Flame Barbary Coast & Santa Fe Stampede & Westward [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I grew up watching John Wayne movies. Big John, as my father used to call him, is one of my favorite actors. This collection of movies is a nice addition to my already large colletion of John Wayne movies. The DVDs came in good condition. I did not have trouble with any of the movies playing in the dvd player.

John Wayne made so many famous movies( True Grit, The Searchers, Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, The Quiet Man etc)that it's easy to forget that he didn't just materialize in the middle of Hollywood and Vine a fully fledged star. These are a few of the movies he made in his early career, sometimes very early. They are all good, solid entertaining movies with heroism, action sometimes romance and always a good dose of humor. If you're a Duke fan you are probably already familiar with these pictures but in case you're not, here's a quick summary of what you get for your money.

FLAME OF THE BARBARY COAST: The Duke vs. Joseph Schildkraut for the heart of Ann Dvorak and dominance of the San Francisco gambling scene. Wayne is smart and strong, Dvorak is beautiful and unobtainable and Schildkraut is charming and both conniving and dignified. William Frawley provides guidance and laughs as Duke's mentor, Wolf Wiley. This is a classic love triangle/rivalry, the kind that has sustained literature down through the ages.

SANTA FE STAMPEDE: John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Max Terhune made several Republic Westerns where they played a group of friends known as the Three Mesquiteers. This is one of their better outings. Wayne is framed for a murder he did not commit and faces lynching at the hands of an angry mob. (The titular Stampede)Will his friends be able to save him in time? I'm not telling, but you probably know the answer. This is a fun Republic oater with decent action and some funny comic bits by Terhune and his ventriloquist dummy.

WESTWARD HO: The first Republic film production! A little boy is survives an attack on his family by outlaws who kill his parents and kidnap his brother. Years later that little boy grows up to be John Wayne, and is he ever mad. He forms a band of vigilantes who plan to rid the territory of every scoundrel they run across. Wayne eventually runs into that outlaw band that destroyed his family and when he does....well you'll have to watch and see. It also features Glenn Strange and Yakima Canutt and his band of daredevil stuntmen.

THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN: Vera Ralston is Fleurette De Marchand, a member of a group of French exiles (They supported Napoleon) living in Alabama. The Duke plays John Breen, a Kentucky rifleman who falls in love with her. John Howard plays the evil Blake Randolph, a man of power and standing who contrives a dastardly plot to steal both Ralston and her family's land. Oliver Hardy plays it all for laughs. This one is a cut above the usual Western oater with easy humor, romance and some enjoyable characterizations and dialogue

This is a good set of John Wayne films. Each film is presented on its on DVD with some containing "production notes". Although they plainly state in color on the product details, THEY ARE NOT IN COLOR. This should be corrected, as it was one reason I chose to buy them. It was disappointing to find this out afterwards since I saw no mention of this in other reveiws. They are not closed captioned either. I would rate SANTE FE STAMPEDE & WESTWARD HO as two and a half and FLAME OF THE BARBARY COAST & THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN as three and a half star movies.