Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

The acting in this movie is really good.

When you're talking about cowboy movies, pardner, you have to say 'yarn'. Especially when they must have been fodder for kids matinees, as this one must have been, because "The Duke" wasn't famous yet. He made lots of formula westerns in the early 30's, as did all the movie cowpokes of yesteryear - Tim McCoy, Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter, etc.But this one has a couple of unique twists that set it apart, hence my lofty rating. Have you ever seen Gabby Hayes minus his beard, and with his teeth in? Not only that, as a bad guy? Well, take a look thisaway. In addition, "Randy Rides Alone" has the most eye-catching opening shot I've ever seen, as Wayne walks into a saloon in which all the patrons - and the bartender - have been killed, and I'll bet you haven't seen one like it, either.The rest of the movie is pretty formulaic and features a hide-out behind a waterfall, and moviedom's most famous stuntman in Yakima Canutt. He was the man who jumped on the horses pulling the stagecoach, and slid on the ground between them, in the film of the same name. If this movie shows up on a cheapie DVD collection, as it did mine, watch it - it's different.

Like the other John Wayne B-westerns I recently saw on the Encore Channel, inexplicably someone has added a recent musical accompaniment. Using electronic instruments, loud and often inappropriate music punctuates scenes like a 2x4 upside your skull! Why, oh, why?!The film begins with Randy (John Wayne) arriving at a bar--only to find all the people inside dead and the safe ransacked. Soon, the Sheriff and a posse arrive and arrest--and they just assume he killed everyone--though there really isn't any reason to believe this. You just need to assume he and the rest are total idiots, as the idea of one man killing everyone AND Randy's gun still loaded would sure seem to indicate he was not the murderer.The bar owner's niece (the only really smart person in the film) realizes Randy is innocent when he provides documentation that he's a secret agent and helps him escape from jail. Wayne does NOT want the rest of the town to know his identity, however, as he wants to try to investigate the actions of the evil gang responsible for the killings.Interestingly, Gabby Hayes plays a baddie--something he did occasionally in earlier B-movies but simply never would have done during his later years as a crazy coot sidekick. Here, however, he wears his false teeth and is clean-shaven--and those unfamiliar with this persona from his earlier films might have a hard time recognizing him. I liked the plot device of having him pretending to be a harmless mute shop owner, though the fact he was evil was telegraphed by the message Randy finds scrawled on a wanted poster only a minute or so into the film--so they really tipped their hat, so to speak, too early.In addition to the goofs listed on IMDb, I noticed a few others. When Mat the Mute wrote his notes, you see him very rapidly writing. Yet, when there's a closeup, it's obviously a different person writing at half the speed. Also, after Randy jumps in the river and then discovers the gang's hideout, he's miraculously dry in the next scene. Oddly, however, the gang offer him a set of clothes to change into, so they didn't totally blow this scene.Despite the goofs and the film seemingly too rushed and too straight-forward, it is pretty good for an early B-western. The plot isn't bad, the ending is nice and violent (yay, violence!) and the leading lady was clever and not a total idiot! Not great but still watchable after all these years.

I've never been a fan of westerns, which is probably why up until last night I'd never seen a film starring John Wayne. Of course it doesn't help that our lives only overlapped by a year, so I didn't have a great deal of opportunity to see any of his films (in the theater at least). I received this film in a VHS films lot that I won from ebay, so I finally popped it in last night and gave it a whirl.I went in expecting a really low budget, really old western...needless to say, my expectations were pretty low. All in all, I'd have to say the film really isn't that bad. I don't have any other John Wayne films to compare it to, so thus far it's my favorite. I can however, compare it to other westerns, and frankly, it was no "Tombstone", but it was worth my time.The story is nothing fantastic, but it's has it's moments. The acting was just fine as far as I could tell and overall production value was OK, granted it was made in the 30's, so again, I wasn't expecting much. One scene in particular made me laugh out loud. Whenever the halfway-house is shown from a bird's eye view it is CLEARLY a scale model, it's hilarious how bad it actually looks...but again...30's.In any case, I have no idea who to recommend this film to, but I will say that it's really short (60 minutes) so it won't take up too much of your time and it's kind of fun to see a film this old to appreciate films of today and how far they've come, not to say that this is bad, but just to further appreciate film-making.Hope you enjoy it.P.S. I just realized that this film has the honor of being the 3rd oldest film I've ever seen (as of 7-26-2006).

Watching this film today I got the feeling this thing was missing about 10 to 15 minutes or so from the beginning of the story. John Wayne rides up on this trading post/saloon out in the middle of nowhere to meet with the owner about some robberies. All he sees is the signs of a massacre, some dead bodies, signs of a fight and no one alive in sight. That's because the owner's daughter is hidden in a secret room, the kind you find in old English murder mysteries.The reason you find those hidden rooms in those kind of stories is that they were formerly priestholes. Catholic families clinging to the old faith in 16th century England built these things to hide those on the run from royal authorities because of their faith. Not something you see in westerns, but a good gimmick.Unfortunately because of bad editing or writing or both we never know exactly what brought Wayne to this place exactly. But this was a B western and not even a good one at that.Gabby Hayes is in this and he's clean shaven and playing a mute part of the time. An unusual circumstance for the garrulous Gabby.If you want to bother and find out what happens and see a whiskerless Gabby Hayes then see this film.