on his famous "Gabby" characterization. Heroine Cecilia Parker is a lovely girl, but though appealingly photographed, her acting is so amateurish it's a miracle she survived to be re-born as Andy Hardy's sister. Normally respectable Forrest Taylor has an off-beat role as the heavy, with Heinie Conklin of all people as a pratfalling henchman. Wayne himself is reasonably personable. There's enough action to satisfy the fans ("Make it fast, Slippery. This is your last draw!"), and for once the background locations are not drably uninteresting. Bradbury's direction is competent, though his fondness for whip pans as a scene-changing device will make the movie seem even more dated and old-hat to current viewers.

An evil land baron is holding up water to a group of ranchers in order to try and take their properties for pennies on the dollar. Along comes Singin' Sandy Saunders (John Wayne), who saves the day for Gabby Hayes and his daughter by going undercover as the villain's newest gunman.The first of sixteen films Wayne made for Lone Star/ Monogram Pictures, this tries to cast him as a singing cowboy, only with an obviously lip-synced voice. The title card prominently features his character as "Singin' Sandy" leading one to believe that this was meant to be the first in a proposed series!Yes it's ridiculous, but also a lot of fun to see Wayne singing songs and shooting guns, especially when he does a little ditty before shooting it out with gunman Earl Dwire.Riders Of Destiny features a rare villainous role for for Al "Fuzzy" St. John, who clowns around as much with the bad guys as he did playing a heroic sidekick, riding alongside Buster Crabbe and Lash LaRue.

John Wayne in one of his early singing (well dubbed) cowboy flicks stars as a government agent under cover trying to get to the bottom of a water scam that has a bad guy controlling the water in an area refusing to let anyone have water unless they pay him sky high fees. Wayne comes into the mix by helping a girl who robs a stage coach in order to get back the money taken from her father. It's a rambling mess where 20 minutes pass with a minimal amount of plot transpiring while the two stage coach drivers wander about being silly in an attempt to capture the robber. The film then kind of settles down at that pint, with Wayne romancing the girl and taking on the bad guys. Its twenty minutes of plot stretched to 55 minutes and for me its intolerable. Things just ramble onward in such away that you can't believe its taking as long as it is. I wanted to scream. Actually I reached for the remote and began scanning through the romance and horse riding bits. Sure Wayne is clearly a star but the film he's in is a crashing bore. I'd avoid it unless you like this sort of thing.

Not the best of the Lone Star series, but it moves along quickly with good performances. Introduced as "Singin' Sandy" in the main title, John Wayne as a 'singing cowboy' isn't successful-- you never even see a front close-up of him while he's 'singing.' The actual singer is the director's son, Bill Bradley, who warbles away sounding like many popular singers of the day such as Hutch or Joseph Wagstaff. The film features: Cecilia Parker (also seen in "The Lost Jungle" serial, "Tombstone Canyon," and as older sister Marian in the Andy Hardy movies) doing her best Katherine Hepburn-- "Really they mustn't; really I'm not"; Al St. John, before he literally became "Fuzzy" filling all his available screen time with his characteristic business of hat flipping, head and chin scratching, grimacing, and gawky physical gestures and movements; George (pre-Gabby) Hayes as a gentle pipe smoking father; and Forrest Taylor, minor vet of 395 movies and TV shows, playing the oily villain with string bow tie and prop cigar. Fun or odd moments: Yakima Canutt's great 'under the stagecoach' trick; the 'gay' scene when Singin' Sandy ties Bert and Elmer together face to face, drags them roped to his horse, and dumps them at Kincaid's office, where Kincaid says, "You're a fine pair of lovebirds!"; Denton's rapturous comment after an atrocious song and guitar playing performance by 'Sandy,' -- "Ummm. I could listen to that all night!"; Kincaid's reply, We won't go into that," after being told by a rancher "You've got the soul of a snake!"; and, of course, he utters the immortal, "I've made Denton an offer he can't refuse." The plot of the movie is saved by Sandy's tricking Kincaid, and later saying the three magic words in many of these films: "I'm from Washington." FDR has saved us from the Depression! (Is that why the villains are always either bankers or in real estate?) The shootout sequence is taken from the earlier Bradbury film "Man from Hell's Edges" (1932). All of the Lone Star westerns are special because of their unique mixture of interesting characters, the troupe of actors and stunt people, and the spin on the clichés and repetitive back stories and situations. This one ranks a little low, marred by the inappropriate and mis-used "Singing Cowboy" gimmick. I'll give it a 4.