I happened to catch this film back to back with "Cahill, U.S. Marshal", and you couldn't ask for a better contrast between the John Wayne who appeared in one of his very first movies, and the one who finished out a career in one of his very last Westerns. Wayne was strikingly handsome in these early oaters, and because he appeared rail thin, looked somewhat taller than he did in his films of the late Seventies portraying characters like Cahill, Big Jake and Rooster Cogburn, all notably huskier and gruffer looking.
"The Big Stampede" was one of six movies Wayne appeared in under the 'Four Westerns" banner, an offshoot of the Warners studio. He was paired with a white horse named Duke, a conscious choice because Duke needed to resemble Ken Maynard's horse Tarzan when they sometimes appear in silent film stock footage used by the Four Westerns pictures. I hadn't noticed it before, but Duke bore what looked like an 'A1' mark or brand on his left hindquarter in this picture. I'll have to keep an eye out for it in other films.
As far as the story goes, it's somewhat unusual in that newly deputized sheriff John Steele (Wayne) sees fit to team up with a Mexican bandit named Sonora Joe (Luis Alberni) in order to break up a cattle rustling operation run by outlaw Sam Crew, played by Noah Beery. What makes the situation even more incredible is that earlier, Steele stopped Sonora Joe and his banditos from stealing cattle that was part of the wagon train Steele was riding with.
Apparently, story continuity wasn't one of the primary concerns for these early Westerns. There was an instance where Steele left the wagon train to make his way to Fort Cummings to see if the Army could use some beef cattle. However right after he left, the very next scene shows Steele playing harmonica back in camp with the rest of the cattle men. It could be that the version I watched on Turner Classics was an incomplete print because there were also a distracting number of flaws in the picture about fifteen minutes in.
Still, if you're a John Wayne fan or a follower of these early Westerns, it's a fun flick that blows by in just under an hour. Like many of his first couple dozen films, Wayne's character wins the female lead, in this case Mae Madison, at the end of the picture. This time however, Sonora Joe has to stop Ginger's younger brother Patrick (Sherwood Bailey) from interrupting the romance - "All is fair in love and war, but no sling shot"!
Addendum**** 6-7-2016 - Doing a little research on 'Duke', you can see a pretty good screen capture of the brand noted in my review here at: http://www.b-westerns.com/hoss-jwayne.htm. Apparently it's a combination of the letters AH as one can see from the picture.
"The Big Stampede" was one of six movies Wayne appeared in under the 'Four Westerns" banner, an offshoot of the Warners studio. He was paired with a white horse named Duke, a conscious choice because Duke needed to resemble Ken Maynard's horse Tarzan when they sometimes appear in silent film stock footage used by the Four Westerns pictures. I hadn't noticed it before, but Duke bore what looked like an 'A1' mark or brand on his left hindquarter in this picture. I'll have to keep an eye out for it in other films.
As far as the story goes, it's somewhat unusual in that newly deputized sheriff John Steele (Wayne) sees fit to team up with a Mexican bandit named Sonora Joe (Luis Alberni) in order to break up a cattle rustling operation run by outlaw Sam Crew, played by Noah Beery. What makes the situation even more incredible is that earlier, Steele stopped Sonora Joe and his banditos from stealing cattle that was part of the wagon train Steele was riding with.
Apparently, story continuity wasn't one of the primary concerns for these early Westerns. There was an instance where Steele left the wagon train to make his way to Fort Cummings to see if the Army could use some beef cattle. However right after he left, the very next scene shows Steele playing harmonica back in camp with the rest of the cattle men. It could be that the version I watched on Turner Classics was an incomplete print because there were also a distracting number of flaws in the picture about fifteen minutes in.
Still, if you're a John Wayne fan or a follower of these early Westerns, it's a fun flick that blows by in just under an hour. Like many of his first couple dozen films, Wayne's character wins the female lead, in this case Mae Madison, at the end of the picture. This time however, Sonora Joe has to stop Ginger's younger brother Patrick (Sherwood Bailey) from interrupting the romance - "All is fair in love and war, but no sling shot"!
Addendum**** 6-7-2016 - Doing a little research on 'Duke', you can see a pretty good screen capture of the brand noted in my review here at: http://www.b-westerns.com/hoss-jwayne.htm. Apparently it's a combination of the letters AH as one can see from the picture.