One of my all time favorites.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The Lone Star John Wayne westerns are a weak series in the main; this early effort proves no exception despite a promising opening.Randy Bowers (Wayne) rides to an isolated saloon to talk to the proprietor, only to find him and two others shot to death inside. Moments later, the law arrives and takes a protesting Randy into custody. Can Randy clear his name and bring the true perpetrators to justice?"You don't look like a killer," says the proprietor's niece, in what amounts to Randy's only interrogation."Well, I'm not," he answers. "Just give me a chance. I can prove it."The opening sequence is a mini-masterpiece of mood setting. We see Randy enter the saloon, his face suddenly registering the carnage inside. In addition to the bodies, there's an open safe and a player piano still playing a happy tune. Real eyes follow him from the cut-out eyeholes of a portrait; next to the safe is a shot-up wanted poster with a warning: "Lay off sheriff, or you'll get the same thing..."But director Harry L. Fraser is pretty much out of bullets after that. Instead, we are treated to a double role by George (not yet "Gabby") Hayes, as a genial mute storeowner who secretly runs the gang of villains behind the triple murder.Why is Randy there? Why is the sheriff so quick to slip the cuffs on him? Why does the niece keep her silence about Randy's innocence? Most critically, why is the town so easily taken in by "Matt the Mute's" fake mustache, while his scowling face decorates so many wanted posters?"Randy Rides Alone" is not a film for such introspection. It's designed as a brief boys-own escape from Depression-era miseries, with many elements that would be used in other Lone Star Wayne vehicles before and after. There are secret passages, double identities, horse chases, a lazy sheriff, and a nasty henchman, the latter two played by Lone Star regulars Earl Dwire and Yakima Canutt, respectively. Randy manages to win the girl's affections, another trope.There are moments you feel like Fraser was having fun with the formula. The opening is unusually effective, and watching Hayes finally tire of his "Matt the Mute" charade in a showdown with the niece (Alberta Vaughn) with his last line ("No one makes a fool of Marvin Black") has a silly zest about it.What kills the film is the outrageously slow pacing. Others point out the scenes where we have to wait for "Matt" to write out one of his messages, but the whole film moves like that, slowly and with a kind of counter-energy. Fraser may have had a talent for mood-setting, but directing for action seems beyond him. The final showdown is a major letdown this way. We see the villainous outlaws surrounded in their hideout, and have been told the area is littered with hidden dynamite. Sounds promising, but the shooting fails to trigger any explosions and is over quickly while Randy chases Marvin/Matt for a final scene that strains credulity. Instead of escaping, Hayes' character goes back to the saloon to get the loot he believes is there, only to get a faceful of splinters for his trouble.At least Wayne is in good form, and seems to be having fun in this B- picture outing. That's more than I could say for me.

. . . during the first twelve months of a self-appointed American Taliban censoring EVERY line of dialog and image BEFORE normal people could watch (all under the Thumb of the most extensive ring of THOUSANDS of child sex predators that has ever stalked U.S. Innocents!), more than half of many movies are left out, including much of RANDY RIDES ALONE. Only the most Gifted Reconstructionists are able to exercise their intellect and fill in the gaps at this late date, so here goes: "Sally Rogers" is the Madame of "The Half Way House," a bordello MORE isolated than Nevada's infamous Mustang Ranch, where so many of Today's NBA players hang out. Since FDR's banking laws did not cater to the Criminal Class as do Today's, Ms. Rogers must keep her $30,000 cash profits (about one and a half Trumps, adjusted for inflation) made off her working girls on the Half Way House premises. When rival crime-lord "Marvin Black" rubs out Sally's bouncer and several of her regular johns, she turns to John Wayne to save the local Hen House. However, Wayne wants Sally all for himself, so he arranges to have Marvin blown up with the Half Way House.

There were many 'spooky' westerns made in the 30s and early 40s, and although this has a strong beginning, it isn't one. Randy Bowers (John Wayne) stopping at a 'Halfway House' saloon, finds it to be full of dead bodies, the bartender's corpse draped over the bar holding a gun, eyes watching Randy from behind holes cut through eyes in a picture, and a player piano playing "The Loveliest Night of the Year." It was the result of a robbery by the Marvin Black gang, to get Ed Rogers' $30,000. Randy is an investigator who "works alone," who wastes little time in getting arrested, escaping (with Ed's daughter Sally's help) and literally landing in the midst of the Black gang's hideout behind a waterfall. It all moves along fairly quickly. Only one too many chases after Randy slow it down.We even get George Hayes, clean shaven and playing two parts-- Marvin Black, the vilest villain, as well as the Good Citizen, Matt the Mute, who communicates via handwritten messages. Having him play two opposite roles was a good idea, but the writing down of messages thing gets old real fast, even for him, as he finally gives up doing it near the end saying to Sally, "Ah, I'm fed up with this!" You can find George playing a vile, vile, double crossing villain in the serial "The Lost City" (1934).I think this is the only 'Lone Star' film in which the title relates to, or is mentioned in the film! Sally offers her hand to Randy and says, "He's not alone anymore!" Then cut to their arms around each other as they look out facing a lake. Sally's running off with Randy seems too abrupt and not sufficiently prepared for. Too much time spent on horseback escaping the sheriff.Not that bad considering everything, but not that great either. I'd really give it a 4 and a half.

This is a very good western. I have enjoyed all the early John Wayne adventures that I've seen.You have some twists with this show. One being Earl Dwire as a sheriff not a crook. The worst part of the show is that they tip you off to who's the bad guy early on, which destroys that part of the mystery. Oh, and Yakima Canutt's shirt looks like something that Roy Rogers passed on. Other than these complaints, it's a well made Saturday-Afternoon- at-the-movies type western.