The Dawn Rider (1935) User Reviews

"You'd better run along before a storm breaks, 'cause I've got a feeling I'm gonna cloud up and rain all over you."

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 9 November 2004]

As in John Wayne's earlier film "Blue Steel", a polka dot neckerchief figures in the plot of this Lone Star production. It belongs to Rudd Gordon (Dennis Moore), the man who killed John Mason's (Wayne) father in a botched hold up attempt. Racing after the bandit gang, Mason is injured, and is nursed back to health by Rudd's sister Alice (Marion Burns). Alice is the object of Ben McClure's (Reed Howes) affection, but it seems she has eyes for Mason.

It doesn't take long for Mason to sort things out, and in a final gun battle, McClure takes out Rudd who lies in ambush for Mason, while the saloon owner portrayed by Yakima Canutt guns down McClure.

As in most of the Lone Star films, Wayne's character gets the girl in the end, even when he's not trying. In fact, Mason encourages McClure to propose to Alice, even after the engagement ring Ben bought for her winds up stolen. Nevertheless, the film closes on a wagon leaving town, Mason and Alice aboard with a sign on the back reading "Just Hitched Up".

If you're a John Wayne fan, you'll give this film a try, but don't expect much. It suffers from clumsy editing, and as typical with Wayne's other Lone Star films, the title has nothing to do with the story.

One of the Better Lone Star Films!

[Chance2000esl · 5/10 · 21 November 2007]

As one of the last 'Lone Star' productions this is one of the best in many ways. It has more character interaction and development, and even a love triangle. As others have noted, all the scenes work toward building up to the climax. It also features three early versions of some of the great clichés of the Western.

William K. Everson quotes from Variety reviews of 1908-1909 westerns that mention that those films were competently made but "It all has been done so often before, and usually better." Well, here 27 years later we get these new wonderful clichés all excellently done: 1) the hero and a stranger meet and fight, then go to the bar for a drink as pals and become 'pards' (John Wayne as John Mason vs. Reed Howes as Ben McClure in the opening scene); 2) the 'get out of town by four o'clock or I'll come gunning for ya' saloon threat by the villain (the handsome, evil voiced, quintessential bad guy Denny Moore as Rudd Gordon) to John Wayne; and then 3) the final gunfight down the middle of Main Street, during which the tension builds with good cross cutting and the fact that Mason doesn't know his own gun is loaded with blanks!

To back track on the plot, Mason's father is killed by Rudd in a robbery Mason witnesses. Chasing Rudd, Mason is shot and nursed back to health, at Ben McClure's place, by Rudd's sister Alice, who falls for Mason (shown in a telling scene where he talks about boots, but she thinks he's talking about a wedding ring). Ben is in love with Alice, and thinking Mason has designs on her, puts the slugs in his gun. Ben later realizes his mistake in a moving silent sequence, and then rides off to stop, warn or help Mason in his showdown with Rudd.

Yakima Canutt gets to play a villainous barkeep, and do some good stunt work as well. No George Hayes in this one, but everything works fine without him. Plus of course, we have John Wayne! You can the sense the development of his patented swagger as he walks down the street during the showdown.

So, we get one of the better 'Lone Stars' here. I give it a 5.

Wayne's decade long exile in B minus westerns continues

[AlsExGal · 4/10 · 24 November 2019]

Another interminable B-western starring John Wayne, from Monogram/Lone Star Productions and director Robert Bradbury. Wayne plays John Mason, a nice guy who's returned to his hometown to visit his dad just in time to see the old man get shot down during a robbery by masked bandits. Mason teams up with local tough guy Ben (Reed Howes) to find the bad guys, but things sour when they both fall for the same gal (Marion Burns). Also featuring Dennis Moore, Yakima Canutt, Earl Dwire, Joseph DeGrasse, and Nelson McDowell.

This is so routine as to become tedious, with the same badly-choreographed fight scenes and lengthy horse chases that occur in all of these Lone Star films. It was different seeing Wayne teamed with an equal instead of the usual Gabby Hayes type. This movie also suffers from having another terrible electronic keyboard score added to it sometime during the 1980's for a video release. Added to ostensibly endear it to younger viewers used to having a score throughout every movie, it really only serves to make a bad movie worse.

