The Desert Trail (1935)

THE DESERT TRAIL is a somewhat unremarkable early outing for John Wayne in which the actor's larger-than-life presence, although not quite as out-there and assured as later on in his career, is the best thing about the movie. He plays a rodeo star who finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit, forcing him to leave town with his buddy. Much of this is a bickering comedy which is workable enough, but there's not much in the way of action to get excited about and the whole thing is more than a little dated. The driving orchestral score seems to have been added on at a later date as it sounds very modern.

Give the producers at Monogram Pictures (a. k. a. Lone Star) some credit: They gave John Wayne here a chance to try some comedy, and the Duke delivers. It's a shame the result is buried in another lame C- western with a poor script and below-par acting.Rodeo rider John Scott (Wayne) and his gambler companion Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler) get mixed up in a case of mistaken identity when they are blamed for stealing money from a crooked rodeo and murdering its promoter. Lying low in another town under assumed names, they find themselves on the wrong side of the law again, thanks to the machinations of the promoter's real killers.Watching Wayne cut up here with Chandler is kind of fun, especially early on. Director Cullen Lewis starts us off with a scene where the two are playing cards, and a tight close-up shows Kansas Charlie dealing himself an ace from the bottom of the deck. Scott catches him, though he's not angry at the duplicity so much as disgusted by the awkwardness of the move."You're terrible!" Scott exclaims. "Try any of those phony tricks at Rattlesnake Gulch, they'll run you out quicker than they did at the last place!"Watching Scott and Kansas Charlie bicker is fun for a while. Unfortunately, that's about all "The Desert Trail" has to offer. The conflict with the killers is awkwardly presented and left unresolved, even after one of them returns to steal Scott's money and Kansas Charlie's watch. Instead of trying to clear their names or catch the thief, Scott and K. C. hightail it to another town, where they meet pretty storekeeper Anne (Mary Kornman) and develop a new line of bickering over her. Seeing Wayne play a rather crooked character is kind of interesting; unfortunately this Scott guy and his pal are pretty dumb, too.Wayne enthusiasts may find his performance as noteworthy as I did; they may also like seeing Paul Fix, a regular in many Wayne movies, playing one of the killers who's also Anne's brother. Fix is terrible in this movie, perhaps because he was a busy guy (he appeared in 14 other movies in 1935 alone) and the character is so badly written. He doesn't want to kill and steal, but his nasty partner Pete (Al Ferguson) keeps threatening to turn him in if he doesn't go along. How would Pete do this without incriminating himself? Scott and Kansas aren't the only two characters in "Desert Trail" not long on brains.The film ambles along fretfully, with odd shoot-outs (odd because Wayne is often shooting at good guys) and cruel horse stunts (they tripped the horses in full gallop with wire, and a couple of the stunts here appear to have been fatal) breaking up largely comic interludes involving Scott, Kansas, and Anne. Kornman, a fetching woman with skills honed from her childhood career in silent "Our Gang" comedies, plays well off Wayne, especially when he tries to schmooze her by making her climb a ladder for some "nerve tonic." She points out nerve tonic is something he doesn't seem to need.With some better scripting, either in the way of a coherent cowboy actioner or a more focused comedy, "Desert Trail" might have risen above the batch of cheapo films Wayne starred in in his own desert years, after "The Big Trail" and before "Stagecoach." But it just doesn't gel enough, or go anywhere interesting beyond the occasional funniness.

This is yet another of John Wayne's early B-westerns that has been mercilessly updated and is being shown on the Encore Channel. Some bone-head thought it was a good idea to add a musical accompaniment to the film. However, the music is just awful. It's way too loud, inappropriate because of its use of very modern electronic music, often inserted haphazardly AND the same music is used in all the films! So, each Encore presentation of a Wayne film has the exact same intro and incidental music! Now these Wayne films already are very similar to each other, but with these 'enhancements', it's much worse. My advice is to download the films off the links on IMDb--it costs nothing, is perfectly legal and has the original music.The film begins with Wayne and his completely dull sidekick (some bald guy with the personality of a shoe whose name I won't even bother to look up)...oh heck, it's Eddy Chandler) coming into town. Wayne is there to participate in the rodeo but after winning some prize money, he learns that the people running the event are crooks--and they only offer him a quarter of the money he earned. Not being content with this offer, Wayne and his bald buddy use their guns to convince the guy to pay them their due (which, from what I remember, is a lot like what O.J. is now serving time for in Nevada). However, soon after the pair leave, another guy comes in and robs the same guy--then kills him! And, to cover his tracks, the murderer claims Wayne and his partner are guilty. Since the two were seen leaving shortly before the murder, it appears as if they are guilty.In another town, Wayne and Mr. Dull assume new identities and blend in as best they can. But with Wayne being an action hero, he soon draws notoriety by saving some guy....and is rewarded with being jailed when someone recognizes him ("no good deed goes unpunished"). However, the dull sidekick does have an ally...and naturally everything works out just fine in the end.One of deficits for the film (apart from the music--which you can't blame on the original production company) are the reuse of both footage from another Wayne B-movie and the plot idea of a crooked rodeo from "The Man From Utah". Another is pairing Wayne with a dull sidekick who is neither funny nor endearing. However, like the rest of Wayne's films of the era, it is pleasant and entertaining provided you can appreciate the niche such B-movies played. They weren't meant as high art and at a breezy one hour in length (or a bit less), they were pretty much like a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers series film--and kids loved them. And, like many of the Autry and Rogers films, there are some odd anachronisms that seemed unusual in the West--such as the leading lady's very modern style of dress.

John Scott (John Wayne) and partner Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler) are trail buddies who make their way to the Rattlesnake Gulch rodeo. Scott is a pretty fair contestant, but finds that unless he's willing to accept twenty five cents on the dollar in prize money from a crooked promoter, he'll have to collect his winnings at gunpoint. Quite coincidentally, bandits Pete (Al Ferguson) and Jim (Paul Fix) decide they'd like the rest of the rodeo take; they shoot promoter Farnsworth (Henry Hall), and make it look like Scott and Kansas Charlie are the killers. Wayne and Chandler use a running gag in the film where they're about to go at it with their fists over various trivialities. Each time Chandler takes a wild swing, Wayne foot stomps him and knocks him silly.If you're very attentive, there's a neat Lipton's Tea ad in one of the scenes in which Scott's love interest Anne (Mary Kornman) appears.Later on in the film, the buddies are framed once again over a stage robbery. Having a change of heart and seeing the error of his ways, bad guy Jim wants to come clean and confess to the sheriff, but Pete shoots him down. While being patched up, Jim tells his story to the doctor and his sister Anne. In an unbelievable scene, Anne marches right into the middle of a gunfight between the good guys and the villains to confront the sheriff."The Desert Trail" is one of the blander John Wayne Westerns from Lone Star Productions during this era. Noticeably absent are George "Gabby" Hayes and Yakima Canutt, one or both are usually to be seen in these oaters. If you're a John Wayne fan though, you'll have to see it once, but that will probably be enough.