User Reviews

Don't be deceived by the re-issue poster which prominently features George "Gabby" Hayes (sic). Oh, Hayes is in the movie all right. In fact, he plays two key roles, but neither is a "Gabby". One is the very reverse – a mute who writes copious notes on scraps of paper. You won't recognize the other "Gabby" either. Nevertheless, Hayes is excellent in both roles, and part of the reason for wanting to see this film is to enjoy George Hayes's dual, offbeat performances. John Wayne fans, however, are going to be a bit disappointed. True, he's in good form but, despite the fact that he's playing the title character, he isn't in the film for long stretches. Therefore, as you might expect, there's not a great deal of action and what there is – a couple of chases from fixed camera positions and a tame fist fight with Yak Canutt – is not all that inspiring, thanks to Harry Fraser's dull direction. Even the locations fail to impress – aside from the waterfall into which Yak, doubling for Wayne, does a spectacular dive! Still the story and its characters are mildly intriguing – and everyone remembers the chilling and really weird opening sequence. In fact, this is the most effective scene in the movie. The heroine is a bit of a write-off – and she has a large part too! Aside from Hayes, and perhaps Canutt, the support cast is totally uninteresting. However, all in all, although not one of Wayne's most exciting Lone Stars, "Randy Rides Alone" does have its points of appeal.

Like the other John Wayne B-westerns I recently saw on the Encore Channel, inexplicably someone has added a recent musical accompaniment. Using electronic instruments, loud and often inappropriate music punctuates scenes like a 2x4 upside your skull! Why, oh, why?!

The film begins with Randy (John Wayne) arriving at a bar--only to find all the people inside dead and the safe ransacked. Soon, the Sheriff and a posse arrive and arrest--and they just assume he killed everyone--though there really isn't any reason to believe this. You just need to assume he and the rest are total idiots, as the idea of one man killing everyone AND Randy's gun still loaded would sure seem to indicate he was not the murderer.

The bar owner's niece (the only really smart person in the film) realizes Randy is innocent when he provides documentation that he's a secret agent and helps him escape from jail. Wayne does NOT want the rest of the town to know his identity, however, as he wants to try to investigate the actions of the evil gang responsible for the killings.

Interestingly, Gabby Hayes plays a baddie--something he did occasionally in earlier B-movies but simply never would have done during his later years as a crazy coot sidekick. Here, however, he wears his false teeth and is clean-shaven--and those unfamiliar with this persona from his earlier films might have a hard time recognizing him. I liked the plot device of having him pretending to be a harmless mute shop owner, though the fact he was evil was telegraphed by the message Randy finds scrawled on a wanted poster only a minute or so into the film--so they really tipped their hat, so to speak, too early.

In addition to the goofs listed on IMDb, I noticed a few others. When Mat the Mute wrote his notes, you see him very rapidly writing. Yet, when there's a closeup, it's obviously a different person writing at half the speed. Also, after Randy jumps in the river and then discovers the gang's hideout, he's miraculously dry in the next scene. Oddly, however, the gang offer him a set of clothes to change into, so they didn't totally blow this scene.

Despite the goofs and the film seemingly too rushed and too straight-forward, it is pretty good for an early B-western. The plot isn't bad, the ending is nice and violent (yay, violence!) and the leading lady was clever and not a total idiot! Not great but still watchable after all these years.

Randy Bowers (John Wayne) comes upon the Half Way House at just the right time to take a break from the trail, and discovers a slew of dead bodies inside, among them a man he was supposed to deliver a message to - Ed Rogers, proprietor of the establishment. He's observed by the dead man's niece Sally (Alberta Vaughn), from behind a hidden room, where she remained unobserved during the carnage.

"Randy Rides Alone" was directed by Harry Fraser. He uses a filming technique here as in other of his films, where he fast forwards the action from one location to another, usually involving a rider on a horse. It's pretty well done and appears quite innovative in these 1930's era Lone Star Westerns.

Pre-Gabby George Hayes is on hand, sans whiskers, and this is the first time I've seen him as a villain. In fact it took a few scenes to realize it was him in a dual role, first as hunchbacked businessman "Matt the Mute", communicating via pencil and paper, only to turn into Marvin Black, leader of a gang of outlaws. Black's gang was responsible for the murders at Half Way House, in an attempt to coerce Sally into selling out to Matt/Marvin. Another staple player is here as well, Yakima Canutt as a Black henchman named Spike. Interestingly, Yakima portrayed a villain named Sam Black in another Fraser/Wayne oater, "Neath the Arizona Skies".

There's a fair amount of time-killing horseback riding back and forth between Black's Gang and the Sheriff's posse, as John Wayne's character maneuvers to expose the bad guys. In the end, he saves the day by securing Sally Rogers' thirty thousand dollars, at the expense of destroying the Half Way House, where he exchanges some sticks of dynamite for the loot in a safe. Greedy Marvin Black attempts to open it with his six-shooter, and the explosion is a fitting end for the villain. In his best "Aw shucks" attitude, John Wayne falls under the spell of the pretty Sally Rogers, and alas, Randy rides alone no more!

This is one of the few Lone Star Wayne westerns in which George(later "Gabby") Hayes was the chief villain rather than working with Wayne in bringing the baddies to justice. As in the other film in this series I have seen where Hayes was the chief villain, he is barely recognizable as the same person who played an oldtimer during this period as well as later. After he left Lone Star, he would(to my knowledge) be seen exclusively in his oldtimer role. As the villain, he was usually clean- shaven and lacked his distinctive oldtimer toothless manner of speech and improvised vocabulary. In the present film, he is seen in two incarnations: Matt the Mute, a bespectacled hunchbacked old man about town with a generous mustache, looking rather like TR, who can hear but not talk, and clean-shaven 20-20 visioned Marvin Black, a notorious outlaw leader who lives in a hideout behind a waterfall, some miles out of town. Black usually lives up to his name, dressed in all black, including his hat, in contrast to the rest of his gang and to Matt the Mute. As Matt, he often learns information relevant to his outlaw schemes.

