Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

. . . as he torches his childhood home, back-stabs the Fat Cat Billionaire (adjusted for inflation), and guns down "Ash's" horse. Many if not most John Wayne movies from the 1930s are similar to KING OF THE PECOS, exposing the fact that up to 100% of the Super Rich One Per Centers are Sociopathically Corrupt Leeches sucking the very Life Blood out of Society. "Alexander Stiles" has his attorney assassinated, rather than giving him a nickel. The only Real Life American I've ever heard of Evil, Foolish, and Brazen enough to gyp, cheat, and welsh out on HIS OWN lawyers is Donald Trump (who probably saw KING OF THE PECOS when most of his peers were fighting in the Vietnam War). No doubt Trump is running for POTUS in the Belief that he can hire Secret Service Agents who will murder his lawyers and other business associates (such as the Contractors who build all of his Trump Towers) who refuse to play along with his Art of the Steal. Hopefully, Trump will not be as successful as Stiles in robbing and terrorizing the Average American.

Iconic director Joseph Kane shows here why he is rated so highly by western and film aficionados. Republic (I like the sound of that word) and Kane and John Wayne are simply unbeatable.In addition to a superlative story by Bernard McConville, an excellent cast and beautiful scenery create a nearly perfect western.One bonus is the lovely Muriel Evans, one of the, in fact, loveliest heroines of B westerns in Republic's history. She showed, besides looks, a lot more personality than most of the B heroines.When Turner Classic Movies showed, on 20 August 2015, a marathon of Mae Clarke movies, one of Ms. Clarke's premier performances came in a little-known film titled "Fast Workers." Muriel Evans had one scene, as a nurse, in which she mostly looked on, then had a few lines.And in that small part, she didn't quite steal the movie, but sure did make an impression, with a fascinating performance.She shows even more personality here, in "King of the Pecos," a fairly routine western, perhaps, but with such a sterling cast and superb directing and scenery that can and should make you want to pack your bags. Watch her in scenes where she might be only entering or leaving and you can't help admiring her presence and control.She has an expressive face and eyes that enthrall.John Wayne stands tall, demonstrates his personality that led him to be Hollywood's biggest star of all time, but isn't really stretched as an actor.He is aided by two unknown but immensely talented character actors, playing "Josh" and "Hank," who do generally steal every scene they're in. And praise be, their humor is not the usual silly stuff so often found in B westerns.The three chief bad guys are among the best in Hollywood history, Cy Kendall, Yakima Canutt, and Jack Clifford, of whom I blush to admit I know almost nothing -- except he is GREAT in this role.There are several versions of "King of the Pecos" at YouTube and I picked the longest one. Don't you make that mistake. It's longer because whoever posted it tacked on several minutes of the ending twice.It's a beautiful print, in brightness and contrast, but there are some strange technical glitches that cause the background to wave and wobble. Still, the extraordinarily high quality of the production makes such stuff irrelevant. I highly recommend "King of the Pecos."

If you see this title and wonder what 'the Pecos' are, don't worry--I had the exact same thought. Apparently, the Pecos river begins in Eastern New Mexico and runs along the Texas border--emptying into the Rio Grande.Unlike many of John Wayne's early B-movies, this one is not in the public domain and the copy I saw was very crisp and clean. It also appears to have a higher budget than his earlier films for tiny production companies such as Schlessinger. Now it might surprise you to see Wayne in such a film, but through the 1930s, practically all the films he made were B-westerns. It wasn't until after successes in films such as "Stagecoach" and "They Were Expendable" that Wayne graduated to A-pictures and became a top star.The film begins with a typical baddie deciding that he's entitled to everyone's land. So, when one farmer won't sell out to him, the baddie and his henchmen kill the farmer and his wife--leaving the young boy an orphan. Naturally, the boy grows into a man (John Wayne) intent on exacting justice for his folks. Still, a decade later, the baddie is still forcing people off their land--giving them worthless promissory notes and controlling all the water. Now Wayne is a lawyer and plans on using the law to stop this jerk. Will the law be enough or will Wayne have to resort to his fists and guns? Considering that the baddie controls EVERYTHING, it's not a huge surprise where the film goes next.The film is nicely polished and watchable. The only negative is that in many of Wayne's early films he had lovable sidekicks--like Gabby Hayes. Here, despite a great villain (Cy Kendall), the supporting cast for the good guys is a bit dull. I missed the usual sidekicks, such as Gabby Hayes, as the deaf guy and his friend were a bit dull. Also, while not exactly a negative, the plot is a bit too familiar--as Wayne and many other western heroes made similar films over the years.By the way, in a sad note, you see a horse trip and throw its rider near the end (I think this was reused from an earlier film). This is sad, as to get this sort of stunt in the old days, they used trip wires to literally rip the legs out from under the horse--and usually broke the horse's legs in the process!! Fortunately, such things have long ago been outlawed--as it was a terrific waste and morally suspect!

1st watched 12/30/2001 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Joseph Kane): Uninspired early John Wayne western portraying him at his early acting stages where he seems to just be doing the lines without putting any feeling into them. This story could have brought out much emotion(Wayne's character's father being murdered and him returning as a lawyer to do in the killer) but it's pretty much kept at bay so that we're presented with a flat and typical gun-shooting contest. Wayne is a handsome young stud here but not much else and the screenplay comes across like it was written on the way over to the set without much patchwork done to it. I'm sure Wayne's tall good looks and smile kept his contract going until he was able to actually do some real acting later in his career so for this I'm grateful(I guess).