Paradise Canyon

This is really just a rehash of half a dozen other plots written by Robert Tansey, and not even the charisma of the Duke can rescue it from mediocrity. Here he is "Wyatt" leading an US government investigation into a counterfeiting ring on the border with Mexico. He teams up with "Doc. Carter" (Earle Hidgins) and his daughter "the Princess" who run a medicine show - not sure if they may or may not be involved. There are plenty of frame-ups, doubles crosses and even some Federales as Wayne soon gets on the trail of Yakima Canutt ("Curly Joe") so now we know to expect some fun rough and tumble. It's fine, this - just nothing at all to mark it out as in any way special.

John Wayne's final Lone Star cheapie has him playing a government agent with a huge hat trying to bust up a counterfeiting ring. He does so by joining the traveling medicine show of Dr. Carter (Earle Hodges) and his pretty daughter Linda (Marion Burns). They always had a pretty daughter in these things. Anyway, the bad guy's named Curly Joe. He's played by stuntman extraordinaire Yakima Canutt. At least you know the stunts are good. Hodges is fun as the medicine show huckster. There's also quite a bit of comedy and some songs including one about suspenders that needs to be heard.

Is it just me or are those the loudest horse clops you ever heard? Also, I'm not sure what era this was supposed to take place in. Lone Star wasn't known for caring about historical accuracy in these cheap B westerns. There were usually shots of telephone poles and the like in the background. Here there are 1930s-era cars and clothes but everything else says Old West. This western, like the other B's made in the '30s, will seem pretty much like kids stuff today. But there is some fun to be had with it. Fans of the Duke might want to check it out. Avoid the version with the bizarre modern electronic score added.

This is not by any means a work of art, as Big John sorts out the counterfeiters who sneak across the border. However, it is remarkably entertaining, especially given it cost about three bucks to make. The background of a medicine show adds a little by way of originality, and I suspect this is a relatively realistic picture of a not-long-vanished West, that most of the audience will have experienced and remembered. John Wayne is on good form, with a particularly enormous ten gallon hat catching the attention. Mary Astor-lookalike Marion Burns is the love interest, and the difficult father-in-law-to-be is a nice performance from Earle Hodgins, who manages even to ruin their wedding. Yakima Canutt's acting is seen to good effect, as a hard-bitten villain, and Reed Howes is a good heavy. The stunts are as usual incredible, and presumably not every horse survived the picture. High Noon it is not, but there are worse ways of spending 50 minutes of your time.

Like a slew of John Wayne B-movies recently aired on the Encore Channel, this one features a god-awful new musical track that practically ruins the film. The music is too loud, the wrong type of music, is played on modern electronic machines and is the exact same musical accompaniment you'll find on at least a dozen other Wayne films! Yes, the exact same sound track is used again and again! Also like a slew of other Wayne films (as well as Gene Autry films now that I think of it), the film is set out West and while MOST of it looks like it was set about 1880-1890, there are tons of anachronisms! The leading lady wears modern dress and they drive about the west in a truck!! Oddly, in this and other films, when it comes to chasing the bad guys, they don't chase them in a car or truck but on horseback! It's all very bizarre but not terribly uncommon in cheap B-westerns where they often just didn't care about these details.

Wayne is looking for a traveling medicine show, as he's a good guy investigating some counterfeiting ring. Instead of confronting the crooks at the show, he joins them and does trick shooting to attract customers. At the same time, he naturally falls for the boss' pretty daughter. Eventually, it turns out that a baddie named 'Curly Joe' is behind the phony money scam. No, this is NOT the same Curly Joe who was the really lame third Stooge in the late 1950s and 1960s.

This film is not among one of the best films of the era for John Wayne. While none of the films had very high expectations, they were moderately entertaining and fun. This one, however, was a bit duller than usual--mostly due to no interesting sidekick and an amazingly dull villain. The stunts are decent but there just isn't much to this one to make it anything other than a mediocre B-movie.

While I admit that having the same music for all of John Wayne's Wild West movies from 1933-1935 is somewhat tiresome, the movies themselves are really great. On critic complains that the heroine in Paradise Canyon wears modern dress, and the medicine show drives a model T type truck with a homemade trailer attached, I think this indicates that the movie is set in the twenties and not the 1890's. Also the villain is Yakima Canutt who is never boring, at least to me. Modern movies could take a lot of pointers from these old ones. I love the humor, romance, fantastic horseback riding and stunts, and the gorgeous scenery, even if it is black and white. I highly recommend all of these early movies featuring John Wayne. And don't miss "The Big Trail" from 1929 either!!!!! WOWEE!!!