The Age of Commercialism

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Throughout the 1930s, John Wayne made a ton of B-westerns--all with incredibly low budgets but, overall, are pretty entertaining. Most have a real predictability about them--but somehow "Born of the West" (also known as "Hell Town") managed to be extremely different--and not necessarily in all good ways. Instead of his usual goody-goody role, Wayne, oddly, plays a rather amoral guy at the beginning of the movie. When he and his partner happen upon a pitched gun battle, they decide the join one side because they thought they would win and thought they could get a free meal out of it!! It turns out they were helping cattle rustlers!!! This is NOT a very heroic sort of role, that's for sure!! Fortunately, Wayne and his buddy are not killed but captured by a guy who just happens to be Wayne's goody-goody Cousin. This Cousin castigates Wayne for being a lazy schlemiel and shames him. After Wayne meets a pretty lady (who happens to be the cousin's lady), Wayne falls instantly in love and completely....or somewhat completely changes to the side of good! If only it were that easy!! Later in the film, Wayne's Cousin places him in charge of a cattle drive. It's win-win for the Cousin--if Wayne screws up, it will help the Cousin win the girl once and for all and if Wayne succeeds, he'll have turned his life around once and for all. What happens next is not at all out of the hero mold for Wayne and yet he still manages to get the girl! Weird...and certainly demotivational for the heroes out there watching the film! Despite a morally suspect hero and some dumb behaviors on his part, the film is pretty entertaining. So, ignore the inconsistencies and just enjoy.

This one’s slightly better than Texas TERROR, mainly because it features a better-than-average cast – apart from Wayne, of course, there’s Johnny “Mack” Brown as The Duke’s cousin/boss, Marsha Hunt (later co-star of the classic Anthony Mann noir RAW DEAL [1948]) as the girl who comes between them, Lucien Littlefield as Wayne’s sidekick/conscience, and Monte Blue as the villainous (but ostensibly respectable) leader of a gang of cattle rustlers.Based on a Zane Grey novel, the film was originally released as BORN TO THE WEST – but this got changed on its re-issue to the more vivid HELL TOWN; interestingly, Wayne’s leadership of a cattle drive here anticipates Howard Hawks’ Western masterpiece RED RIVER (1948), in which he gave one of his finest performances.Again, the film runs for less than one hour while involving standard excitements – a saloon brawl, various cattlemen-vs.-rustlers clashes, a marathon poker game erupting into violence, etc. – and familiar embellishments, such as comedy relief and romance (except that lovely young Hunt makes for a much more interesting partner for the Duke than the wooden Lucille Browne of Texas TERROR). All in all, though, the film remains strictly a potboiler.

*This review is based on the re-release of the film under the title, Hell Town*Drifter Dare and his friend Dink travel to Wyoming to see Dare's cousin, Tom Fillmore, banker and president of the cattleman's association. A large number of herd are being rustled in the area, headed by saloon and casino owner Bart Hammond. Tom gives Dare a chance to earn an honest living (Dare bills himself as the greatest poker player west of the Mississippi, while Dink sells lightning rods as part of a payment scam) by working on his next cattle drive. Dare accepts, mostly to impress Tom's sweetheart Judy. After failing to lure Dare into working for him, Hammond has a few of his men sent to sabotage the trail drive, including herd boss Lyn (who lost his job to Dare, and regulated to a hand working the drive). When that fails, Hammond, along with card shark Brady, lures Dare into a crooked poker game, getting the money that Dare earned for the drive. Will Dare leave the game before its too late, or will Tom have to bail his cousin out of this jam somehow? Very good movie, with an excellent cast. Wayne seems to carry most of the film, seeming odd that Brown was an established B western draw, and he could have gotten more scenes in the film. Same goes for Monte Blue who just seemed to pop in and out as the villain Hammond. A bit too much of stock footage for me, but there are plenty of good scenes, and the poker game at the end is on heck of a scene, with plenty of suspense. Rating, based on B-westerns, 9.

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