User reviews

As "B' westerns go for this period, this one isn't bad. In fact, in my opinion, it's one of the best of John Wayne's early "B" westerns. It has all of the right ingredients to make this an enjoyable hour.

First and foremost it has Yakima Canutt just emerging at this time as one of the premier stunt men, performing many of his landmark stunts. There are horse falls, saving the runaway stage, a wagon going over that ever present cliff and a bang up fight scene between Wayne's character and one of the bad guys.

Canutt also has a part in the picture and is a hoot as Wayne's faithful Indian companion "Yak". Wayne himself is better than usual for this time as an undercover government agent. Also. a clean shaven George (pre-Gabby) Hayes appears as the chief villain.

Another oddity for "B" westerns of this time, is that the hero ends up married to the heroine and has a son at the end of the film (no kissing though).

This is a real B movie, right down to the historical imprecision of a location featuring both stage coaches and telephones, its clichéd dialogue, a totally predictable plot straight out of the comics and enough protracted chases and gunfights to fill in the gaps left by a very thin script.

The Duke and his entourage provide plenty of ironic laughs but, if you want to take the movie at face value, it is quite enjoyable. The good guys win, the bad guys get their comeuppance, the Duke gets his gal and Yakima Canutt shows his tricks all in a setting that engrossed generations of schoolboys over most of the 20th century.

The Star Packers should also be of interest to students of cinema as its structure encapsulates the early movement of silent film into the talkies.

Mystery, excitement, big shootouts, and a hard riding hero. So what else could a grown-up kid ask for. Yeah, I know it's gotta have a girl, but at least Wayne doesn't have to kiss her-- what mush!

Great Lone Star action fare. Some good touches-- the river canoe, the white bandannas, and even the dangerous tree stump. George Hayes has a "straight" role here, showing what a talented creation his "Gabby" was. Okay, I didn't know it then, but those are "trip wires" that make the horse go hind-quarters over head. They made for thrilling spills, but they often broke legs and we know what happens then. I'm really glad the business was made to wise up and quit them. A lot of 30's Westerns had mystery-man masterminds behind the bad guys. This one does too. But he's hardly a secret since they tip his hand early.

Anyway, I gladly plunked down my dime in those B Western days and still think those are the best dimes I ever spent.

Several reviewers have praised the stunts. I hope they are referring to stunts done by the actors and not the horses. These were the days of trip wires being used to cause horses to fall. While running full speed they make dramatic falls on camera, but they often crippled or killed the horse. Fortunately, for the most part, the practice was stopped in the early 50s. (But I did see movie made in 1952 where a trip wire was used.) Other than this criticism, it was pretty standard early John Wayne stuff.

Even for John Wayne's legendarily weak Lone Star westerns, this one's a real turkey.

Wayne plays John Travers, who takes over as sheriff of the terrorized town of Little Rock after a horse-stealing, stage-robbing mastermind known as "The Shadow" kills the last "star-packing" lawman. With the help of his Indian partner Yak (Yakima Canutt), Travers investigates how the Shadow operates and leads a gang of locals against him.

Dan Phillips makes a great point in his review here. Early in the movie, we see Yak tell Travers "two men going to hold up stage... Coyote Canyon...much money on stage." So what does Travers do? He holds up the stage himself, disarms the guard riding shotgun, a guy named Joe, and rides off with the loot, leaving the disarmed guard and driver to be shot by the hold-up men, the guard fatally. Travers only rides in after the hold-up men ride off, to save the driver and the pretty girl Anita (Verna Hillie) on the stage.

What the heck!

We are told early on by rancher Matt Matlock (George – not yet Gabby – Hayes), that the Shadow "has absolutely no regard for human life." That apparently holds true for Travers as well, who shares a laugh with Anita after the shooting death of poor Joe. Sure, he foiled the robbery by stealing the money, but why couldn't he and Yak have hung around and stopped the stage robbery by riding up on the bad guys from behind?

You aren't supposed to ask questions with these sorts of films, made for young boys who craved adventure. But I'm pretty sure they were bright enough to wonder about Travers, too. Later in the film, Travers leads a captured baddie to a wall safe from which the Shadow gives his orders. Travers is only a few feet away from the guy, separated by an open safe door. Why not grab the Shadow then and there?

