Randy Rides Alone

This was a fun old time western that was well plotted and fast moving.

John Wayne enters a "deserted" bar that is host to dead men. It is eerily empty except for a player piano running through its program and a set of eyes peering through a picture. This was pretty cool stuff for a 1934 early talkie.

Shortly we find that the set of eyes belong to an attractive young female, Alberta Vaughn, who is sole owner of the tavern now that her father has been murdered. We are introduced to other major players. . The most interesting is Matt the Mute. He is played by Gabby Hayes who doesn't resemble the Gabby Hayes that we are used to. He has no beard. There are a few other differences that would give too much plot away.

We shortly find out that John is on the side of the good guys. Good triumphs over bad as it should in all good old westerns. Throw in the great stunt rider, Yakima Canutt and Earl Dwire, who looked like his character of the old time sheriff. And you've got a fun old time western.

Someone reported this as a goof but it isn't: "

"When Wayne pulls the wanted poster off the wall in the first scene, the bullet holes are in the poster but not in the wall behind."

Randy (Wayne) clearly notes that there are no holes in the wall; he touches the wall.

The wanted posters were posted to a tree at the gang's hideout and used for target practice. After the holes were shot out, the boss signed them, afterwards which they were left behind at crime scenes to taint the sheriff.

I've never been a fan of westerns, which is probably why up until last night I'd never seen a film starring John Wayne. Of course it doesn't help that our lives only overlapped by a year, so I didn't have a great deal of opportunity to see any of his films (in the theater at least). I received this film in a VHS films lot that I won from ebay, so I finally popped it in last night and gave it a whirl.

I went in expecting a really low budget, really old western...needless to say, my expectations were pretty low. All in all, I'd have to say the film really isn't that bad. I don't have any other John Wayne films to compare it to, so thus far it's my favorite. I can however, compare it to other westerns, and frankly, it was no "Tombstone", but it was worth my time.

The story is nothing fantastic, but it's has it's moments. The acting was just fine as far as I could tell and overall production value was OK, granted it was made in the 30's, so again, I wasn't expecting much. One scene in particular made me laugh out loud. Whenever the halfway-house is shown from a bird's eye view it is CLEARLY a scale model, it's hilarious how bad it actually looks...but again...30's.

In any case, I have no idea who to recommend this film to, but I will say that it's really short (60 minutes) so it won't take up too much of your time and it's kind of fun to see a film this old to appreciate films of today and how far they've come, not to say that this is bad, but just to further appreciate film-making.

Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. I just realized that this film has the honor of being the 3rd oldest film I've ever seen (as of 7-26-2006).

John Wayne enters a saloon to find a player piano tinkling the ivories to a room full of dead people and is promptly arrested! The real culprit is Hayes, who masquerades as kindly Matt the mute (!) and had the men killed as part of a land grab scheme.

There isn't as much action in Randy Rides Alone as there is in some of the other John Wayne/ Lone Star productions, though there are a few good stunts courtesy of Yakima Canutt, the one where he leaps forward off a rolling horse being a particular standout.

What really makes this good is the irresistible chance to see one of the few performances in which the clean shaven George Hayes plays a black-hatted heavy.

Waynes quip, "That's the end of Matt the mute.", is priceless!

RANDY RIDES ALONE (Monogram Pictures, 1934), directed by Harry Fraser, stars John Wayne in his seventh "Lone Star" western presentation. With story/screenplay by Lindsley Parsons, production values still on a low-budget scale, but plot summary is tightly edited with everything told under an hour. Overall, it's still an interesting little item with a mixture of western and mystery.

The story introduces Randy Barlow (John Wayne), a lone cowboy riding through town to meet with Ed Rogers. Coming to the saloon called the Half-Way House which Rogers owns, Randy enters to the sound of piano playing music only to be surrounded by a massacre of dead bodies, one of them being Rogers. Unknown to him is a picture on the wall with moving eyes watching his every move. Moments later, the sheriff (Earl Dwire) and his deputies enter with Matt the Mute (George Hayes), who had earlier notified the sheriff of the gunshots. He insists the cowboy be arrested as a possible suspect connected with a gang of killers. While in jail, Randy is met with Sally Rogers (Alberta Vaughn), the niece of the deceased, whom she believes is not the guilty man. Sally arranges for Randy's escape and for him to meet with her at sunup. Sally is informed through a letter of introduction by the Adams Express Company in Denver, Colorado, that Randy is a government agent sent by Ed to investigate Marvin Black, a man pressuring him to sell him the saloon. After Randy is pursued on horseback by a posse, his escape leads him to the cave hideout of Marvin Black where he finds sally being held hostage. Supporting players include Yakima Canutt (Spike); Tex Phelps and Perry Murdock.

What makes RANDY RIDES ALONE watchable is the prescense of the unrecognizable George "Gabby" Hayes years before his bearded sidekick roles in a straight role playing a mute speaking through his written messages. Though never addressed verbally as Randy, Wayne's character is only known through camera closeup to his letter of introduction, otherwise to others he's simply a nameless cowboy who rides alone. Alberta Vaughn, the heroine in the story who hides in secret panels, whose distrust is on everybody except for a the cowboy stranger in town. Some good stunts with interesting finish make this worthwhile viewing.

A long unseen western turned up regularly on public television starting in the early 1980s, leading for its rediscovery on video cassette and later the DVD process. Cable television broadcasts include American Movie Classics (1996-2000), Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: May 1996) and Encore Westerns. Although clocked at 53 minutes, some sources time RANDY RIDES ALONE at 57 minutes, though jump cuts don't seem visible in existing prints. Beware of RANDY RIDES ALONE often shown with inferior intrusive underscoring added during its long muted sequences. (**)