Tall in the Saddle (1944)

Michael Hogan and Paul Fix who is in the cast, wrote a much better than average script based on Gordon Ray Youngs original story in this one. The script is more complex than a lot of Wayne's earlier films. It even compares favorably to Wayne's Dark Command, though that one is based on previous real history. No script i more complex than Dark Command but this one does have a special presence for Wayne.This film shows Wayne becoming a more mature star. Surprisingly, RKO known for running films as class B on a shoestring actually made this one a full feature. This one Audrey Long and Ella Raines as dual female interest for Wayne. It has a solid supporting cast and this film during the war should have done well at the box office.There are scenes in the monument valley but not a lot, might even be borrowed stock footage from other movies, as in glorious black and white it is quite easy to sneak in stock footage. What makes this film better than most is the mystery agenda had by all the characters in the film and the script which develops them more than most films.Ella Raines is at her most attractive in this one. I would have wanted to ride off with her at the end, and Wayne gets to plant a major kiss on her. He was a lucky guy this time.

I'll have to second and third a handful of other reviewers on this board, this was an exceptionally fine, post-Stagecoach John Wayne Western that has a good story line and a couple of pleasing to look at leading ladies. Wayne's character is Rocklin, no first name ever mentioned, though Gabby Hayes has no problem calling him Rock from time to time. I got a kick out of Gabby's description of Arly Harolday (Ella Raines) after she shakes things up in Santa Inez following Rock's rousting of her brother Clint (Russell Wade), why she's meaner than a skillet full o' rattlesnakes - very descriptive! Now one observation I'll make about John Wayne. I've seen all of his Lone Star Westerns from the mid 1930's when he was churning them out at the rate of seven or eight films a year. He looked real young and handsome back then in his mid-twenties, but only a decade later he appeared to have seasoned into the quintessential John Wayne 'look'. In fact, he looks perhaps to be in his forties rather than his thirties. Anyway, that's the way I see it.What makes this picture so interesting, apart from Rocklin's investigation of the murder of Red Cardell, is the obvious chemistry going on between Wayne and his pair of leading ladies. Meaner than rattlesnakes Arly makes no bones about it, while the more demure Clara Cardell (Audrey Long) pines for him with rather more understatement. I was actually rooting for Clara for most of the picture, right up until Rocklin called her 'cousin'. Should have seen that coming, but the writers did a pretty good job of keeping Rock's identity under wraps until late in the picture.Say, remember when Arly and her bodyguard Tala (Frank Puglia) took the short cut through the pass and she fell off her horse? When she got up, her horse didn't have a saddle - how did that happen? And not for anything, but I'll have to see this picture again to clear something up unless someone can explain otherwise. When Clint Harolday is shot through the window of the hotel, I could have sworn that it was Judge Garvey (Ward Bond) who grabbed the gun from Rock's holster. But later on, it's revealed that the uncle Harolday (Don Douglas) did it. What did I miss? Anyway, this is a real enjoyable Western and John Wayne fans ought to be pleasantly surprised. You even get to see him reprise a familiar Lone Star type ending when the film closes out with Rock and Miss Arly in more than a clinch to wrap up the picture. If you stick around long enough for the closing credits, you'll also learn that this film was #854 on the country's 'Overseas Program' roster during the War years.

The chief reason for seeing this unremarkable oater is John Wayne after he left El Cheapo Studios behind him but before he became an icon. It's 1944, and Wayne was young -- well, his mid-30s -- and handsome and hadn't yet mastered the art of acting, only re-acting. This is a minimalist Wayne, his performance trundling along like a narrow-gage freight train, sometimes leaning this way -- an amused grin -- and sometimes creaking over to the other side -- a pair of raised eyebrows signalling disapproval. The plot has something to do with Wayne showing up as a stranger in town, looking for work, but secretly being the new owner of the Iron Buckaroo Ranch or whatever it is. When we parody John Wayne, this is the persona we're making fun of, not the later Wayne who was able to turn in some fine performances. This is a taciturn Wayne. He smiles a lot. He's polite but firm in his principles. He has a sense of humor although he never descends into laughter when a simple but earnest grin will do.You want to know how reserved he is? I'll tell you how reserved he is. He's at a table playing cards. There's a big pot. The callow youth across from him -- all youths are callow -- initiates an argument and grabs the pot illegally, or at any rate unethically. Wayne doesn't protest. He looks a little grim, stands away from the table and strides upstairs to his room. He comes down a minute later, wearing his pistol. At the table, he says serenely, "I came for my money." He gets it.The sidekick is George "Gabby" Hayes in excelsis. The girl is the smoothly beautiful Ella Raines with her mane of dark hair and her blue eyes. She can ride a horse too. That's an attractive trait in a woman. And she's a good shot with a pistol. That's not such a good trait in a woman.There are other characters in the movie, including a more than usually articulate Ward Bond as a slick scalawag, but, like the plot, they're not worth really going on about.

This one got shown on late-night Italian TV unheralded, after a proposed screening of Allan Dwan’s THE RIVER’S EDGE (1957) got barred by Fox! I’ve watched a few of John Wayne’s vehicles made between STAGECOACH (1939) and FORT APACHE (1948): while he was officially a star during this period, he wasn’t yet the screen legend everyone remembers and loves – consequently, most of the films he made in the interim tend to be overlooked. This is one of them and, I have to say, quite an underrated effort it is too! Made at RKO, it features their customary shadowy lighting – and, while essentially modest in approach, the narrative is absolutely brimming with action, twists, romance (Wayne gets to choose between two gals) and even comedy (provided by The Duke’s frequent sidekick from his early years, George “Gabby” Hayes). Wayne is obviously in his element and, typically, his character has to go through a lot to fight for his rights (while he’s introduced as a ranch-hand, it transpires that he’s actually the heir to the property!), his own well-being (he’s not only provoked into several brawls or made the target of assassination, but is even framed for murder!) and, of course, true love (one girl is assertive and tempestuous, the other genteel and naive).Ella Raines, best-known for her noir roles, looks great in cowboy gear as the former; when it seems she may lose Wayne to the latter – played by Audrey Long – it’s revealed that Wayne and Long’s characters are blood-related, thus conveniently solving the star’s emotional dilemma! The supporting cast includes Ward Bond (as the judge who tries to deceive both Wayne and Long out of their inheritance, he eventually engages in a violent fist-fight with Wayne which virtually turns his office into a shambles), Elizabeth Risdon (an insufferable and scheming old lady who’s domineering of charge Long and contemptuous of both Wayne and Hayes), Russell Wade (the young second lead of THE BODY SNATCHER [1945] appearing as Raines’ gambler brother), Paul Fix (like Bond, a long-time buddy of Wayne’s who here plays the part of an antagonist) and Frank Puglia (as Raines’ devoted Indian protector which causes an ambivalence towards Wayne).Characterizations are well above-par for an ‘oater’; the end result is highly watchable and entertaining – if, ultimately, a notch below The Duke’s standards of a few years later. The film was nevertheless released on DVD by Warners as part of a 5-Disc John Wayne collection (of which I already own BLOOD ALLEY [1955], one I’ve yet to watch myself, and THE SEA CHASE [1955]) – and I wouldn’t mind adding it to my collection if the opportunity presented itself…