The only explanation we get is given at the start of the movie, by Yak: "More trouble, more fun." If Travers stopped the Shadow then, he wouldn't have had another chance to save Anita from a runaway wagon.

"The Star Packer" does have a lot of stunts. I counted five horse spills effected by trip-wires, those things that the ASPCA finally put a stop to which killed many of the horses. They made the horses fall end-over-end, risking broken necks and legs. You don't really need them, and other Lone Star westerns don't use them nearly so often. Here, director Robert N. Bradbury was taking no chances. He knew he had a bore of a story on his hands, and must have counted on the stunts to liven things up.

The usual Lone Star gang is in evidence here, including Canutt and Hayes playing on opposite sides of the law, though not the same sides their characters were usually on. Earl Dwire, a personal favorite, is a bad guy here, like he was half the time in these movies, as a villain who sneers "We'll be outta here by noon tomorrow" when Travers puts him behind bars.

Wayne is more wooden here than normal, and kind of dull, unusually so for him. He generates zero chemistry with Hillie and seems ready to move on to his next on-screen adventure. The film moves so predictably that I can't blame him. Even with a town interestingly tricked-up with hollowed logs and secret passages, everything moves in such a slow fashion you don't care how it ends, just so it does.

Will Travers save the town and win the girl? I could have cared less. All I could do was think of poor Joe and those horses. They deserved better. So do you.

JOHN WAYNE is slim and lithe as a cowboy who anoints himself sheriff after the bad guys rub too many of the town's citizens out. From then on it's like watching a Hopalong Cassidy movie except this one is from Lone Star and is obviously a poverty row project with a few interesting moments for anyone who stays with it for 53 minutes.

The tree stump idea puzzled me, as did the wall vault which served as the device behind which The Shadow gave orders--and the whole plot is so rushed that there's little time to digest any of the backstory that leads up to the main storyline. A pretty girl is the romantic interest for Wayne but has little to do and GEORGE HAYES is beardless for this one before he grew his trademark stubble.

Actually, the slender story seems like something borrowed from a Zane Grey western--the one where the girl is part owner of a ranch, the bad guy is actually someone she knows but never suspects, and a cowboy with strong capabilities comes along and rescues her when she's in danger.

The covered wagon going over the cliff into water is a neat sight toward the end and some of the stunt work involving riders and horses is on the mark. YAKIMA CANUTT is fun to watch as Wayne's Indian sidekick, a sort of Tonto to Wayne who rides a white horse.

Passes the time quickly, but is clearly John Wayne as an apprentice actor.

Definitely the best of John Wayne's million early films, although the acting and production values were of the usual B Western standard the plot was probably more cohesive than usual and more watchable. And almost believable, too! The Lone Star Saloon in Lone Star Town also had a good part in this one.

It's pretty obvious who the baddie will turn out to be (yet again!) - you can almost hear the boos from the kids in the audience from the mid-'30's when he makes his appearance, again as a beardless two-faced sidewinder. I assume here that unlike nowadays kids back then knew the difference between good guys and bad guys and right and wrong. Yakima Canutt is playing a Tonto character in here, Wayne is as dashing as always, the chases and ambushes are everything to be desired, in fact especially hair-raising. However, I can't actually remember now Wayne actually packing a Star, if he did he didn't make the same song and dance about it as he did in Rio Bravo! And everything is corny, contrived and creaky - but I love it just the same.

As far as I'm concerned it's a very pleasant way to fill an hour - a lot is "packed" into an hour. If you forced yourself to watch Star Packer in its entirety and found it dreadful you'll never get that hour back, but my friendly observation is you certainly won't like any of Wayne's other films for Lone Star.

This is an early John Wayne oater. It is very typical for that era. John Wayne, of course, plays the good guy and a lawman, and Yakima Canute, who is in a ton of John Wayne's early movies, usually as a bad guy, plays a good guy for a change. even it it is a very stereotypical Indian sidekick, (insensitive by today's politically correct idiots). Of course this movie is in black and white, since color was still on the horizon, so some of the video does leave a bit to be desired but I did and still do enjoy the good guy versus bad guy movies where most things are pretty clear. I also like his later movies that had a bit more suspense.

