There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The worst of the Lone Star John Wayne westerns is a real drag to watch, whether you like John Wayne or just have better things to do with 50 minutes.That Pedro Zanti (Earl Dwire) is one crafty villain. We are told he is half-white, half-Apache, but pretends to be a Mexican for some reason, which means he imitates Ricardo Montalbán even when issuing orders to his gang during a cattle-rustling job. He's so crafty he even fixes it so the theft takes place both at day and at night, depending on which camera is shooting. He speaks English fluently, yet is undone in the end because they don't write warning signs in bad accents.The nominal hero of the piece, John Tobin (John Wayne), is the son of one of Zanti's victims, as seen in the opening, when he discovers his dead father after lighting a match. Wayne grimaces as if he had a bad meal, which is about all the emotion he bothers to project. You think you are getting a revenge film, but after pretty Sheila Terry shows up needing rescue in a nearby river, that element gets flung by the wayside as Tobin decides to help her out. Luckily for him, this is a film chock-a-full of bad coincidences, so he can bag Zanti and the girl without as much as a cutaway shot.Dwire, a solid performer in other Lone Star films, narrows his eyes and smiles a lot, looking ridiculously out-of-place in his charro outfit and spindly legs.Everyone seems to be sleepwalking in this one. Director Robert N. Bradbury aims for the youngsters, with hidden doors and lots of shooting and dangerous-looking horse falls. About the only half- interesting plot element to be found in "The Lawless Frontier" is a sheriff character who doesn't much care about doing his job, announcing "I don't trust nobody!" He blames Tobin for everything, steals credit for Zanti's capture, and stupidly allows Zanti to escape by handcuffing his boot to a bedpost, as if he thinks the boot is part of his foot. The sheriff is so stupidly incompetent, he's the one character in this film that almost works."He started off alright, but he's sure gone to seed," says a fellow named Dusty played by George (not yet "Gabby") Hayes.You can't say the same for "Lawless Frontier," not after its confused day-for-night-for-day opener. It never goes to seed but stays bad right up to the silly ending where Tobin manages to trap a gang of bad guys with a crate of dynamite that just happens to be lying around. I guess it gave the little nippers a bang, and let the adults in the theater know it was time to wake up.

"The Lawless Frontier" is another of John Wayne's Lone Star westerns released in the 1933-35 period. As in many of the other entries in the series, this one was written and directed by Robert N. Bradbury (who was Bob Steele's father by the way.) Again the cast is made up mostly from the "Lone Star Stock Company" of players.The plot has young John Tobin (Wayne) arriving at his father's ranch just after he has been killed by a gang of rustlers headed by bandit Pandro Zanti (Earl Dwire) and his gang. Zanti, who for what it is worth, is half Apache, half white, is posing as a Mexican outlaw complete with accent.Zanti comes upon the small ranch of Dusty (George Hayes) and his comely young grand daughter Ruby (Sheila Terry), and decides to take the girl unto himself. Arriving just as Zanti is about to murder Dusty and carry off Ruby, Tobin arrives and joins forces with Dusty to bring the bandits to justice. Tobin has an eye for the lovely Ruby as well. Into the mix rides Sheriff Luke Williams (Jack Rockwell) who is also in pursuit of the bandits. In true "B" western fashion, the good guys win out over the baddies and guess who gets the girl.As in most of Wayne's Lone Star Westerns, the level is raised somewhat by the expert stunt work of the legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt. He jumps a horse over a cliff and performs several horse falls and riding stunts in this one, as well as playing the part of Dwire's henchman Joe.In the world of poverty row quickies, re-takes almost never happened. This film is no exception. Watch the scene where Wayne chases and takes down Dwire. As they get up out of the dust, Wayne's gun and holster suddenly switch from his right side to his left and back to the right again as he mounts his horse.George Hayes was still a couple of years away from his grizzled old sidekick of "Windy/Gabby". In this film though he looks like Gabby and sounds like Gabby but plays it straight. Hayes played a variety of character roles in this series and didn't settle into his sidekick role until he joined the Hopalong Cassidy series in 1935. The "Gabby" character didn't come along until he moved to Republic around 1938 to ride with Roy Rogers. John Wayne was still learning his trade at this point but if you watch closely you can catch glimpses of his future on-screen persona emerging.Average "B" western lifted a notch or two by the excellent stunt work.

The most die-hard worshippers of John Wayne will cringe when they watch The Lawless Frontier. Even for a poverty row studio, this one is one stinkeroo.Unusual for a western we have a criminal who is a sex crime perpetrator. Earl Dwire plays a halfbreed white and Indian who for reasons that are not explained, pretends he's a Mexican, hokey accent and all. Dwire sounds like the Frito Bandito of advertising fame back in the day.He and his gang happen upon Gabby Hayes and his daughter Sheila Terry. They really don't have anything worth robbing, but Dwire just wants an excuse to kidnap Terry and have his way with her. She hears the dastardly fate she has in store and she and Hayes flee the ranch. Where they happen to meet John Wayne who's on the trail of the bandits. They also run into one very stupid sheriff who believes Wayne is one of the bandits. Again for reasons I can't quite fathom.It was a tough way to earn a living grinding out horse operas like these for the Duke. Fortunately better things were on the way.

John's parents are killed by a renegade bandit, played to the hilt by perennial bad guy, Earl Dwire. Dwire injures Hayes, who joins with John to bring him and his gang to justice.The local sheriff, Jack Rockwell, is convinced that John's one of the gang, and when Hayes is shot, arrests John for the shooting.There are the usual chases, gun battles, and fights that hallmark these "B" Westerns. There is one extended walking scene where you can see the Duke perfecting his special walk that became a trademark.An excellent stunt has John riding a log down a large drainage ditch. Pretty amazing, and not without danger to the actor.Beware though, the DVD copy looks as if they took the print from an Extended Play (EP) VHS copy. Very disappointing, but, a classic from John Wayne.