Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The first must-see film of the year.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Also known as "Hell Town". Between John Wayne's period of making non westerns for Universal in late '36 and '37, and his return to making B westerns for Republic in '38, he was the lead character is this Paramount B western, based on a Zane Gray story, and directed by B movie -specialist Charles Barton. It was photographed mostly in the famous Alabama Hills, below Mt. Whitney, or in Kernville, in the southwestern Sierras. In addition to Wayne, as Dare Rudd, we have frequent starring cowboy Johnny Mack Brown, as Rudd's cousin Tom Fillmore, Marsha Hunt, as Judy Worstall: the love interest for both Rudd and Fillmore, Monte Blue as Bart Hammond: the saloon owner and the brains behind the local rustlers. Also, the uncredited crooked gambler Buck Brady. Shockingly, Syd Saylor, Wayne's constant sidekick Dinkey Hooley, is also uncredited! ........Wayne and Hooley were wandering in Wyoming, after cowpunching in Montana. In a running gag, Hooley also claims he's a lightening rod salesman, and is frustrated that no one in this dry climate wants one. Finally, he tries to sell one to a man out in the boondocks, who claims he is an agent for the lightening rod company......Tom, also a bachelor, is the local big man, with the largest cattle herd, and president of the bank. He also is a prospective husband for Judy. He met Wayne and Hooley when they accidentally joined the rustlers in a shootout with his wranglers. Wayne also takes a liking to Judy, brashly asking her several times if she will marry him. He becomes a hero to her when he rescues her from her runaway horse, spooked by a rattlesnake. Later, she claims that she could have stopped her horse any time she chose. She just wanted to experience him chasing her. Actually, Tom also was in the chase, but his horse stumbled, perhaps symbolizing that he would lose out to Wayne in their competition for Judy. Later, she tells Tom she loves Wayne more than any other man, despite his faults, although she also complements Tom. If I were Judy, I'd definitely favor Tom as a husband. He's well established and steady. We don't know if Wayne can cure his gambling addiction. .......Although Wayne is addicted to gambling with cards, and claims he's the best poker player west of the Mississippi, he keeps losing his shirt! That is brought out most forcefully when he loses nearly all the $10,000. he received for selling Tom's cattle, to the crooked cardplayer Buck Brady. Luckily, Tom arrived just in the nick of time and took Wayne's place at the table. He began winning, then caught Brady cheating and, drawing his gun, demanded that Brady give back all the money he won from Wayne. Soon after, Tom is shot, although not mortally. With Hooley, the 3 of them skedaddle before they are again attacked. Hammond's men chase them on horseback, eventually engaging in a shootout. The 3 miraculously survive against the odds. Tom then offers Wayne a partnership with him....... If this sounds OK, see it at YouTube.

This is a great little western from Favourite Films. Dare Rudd (John Wayne) and his side-kick accidentally get caught up in some cattle rustling. The herd belongs to Tom Filmore (Johnny Mack Brown), Dare's brother. Dare has been the black sheep of the family but Tom gives him a job to try to keep him on the straight and narrow. Judy (Marsha Hunt) is one reason Dare decides to stay around.There is a spy in the cowboy ranks. One of them is giving important information to Bart Hammond (Monte Blue). James Craig plays a crooked card sharp who trys to fleece Dare of the cattle money.Everybody who pops out from behind a rock was a star either on their way up or down. Johnny Mack Brown had been popular in the late 20s and early 30s and this film provided a shot in the arm for his career at the time. He seemed to alternate between Johnny or John (this was a John time). Monte Blue had been a star in the silents. A couple of his films were "Main Street" (1923)and "White Shadows in the South Seas"(1928). Marsha Hunt was definitely on the verge of better things as was James Craig. Jim Thorpe,that marvelous native American athlete is also supposed to have an uncredited part. Lucian Littlefield, one of the screen's great character actors (he was in "The Cat and the Canary" (1927)) played John, a cattle buyer.

I am giving this film ten stars, not because it is a great film (although it is one of the best of its type), but because it is a remarkably important transitional film for one of the real originals of American cinema, John Wayne.This is one of the last of the many 'Saturday matinée' potboilers Wayne acted in for a half-dozen marginal studios during the 1930s; two years later, Ford would give him the big break of his career in "Stagecoach".Unlike the other potboilers he appeared in, "Hell Town" (aka "Born to the West", although I have never seen a print with that title on it) is well-written, well-directed, nicely photographed, and well-acted by all involved (but especially Johnny 'Mack' Brown) - surprising quality for a cheapie, but I suppose the fact the story it derived from had been written by Zane Grey - already a legendary Western writer - probably impressed cast and crew to make a best-effort presentation here. At any rate, the film, under 55 minutes long, has the look and feel of a feature-length Western of the time, and it survives far better than any other of the Western shorts of the period.The story is solid, with relatively serious overtones concerning the possibility of redemption. Wayne's character, a gambling addict, is rightly transformed when he discovers that his cousin is a better gambler than he is, but just prefers not to gamble.Wayne himself is in top-form for the period. All the little gimmicks and gestures we associate with him are here in a way never seen in any film of his before this - his cautious smile, his frown, his ability to strike a pose leaning his weight on one leg, his soft but firm voice of warning, his ability to face a tough situation with grace and even, one must admit, an oddly noble humility. This is no longer the "Singing Mesquiteer" of the earlier potboilders, this is finally the Duke, who would star in "Stagecoach" and lead an army of fans (including myself) through film after film for four more decades.This is where the filmography of John 'Duke' Wayne rightfully begins - a film that has survived well, and may yet survive a few decades more.(Note: in another film made the previous year, Winds of the Wasteland, Wayne can also be seen coming into his own as an actor; but this is the better film.)

John Wayne fans should watch this film right after seeing a few of the ultra-low budget B-westerns Wayne made for Lone Star Pictures in 1934-5 (conveniently, you can get a 2-DVD set with this film, nine of Wayne's Lone Star cheapies, and ANGEL AND THE BADMAN for six bucks at Wal-Mart).In the earlier films, we're clearly watching young Marion "Duke" Morrison appearing under a stage name. By the time BORN TO THE WEST (aka HELL TOWN) came out in 1937, Morrison was really growing into the John Wayne persona. The swagger, the drawl, and the squint are all there. Perhaps the character wasn't quite perfected yet, but the seeds of Wayne's future superstardom are there on the screen.And the film itself is much better as well. No longer is Wayne a goodie-two-shoes, milk-drinking, kiddie-matinee hero. His character here is flawed--even a bit of a screwup. The script, the direction, and the acting are miles ahead of his early films. It's certainly not one of the greatest movies he ever made, but it's a solid, enjoyable little Western.7/10