Born to the West (1937)

Just perfect...

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

A good little movie that runs out of time before it runs out of story, "Born To The West" offers a rare chance to see John Wayne making a western in the 1930s with a decent budget for a change, even if it is still a B-picture.Also known as "Hell Town" (which is the title with the version I saw), the film presents Wayne in an unusual role, that of the aptly named Dare, "a wild and crazy fellow" as his cousin Tom (John Mack Brown) calls him. Dare happens into Tom's home state of Wyoming looking for work, and not particular how he gets it.An opening scene sets up the character, as Dare and his comic-relief buddy Dink (Syd Saylor) show up in the middle of a gun battle between two groups of strangers."Which side you favor?" Dare asks."Which side's winning?" Dink answers, thinking of his stomach.Dare and Dink would just as soon blow out of town after Tom hands over $100 in travelling funds, until Dare gets a look at Tom's girl Judy (Marsha Hunt). "Hell Town" then becomes an involving duel of personalities between Dare and the upright Tom, who offers Dare plenty of opportunities to mess up and lose his claim on Judy."Hell Town" benefits from a solid cast, funny dialogue, and able direction from Charles Barton, who knew how to make a genre film work. (His best-remembered film combines two genres, "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.") Dink is always trying to sell lightning rods, while Dare is out to prove himself the best poker player west of the Mississippi. Neither are successful, but it's fun watching them try and fail again.The conflict involves a gang of cattle rustlers and their boss, who works on Dare trying to get him to switch sides. Because the film runs under an hour, there's little chance to develop any tension regarding what Dare will do, and the ending is downright perfunctory in most particulars. But you do get a chance to see a nifty poker- playing scene where cousin Tom steps in and helps Dare handle a tense situation, the film's highlight.The rest of the film is pretty good, too, and represents a chance to see Wayne play a kind of ne'er-do-well. He banters enjoyably with Saylor while showing ample nerve with Hunt: "Since you're not already spoken for, I guess I'll just marry you." Wayne would play stolid good guys, and hard cases, but here is a rare chance to see him as likable rogue, a direction his career might have gone if not for John Ford.

Though the copy of "Hell Town" I saw was pretty miserable, the quality of the script and of the acting more than made up for it.John Wayne by the time this was made was already a veteran actor, mostly in B Westerns. That "B" designation, by the way, was purely a reference to the size of the budget, something too many people don't seem to realize.This B Western, despite its budget, had a really intelligent script and a talented director and, most of all, some of the best actors available: John Wayne, Johnny Mack Brown, and the lovely Marsha Hunt, as well as the busy but today under-rated Syd Saylor, who, despite his being the hero's sidekick, doesn't even get screen credit!On a purely personal note, catching this film at westernsontheweb.com gave me my first opportunity ever to see "Hell Town," and I am so very grateful. As many reviewers have written here, this film is a milestone in the Duke's career, giving him an opportunity to show his innate talent, and giving audiences an opportunity to appreciate that talent.It is well past November, but I am giving thanks for my own opportunity to view this remarkable motion picture, and I am grateful to IMDb and to westernsontheweb for the information and the film, which I urge everyone to take time to watch.

Dare Rudd (John Wayne) and sidekick Dink Hooley (Syd Saylor) are itinerant cowpunchers who can't seem to stay in one place very long. In "Helltown", the boys are headed to Montana, where they meet up with Rudd's cousin Tom Fillmore (Johnny Mack Brown), who offers them a job. It's a hoot to see the boys wearing aprons as they start out as cooks with the herd, although Dare becomes self conscious when Miss Judith (Marsha Hunt) rides into camp. Judy is Tom's girl, but the attraction between her and Dare is evident early on.Fillmore has a cattle herd to move, and promotes Dare to running the drive, partly to prove to Judy that he may not be up to the task. Meanwhile, bad guy Bart Hammond (Monte Blue) has his eyes on Fillmore's cattle, but when his henchmen fail to rustle the herd, he figures it's easier to win the money that Dare was paid at the end of the trail. Conning Dare into a rigged card game with his man Brady (James Craig), Dare's money begins to evaporate hand after hand. It's only when Dare fails to show up back at Fillmore's ranch that Tom goes out to find his cousin. Exposing the cheats, Tom, Dare and Dink high tail it before the bad guys can get their revenge."Helltown", also known as "Born to the West", was released in 1937 by Favorite Films Corporation, a couple of years after Wayne's series of Westerns for Lone Star Productions. It only slightly alters the Lone Star formula; Wayne does get the girl at the end of the film, but here he was trying. There's a great runaway horse scene where Wayne rescues Marsha Hunt, in which Johnny Mack Brown's horse does a complete somersault spill. Syd Saylor does a nice job as the comic relief pal, doing his best to sell lightning rods to unsuspecting victims. He replaces familiar faces George "Gabby" Hayes and Yakima Canutt here, staples of the Lone Star films. John Wayne's charisma is beginning to develop here, preparing him for the leap to super star status that he eventually achieved. "Helltown" was based on a novel by legendary Western author Zane Grey. If you're looking for more films based on Grey's stories, try "Fighting Caravans" with Gary Cooper, "The Light of Western Stars" with Victor Jory, "Drift Fence" with Buster Crabbe, and "Heritage of the Desert" with Randolph Scott.

According to author Tony Thomas, this film shot adrenalin into the lagging careers of both John Wayne and Johnny Mack Brown. It's very entertaining, with a good story, fine cast, terrific scenery and excellent camerawork.