Give John Wayne a horse and a kid, and you're a long ways already toward entertaining many a film-goer. Think "Hondo" or "The Searchers." Unfortunately, this Lone Star film forgot a coherent plot.
Little Nina (Shirley Jean Rickart) is the half-Osage ward of Chris Morrell (Wayne) and sole legatee of a $50,000 oil-well payout. The money attracts the notice of bad guy Sam Black (Yakima Canutt) and his gang, who attempt to steal Nina away from Chris so they can claim the inheritance for themselves.
Give the producers credit for mixing things up a bit this time, as the story veers from the usual bad-guy/shoot-em-up formula with the introduction of the kid angle. Rickart, an "Our Gang" veteran, is cute company even if she can't act, and gives Wayne a chance to showcase his natural screen warmth.
"Don't worry, little partner, I wouldn't give you up for anything!" Chris tells Nina, and you feel he means it.
The real problem with the film is it tries to squeeze too much into 50 minutes, including both the Black gang and another pair of bad men who hold up a bank. Much of the early story features a lot of aimless chase scenes, along with short-bus exposition dialogue ("I had him alright. But I guess he got away"; "We better get Sam Black and go after him") and Lone Star's familiar mixed milieu of six- shooters and telephone poles. So when the film finally settles into a halfway interesting story, it's too late.
Wayne is quite good here, as is George (not yet "Gabby") Hayes as a good-hearted ranch cook. Earl Dwire has a couple of spry scenes as Nina's real pa, though the film short-changes any budding interest you might have in him. There's really no time for anything when there's just ten minutes left.
About the only remarkable things of note in this film are a couple of scenes where Rickart seems to really be riding a fast horse, and watching Morrell sneak up on a bad guy and use him as an express elevator with the help of a lasso. There's also a horse jumping off a lakeside cliff, which doesn't make much sense but was there no doubt to excite the nippers in the theater audience.
It's odd saying a bad film should have been longer, but there's enough going on in "'Neath The Arizona Skies" to make me wish it had gotten a more expansive treatment. The ending actually has a lot of promise, with Morrell in a hot standoff against Black and his gang and down to his last bullet. But the set up is all you get; a final confrontation between Morrell and Black is not even seen as it occurs underwater.
The best thing to be said for "'Neath The Arizona Skies" is it showcases Wayne's formidable star power even when he didn't have a decent script.
Little Nina (Shirley Jean Rickart) is the half-Osage ward of Chris Morrell (Wayne) and sole legatee of a $50,000 oil-well payout. The money attracts the notice of bad guy Sam Black (Yakima Canutt) and his gang, who attempt to steal Nina away from Chris so they can claim the inheritance for themselves.
Give the producers credit for mixing things up a bit this time, as the story veers from the usual bad-guy/shoot-em-up formula with the introduction of the kid angle. Rickart, an "Our Gang" veteran, is cute company even if she can't act, and gives Wayne a chance to showcase his natural screen warmth.
"Don't worry, little partner, I wouldn't give you up for anything!" Chris tells Nina, and you feel he means it.
The real problem with the film is it tries to squeeze too much into 50 minutes, including both the Black gang and another pair of bad men who hold up a bank. Much of the early story features a lot of aimless chase scenes, along with short-bus exposition dialogue ("I had him alright. But I guess he got away"; "We better get Sam Black and go after him") and Lone Star's familiar mixed milieu of six- shooters and telephone poles. So when the film finally settles into a halfway interesting story, it's too late.
Wayne is quite good here, as is George (not yet "Gabby") Hayes as a good-hearted ranch cook. Earl Dwire has a couple of spry scenes as Nina's real pa, though the film short-changes any budding interest you might have in him. There's really no time for anything when there's just ten minutes left.
About the only remarkable things of note in this film are a couple of scenes where Rickart seems to really be riding a fast horse, and watching Morrell sneak up on a bad guy and use him as an express elevator with the help of a lasso. There's also a horse jumping off a lakeside cliff, which doesn't make much sense but was there no doubt to excite the nippers in the theater audience.
It's odd saying a bad film should have been longer, but there's enough going on in "'Neath The Arizona Skies" to make me wish it had gotten a more expansive treatment. The ending actually has a lot of promise, with Morrell in a hot standoff against Black and his gang and down to his last bullet. But the set up is all you get; a final confrontation between Morrell and Black is not even seen as it occurs underwater.
The best thing to be said for "'Neath The Arizona Skies" is it showcases Wayne's formidable star power even when he didn't have a decent script.