Moviecut—Westward Ho

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source: Westward Ho

An American Western; A story set in 1844 about a boy whose parents were murdered and his young brother kidnapped by a gang of cattle thiefs and bandits. Years later he forms a vigilante group to rid the country of outlaws and he sets out to find his long-lost brother. This is a low-budget B movie with a familiar plot. John Wayne plays the grown-up crusader and leader of cowboys with a penchant for a singalong. It has some nice location photography and it keeps up the tension on the main note of mystery. The editing was clumsy which made the verbal exchanges in many of the scenes awkward but it is directed competently otherwise.

Great direction by Robert Bradbury with legendary Duke and Yak with his great troupe of stuntmen. An interesting prologue of the young Wyatt boys being separated after their parents were killed. Dickie Jones, aka Buffalo Bill Jr, Glenn Strange, Jack Curtis, and Sheila Bromley give outstanding performances. Frank McGlynn Jr., who left us too soon gives an impassioned performance as the brother on the wrong side of the law. In the first Republic film there's none of what would become John Wayne's trademark idiolect, nonetheless he performs to perfection with a terrific cast.

. . . the New Founding Fathers who "purged" the American West of the "lawlessness" rampant in the mid-1800s due to the influx of murderers and rapists across the Mexican border. This very first "Republic" Picture actually spells out this now-politically incorrect message on-screen as WESTWARD HO opens. The first scene shows Real Life U.S. Vigilante-in-Chief John Wayne (whom director Vincent Sherman has testified would ride up and down Hollywood Boulevard on a motorcycle with his henchman Ward Bond, clubbing members of Tinseltown's LGBTQ community with ball bats, as if these victims were Canadian baby seals, secure in their belief that they'd earn "Hero Buttons" for ridding L.A. of "bad influences") being told by government officials that there was no tax money available to fund Amateur Night Vigilante Attacks. This doesn't deter Wayne's character "John" from rounding up every tenor and white horse in California in a bizarre plot to sing the crooks to death. Unlike these benighted 19th and 20th Century unfortunates, we of the Enlightened 21st Century have History's Greatest Deal-Maker, President-Elect Trump, to force Mexico to build a great protective wall at its own expense which probably will be patrolled by Vigilantes who will shoot first--then sing!

SYNOPSIS: Loner organizes a vigilante group to hunt for his younger brother who was kidnapped by outlaws twelve years previously. NOTES: Dedicated to the Vigilantes... builders of the New Empire of the West... stern frontiersmen of the days of '49. Men who gave their lives to purge the new frontier of lawlessness. Republic's first film. Negative cost: a mere $37,000. However, that is largesse indeed compared to the sixteen Lone Star westerns, which were brought in at no more than $11,000 a-piece. More than three times the Lone Star budget here, and all that extra money is right up there on the screen. COMMENT: Despite some oddities (Wayne serenading the heroine with a dubbed basso profundo) and technical shortcomings (jerky continuity, tacky indoor sets, primitive sound recording), this is not only one of the best of Wayne's pre-superstar westerns, but a worthwhile addition to any permanent collection in its own right. The locations are truly breathtaking. Bradbury is a director (and Stout a photographer) who knows how to get both the dramatic and pictorial best out of them. The movie is full of sweeping images (the outlaw band, lined up across the frame, silhouetted vividly against sky and sand; the black-shirted singing riders, all mounted on white horses, encircling the renegades on a boulder-strewn mountainside) and no expense has been spared in staging the many action highlights, with lots of thrilling stuntwork, falls and running inserts. This is not a movie that saves all its action for the final reel either. In fact, if one has any complaint against the film, it's so full of action, there's little chance for the heroine. Never mind, Wayne acquits himself nobly, and there's an excellent performance from Frank McGlynn Jr as the outlaw brother. The villains, led by Curtis and Canutt are appropriately nasty. One critic has complained recently that the action scenes are undermined by the lack of background music. I didn't find this a problem. There is music in the film - under montages - plus no less than three songs (including the title number which is rendered no less than three times). By the humble standards of the "B" western, production values are outstanding.