The Duke Rides Again

[dougdoepke · 16 November 2008]

Catch Nelson McDowell as the lanky black-clad undertaker at movie's start. He's got the only face I've seen that appears to be assembled in sections. The eyes go in one direction, the nose in another, while the mouth bounces around like a Kleenex in a windstorm. He's fascinating. I wish we would see more of him.

Other reviewers are right. This is an average Wayne entry in the Lone Star series. Buddies Mason (Wayne) and Ben (Howes) do play off one another well and I like the way they bond after their fist-fight. It's now a friendship based on mutual respect. And when they fall out over the same girl (Burns), we feel the loss. There's also Wayne doing his patented "gunman's walk" before he duels it out with Canutt and Moore.

However, there's not much stunt work or hard riding. But the biggest problem is Dennis Moore as the chief baddie. Catch that scene that pairs up Wayne in a 2-foot hat with Moore in a 6-foot hat. Too bad Moore just doesn't measure up. Then too, the locations don't get outside greater LA, so we don't get the usual great Southern Sierra scenery. But never mind, an ex-Front Row Kid like this old geezer still gets a thrill when that great Lone Star logo pops up on the screen. Yes indeed, the Duke rides again!

A Man's Gotta Do, What A Man's Gotta Do

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 6 February 2007]

If John Wayne didn't say that in The Dawn Rider he should have because the film is a tale of mixing bringing a killer to justice and getting a little payback vengeance in the process.

Wayne arrives home just in time to witness his father being killed in an express company holdup. He only knows that the killer wore a polka dot neckerchief and with that clue in mind, he begins the hunt.

It leads him to places he doesn't like going especially when it turns out the killer Dennis Moore is the brother of Marion Burns who is nursing the Duke back to health when he gets wounded. Added to that is a nice little romantic triangle going on between Wayne, Burns and Reed Howes who has become Wayne's best friend.

Yakima Canutt plays the saloon owner and head of the gang that did the robbery and Yakima worked overtime doing the stuntwork as well. There's pretty good sequence involving a foiled robbery when Wayne takes out a gold shipment. Lots of hard riding and shooting and fighting all in a day's work for Yakima Canutt and his fellow stuntmen.

I have a version that is only 54 minutes long and I suspect a lot has been cut from it as I believe originally it ran 68 minutes. I suspect the film would have been better with the director's cut.

Horses, Gunplay, Dust.

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 16 March 2011]

One of a series of repetitious and unpretentious Westerns that Monogram put out in the 30s. They fed the public's desire for movie fare, kept actors and crew employed during the Great Depression, and were inexpensive enough to keep the studio itself sufficiently solvent to keep grinding them out. As a kind of ancillary benefit they gave John Wayne a chance to be seasoned and develop his later screen persona.

He's not really the iconic John Wayne here. He's broad shouldered, trapping, tall, and athletic but his acting is rudimentary. He hadn't yet learned to express something by repressing it. His walk is still the walk of an ordinary man, although an unusually tall one.

He couldn't have gotten much help from the director, Robert Bradbury, but little could have been expected, given the constraints on time and budget. It's hard to imagine that any of the scenes required more than one or two takes. There is an elemental quality to the action. Horses never walk, they always gallop, leaving clouds of dust behind them. Almost all the punches are roundhouse rights, although one does notice a few jabs, probably the contribution of Yakima Canutt. Canutt may have been the best physical actor in the Western business but isn't prominently featured in this effort.

The director, Bradbury, had made a number of earlier Westerns near Lancaster, where Wayne lived, and Wayne had a chance to see the filming taking place, alongside his childhood friend, Bradbury's son, who later became known as Bob Steele. (He was Curly in "Of Mice And Men.") The movie is mostly of historical interest, though not badly done for its purposes.

By-the-numbers oater

[shakercoola · 5/10 · 30 July 2019]

An American Western; A story about a man returning home to witness his father murdered. Giving chase, he is shot himself. He plans to track down the elusive robber, though his plan is complicated by his love interest, and vengeance. This Lone Star Productions oater doesn't have much lustre. The acting is a bit stiff in most scenese and there is very little character development. A modicum of intrigue helped the story along, otherwise this is efficient at best. Nonetheless, it has some fine stuntwork - the horse chases are marvellous.

Another Good Wayne B-Western

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 15 November 2009]

When Wayne is shot and his father murdered by armed robbers, he's nursed back to health by his friend's intended fiancé, leading to the inevitable love-triangle. Complicating things further is the fact that the killer is the girl's brother.

