King of the Pecos

When John Clayborn (John Wayne) was a child, he witnessed his parents being murdered by Alexander Stiles (Cy Kendall), the developer who wanted control over their land. Clayborn has grown up with one goal -- to get revenge on Stiles. He becomes a lawyer, but, when the judge won't find Stiles guilty, Clayborn resorts to other methods of retaliation. He enlists other men who have been wronged by Stiles and together they take their guns and embark on a mission to hunt him down. John Wayne as a level-headed lawyer who wants revenge makes "King of the Pecos" entertaining,plus the plot is quite involving with some shoot em up touches and good landscape. Definitely a better Wayne early western.

One of the early Republic John Wayne westerns. As usual, he's the tall, handsome, well spoken, westerner with a white hat and white horse. Here, he's a triple threat, with his law degree, as well as his firsts and gun. He's out to get even with Alexander Stiles(the obese Cy Kendall), whom we might label as 'The King of the Pecos', since he controls much of the land and nearly all of the water holes in his part of the Pecos. Wayne holds him as ultimately responsible for the shooting deaths of his parents and leaving him unconscious, 10 years ago. Actually, it was some of Stiles' henchmen , headed by Ash, who did the dirty work. Ash also shoots the father( (Ed Hearn as Eli Jackson) of his girlfriend: Belle(Murrel Evans). , during the rush to claim land and water holes, after Wayne convinced the judge that most of Stiles' claims weren't valid. The exception was the critical water hole at Sweetwater, which was the only source of fresh water for many miles. It was especially important when other herds were being driven to Abilene to load in cars. If Stiles refused to allow their cattle to drink here, or charged an outrageous fee, their cattle would die unless they sold them to him for worthless script. The same was true for the other water holes Stiles' claimed were his. In preparation for this cattle drive, some of Stiles' men had rustled the cattle of a number of ranchers before shooting them dead when they complained. The King of the Pecos is dethroned and eliminated, along with most of his henchmen, at the Battle of Sweetwater. Wayne has a special desire to kill Ash, since he blames him for his parents deaths. Wayne gets his chance in a one on one......I'll point out that the death of Belle's father symbolically opens wider the gate for a young man(Wayne) to replace her father as her significant other. This symbolism is quite common in westerns. ......One of the ranchers, I assume played by Herbert Heywood, is hard of hearing, and often thinks he hears the wrong word. This serves as a running gag throughout most of the film. .....Famed stuntman , rodeo rider and director of secondaries, Yakima Canutt, played a small role as a henchman. ....I found the film interesting, with a good mix of strategy and action....See it at YouTube.

This film begins with an extremely greedy man by the name of "Alexander Stiles" (Cy Kendall) riding out to an isolated part of Texas and arrogantly declaring to his cowboys that the entire area is his by "right of discovery." Of course, being the dishonest man that he is, the fact that his claim has no legal basis doesn't concern him in the least. To that effect, in an effort to also control all of the watering holes as well, he then sends his men to a nearby ranch and demands that the owner sell his stake to him. When the owner refuses, he sends his men to murder both him and his wife. In the process, they also beat their young son and leave him unconscious on the ground while they ride off. The scene then shifts to 10 years later with a young man by the name of "John Clayborn" (John Wayne) riding in a stagecoach into a small West Texas town and declaring to the people there that he is a lawyer and intends to challenge Alexander Stiles' illegitimate claim of land in a court-of-law. Needless to say, this infuriates Alexander Stiles who becomes determined to prevent any such action--one way or the other. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be one of the better John Wayne films from his earlier days as it flowed much more smoothly from one scene to the next than many of his previous pictures. Naturally, as is quite typical for the time, it does have a few corny scenes here and there but even so I enjoyed it for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

. . . as he torches his childhood home, back-stabs the Fat Cat Billionaire (adjusted for inflation), and guns down "Ash's" horse. Many if not most John Wayne movies from the 1930s are similar to KING OF THE PECOS, exposing the fact that up to 100% of the Super Rich One Per Centers are Sociopathically Corrupt Leeches sucking the very Life Blood out of Society. "Alexander Stiles" has his attorney assassinated, rather than giving him a nickel. The only Real Life American I've ever heard of Evil, Foolish, and Brazen enough to gyp, cheat, and welsh out on HIS OWN lawyers is Donald Trump (who probably saw KING OF THE PECOS when most of his peers were fighting in the Vietnam War). No doubt Trump is running for POTUS in the Belief that he can hire Secret Service Agents who will murder his lawyers and other business associates (such as the Contractors who build all of his Trump Towers) who refuse to play along with his Art of the Steal. Hopefully, Trump will not be as successful as Stiles in robbing and terrorizing the Average American.