Wayne rides into town as a government special investigator, with the goal of infiltrating the Black gang. No one knows of his real status except for Sally, the niece of the recently murdered proprietor of the Half Way House. Black's present goal is to steal a large stash of cash believed somewhere in the Half Way House and to arm twist Sally, as the heir, into selling this establishment to him. Wayne is suspected by the town folk of the murder of Sally's uncle and others, although Sally knows this is false. She facilitates his escape from jail; however, he has a tough job not being gunned down by either the posse or the outlaws.

Having seen quite a few of Wayne's Lone Star "B" westerns, I would rate this as one of the better ones, in terms of plot, although it lacked the comic element sometimes present. The beginning and end were particularly memorable. Newcomer Wayne walks into a watering hole in the middle of nowhere to find everyone dead, the player piano still making music and a pair of eyes moving behind a portrait with the eyes cut out. However, the ending would have been much more effective if the audience didn't know beforehand that Wayne had replaced the contested Half Way House money with dynamite.(Today, we would probably categorize Wayne as a bomb-rigging terrorist). Also, Sally seems unusually calm in seeing her Half Way House blown to smithereens, possibly including her fortune in cash. I've noticed that, whereas the male actors are mostly the same in this series of westerns, the female lead usually changes each time, giving Wayne quite a collection of film wives. Most of them are portrayed as basically helpless damsels in distress in the setting of the Wild West, and many look like they could have just stepped out of the Zeigfield Follies.

There were many 'spooky' westerns made in the 30s and early 40s, and although this has a strong beginning, it isn't one. Randy Bowers (John Wayne) stopping at a 'Halfway House' saloon, finds it to be full of dead bodies, the bartender's corpse draped over the bar holding a gun, eyes watching Randy from behind holes cut through eyes in a picture, and a player piano playing "The Loveliest Night of the Year."

It was the result of a robbery by the Marvin Black gang, to get Ed Rogers' $30,000. Randy is an investigator who "works alone," who wastes little time in getting arrested, escaping (with Ed's daughter Sally's help) and literally landing in the midst of the Black gang's hideout behind a waterfall. It all moves along fairly quickly. Only one too many chases after Randy slow it down.

We even get George Hayes, clean shaven and playing two parts-- Marvin Black, the vilest villain, as well as the Good Citizen, Matt the Mute, who communicates via handwritten messages. Having him play two opposite roles was a good idea, but the writing down of messages thing gets old real fast, even for him, as he finally gives up doing it near the end saying to Sally, "Ah, I'm fed up with this!" You can find George playing a vile, vile, double crossing villain in the serial "The Lost City" (1934).

I think this is the only 'Lone Star' film in which the title relates to, or is mentioned in the film! Sally offers her hand to Randy and says, "He's not alone anymore!" Then cut to their arms around each other as they look out facing a lake. Sally's running off with Randy seems too abrupt and not sufficiently prepared for. Too much time spent on horseback escaping the sheriff.

Not that bad considering everything, but not that great either. I'd really give it a 4 and a half.

This movie is a good example of a typical early 'B' western. Obviously 1934 was long ago and it should be mentioned that 'talkie' movies had only been out for 5 or so years at the time this was made. Watching the movie,a few things are apparent.

The bad: *There is an inordinate amount of time-wasting and film-wasting in this movie. For example, the thing about the 'deaf/mute' having to write everything down wastes a fair bit of time.

*There are long spells of the camera panning across the landscape,focusing in on people and so forth in a manner that seems to simply waste film..You are naturally thinking that these shots are leading up to something but you are often wrong..

*In many of the 'horse-chase' sequences it is clear that the film is being sped-up,like on the 3 stooges skits !

To be clear,this is an editing problem and no fault of the cinematographer/ camera crew.

*Some of the dialog is stilted,some of the acting is pretty wooden,and so forth.

The good: *The stunt work is great,some of it is actually amazing.

*The actual camera work itself is pretty good throughout, with a lot of interesting shots,unusual camera positions,odd angles and so forth.

* Much of it is indeed funny. Some of it is intentionally funny,and some of it may be funny to you because of the little flaws.

Bottom Line?

What really strikes me after watching this movie and reading all the previous reviews is this...This movie could have been a much-better movie if it had simply been carefully edited ! If this film were ever-so- carefully trimmed it would still not be a masterpiece,but it could be a heck of a lot better !

It's worth considering at least.

All in all,this is a great study of some earlier 'talkie' film-making,and a fascinating early look at some actors that would become 'Western Icons' in the decades to come !

This isn't quite fantastic or spectacular,but I found it interesting and I liked it. 7/10.

Another brief western cheapie with John Wayne. The plot's a bit more involved in this one than in some I've seen. Wayne arrives in town and ends up on the site of a massacre, at which point the law promptly arrive and arrest him for the crime! Thankfully he's busted out of prison by a love interest and goes gunning for the real culprits. Serviceable enough, if unremarkable.

"Randy Rides Alone" was originally released back in 1934. Actor, John Wayne was 27 years old at the time of this picture.

Anyway - As the story goes - A young man is wrongly accused of committing some gruesome murders and is jailed by the local sheriff. Believing him innocent of the charges, a young woman frees him from jail in order for the man to track down the real killers.

For the most part this was a fairly entertaining cowboy picture. You really have to cut it some serious slack in order to get the full value out of watching it.