A decent entry in the series of Saturday matinée B-westerns that The Duke made as a contract star for Lone Star/ Monogram Pictures in the thirties, The Dawn Rider has several good action sequences and some okay melodrama.

The climactic showdown includes a well staged fistfight between John Wayne and chief heavy Yakima Canutt.

Not watchable by today's standards

[Laitue_Gonflable · 4/10 · 4 October 2003]

The Dawn Rider is an early formulaic western and one of the earliest film appearances by John Wayne. I could finish this comment there and you would know everything there is to know about this film. The Duke plays John Mason, returning home only to see his father shot and killed by bandits. He frantically gives chase, shooting down three of the gang but ending up wounded himself. He is then taken care of by Alice Gordon who is later revealed to be the sister of old Dad Mason's killer. Huge suspense, you can mark my sarcastic words.

It's a very mediocre watch, no doubting that. The acting is second rate, even from the great man himself who was obviously still finding his feet. There are a number of corny fight scenes that look like John Ford collaborated with Mack Sennett, and absolutely no music to help create the mood which the performers fail to make.

The only plus side is that it isn't long enough to be boring. It's just a badly-made 53-minute slice of film history showcasing a young star in the making. And even though I could only recommend this to big John Wayne fans, recently I'd consider myself one and it didn't make me leap for joy.

John Wayne was just about there...

[stevehaynie · 7/10 · 6 September 2007]

The Dawn Rider has all the right elements for a great movie: a love triangle, loyalties between friends and relatives, revenge, right versus wrong, and a strong-willed hero. Packaged into an hour long cowboy package, everything was right for a great movie. As with nearly all B westerns the time and money required to make a great movie were not there.

As John Mason, Wayne never loses focus in his pursuit of his father's killer. At the same time he is oblivious to the yearnings of his best friend's girl, Alice Gordon. Alice is unaware of her brother's criminal doings. Ben McClure is suspicious of Mason when he is around Alice. Rudd Gordon needs to stop Mason before being revealed as a murderer. All the while Yakima Canutt oversees everything as the evil saloon owner.

While the story is very straight forward with no plot twists, every scene works toward the climax. While it may have been the intention of Robert Bradbury to do this, too often a cheap western got bogged down with mindless action scenes. The Dawn Rider holds up very well as a movie that clearly tells its story and gets to the point without losing the viewer.

John Wayne was a strong figure on screen by 1935. His trademark swagger and delivery was still in the making, but he was genuinely the John Wayne of legend by that time. It took another four or five years for Hollywood to notice, though.

Among Wayne's worst B-westerns.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 5 August 2010]

Oh my gosh...listen to the little exchange that occurs about four minutes into the film. It is, possibly, the worst exchange of dialog I have ever heard--it was so dumb that even Ed Wood wold wince!! As Wayne and another dude try to one-up each other, I just couldn't help but think sooner or later one of them would say "I know you are, but what am I?!" or "I'm a rock and you're glue--what you say bounces off me and sticks to you!"--or some other ridiculously childish nonsense. Yes, it was truly that bad. Here's a real example: "...I'm gonna cloud up and rain all over you." "Yeah, you and whose army." Eventually, the two thespians decide to just bash each other's brains out--and thus begins this western masterpiece!! Believe it or not, these two geniuses buy each other drinks just minutes later! They don't write 'em like the used to (thank God).

Soon after this, Wayne and his new bestest buddy go to see Wayne's father--a local rancher. In an interesting coincidence, they walk in just as Dad is being robbed...and killed. Now considering that Wayne had been away from home for years, it was a might peculiar that he would return home to witness this murder! Again, the writers were having an off day here! The rest of the film consists of Wayne trying to catch and punish the baddies responsible for this crime (I am talking about the murder, not the writing of this script!).

This is perhaps one of the poorest of John Wayne's films. The writing is just dreadful at times, though the rest of the time it is pretty average (when it isn't sucking). My advice is to try some of his other Bs first--this one is clearly a letdown.

By the way, is it just me or is there perhaps a bit of a gay subtext going on between Wayne and his new friend Ben?! After all, as Wayne and his lady friend are talking, she is thinking about a wedding ring...and Wayne is just thinking about Ben. This and a few other scenes (such as the apparent 'lovers quarrel' they have late in the film) do make you wonder!

