Wyoming Outlaw

source: Wyoming Outlaw

Three Mesquiteers film starring John Wayne, Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton making his series debut replacing Max Terhune. Actually the real star of this one is Don 'Red' Barry as a Dust Bowl cowboy driven to crime by a crooked politician (LeRoy Mason) who's ruling over the poor townsfolk like a dictator. Barry rustles cattle from the Mesquiteers and, instead of stringing him up, the trio decides to help him. This is an enjoyable picture in the series, with Barry giving a standout performance, Yakima Canutt doing stunts, and John Wayne awkwardly dancing with Pamela Blake. Nice support from Charles Middleton, Katherine Kenworthy, and Elmo Lincoln. Climax almost packs a punch but the impact is ruined by immediately rushing into a slapped-on attempt at a happy ending. Why would a character who just lost someone they loved two seconds ago be smiling and happy?

I thought I'd be entertained by an old John Wayne western, and a t first I was, but it got a bit too flawed. The only good thing (besides a young John Wayne) was the corrupt official getting what he deserved. The fight and chase scenes were good, as was the story of the family struggling to survive any way they can (the girl JW fancies steals money from his wallet, while her brother goes renegade), but the guy making a martyr of himself was a bit much, and when the boy bartender shoots him with no problem, then says "Gosh" like a kid, it just got silly. Even worse, was the girl waving happily as JW and team leave, when they just buried her brother; apparently, she got over his death without much trouble. Too flawed to be really good.

An American Western; A story set during the Great Depression about a trio of cowboys who bring their herd to a Wyoming town and end up investigating local political corruption when a thief is subjected to wicked deception. This 'B' movie is based on characters known as "The Three Mesquiteers" from a series of Western novels by William Colt MacDonald and billed as such for a series of films. Each episode would blend the traditional Western period with topical issues of the day. This installment is based on a well publicised real-life incident about a would-be modern Robin Hood who escaped the law and while hiding in the Wyoming hills was shot by a citizen. In effect the story is trite, a routine oater though more serious in tone for the series. John Wayne makes it a show with his feisty persona albeit from a reduced on-screen presence and Don 'Red' Barry is compelling as a hopeless, desperate outlaw. The ending is abrupt and spoils what is a good final act.

Copyright 27 June 1939 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 27 June 1939. U.K. release in 1940 through British Lion. Never released theatrically in Australia. 6 reels. 62 minutes. SYNOPSIS: The mesquiteers meet up with a dust-bowl family impoverished by a local politician. NOTES: Number 24 of the 52-picture series. COMMENT: An interesting precursor to several later films. The dust-bowl setting reminds us of Wayne's Three Faces West, whilst the climax with the outlaw trapped on the hilltop by the posse, as reporters cover the story, is very reminiscent of High Sierra. The story in fact is not only very unusual by "B" western standards, but it provides some uncommonly bright opportunities for solid acting. Donald "Red" Barry is particularly memorable as the hard-luck outlaw. Also giving the best performance of his entire career is Charles Middleton, forsaking his normally stiff and heavy-handed mannerisms, to pen a searing sketch of an honest man, hard done by yet scrupulously resigned to his fate. Adele Pearce, a startlingly realistic heroine, makes the most of her opportunities; whilst Wayne has not one but two all-in fist fights, the first with his old nemesis Yakima Canutt (in which, aside from a single shot, both men do all their own tussling), the second with chief villain LeRoy Mason. David Sharpe is oddly miscast in the role of a bartender, but it's good to see Elmo Lincoln (the screen's first Tarzan) as the marshal. The story synopsis in the studio press book is the same as the script as filmed - with one notable exception. Wayne was originally to pursue and best the villain. Doubtless for economy reasons a different ending was used, the villain disposed of in a most uncommon manner, leading into a somewhat abrupt riding-off farewell. Although the production credits have been removed from the TV print under review, there is certainly nothing for anyone to be ashamed of in this creditable entry, which was actually filmed after Wayne's huge success in Stagecoach. It's certainly odd to find Wayne still being cast in a "B", though he has the lion's share of the action. Both Corrigan and Hatton (replacing ventriloquist Max Terhune who retired from the series after the previous "Three Mesquiteers", namely Three Texas Steers) are obligated to provide no more than perfunctory support. Wayne does all the fighting as well as all the thinking.