The reason I like these matinée westerns from this era is probably because they make me feel like a kid again but I have other reasons that I think are pretty good. For one thing they are utterly without pretense. They do not pretend to be anything but entertainment for kids and unpretentiousness is real hard to find. There may be some out there but if you look for it you will find that it doesn't grow on trees. And they're just fun. The female lead is always charming, and the horsemanship, these films are always loaded with extras that are real cowboys. Apparently the reduction of manpower needed on the large cattle ranches coincided with the rise of the film industry so all these unemployed cowboys went to Hollywood. And could they ride. They just tore around like a house on fire and the ease and control that they demonstrate with these horses is a wonder to watch for a tenderfoot like me. But the plots get a little monotonous, I think there's only about two of them or three, maybe. You have to kind of overlook that. Anyway Star Packer is no exception. What makes it stand out is for one thing it has George "Gabby" Hayes one of the greatest character actors ever. But the main thing is that it has one of my Hollywood favorites, Pendleton Round-Up Rodeo champion and pioneer stuntman Yakima Canutt. Now John Wayne made a lot of westerns in this era and Yakima Canutt was in every one of them as Wayne's stunt double. He was also in practically every one of the as one of them as one of the bad guys, usually the leader. What makes this movie special is that, as far as I know, this is the only time he ever appears as a good guy.He has a very entertaining part as John Wayne's Tonto-like side kick. This includes an extremely charming and hilarious final scene in which he completely enthralls Wayne's young son with his Indian dancing and attempts to corrupt him into becoming an Indian himself. This is much to the amusement of Wayne and his wife, Verna Hillie. I have noticed that a bunch of these John Waynes have been colorized. My brother won't look at them but I think that as long as I have access to the original, I like having them. The landscapes are particularly beautiful. It's the sound that's bad. They dub in new voices that are terrible. And the music, it's some kind of spaghetti western sounding stuff that has nothing with the charm of the era. View at your peril.

On the surface this looks like a mundane 30s oater meant as a filler during matinees. But it really is much more than that. Besides the pleasure of seeing a young John Wayne after "The Big Trail" and before his breakout role in "Stagecoach", you have the talents of Yakima Canutt as Wayne's native American assistant, one of the best stunt men in the business who lived to the ripe old age of 90. Oh, and he wasn't actually native American, as many articles falsely say.

Wayne plays a federal man meant to clean out a gang led by "The Shadow" that has been brazenly carrying out all kinds of crimes in and around a town and killing all of the sheriffs. Wayne shows up and takes the job as The Shadow has just killed the last one. Strangely enough his henchmen talk to him through what looks like a wall safe in a back room in the jail house. You have to wonder how the first conversation between this guy and a criminal got started, but I guess that's another story.

The heroine is not just some helpless gal that shrieks, although Duke does have to rescue her from a runaway stage in the beginning. But later she shows her toughness as she is harassed through her bedroom window at night by a stranger. She just calmly gets out of bed, grabs her gun, shoots the peeping tom, and goes back to sleep. There's a little lady who knows how to handle a home invasion!

Oh, and some hints for evil doers. If you are caught in the act and asked in the plain light of day who the ring leader is don''t respond with a lengthy prologue like "OK, OK, I'll tell, I'll tell...". This gives the Shadow time to shoot you.

My title comes from the fact that the final chase on horseback - there always is one in these old westerns - has Duke and the men of the town all wearing white head scarves to differentiate themselves from the Shadow's gang that is coming to attack the town. The thing is, they are not scarves they are head bandages,so they all look like head injury victims. It really is a humorous scene.

Recommended for an early John Wayne, a rather clever plot with some unusual twists and turns, and the great Yakima Canutt, stuntman and second unit director extraordinaire.

Some stunts by Canute are the only thing good in this. Even by B movie standards, this is bottom of the barrel. Even for a Wayne film, pretty bad, confused, makes no sense, not much action, cardboard characters at best.

