The Desert Trail

This old B-western features John Wayne as rodeo star John Star who travels to Rattlesnake Gulch with his partner Kansas Charlie. John wins $900 but the rodeo claims a poor turnout means they will only pay twenty five cents on the dollar... they insist on full payment. Immediately afterwards two crooks holdup the rodeo office and fatally shoot the manager before managing to deflect blame on John and Kansas. These two are forced to flee but learn that the actual killers have headed to Poker City so they head there, separately, and take the names Jones and Smith respectively. Here they are both attracted to shop girl Anne, who is the sister of one of the killers. Now they must clear their names before the law catches up with them.

This is a fairly typical B western of the era... the plot is pretty simple and offers few real surprises. It is still fun though. The way the friends fall for the same woman twice is amusing, especially when they flirt with Juanita; a less than honest woman. Also amusing is the way Wayne ogles Anne as he gets her to retrieve items from a top shelf; not what I expected in a film of the Hays Code era! The action is okay but the lack of Yakima Canutt means we don't get the great horse stunts of many John Wayne films of the era. Anybody who has seen 'The Man from Utah' will get a sense of déjà vu as the rodeo scenes are the same as were used in that film... the crowded stands make the rodeo's claim that they are short of cash seem rather implausible. Overall this isn't his best film of the time but Wayne fans should still enjoy it well enough.