Top of the B-Westerns

[frank4122 · 10/10 · 7 May 2019]

The Dawn Rider has some great actors and characters actors of the time. An early John Wayne film showed that he was destined to be a star. Dennis Moore who could aptly play a hero or villain in his three-decade-long career, played the latter here to perfection. Reed Howes, a silent-era leading man showed that he transitioned to the talkie period exceptionally well. Stunt man extraordinaire Yakima Canutt mixes it up with the Duke in memorable fashion. All this and beautiful Marion Burns caught in a love triangle make The Dawn Rider a most endearing film.

I saw no dawn, plenty of riders though

[Spondonman · 6/10 · 31 May 2004]

Not being an expert on this genre I can't give The Dawn Rider an unqualified whoop or a hesitant snort either. I cut my eye-teeth on this type of B Western when a kid in the 60's - I've only seen a few hundred films like it since and it seems pretty much average.

Wayne looked a very smooth and supple 28 year old, swinging into saddles for countless horse races, sorry, chases, but he was a much better character to watch as the craggy icon he later became. He, and all the characters (and the story) in TDR are necessarily flat and undeveloped - the kids in the cinema at the time weren't interested in multi-layered portrayals of Tolstoy magnitude, and Lone Star weren't going to give 'em it either!

The DVD had new musical additions - I prayed for silence! But all in all a pleasant hour was spent by the TV at my ole homestead.

Rote Poverty Row Western

[slokes · 3/10 · 17 April 2014]

About the only reason to see most of John Wayne's Lone Star Westerns is because Wayne is in them. That's certainly true here, as Wayne's character seeks out the man who killed his father and gets caught up in a love triangle.

Typically, Wayne's character here, John Mason, doesn't waste time. No sooner does he arrive in town than he gets into an argument with Ben McClure (Reed Howes). The two soon trade blows, followed by friendly drinks at the nearby saloon. Witnessing his father's murder changes the happy situation for Mason, though he still is in the mood for love when a woman McClure is sweet on nurses him back from a gunshot wound.

This all happens in the first 15 minutes. Lone Star westerns were typically short, though this is a bit longer than most I've seen at 55 minutes. You have to allow for a rushed narrative, but this one really starves for oxygen, relying on clichés to get across story points.

An opening scene features a hombre who is made to "dance" when another fellow shoots at his feet. Mason is warned to get out of town by four o'clock, or be shot on sight. Near the end of the movie, an out-of-luck cowpoke tells Mason that "it's getting' dark...Ain't sundown, is it? You oughta tell Alice I won't be home for dinner..."

The dialogue here is quite goofy, and made worse by the strange voices of Wayne's supporting cast. Yakima Canutt's high, sneering register didn't get in the way of his Hollywood career as a premier stuntman, but it makes his villainous barkeep character here tough to take. Dennis Moore as chief baddie Rudd employs a basso profondo baritone, while Marion Burns as love interest Alice (Rudd's sister) uses a tremulous soprano. It's like a real horse opera when one of these two are on stage.

Wayne is solid in the main role. Like other commenters here have noted, he had that short-stride, pigeon-toed walk working for him already here, and it's something to see from the opening moments when he strides into town. He demonstrates fine chemistry with the other actors, especially Howes, looking amiable and at ease (even if he should seem a bit edgier after seeing his father murdered in front of him.)

There is one good bit in this film, when Mason and an associate (Lone Star regular Earl Dwire, a good player) set a trap for the bad guys and find themselves in a gun battle on a runaway wagon. It looks to be authentic; no back projection anyway, and for a few minutes the film kicks into a higher gear.

But then the wagon crashes, Dwire's character is apparently dead and forgotten about, and Mason goes on with the increasingly pointless business of chasing down his father's killer. Soon we are back to Burns caterwauling about her brother's innocence, even if we know better. Why would Mason want such a woman? Why doesn't he confront her brother, instead of banter with him about his neckerchief? "The Dawn Rider" doesn't expect you to care any more than they did, and it shows.

