The Big Stampede

A number of John Wayne's early westerns looked alike, but that's not a criticism because the handful I've seen were all entertaining.

That's one similarity: others included the fact they only were about an hour long, had interesting (albeit strange) dialog, had a pretty lead female (here, Mae Madison) and a very talented horse named "Blue." Of course, the men were all tough guys.

There is a lot of action and interesting scenes packed into this one hour.

My only complaint was that Luis Alberini's character made the Mexicans look unnecessarily stupid.

The person of the 25 year old John Wayne is beginning to merge with the western genre film. He is developing a following by this with convincing fist fights. He is a household name churning out 10 films per year.

Big Stampede with John Wayne, in one of his earlier credited roles... as John, deputy, in the cattle driving days. he's out to catch Sam (Noah Beery) and Joe (Luis Alberni) rustling cattle. Co-stars Mae Madison, as the love interest. It's a shortie, at only 55 minutes, but they pack a lot in. early talkie western. early credited role for J. Wayne. and it seems to be about the time New Mexico was looking for state-hood. they keep talking about how they will never get statehood with all the violence and rustling still going on. horses. bad guys. hero. all the great western ingredients. Directed by Tenny Wright, in one of the seven films Wright directed! He and Wayne made this one and Telegraph Trail together. apparently filmed in the hills between Merced and Monterey. Original story by Marion Jackson, who had written a whole bunch of western stories, which were made into films from the 1920s into the 1930s. it's pretty good. Sound and picture are surprisingly good for a film from 1932... either a very good quality print, or maybe its been restored. check it out!

The Big Stampede casts John Wayne as a Deputy Marshal assigned by Governor Lew Wallace to stamp out lawlessness in the territory that President Hayes assigned him to govern. The chief villain of this western is Noah Beery, Sr. who is a John Chisum like cattle baron, but in Beery's case, he's acquired his big spread and large herd by doing a lot of rustling.

In the meantime Wayne falls for new settler Mae Madison who is also raising her younger brother Sherwood Bailey from the Our Gang series. He was the one thing I really did not like about The Big Stampede, he was one annoying little brat forever trying out his slingshot and causing more trouble than anything else.

John Wayne got to work with two players who later would have a much bigger impact on his career in The Big Stampede. Governor Lew Wallace who in his spare time was writing what would turn out to be Ben-Hur is played by Berton Churchill. Churchill as we know was part of that great ensemble cast John Ford put together for Stagecoach playing Gatewood the fatuous banker who was really an embezzler. And Beery's chief henchman is played by Paul Hurst who Wayne would cast in The Angel And The Badman. Later on the Duke would cast a dying Paul Hurst in Big Jim McLain in a small role so Hurst could pay his medical bills.

The most interesting part in the film is played by Luis Alberni as rival bandit Sonora Joe. Another reviewer said that this is highly unrealistic. But in real life around the same time Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday were forming an unusual friendship and in the real New Mexico territory Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid started out as friends before Garrett took on the task of bringing in Billy dead or alive. Alberni has the best lines in the film and he's of real help to Wayne. I guess Alberni just liked the Duke's style in this film.

The Big Stampede holds up pretty well though it well never make the list of the Duke's top ten films.

This film essentially begins in New Mexico with a deputy sheriff by the name of "John Steele" (John Wayne) being ordered by "Governor Lew Wallace" (Berton Churchill) to investigate crimes being perpetrated on settlers as they head to a certain part of that territory. Sure enough, when he gets there, he gets involved in a gunfight with a cattle rustler by the name of "Frank Bailey" (Paul Hurst) who the locals call "Arizona." Unfortunately, although he manages to stop Arizona from stealing any cattle, the gunslinger manages to escape into the night--but only after shooting and killing one of the settlers beforehand. Not long afterward, recognizing that he is vastly outnumbered by the cattle rustlers in that area, Sheriff Steele cleverly convinces the leader of a rival band of cattle rustlers named "Sonora Joe" (Luis Alberni), to help him out. Not at all keen to this idea at first, eventually Sonora Joe comes around and joins forces with Sheriff Steele and the settlers to even the odds. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay Western which benefited, to a certain degree, from the performance of John Wayne and the presence of one of the smartest horses to ever make its appearance on screen. Other than "Mr. Ed" of course. Be that as it may, although this grade-B film is rather short (no more than 54 minutes), it served to pass the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.