Moviecut—'Neath the Arizona Skies

source: 'Neath the Arizona Skies

'Neath the Arizona Skies

John Wayne, as Daddy Chris radiates his natural warmth in protecting a half-Indian girl and trying to find her father. Sam Black (Yakima Canutt) and his gang are hot on his trail with armed robbers, Buffalo Bill Jr. and Jack Rockwell who attempt to frame Wayne. Sheila Terry looked stunning dressed to the nines but somewhat out of place amidst the dust and gunfights. Shirley Jean Rickert, from "Our Gang" fame, gives a sweet and memorable performance as Daddy Chris assures her, "Don't worry, little partner, I wouldn't give you up for anything!" Some memorable moments when Duke does a lasso/elevator trick and pulls a henchmen off his horse and strings him up a tree and him and Canutt go cliff diving into the river for some classic fisticuffs. As always 'Gabby' Hayes and Earl Dwire give great performances to round out a great cast 'Neath The Arizona Skies.

I'm not necessarily a fan of the 'Duke' but I do enjoy a good Western - and this one isn't. Technically, it's rough and ready and I suppose typical for an unrestored print that's nearly 80 years old. At least there's some action - quite a lot of it but is essentially Wayne either singly on horseback, chasing after someone, or having fisty-cuffs with someone. And, yes, there's a shoot-out. The other reviewer of this title did a fine job pointing out the plot, for what it is. The half Native American girl is quite sparky, the Duke speaks in monotones and is rather wooden but the love interest (she finds him wounded by a river) Clara, (Sheila Terry) is more natural and a welcome diversion. However despite all this, it's quite watchable, in a rudimentary sort of way and if it wasn't John Wayne, we wouldn't even be watching it and nor would have TCM bothered to air it, which is where I saw the movie.

I tend to fade in and out of attention while watching most of the Lonestar Wayne movies and this was not an exception. There were some wonderful moments and individual scenes, but some of it was pretty dull. Shirley Jean Rickett, who also appeared in the "Our Gang" series, gives a sweet and memorable performance as a Betty Boop eyed half-Indian girl. When Wayne tells her in the beginning that she can't be a cowboy, she snaps back that she rides horses better than him. Cute stuff! Yakima Canutt has a nice roll as the chief bad guy intent on kidnapping Shirley Jean for the money she'll fetch. The movie picks up in the last ten minutes and there's actually some clever plot twists involving a hostage situation.

If you've been reading my reviews under my username lately, you've probably guessed I've been reviewing the "Our Gang" series in chronological order for the last several weeks as well as many features featuring many of its members in between some of those shorts the same way. So it is that I'm now reviewing this B-movie starring John Wayne before real stardom reached him with Stagecoach in '39 in which he's the guardian of a half-breed girl played by Shirley Jean Rickert years after leaving that series I just named. She was blonde with curls there but has a dark straight wig here. Even at less than an hour, much of the dialogue is expository that gets boring after a while so it probably would have helped if a score had been performed during those scenes as well as during a pretty exciting shoot-out and chase at the end. Still, I'm glad to have watched this on the Internet Archive so on that note, 'Neath the Arizona Skies is at the least, worth a look for fans of The Duke and Our Gang.

Another of John Wayne's cheapie westerns made for Lone Star. This one has him protecting a half-Indian girl while he searches for her father and fights off an outlaw (Yakima Canutt) who wants the girl and her father for reasons of his own. As is typical with these westerns, the best parts are the stunts. It's a fairly standard oater with not a whole lot recommend to those who aren't big fans of the Duke. The little girl is clearly a white kid with a terrible black wig on. She's a pretty bad actress, too. Hearing her repeatedly call Duke "Daddy Chris" is enough to turn your stomach. If you've seen any of the low-budget westerns Duke made in the '30s, you pretty much know what to expect here. If you haven't, go ahead and watch it but be prepared that there is nothing challenging here. It's a very simple cardboard story that runs less than an hour. Harmless but unsatisfying.

Neath the Arizona skies is one of the better early John Wayne efforts. It is clear watching this film that he was growing in stature as an actor since the very early efforts where he was often a bit wooden. It's quite crisply filmed and has a more interesting if still quite clumsy plot than many of his early efforts. Here he attempts to keep safe a little Indian girl ( a cute Shirley Jean Rickett) who who a price on her head. There are the familiar stunts including one great one near the end, the obligatory shootout and of course his usual sidekick Gabby Hughes manages to get involved as well. This is another one that is really just for John Wayne fans only but if you are one this is worth watching.

Cowboy John Wayne goes in search of the long-lost father of a half-Indian girl in order to for her to cash in on her late mother's oil rich property, while a nasty gang of cutthroats plan on snatching her for their own enrichment. Complicating things is a gang of armed robbers who attempt to frame Wayne. Despite a few good stunts and the presence of Yakima Cannut and George "Gabby" Hayes the first two-thirds of this entry in Lone Star/Monogram Pictures' John Wayne films is mediocre and bland. Fortunately, the last third brings it all out of the muck with probably some of the best suspense and action in all of the series! Overall, it's worth watching.