During the course of Republic Studio's Three Mesquiteer series, the composition of this do-gooding trio changed regularly. It changed so often it's hard to keep track of the three actors and the best way to follow the cast change is to look at the excellent Wikipedia article about these films. While he only appeared in about a half dozen of these movies, John Wayne was one of the actors who played 'Stony'....and these Mesquiteer films are a tad better than the rest. "Wyoming Outlaw" is one of the strangest Mesquiteer films I have seen, if not the strangest. This is because the trio seem more like observers of the action instead of doing what they usually do...solve folks' problems. It also has an incredibly downbeat message...one that must have annoyed audiences, though I appreciated it because all too often the films had nice, happy....and dull endings! This story finds a senator taking advantage of the folks in his district. Unless people 'voluntarily' contribute to his re-election fund, they suddenly find themselves without jobs or at his henchmen's mercy. The Parker family tries to stand up to these mobsters and the Mesquiteers stand with them. This film is interesting for some of the actors appearing in the film. Aside from the Mesquiteers (Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Raymond Hatton), 'Red' Barry, Charles Middleton and Elmo Lincoln provide support. Barry was famous for starring in the Red Ryder series, Middleton was 'Ming the Merciless' in the Buck Rogers serial and Lincoln was the screen's first Tarzan, back in 1918. Overall, a very good installment simply because it isn't all neatly tied up at the end and good doesn't completely triumph over evil.

Will Parker has been destroyed by a local politician and now must steal to feed his family. He steals a steer from the Three Mesquiteers. Usually a Three Mesquiteers series is snappy and fun but this instalment is poignant and grim. It's backdrop is the dust bowl period. The three Mesquiteers try to stop a crooked politician and prevent a kid - a victim of corruption- from turning into an outlaw which turns into a tragic event. Don Barry as the outlaw acts really well. It's an efficient western, but the least fun. I prefer the mesquiteers in the thick of things, fighting the bad guys, and I like a happy ending.

Part of this movie is available on DVD in Germany (I paid EUR4). In around 1977, the German ZDF TV channel produced a serial "Western von gestern" with episodes of around 25 minutes length, for which they also remoulded several early John Wayne movies, like this. You of course just get less than half of the images, with a completely new soundtrack (including new music) in German. I liked the "culture shock": at first, people rode around on horses like we're used to, but suddenly in the manhunt scene, radio broadcasting cars of around 1930 fill the screen. Later, the outlaw hitches a car ride and steals the car to go back to town :^)

This was one of John Wayne's final film roles before getting his big break-out in the same year's "Stagecoach" directed by John Ford. He appeared in eight 'Mesquiteers' flicks for Republic, six of them with Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune, followed by two more with Corrigan and Ray Hatton. What I found unusual about this story was how introspective the writing was, almost like a Warner Brothers film of the era in which they tackled a serious social problem. In this case it was the scheming villainy of a local town boss selling jobs for political favors and campaign contributions, in some cases driving poverty stricken ranchers even deeper into a hole. Throughout the story, the Mesquiteers acquitted themselves well as stand up guys, as evidenced by Stoney Brooke's (Wayne) covering for Irene Parker's (Pamela Blake) theft of twenty dollars from his own wallet, or when Rusty Joslin (Hatton) paid Will Parker (Red Barry) as a trail hand even though he wasn't allowed to join the drive by a dutiful forest ranger for alleged violation of game laws. As Parker, Don Barry evokes a genuine sympathy from the viewer for fighting against the odds and constantly coming up short, often through no fault of his own. In fact, when he expresses his concern to a newsman near the end of the story, the comeback from the reporter is stated as "Sort of radical, aren't you"? The political connotation in the reporter's reaction caught me somewhat by surprise. Say, here's something that caught my eye when the Mesquiteers stopped in town to have some lunch. The menu offered up hamburger steak for thirty cents, beef strip for twenty three cents, corned beef and cabbage for thirty cents, and pounded steak for forty cents. I was wondering what a pounded steak was and marveling at those prices when I really got blown away by a sign that announced that dessert was included in the meal!!! How's that for a bargain! Then there was this sign posted on the outside of a building that encouraged voters in the coming election to 'Keep Your Friends In Office"! That provided another telling moment in the story when Will Parker's father refused to participate in graft and corruption to keep Joe Balsinger (Leroy Mason) in office by collecting campaign contributions for him from neighboring ranchers. The story really made you sympathize for the little guy who faced loss of work and starvation if he didn't play along with the system. With the way the story was headed, the thing that surprised me most was the way in which it ended. With Will Parker hanging on to his dignity by a thread, he takes outlaw Balsinger hostage, and in the confrontation with the town folk, both Balsinger and Parker are shot dead. It wasn't your traditional satisfactory ending and left you with a tinge of melancholy that things didn't work out for the guy who tried and couldn't make it. For a B Western, this one could have been a feature with a little more effort.

Wyoming Outlaw (1939) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The Three Mesquiteers (w/John Wayne) are trying to save the life of a Robin Hood type (Donald Barry) who has taken it upon himself to try and bring down a town dictator who is forcing the poor to pay for jobs and has banned hunting so that they can't eat. This film in the series is really no better or worse than any other "B" Western but it does have a strong benefit of featuring a terrific performance by Barry who easily steals the show. He manages to be a very likable Robin Hood character and also gets mounds of sympathy due to Barry's performance. The rest is all pretty much standard stuff but having seen over one hundred Wayne films I must say his weakest fight is in this film, which includes him fighting a beanpole of a man who's probably two feet shorter than him.