Fri 7 Feb 2025
A Western Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: WYOMING OUTLAW (1939).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[3] Comments
WYOMING OUTLAW. Republic Pictures, 1939. John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Raymond Hatton, Donald Barry, Pamela Blake. Directed by George Sherman.
The Three Mesquiteers ride again in George Sherman’s Wyoming Outlaw, a surprisingly effective entry in the Republic Pictures series about the three Old West adventurers. John Wayne, just on the cusp of stardom, portrays Stony Brook, the titular leader of the outfit. Ray Corrigan reprises the role of Tucson Smith, while Raymond Hatton plays the third Mesquiteer, Rusty Joslin.
When the three adventure heroes drive their cattle through dustbowl country, they stumble upon a small town where Joe Balsinger (LeRoy Mason), the local corrupt government boss, is doling out jobs for campaign contributions. Worse still, he’s extremely vindictive and has driven the Parker family into poverty.
This explains why tempestuous, politically radical Will Parker (Don Barry) has been illegally poaching animals on government land and even went so far as to steal one of the Mesquiteers’s cattle! Circumstances get even rougher and Parker eventually goes on the lam, hiding out from the sheriff and the Cavalry alike. He becomes the titular Wyoming outlaw with a rifle and a willingness to kill.
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. An comparatively early John Wayne movie from Republic? Must be clunky and dated. Let me assure you: it isn’t. Although the story is simple, it’s delivered in a sophisticated manner that isn’t dumbed down for mass consumption or a young audience. There are no silly songs or goofy humor here. With fistfights aplenty and Wayne’s rugged charm, this somewhat downbeat programmer is hard not to like.
February 7th, 2025 at 11:14 pm
Honest and strong review Jon. My thought is that Republic while a second-tier major still produced good films regularly throughout its existence in addition to John Wayne, they had Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Don Ameche, Louis Hayward, Maureen O’Hara, and the big boys, Raoul Walsh, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, and the biggest bo of all, John Ford.
February 7th, 2025 at 11:19 pm
Correction and addition. …boy…I omitted Lewis Milestone and The Red Pony.
February 7th, 2025 at 11:23 pm
The Mesquiteer series both with Wayne and later Bob Livingston were usually well made and capably done. Republic, as the old saying went, never made a bad Western, of course they did, but they also made a much better product than budget might suggest.
They may not have had the best directors on their B films, but they had some of the best B directors and action directors in the business as well as some of the best stunt performers in Hollywood. And if not great artists screenwriters included the like of Gerald Drayson Adams, and Black Mask Boys John K.Butler, and Eric Taylor.