Ten-Gallon Terror

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 13 June 2012]

John Wayne embarked on a promising acting career with director Raoul Walsh's epic wagon train spectacle "The Big Trail" (1930), one of Fox Studio's biggest and most ambitious westerns which also pioneered the widescreen process. Unfortunately, both for Wayne and what later came to be called 'Cinemascope,' audiences flocked neither to see him nor this big-budgeted oater. Consequently, Wayne languished in B-westerns, Saturday matinée serials, and supporting parts for about a decade before director John Ford rescued him from obscurity with his groundbreaking horse opera "Stagecoach" (1939) co-starring Claire Trevor and Thomas Mitchell. This top-notch revenge western not only revived the Duke's career but also ushered in a new era of maturity for westerns. Meantime, until "Stagecoach," when Wayne wasn't toiling in cheap westerns, he played bit parts in bigger movies, such as "The Deceiver" where he played a corpse, as well as "His Private Secretary" and "Baby Face," biding his time until Ford found him. Wayne took second billing to Colonel Tim McCoy in three Columbia Pictures' sagebrushers "The Range Feud," "Texas Cyclone," and "Two-Fisted Law." During this same period, Wayne toplined three sprawling Mascot Pictures serials: "The Shadow of the Eagle," "The Hurricane Express, and a French Foreign Legion version of "The Three Musketeers." Warner Brothers contracted him for a string of modest westerns, including "Ride Him, Cowboy," "The Big Stampede," "Haunted Gold,""The Telegraph Trail," "Somewhere in Sonora," and "The Man from Monterey," but Jack Warner refused to renew his contract. At the same time, Wayne took small parts in non-western melodramas at Warners. The Duke moved on to Monogram Pictures. He starred in 16 westerns for Lone Star Productions. Compared to his westerns at Columbia and Warners, the Lone Star oaters were primitive, poverty row productions. "The Dawn Rider" appeared near the end of the Lone Star series. In fact, "The Dawn Rider" was his penultimate appearance for Lone Star Pictures and exemplified the kind of movies that he made for director Robert N. Bradbury. By this time, Wayne was displaying some of the swaggering, masculine charm that he parlayed later into a million dollar career courtesy of John Ford.

"The Dawn Rider" opens as Ben McClure (Reed Howes) and a town undertaker named Bates discuss the sheer lack of excitement in town. Bates shakes his head and observes morosely, "Oh, this town is too healthy. If something don't happen soon, I'll have to vamoose." Suddenly, they witness a scuffle between two cowpokes on the main street. McClure intervenes, brandishes his six-shooter, and forces the man who started the fight to dance in front of a crowd of folks by shooting at the fellow's feet. This bullet ballet was a western staple. McClure deliberately misses the man's boots by inches. The punished cowpoke collapses in a mud hole. John Mason (John Wayne) rides into town and helps this forlorn figure out of the mud hole. Afterward, Mason challenges McClure to a fight. They tangle briefly in a fist-flying brawl that concludes with them shaking hands. The same day Mason returns home, he watches in horror as his father, Dad Mason (Joseph De Grasse) is shot to death during an Express Company hold-up. All that Mason can make out of his father's murderer is a polka dot bandana. You see, the bad man shoots Dad through a broken window. Afterward, Mason pursues the villains on horseback and blows a couple of the dastards out of their saddles with his well-aimed shots. The villains wound Mason during the fracas. Ironically, it turns out that the chief villain's sister, Alice Gordon (Marion Burns), nurses our hero back to health. Meanwhile, the chief villain, Rudd Gordon (Dennis Moore), pits our ten-gallon hero against his best friend, McClure, and tells McClure that Mason is stepping out with his girlfriend. Of course, Ben is jealous and takes all the bullets out of his gun before he realizes that Rudd has tricked him.

This dusty, bare-bones horse opera features a couple of fistfights and gunfights. The scenery is as rugged as the heroes are virtuous, and the villains are nefarious. Stuntman Yakima Canutt plays an evil barkeeper who urges Rudd to kill Mason. Later, Wayne and Canutt battle it out. Watch the ring that Ben gets for Alice because it is a major plot point. Christian Slater stars in the 2012 remake that beefs up the plot considerably but sticks to the basics. The villains in the remake wear flour sacks for disguises, and Slater hero is haunted by his past in a Mexican prison. The John Wayne hero is unbesmirched by comparison. He doesn't have a U.S. Marshal (Donald Sutherland) riding after him with an arrest warrant. The remake includes the plot point about Ben's stolen ring, but the ranch that Rudd and Alice own is endanger of being repossessed. Some of the flavorful dialogue in the original screenplay credited to Robert N. Bradbury and Wellyn Totman, based on a story by Lloyd Nosler is quite good. Bradbury derives some amusing comic relief from the town's sole undertaker. None of this humor makes it into the remake that uses the F-word about ten times and contains more graphic gunfights. No, Christian Slater is no John Wayne, but the remake surpasses "The Dawn Rider."