Republic Pictures first production, WESTWARD HO features great locations and photography for the time period. A strong performance from John Wayne, who at this time has been before the camera a little over ten years. John Wyatt(Wayne)vows to avenge the death of his rancher parents at the hands of cattle rustlers. Wyatt leads a group of vigilantes hell bent on finding the gang of outlaws. When the bad guys are rounded up, to Wyatt's surprise one of the bandits is his own long-lost brother Jim(Frank McGlynn Jr.) Its been about 73 years and this picture still holds entertainment value. Although it is a shame to watch the torturous scenes some of the horses went through. The cast also features: Glenn Strange, Jack Curtis, Hank Bell, Sheila Bromley, Jim Farley, Chuck Baldra, Yakima Canutt and Dickie Jones.

When Republic Pictures was formed in 1935,Trem Carr's Lone Star western group was included along with star John Wayne. Thus began Wayne's turbulent relationship with the studio which lasted until 1951. The first thing that you will notice when watching "westward Ho!" for the first time is the large cast of extras particularly in the riding scenes (the veritable cast of thousands). Quite a feat for the newly formed "B" studio considering that the Great Depression was still ongoing. Anyway, the plot in that oft used good brother vs. bad brother theme. John an d Jim Wyatt are part of a wagon train that is ambushed by rustler Ballard (Jack Curtis)and his gang, which includes veteran stuntman/actor Yakima Canutt. The boys parents are killed and John is left for dead while brother Jim is "adopted" by Ballard. Fast forward a few years and John Wyatt has grown up to be John Wayne and Jim, Frank McGlynn Jr. Jim has become an outlaw within Ballard's gang. John meanwhile has organized a vigilante group known as "The Singing Riders" to track down all outlaw gangs as he searches for his lost brother. Along the way, John joins up with Lafe Gordon's (Jim Farley)cattle drive in the hopes of catching Ballard and Co. Well, as luck would have it, Gordon has a comely young daughter Mary (Sheila Mannors) with whom John strikes up a relationship. To complicate matters, Jim also joins Gordon's group unbeknownst that his brother John is there. Finally the brothers discover who each of them is and.............................. John Wayne had previously portrayed "Singin' Sandy) in a couple of his Lone Star westerns. So as the leader of the "Singing Riders" he gets to sing (dubbed of course) a forgettable tune to the heroine. A singing cowboy John Wayne was not. The film is enhanced by the presence of Yakima Canutt who staged many of the film's stunts including several horse falls and a spectacular "wagon over the cliff" scene. Considering the large cast of riders, this could not have been no easy task. Other recognizable faces in the cast were Glenn Strange, Earl Dwire (who had appeared in several of Wayne's "Lone Stars") and Lloyd Ingraham. Worth a look.

This is a pretty run of the mill John Wayne B-western of the 1930s with one major exception. Like his few 'Singing Sandy' films Wayne made during this era, the producers of this movie decided to make Wayne a singer---even though his singing voice was apparently rather scary. So, they dubbed him with a singer a bazillion octaves lower than Wayne's real voice--and the result is absolutely hilarious. As for the rest of the film, it had a moderately interesting plot. It begins years earlier and Wayne is a young boy going across the prairie in a wagon with his pioneer family. The group is attacked by bandits and the adults are all killed. Wayne is assumed dead and his younger brother is adopted by the bandits. Now, years later, Wayne still is searching for his lost brother as well as heading a crusade of SINGING vigilantes on their quest to rid the west of gangs of thieves. Naturally, being a movie, eventually Wayne and his long-lost brother end up on opposite sides--neither knowing the identity of the other. While the plot is silly, it was enjoyable and pretty typical in style to the bazillion Bs Wayne made through the 1930s. Fast-paced, enjoyable and entertaining.