Blue Steel (1934)

Best movie ever!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

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

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

John Wayne's Lone Star pictures were treading-water affairs, with hokey plots, exposition-filled dialogue, and lots of back-and-forth horse- riding. "Blue Steel" is an amiable if fitful example of same, with Wayne the apparent victim of mistaken identity.Late one dark and stormy night, Wayne sneaks into a hotel (why he sneaks in is never explained) and witnesses the theft of $4,000. So does the sheriff, Jake (George Hayes, not yet billed as "Gabby" Hayes), who figures Wayne's the "pokey-dot" bandit, so named for a signature neckerchief the thief wears when committing his crimes. The two quickly find themselves together in another town, reasons unexplained, helping some locals trying to make a stand as a group of murdering bandits keep stealing their provisions. Someone wants them gone, but why?The opening certainly is unusual. There's some business to distract the sleepy hotel owner, involving a newlywed groom who "can't find it," not really explaining what he meant. Chances are it was a bedpan, but by the amused look on Wayne's face another possibility arises.He's a charmer, alright, even if he still looks a bit callow here. Watching Wayne work is always a pleasure, and director/writer Robert Bradbury gives him plenty of opportunities to get us on his side, however uncertain we may be of his ultimate motives. I think some of this is intentional, and a point for Bradbury if so.The film doesn't so much unfold as it just sort of happens. One moment we see the sheriff about to draw on Wayne, the next we watch the pair run off to help a maiden in distress, Eleanor Hunt. The back-and-forth between the Wayne and Hayes' characters is convoluted, each telling the other they have a surprise up their sleeves, but you sort of enjoy it if you aren't expecting much in the way of logic.Hunt's the weak link in this film, all fluttery eyes and a high, tremulous voice. Still, you have to feel bad for her character; not only was her father killed but now the big man in town, Malgrove (Edward Peil, Sr.) wants her for his woman. Of course, this seals the deal that Malgrove is up to no good.The one undeniable benefit to "Blue Steel," other than Wayne, is that like the other Lone Star Waynes it's short, just 53 minutes counting a bit that was cut from my Mill Creek DVD of Wayne and Hayes' characters meeting, which still doesn't explain why the sheriff is so slow about taking his prize suspect in.One particularly goofy scene has the sheriff shooting a guy off a barn roof, right before he is about to cut a rope to dump some hay on an unsuspecting Wayne. Why does he kill the guy? I don't know, but I guess it made for an impressive stunt. There are a few noteworthy stunts in this movie, many no doubt performed by Yakima Canutt, who often played bad guys in Lone Star films and does so here as Danti, a. k. a. the "Polky-Dot" as the sheriff keeps calling him.The film does wind things up with an exciting horse chase, with the good guys on a wagon bringing needed provisions to the town. It's all resolved very neatly, too neatly, with Wayne explaining who he really is before riding off with Hunt. I suspect this was seen as good enough for its core audience of eight-year-old boys. They had some growing up to do, as did Wayne. But "Blue Steel" does offer some modest if compensating charms along the way.

Well, I've seen John Wayne's last movie ("The Shootist") and now in "Blue Steel" I've seen not his first by any means but one of his earlier movies and I've seen a few of his roles in between. I still can't figure it out. I can't deny that he was a mega-star, but he does absolutely nothing for me. Wayne aside, this movie didn't come across as a great vehicle for an actor anyway. It's rather dull (especially in its opening) and I have to admit that I never really did figure the details of the plot out, which is probably best explained by the fact that I kept nodding off throughout. In the beginning, Wayne's John Carruthers is mistaken by the local sheriff (Gabby Hayes) for a thief, but the two then form a partnership to stop the real bad guy of the movie from dishonestly forcing ranchers off their land and buying it up so that they can control a major gold mine.Frankly, I found nothing particularly exciting here, except perhaps for the fact that it's mercifully short at less than an hour, and the ending (as Carruthers rides off with Betty to get married) came across as silly to me. It's worth watching, I suppose, only if you're a big fan of John Wayne and want to see an early role of his. 2/10

What a wacky opening scene. The thunderstorm's got to be the loudest on record-- and why is Wayne sneaking into the hotel lobby. I guess he doesn't want to pay for a room. Then there are the newly-weds right out of the aw' shucks school of acting. And most curiously of all-- how did they get the groom's"I couldn't find it" snippet past the public watchdogs. This amounts to an astonishing innuendo, and no doubt one for the boys-- in the movie, that is. Probably there are more than a few audience 10-year old's still puzzling over that one. In all likelihood, it was someone's private joke that made it to the screen on a bet.Lone Star popped for some great location photography. The boys get to ride around the Alabama Hills with the scenic Southern Sierras in the background. The story doesn't make a lot of sense, but who cares, especially when the canyon explodes in a really great effect worthy of an A production. Also, some good crowd scenes of ordinary looking people. When they talk about getting forced off their homesteads, I expect more than a few folks in 1934 wished they had a Wayne on their side.As others point out, this looks like an early stage in the evolution of Hayes' unforgettable "Gabby" character. He's not called that, still the crusty old coot is definitely coming out. How delightful the Gabby-Wayne pairing proved over the years, especially in their masterpiece Tall in the Saddle. Wayne always seems genuinely amused by the ornery Gabby. Watch some of his reactions here. Those broad grins are not acting. Great final shot that still brings a tear to the eye.

This western was the second significant film in the development of George "Gabby" Hayes' cantankerous character who emerged as the old whiskered comedy sidekick in the Hopalong Cassidy films. Gabby plays it straight here as a sheriff who even shoots a baddie. The only "funny" things about him are the hole filled hat he wears, his big walrus mustache, & his typical slurred speech. The acting is good all around, except for Eleanor Hunt, who has that cute Clara Bow look, but she's brought that old silent film style to this movie. I love the old B westerns, & aside from my favorite, Hopalong Cassidy, to me the early John Wayne series is the next best. This is not one of Wayne's best, but it's a must-see for Gabby Hayes fans. I rate it 6/10.