Born to the West (1937)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Also known as "Hell Town". Between John Wayne's period of making non westerns for Universal in late '36 and '37, and his return to making B westerns for Republic in '38, he was the lead character is this Paramount B western, based on a Zane Gray story, and directed by B movie -specialist Charles Barton. It was photographed mostly in the famous Alabama Hills, below Mt. Whitney, or in Kernville, in the southwestern Sierras. In addition to Wayne, as Dare Rudd, we have frequent starring cowboy Johnny Mack Brown, as Rudd's cousin Tom Fillmore, Marsha Hunt, as Judy Worstall: the love interest for both Rudd and Fillmore, Monte Blue as Bart Hammond: the saloon owner and the brains behind the local rustlers. Also, the uncredited crooked gambler Buck Brady. Shockingly, Syd Saylor, Wayne's constant sidekick Dinkey Hooley, is also uncredited! ........Wayne and Hooley were wandering in Wyoming, after cowpunching in Montana. In a running gag, Hooley also claims he's a lightening rod salesman, and is frustrated that no one in this dry climate wants one. Finally, he tries to sell one to a man out in the boondocks, who claims he is an agent for the lightening rod company......Tom, also a bachelor, is the local big man, with the largest cattle herd, and president of the bank. He also is a prospective husband for Judy. He met Wayne and Hooley when they accidentally joined the rustlers in a shootout with his wranglers. Wayne also takes a liking to Judy, brashly asking her several times if she will marry him. He becomes a hero to her when he rescues her from her runaway horse, spooked by a rattlesnake. Later, she claims that she could have stopped her horse any time she chose. She just wanted to experience him chasing her. Actually, Tom also was in the chase, but his horse stumbled, perhaps symbolizing that he would lose out to Wayne in their competition for Judy. Later, she tells Tom she loves Wayne more than any other man, despite his faults, although she also complements Tom. If I were Judy, I'd definitely favor Tom as a husband. He's well established and steady. We don't know if Wayne can cure his gambling addiction. .......Although Wayne is addicted to gambling with cards, and claims he's the best poker player west of the Mississippi, he keeps losing his shirt! That is brought out most forcefully when he loses nearly all the $10,000. he received for selling Tom's cattle, to the crooked cardplayer Buck Brady. Luckily, Tom arrived just in the nick of time and took Wayne's place at the table. He began winning, then caught Brady cheating and, drawing his gun, demanded that Brady give back all the money he won from Wayne. Soon after, Tom is shot, although not mortally. With Hooley, the 3 of them skedaddle before they are again attacked. Hammond's men chase them on horseback, eventually engaging in a shootout. The 3 miraculously survive against the odds. Tom then offers Wayne a partnership with him....... If this sounds OK, see it at YouTube.

John Wayne plays an aimless and arrogant young man given a job by his cousin (Johnny Mack Brown) as a trail boss, who battles rustlers and successfully brings the cattle to market only to be lured by big city vice.One of the later films in Wayne's B-movie career, this is also one of the best and helped him considerably in his transition to full-blown movie star. Watch some of his earlier pictures and you'll notice that between them and this, he'd definitely grown as an actor.Bookended by two great action sequences, the one at the beginning is especially well made with vivid scenes of a cattle drive, rustlers, and a stampede.

This one’s slightly better than Texas TERROR, mainly because it features a better-than-average cast – apart from Wayne, of course, there’s Johnny “Mack” Brown as The Duke’s cousin/boss, Marsha Hunt (later co-star of the classic Anthony Mann noir RAW DEAL [1948]) as the girl who comes between them, Lucien Littlefield as Wayne’s sidekick/conscience, and Monte Blue as the villainous (but ostensibly respectable) leader of a gang of cattle rustlers.Based on a Zane Grey novel, the film was originally released as BORN TO THE WEST – but this got changed on its re-issue to the more vivid HELL TOWN; interestingly, Wayne’s leadership of a cattle drive here anticipates Howard Hawks’ Western masterpiece RED RIVER (1948), in which he gave one of his finest performances.Again, the film runs for less than one hour while involving standard excitements – a saloon brawl, various cattlemen-vs.-rustlers clashes, a marathon poker game erupting into violence, etc. – and familiar embellishments, such as comedy relief and romance (except that lovely young Hunt makes for a much more interesting partner for the Duke than the wooden Lucille Browne of Texas TERROR). All in all, though, the film remains strictly a potboiler.

Dare Rudd (John Wayne) and sidekick Dink Hooley (Syd Saylor) are itinerant cowpunchers who can't seem to stay in one place very long. In "Helltown", the boys are headed to Montana, where they meet up with Rudd's cousin Tom Fillmore (Johnny Mack Brown), who offers them a job. It's a hoot to see the boys wearing aprons as they start out as cooks with the herd, although Dare becomes self conscious when Miss Judith (Marsha Hunt) rides into camp. Judy is Tom's girl, but the attraction between her and Dare is evident early on.Fillmore has a cattle herd to move, and promotes Dare to running the drive, partly to prove to Judy that he may not be up to the task. Meanwhile, bad guy Bart Hammond (Monte Blue) has his eyes on Fillmore's cattle, but when his henchmen fail to rustle the herd, he figures it's easier to win the money that Dare was paid at the end of the trail. Conning Dare into a rigged card game with his man Brady (James Craig), Dare's money begins to evaporate hand after hand. It's only when Dare fails to show up back at Fillmore's ranch that Tom goes out to find his cousin. Exposing the cheats, Tom, Dare and Dink high tail it before the bad guys can get their revenge."Helltown", also known as "Born to the West", was released in 1937 by Favorite Films Corporation, a couple of years after Wayne's series of Westerns for Lone Star Productions. It only slightly alters the Lone Star formula; Wayne does get the girl at the end of the film, but here he was trying. There's a great runaway horse scene where Wayne rescues Marsha Hunt, in which Johnny Mack Brown's horse does a complete somersault spill. Syd Saylor does a nice job as the comic relief pal, doing his best to sell lightning rods to unsuspecting victims. He replaces familiar faces George "Gabby" Hayes and Yakima Canutt here, staples of the Lone Star films. John Wayne's charisma is beginning to develop here, preparing him for the leap to super star status that he eventually achieved. "Helltown" was based on a novel by legendary Western author Zane Grey. If you're looking for more films based on Grey's stories, try "Fighting Caravans" with Gary Cooper, "The Light of Western Stars" with Victor Jory, "Drift Fence" with Buster Crabbe, and "Heritage of the Desert" with Randolph Scott.