I'll have to second and third a handful of other reviewers on this board, this was an exceptionally fine, post-Stagecoach John Wayne Western that has a good story line and a couple of pleasing to look at leading ladies. Wayne's character is Rocklin, no first name ever mentioned, though Gabby Hayes has no problem calling him Rock from time to time. I got a kick out of Gabby's description of Arly Harolday (Ella Raines) after she shakes things up in Santa Inez following Rock's rousting of her brother Clint (Russell Wade), why she's meaner than a skillet full o' rattlesnakes - very descriptive!
Now one observation I'll make about John Wayne. I've seen all of his Lone Star Westerns from the mid 1930's when he was churning them out at the rate of seven or eight films a year. He looked real young and handsome back then in his mid-twenties, but only a decade later he appeared to have seasoned into the quintessential John Wayne 'look'. In fact, he looks perhaps to be in his forties rather than his thirties. Anyway, that's the way I see it.
What makes this picture so interesting, apart from Rocklin's investigation of the murder of Red Cardell, is the obvious chemistry going on between Wayne and his pair of leading ladies. Meaner than rattlesnakes Arly makes no bones about it, while the more demure Clara Cardell (Audrey Long) pines for him with rather more understatement. I was actually rooting for Clara for most of the picture, right up until Rocklin called her 'cousin'. Should have seen that coming, but the writers did a pretty good job of keeping Rock's identity under wraps until late in the picture.
Say, remember when Arly and her bodyguard Tala (Frank Puglia) took the short cut through the pass and she fell off her horse? When she got up, her horse didn't have a saddle - how did that happen? And not for anything, but I'll have to see this picture again to clear something up unless someone can explain otherwise. When Clint Harolday is shot through the window of the hotel, I could have sworn that it was Judge Garvey (Ward Bond) who grabbed the gun from Rock's holster. But later on, it's revealed that the uncle Harolday (Don Douglas) did it. What did I miss?
Anyway, this is a real enjoyable Western and John Wayne fans ought to be pleasantly surprised. You even get to see him reprise a familiar Lone Star type ending when the film closes out with Rock and Miss Arly in more than a clinch to wrap up the picture. If you stick around long enough for the closing credits, you'll also learn that this film was #854 on the country's 'Overseas Program' roster during the War years.
Now one observation I'll make about John Wayne. I've seen all of his Lone Star Westerns from the mid 1930's when he was churning them out at the rate of seven or eight films a year. He looked real young and handsome back then in his mid-twenties, but only a decade later he appeared to have seasoned into the quintessential John Wayne 'look'. In fact, he looks perhaps to be in his forties rather than his thirties. Anyway, that's the way I see it.
What makes this picture so interesting, apart from Rocklin's investigation of the murder of Red Cardell, is the obvious chemistry going on between Wayne and his pair of leading ladies. Meaner than rattlesnakes Arly makes no bones about it, while the more demure Clara Cardell (Audrey Long) pines for him with rather more understatement. I was actually rooting for Clara for most of the picture, right up until Rocklin called her 'cousin'. Should have seen that coming, but the writers did a pretty good job of keeping Rock's identity under wraps until late in the picture.
Say, remember when Arly and her bodyguard Tala (Frank Puglia) took the short cut through the pass and she fell off her horse? When she got up, her horse didn't have a saddle - how did that happen? And not for anything, but I'll have to see this picture again to clear something up unless someone can explain otherwise. When Clint Harolday is shot through the window of the hotel, I could have sworn that it was Judge Garvey (Ward Bond) who grabbed the gun from Rock's holster. But later on, it's revealed that the uncle Harolday (Don Douglas) did it. What did I miss?
Anyway, this is a real enjoyable Western and John Wayne fans ought to be pleasantly surprised. You even get to see him reprise a familiar Lone Star type ending when the film closes out with Rock and Miss Arly in more than a clinch to wrap up the picture. If you stick around long enough for the closing credits, you'll also learn that this film was #854 on the country's 'Overseas Program' roster during the War years.