Born to the West

John Wayne, (Dare Rudd) plays the role of a drifter who gambles his money away and just can't seem to settle down until he goes back to his relative, (Tom Fillmore) Johnny Mack Brown who owns a great deal of cattle and runs the bank in town. Tom knows that Dare has a bad reputation but he gives him a chance and offers him a job to cook for his cattlemen. Tom has a girlfriend named Judy Rustoe, (Marsha Hunt) and Dare soon becomes very interested in her and they both start falling for each other. Judy persuades Tom to give Dare a different job than being a cook and so Tom makes Dare a foreman in charge of his cattle and wants him to take the cattle to market and sell them in town for $10,000 dollars. However, there are many problems that face Dare as he travels with the cattle and the story begins to get very interesting. John Wayne was 30 years of age when he made this picture and Marsha Hunt was 20 years old, they both gave outstanding performances and Marsha looked very beautiful. Today, Marsha Hunt is 91 years of age as of 2008. WOW

After six non-western B-movies, John Wayne returns to the saddle for what would be the beginning of the final chapter of his B-movie career. Rather than the standard formulaic B-western where Duke is the known hero who will get the girl, here his cowboy hero status is in question – he has to chase the girl and he's not exactly the squeaky clean character we have always known him as up to this point in his filmography. The story is by acclaimed western novel writer Zane Grey which helps explain how this is different from all that came before it for the Duke.

5.7 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

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.

John Wayne fans should watch this film right after seeing a few of the ultra-low budget B-westerns Wayne made for Lone Star Pictures in 1934-5 (conveniently, you can get a 2-DVD set with this film, nine of Wayne's Lone Star cheapies, and ANGEL AND THE BADMAN for six bucks at Wal-Mart).

In the earlier films, we're clearly watching young Marion "Duke" Morrison appearing under a stage name. By the time BORN TO THE WEST (aka HELL TOWN) came out in 1937, Morrison was really growing into the John Wayne persona. The swagger, the drawl, and the squint are all there. Perhaps the character wasn't quite perfected yet, but the seeds of Wayne's future superstardom are there on the screen.

And the film itself is much better as well. No longer is Wayne a goodie-two-shoes, milk-drinking, kiddie-matinee hero. His character here is flawed--even a bit of a screwup. The script, the direction, and the acting are miles ahead of his early films. It's certainly not one of the greatest movies he ever made, but it's a solid, enjoyable little Western.

7/10

According to author Tony Thomas, this film shot adrenaline into the careers of both John Wayne and Johnny Mack Brown. It's pretty entertaining, with a good story, fine cast, terrific scenery and excellent camerawork.