Born to the West

A good little movie that runs out of time before it runs out of story, "Born To The West" offers a rare chance to see John Wayne making a western in the 1930s with a decent budget for a change, even if it is still a B-picture.

Also known as "Hell Town" (which is the title with the version I saw), the film presents Wayne in an unusual role, that of the aptly named Dare, "a wild and crazy fellow" as his cousin Tom (John Mack Brown) calls him. Dare happens into Tom's home state of Wyoming looking for work, and not particular how he gets it.

An opening scene sets up the character, as Dare and his comic-relief buddy Dink (Syd Saylor) show up in the middle of a gun battle between two groups of strangers.

"Which side you favor?" Dare asks.

"Which side's winning?" Dink answers, thinking of his stomach.

Dare and Dink would just as soon blow out of town after Tom hands over $100 in travelling funds, until Dare gets a look at Tom's girl Judy (Marsha Hunt). "Hell Town" then becomes an involving duel of personalities between Dare and the upright Tom, who offers Dare plenty of opportunities to mess up and lose his claim on Judy.

"Hell Town" benefits from a solid cast, funny dialogue, and able direction from Charles Barton, who knew how to make a genre film work. (His best-remembered film combines two genres, "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.") Dink is always trying to sell lightning rods, while Dare is out to prove himself the best poker player west of the Mississippi. Neither are successful, but it's fun watching them try and fail again.

The conflict involves a gang of cattle rustlers and their boss, who works on Dare trying to get him to switch sides. Because the film runs under an hour, there's little chance to develop any tension regarding what Dare will do, and the ending is downright perfunctory in most particulars. But you do get a chance to see a nifty poker- playing scene where cousin Tom steps in and helps Dare handle a tense situation, the film's highlight.

The rest of the film is pretty good, too, and represents a chance to see Wayne play a kind of ne'er-do-well. He banters enjoyably with Saylor while showing ample nerve with Hunt: "Since you're not already spoken for, I guess I'll just marry you." Wayne would play stolid good guys, and hard cases, but here is a rare chance to see him as likable rogue, a direction his career might have gone if not for John Ford.

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

John Wayne and sidekick Syd Saylor are heading from Montana to Wyoming to the ranch of Wayne's cousin Johnny Mack Brown. Wayne's a cocky sort, fancies himself a great lady's man and poker player. The Duke even in his later and more irascible years usually didn't have parts that called for that, but here he does show that side of his character and shows it well.

Wayne moves in on Marsha Hunt who is Brown's girl friend. That does throw a monkey wrench into the relationship between the cousins. Later on at the hands of cardsharps Monte Blue and James Craig, Wayne gets himself in quite a hole.

Johnny Mack Brown had an interesting career. He was an All American back for the Crimson Tide of Alabama before Paul Bryant took over the team. He opted for a Hollywood career and appeared opposite stars like Mary Pickford and Greta Garbo in silents. His Alabama drawl made him a natural for westerns and he was grinding out the B films just like the Duke was at this time. This is their only film together and they both complement each other's persona well.

Although another great football player Jim Thorpe has a bit role in this film, some lists have Alan Ladd in the cast. I have to say that I examined it frame by frame and there's no trace of Mr. Ladd.

Even without Ladd it's a passably good B western, could have used some better editing, but better than some of what Wayne was doing at Monogram at the time.

I am giving this film ten stars, not because it is a great film (although it is one of the best of its type), but because it is a remarkably important transitional film for one of the real originals of American cinema, John Wayne.

This is one of the last of the many 'Saturday matinée' potboilers Wayne acted in for a half-dozen marginal studios during the 1930s; two years later, Ford would give him the big break of his career in "Stagecoach".

Unlike the other potboilers he appeared in, "Hell Town" (aka "Born to the West", although I have never seen a print with that title on it) is well-written, well-directed, nicely photographed, and well-acted by all involved (but especially Johnny 'Mack' Brown) - surprising quality for a cheapie, but I suppose the fact the story it derived from had been written by Zane Grey - already a legendary Western writer - probably impressed cast and crew to make a best-effort presentation here. At any rate, the film, under 55 minutes long, has the look and feel of a feature-length Western of the time, and it survives far better than any other of the Western shorts of the period.

The story is solid, with relatively serious overtones concerning the possibility of redemption. Wayne's character, a gambling addict, is rightly transformed when he discovers that his cousin is a better gambler than he is, but just prefers not to gamble.

Wayne himself is in top-form for the period. All the little gimmicks and gestures we associate with him are here in a way never seen in any film of his before this - his cautious smile, his frown, his ability to strike a pose leaning his weight on one leg, his soft but firm voice of warning, his ability to face a tough situation with grace and even, one must admit, an oddly noble humility. This is no longer the "Singing Mesquiteer" of the earlier potboilders, this is finally the Duke, who would star in "Stagecoach" and lead an army of fans (including myself) through film after film for four more decades.

This is where the filmography of John 'Duke' Wayne rightfully begins - a film that has survived well, and may yet survive a few decades more.

(Note: in another film made the previous year, Winds of the Wasteland, Wayne can also be seen coming into his own as an actor; but this is the better film.)

While it has a story that is not bad in itself, "Born to the West" (or "Hell Town") is mostly carried by John Wayne's screen presence, with some help from Johnny Mack Brown and the rest of a pretty good cast.

Wayne plays a gambling-addicted cowboy who runs into his respected and influential cousin (Brown) while passing through Montana. The two become rivals for the affections of Brown's girlfriend (Marsha Hunt) while at the same time they must join up to deal with cattle rustlers and crooked card players. A lot of the story is routine, but there are some interesting features, and it moves at a good pace. The scenery is also pretty good at times.

The film is a decent Western in its own right, and is also worth watching to see Wayne's performance as a man who has to combine action with some careful thinking about his future. It's not hard to see why soon after this movie he started to get the big roles and the attention due to a star.