The Dawn Rider

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 10 February 2022]

When John Mason's father is killed, John is wounded. Attracted to his nurse Alice, a conflict arises between him and his friend Ben who plans to marry Alice. John later finds the killer of his father but goes to face him not knowing Ben has removed the bullets from his gun.

The dawn rider has a little more drama that the usual Wayne's Lone star westerns and features a good performance from Wayne - of course there's the killer stunts. Wagon going down an incline while Wayne is on the team of horses going in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the bits in between the gunsmoke and hove clattering can be tedious with the drama and conflict over a woman. But still passable with some good acting.

The Dawn Rider

[btreakle · 6/10 · 13 September 2020]

Let dawn rider also known as cold vengeance 1935 John Wayne movie wasn't bad but i still felt like It deserve a 6 out of 10 stars still worth a watch

Undemanding B-movie western

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 10 July 2017]

THE DAWN RIDER is another of the many B-movie westerns that John Wayne made throughout the 1930s before he really hit the big time. This one's serviceable enough, not one of the best but quite watchable. The story is okay but the action sequences are lacking at times and it's never quite as exciting as it should be. Wayne's father is bumped off at the outset and he himself is badly wounded, and he ends up falling in love with the nurse tending to him. A love triangle develops and various plot twists ensue until the expected climax. It's not bad, watchable enough for undemanding fans.

John Wayne rides again

[kairingler · 6/10 · 16 January 2014]

not a bad western from the famous Lone Star stable of productions. John Wayne plays a man who rides into town to catch up with his father, but before he get's to do that, he sees his old friend, and they share a few drinks.. they wind up getting into a fight, but it's spilt milk really,, so he goes and sees his father and his father get's shot in town. the son played by the Duke,, get's hurt and seeks medical attention from his friend's girlfriend, unbeknownst to him,, they fall in love,, and his friend one night while he is drunk decides to remove the bullets from his gun,, because he knows that the man that killed his father and his friend are set to have it out in the street High Noon style.. interesting little western from Lone Star a fairly decent watch,, also with Yakima Cannut.

Early Duke; not a bad Western

[corporalko · 5/10 · 27 February 2020]

This is one of John Wayne's very early B-Westerns (1935), before he became a big "A-movie" star. The plot, which involves the Duke's father being murdered, and Wayne wounded, by robbers, is fairly standard by B-Western standards, but entertaining enough. The old black-and-white film was colorized in recent times, and the colorization was well done.

The Duke has not yet adopted his Harry Carey-taught style of talking, with occasional pauses in the middle of sentences, so he sounds a little different than the later John Wayne. The fight scenes are not done as well as they were in, let's say, Gene Autry's first starring film, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," released about three months later.

But the colorizers did study the script and insert ironic "plays on words" in a couple of scenes. When Wayne is told by a cowboy he's having problems with that there's "no need for lavender cowboys" or words to that effect, he's wearing a purple shirt. Later, when the same cowboy asks the Duke if he wants to continue a fight they were having, and Wayne says, "No," the other guy says, "Why? You yellow?" Yes, you guessed it, dear readers --in that scene, the Duke is wearing a yellow shirt.

And in an early scene where Wayne's opponent has whipped another cowboy, and begins firing his six-shooter at the man's feet to make him "dance," I thought of a scene in "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" where one of Autry's buddies gets the drop on three bad guys and tells them to "dance." One says, "Aww, we can't dance!" And the guy with the gun replies, "Anyone can dance if they're properly persuaded!" The bad guys begin cutting a rug immediately.

I wondered, "Did the director of the Autry movie pick up and use those two situations?" Because at one point in the Autry movie, a "bad guy" tells a singing cowboy Gene, "We don't need no lavender cowboys!"

Overall, "The Dawn Rider" is a good B-Western -- but "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" has better acting, and some great songs.

Good action scenes, and interesting characters but...

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 22 August 2017]

Director: ROBERT NORTH BRADBURY. Screenplay: Robert North Bradbury. Story: Lloyd Nosler. Photography: Archie Stout. Film editor: Carl Pierson. Art director: E.R. Hickson. Sound recording: D.S. Stoner. Producer: Paul Malvern. A Lone Star Western.