At worst, it's Canute as a ridiculously obvious white guy playing Indian. And don't spout the idiotic defense of "of that time." There have been Native actors since the 1900s, even huge stars like Lillian St. Cyr or Red Wing, and James Young Deer. The awful POS script even has Canute shouting "Ugh!" like the worst of stereotypes.

Wayne doesn't do much but stand there. Never a great actor, Marion Morrison's image hadn't been fully manufactured by manager yet.

Mediocre oater with some impressive stunt work and a fairly confusing script. Assuming they actually used a script. John Wayne plays a marshal out to break up a gang of bandits led by the not-that-mysterious Shadow (Gabby Hayes). Stunt man extraordinaire Yakima Canutt does the stunts and plays the role of Wayne's Indian friend. As a stuntman, he's quite good. As an actor, he's a good stuntman. The plot to this one's a mess. Wayne's character causes the death of an innocent man and doesn't seem to care. The movie never even addresses it! Only worth checking out if you're a Wayne completist. Otherwise, pass this one up.

I really liked this early John Wayne picture,, he teams up with Gabby Hayes, and Yakuma Cannut. going against type,, George "Gabby" Hayes plays the bad guy in this film,,, the local sheriff meats his demise,, and his friend, played by the Duke, takes on the role of the local sheriff, he teams up with his Indian partner,, played by Cannut . together they go after "The Shadow".. the find a secret command center underneath a fake covering of some sorts in the street behind a wall or something like that,, and it's the command center for all of the Shadow's activity,, love the scene where the Duke is chasing the bad guy on horseback while the villain is going downstream in a canoe,, very decent early John Wayne film.

Pretty fair oater from the Duke's early years has some unusual casting. Yakima Canutt has his idea of some "skookum fun" as a good guy for a change from his normal villainous role, and Gabby Hayes plays against type as the bad guy. Canutt's part would seem to be an early model for another famous Indian buddy of a lawman, namely that of "Tonto." (Note also the Duke's horse could pass for "Silver.") As a resident from the same part of Yakima Canutt's home state, I was pleasantly surprised when Wayne as Travers identifies one of the Shadow's gang as a "lifer from Walla Walla" which is the site of Washington's maximum security state prison. Incidentally, Walla Walla is about an hour and a half's drive from Colfax, where Canutt was raised, and whose hometown he shares with Turner Classic Movies' host Robert Osborne. Fellow gangster Loco Frank, shown in the same scene, turns out to be Glenn Strange, who later had a famous role as Kitty's bartender in "Gunsmoke." The action scenes are not particularly outstanding, although the climactic chase scene is very distinctive involving the villain's canoe being chased downriver by the Duke on horseback. Although the title's a misnomer in that the Duke is never seen with a badge, that's the biggest fault in what I'd otherwise heartily recommend for something a bit out of the ordinary in the Duke's apprentice stage of his career. Dale Roloff

In the "Did you know?" ssection a user mentions due to a lack of copyright there are problems in obtaining a good copy of the film. Today the GRIT Channel is airing a colorized - and dubbed copy - with a male voice not belongng to John Wayne!

Suspecting that a stagecoach carrying money is about to be ambushed by bandits "John Travers" (John Wayne) decides to rob the stage first and then quickly rides off. When the bandits arrive only minutes later and discover that there is no money they shoot both the driver and the guard and then let the stagecoach drive out-of-control with a young woman passenger by the name of "Anita Matlock" (Verna Hillie) still in the cabin. Fortunately, John Travers manages to catch up to the stagecoach before any harm comes to her. Once they ride into the nearby town it's learned that 2 sheriffs have been killed by these bandits who are led by a man known only as "The Shadow". And then the 3rd sheriff is shot and killed as well which causes John Travers to volunteer to become the next one. At any rate, rather than detail any more of this film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that although it's quite short (only 53 minutes) it managed to condense enough of the story to turn out an okay little western all the same. Obviously, it's not the best John Wayne movie ever made but those who enjoy his movies might want to give this one a try too. That said I rate it as about average.