The Big Stampede

source: The Big Stampede

The Big Stampede

An American Western; A story set in New Mexico about a deputy sheriff dispatched by the Governor to protect newly arrived settlers and find out who's been killing all the local lawmen and rustling the cattle. This is a remake of The Land Beyond the Law (1927) and some footage from that film was included in this; it is based on a story by Marion Jackson. This B picture has a theme about the need to be clever and creative with the law to overcome a bigger menace. The film has good pace, good stuntwork and enough action for a two reeler. However, the film is very thinly plotted and it is very predictable. Also, stitching together sequences from two different films without much care to film stock continuity produced an uneven look visually. John Wayne plays a bland good guy well enough, leaving his mark everywhere to torment his foes. Luis Alberni makes more of an impression chewing the scenery, but he is a welcome shot in the arm, raising it a notch in the fun stakes.

A number of John Wayne's early westerns looked alike, but that's not a criticism because the handful I've seen were all entertaining. That's one similarity: others included the fact they only were about an hour long, had interesting (albeit strange) dialog, had a pretty lead female (here, Mae Madison) and a very talented horse named "Blue." Of course, the men were all tough guys. There is a lot of action and interesting scenes packed into this one hour. My only complaint was that Luis Alberini's character made the Mexicans look unnecessarily stupid.