Not copyright by Monogram Pictures Corp. U.S. release through Republic: 20 June 1935. U.K. release through Pathé: 23 December 1935. 56 minutes;

COMMENT: Plenty of action in this one. Wayne does his own riding and fighting, whilst Canutt contributes some exciting stunt-work. At the same time, the script develops its characters most interestingly, allowing Reed Howes some golden opportunities to paint a fascinating portrait of the star-crossed Ben. The villain is played most agreeably by Dennis Moore — of all people — making a nice contrast with the pleasant heroine limned by the lovely Marion Burns.

It's unfortunate that action highlights are — as usual in the Monogram Lone Stars — handicapped both by the obvious absence of background music and the deployment of hollow sound effects. These defects give the picture a museum air, for which Bradbury's lively direction — complete with running inserts — manages to compensate (at least to some extent).

Somewhat Bizarre, Mostly Poor

[ruki_motomiya · 3/10 · 23 November 2021]

Honestly, what a weird film in some ways. The first 11 minutes feel like a random events plot to set up the rest of it, and the movie blatantly feels like it should have just had Ben/John be friends to start the movie. The entire thing feels off when the film treats them like close friends who have a rift growing when in actuality they literally just met and Ben only knew his dad. The ending also goes RIGHT to comedy music with the coroner measuring the bodies after what is supposed to be a very dramatic scene of everyone dying. And then the movie has a super happy ending even though Alice's life got wrecked with her brother and close friend / rival love interest dead.

About 50% of this film is riding horses, but without a deft touch behind the camera there isn't much energy of them. But in some ways the often amateur editing (there's a multitude of VERY clear cuts) actually makes it better? It gives it almost an amateur home movie feel, even though in this case it was just cheap production. It almost felt like the rough cuts could have been turned stylistic.

The bartender being the guy who can most beat up John Wayne in the movie is quite funny. Dunno why he didn't shoot ol' John when he had a clear shot and literally was there to kill him though.

"I ain't so particular what I shoot at."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 26 November 2014]

This cheapie western starring a young John Wayne starts off with a rather silly confrontation between Wayne and a local tough who just embarrassed another guy moments before. Well that wimp wasn't John Wayne, who proceeds to trash talk the tough guy before cleaning his clock. After the fight the two men become friends. Anyway, that silliness aside, the plot of the movie is about Wayne seeking his father's killer. Turns out it's his girlfriend's brother. Cue dramatic music. Or, in many modern prints, cue the crappy music made on a $20 keyboard. This is made worse by the poor audio where you have to turn the volume up to hear the dialogue, only to have sound effects or that terrible music knock you off your seat.

Judged on its merits, it's not one of the better early Wayne westerns. But it does have unintentional comic value and nice photography by Archie Stout. As with most of these low-budget oaters Wayne made, the stunts are the best part. In addition to his stunt work, Yakima Canutt plays the saloon owner. This was remade in 2012 with Christian Slater. I haven't seen that one yet but I can imagine the plot is the only similarity.

An Average Depression Era Western

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 23 November 2022]

This film essentially begins with two cowboys named "Ben McClure" (Reed Howes) and "John Mason" (John Wayne) getting into a fistfight in the middle of a small town with John eventually coming out the winner. Being that neither man is the type of hold a grudge against a fair fight, after everything is said and done, they both become good friends. Not long after that, John steps into the freight office to see his father and, upon arriving there, finds that it is being held up by a number of armed thieves. To his great sadness and dismay, when his father puts up some resistance, the outlaws kill him right in front of John before leaving in a hasty manner. Quickly following them on horseback, John manages to kill at least one of the outlaws before he is also shot. Fortunately, Ben has followed close behind and manages to carry him to his house where a doctor and his girlfriend "Alice Gordon" (Marion Burns) are able to eventually get him back on his feet. What John doesn't know, however, is that Alice's brother "Rudd Gordon" (Dennis Moore) is the leader of the outlaw gang that killed his father and that this information is going to cause a number of problems for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this short, Depression Era film suffered from a poor transition between scenes which gave the movie a rather choppy quality to it. The acting was also rather mediocre as well. Even so, it had an entertaining plot and, all things being equal, I have rated it accordingly. Average.