I have always enjoyed movies made prior to 60s and King of the Pecos is no exception. As a kid growing up in the 50s my hero was the Lone Ranger which I couldn't help but notice that the Lone Ranger and John Wayne both worn white hats and had white horses. I guess that was the norm for the good guys in those days. John Wayne's acting in King of the Pecos and his early movies in general were a little bland, but it kept my interest. The story line could also have been a little more interesting but that was kind of the way many early Westerns went. I noticed that there were a lot of horse related accidents in this movie. There were horses falling to the ground throwing their riders, and even horses running into other horses when a wagon goes over the cliff. It looked like there was a good chance that they may have been hurt, and wonder how concerned the producers and writers were in those days. If you like early Westerns and John Wayne in particular it's worth watching.

Iconic director Joseph Kane shows here why he is rated so highly by western and film aficionados. Republic (I like the sound of that word) and Kane and John Wayne are simply unbeatable. In addition to a superlative story by Bernard McConville, an excellent cast and beautiful scenery create a nearly perfect western. One bonus is the lovely Muriel Evans, one of the, in fact, loveliest heroines of B westerns in Republic's history. She showed, besides looks, a lot more personality than most of the B heroines. When Turner Classic Movies showed, on 20 August 2015, a marathon of Mae Clarke movies, one of Ms. Clarke's premier performances came in a little-known film titled "Fast Workers." Muriel Evans had one scene, as a nurse, in which she mostly looked on, then had a few lines. And in that small part, she didn't quite steal the movie, but sure did make an impression, with a fascinating performance. She shows even more personality here, in "King of the Pecos," a fairly routine western, perhaps, but with such a sterling cast and superb directing and scenery that can and should make you want to pack your bags. Watch her in scenes where she might be only entering or leaving and you can't help admiring her presence and control. She has an expressive face and eyes that enthrall. John Wayne stands tall, demonstrates his personality that led him to be Hollywood's biggest star of all time, but isn't really stretched as an actor. He is aided by two unknown but immensely talented character actors, playing "Josh" and "Hank," who do generally steal every scene they're in. And praise be, their humor is not the usual silly stuff so often found in B westerns. The three chief bad guys are among the best in Hollywood history, Cy Kendall, Yakima Canutt, and Jack Clifford, of whom I blush to admit I know almost nothing -- except he is GREAT in this role. There are several versions of "King of the Pecos" at YouTube and I picked the longest one. Don't you make that mistake. It's longer because whoever posted it tacked on several minutes of the ending twice. It's a beautiful print, in brightness and contrast, but there are some strange technical glitches that cause the background to wave and wobble. Still, the extraordinarily high quality of the production makes such stuff irrelevant. I highly recommend "King of the Pecos."

King of the Pecos has a pre-Stagecoach John Wayne witnessing the murder of his parents by a no good land swindling dealer played by Cy Kendall. Of course he's a little kid at the time, but when he grows up he becomes a lawyer. But he's no ordinary lawyer, he can ride, and shoot, and fight with the best of them. Kendall doesn't outrightly own a whole lot of the land he's swindled from folks. He just has phony options. Lawyer Wayne take him to court as well as deal with him in the usual John Wayne fashion. This is far from the best western the Duke ever made, but it's pretty good for the B product he was stuck in at the time. And his legion of fans will love it.

An American Western; A story set in the 1870s in Pecos River country, Texas, about a criminal lawyer from Austin who witnessed his parents murdered by a land developer when he was a child. When a judge won't find the powerful developer guilty of another crime ten years later, the lawyer resorts to other methods of retaliation. This film has a morality theme about the strong and rich exerting their power over the weak have-nots and the rough justice it inevitably invites. Cy Kendall gives the most effective performance as a the mean, stern, ruthless developer who meets his match in John Wayne's hero. Arthur Aylsworth and Herbert Haywood provide some light comedy relief but it wears a little thin midway through. This routine short feature has a fairly uninvolving love interest too but otherwise it has an interesting revenge plot and has some good shootouts throughout the hot pace.

Moviecut—King of the Pecos

An American Western; A story set in the 1870s in Pecos River country, Texas, about a criminal lawyer from Austin who witnessed his parents murdered by a land developer when he was a child. When a judge won't find the powerful developer guilty of another crime ten years later, the lawyer resorts to other methods of retaliation. This film has a morality theme about the strong and rich exerting their power over the weak have-nots and the rough justice it inevitably invites. Cy Kendall gives the most effective performance as a the mean, stern, ruthless developer who meets his match in John Wayne's hero. Arthur Aylsworth and Herbert Haywood provide some light comedy relief but it wears a little thin midway through. This routine short feature has a fairly uninvolving love interest too but otherwise it has an interesting revenge plot and has some good shootouts throughout the hot pace.