The Lucky Texan (1934)

[ethanedwards]

THE LUCKY TEXAN

DIRECTED BY ROBERT NORTH BRADBURY
PRODUCED BY PAUL MALVERN
LONE STAR PRODUCTIONS
MONOGRAM PICTURES

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INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
Jerry Mason (John Wayne),graduates from college and goes out west, compling with his dying father's last wishes, to live with his father's old partner in the cattle business, Jake Benson(George Hayes.) Jerry finds Jake penniless, his cattle stolen by rustlers, with but one thing to live for, his grand-daughter, Betty (Barbara Sheldon),whom Jake is sending to college. Jerry and Jake open a blacksmith shop in the neighboring town and through a stroke of good luck, a piece of quartz-bearing-gold is removed from the hoof of one of the horses brought in. They find the mine and are successful, but when Jake sells some gold and after depositing the money he is arrested for the attempted murder of banker Williams(Gordon DeMain.)Betty arrives to live with Jake, but before she learns of his whereabouts, Jerry locates the guilty party and Jake is freed. Unwittingly, Jakes signs away his ranch to the man, Harris(Lloyd Whitlock), to whom he is selling his gold and when he refuses to tell the location of the gold mine, he is shot and left to die in the desert. Jerry finds Jake, rescues him and hides him, but Jerry is arrested for the murder of the missing Jake.In order to trap Harris and his men, Jerry says nothing about Jake being alive, as he and Jake have a plan in mind to be sprung at Jerry's trial.
Summary written by Les Adams

Writing Credits
Robert N. Bradbury (story)(screenplay)

Full Cast
John Wayne .... Jerry Mason
Barbara Sheldon .... Betty Benson
Lloyd Whitlock .... Harris
George 'Gabby' Hayes .... Jake 'Grandy' Benson (as George Hayes)
Yakima Canutt .... Joe Cole
Eddie Parker .... Al Miller (sheriff's son) (as Ed Parker)
Gordon De Main .... Banker Williams (as Gordon Demaine)
Earl Dwire .... Sheriff Miller
Tommy Coats .... Henchman (uncredited)
Phil Dunham .... Judge McGill (uncredited)
John Ince .... Townsman (uncredited)
Julie Kingdon .... Young girl (uncredited)
George Morrell .... Townsman (uncredited)
Artie Ortego .... Deputy (uncredited)
Tex Palmer .... Townsman (uncredited)
Tex Phelps .... Prospector (uncredited)
Jack Rockwell ... Townsman (uncredited)
Hal Taliaferro ... Henchman (uncredited)

Cinematography
Archie Stout

Stunts
Yakima Canutt .... stunt double: John Wayne (uncredited)
Tommy Coats .... stunt double (uncredited)

Trivia
In October of 1996 when a fire broke out on a late Saturday afternoon
in the New York studios of WNBC-TV, a station staffer quickly put a cassette
of "Lucky Texan" in the tape player on his way out of the building.
The film played on Ch. 4 uninterrupted twice, much to the confusion of viewers.

Filming Locations
Kernville, California, USA
Trem Carr Ranch, Newhall, California, USA

Watch the Full Movie

The Lucky Texan

[ethanedwards]

I am biased towards, these Lone Star films.
I enjoy all of them, for all their whirlwind, few days, low budget filming,
they are a joy, and fun to watch.

This is one of the better ones, and there are some exciting bits, good for the day.
The Lucky Texan is a 1934 Lone Star Films B-movie Western film featuring
John Wayne, five years before his breakthrough appearance in Stagecoach,
Barbara Sheldon, Gabby Hayes, and legendary stuntman–actor Yakima Canutt.
It was directed by Robert N. Bradbury who also wrote it.

The plot concerns Wayne finding gold and making the mistake of trusting the local assayer.

It also contains a rare (perhaps unique) instance of "Gabby" Hayes sans beard and in drag.

Duke was really gaining in experience.
He was growing more confident, his cadence was getting lower.
These action scenes are commendable, and.
With all the work with Yak, paying off,the fight scenes were looking real,
and director RNB was adding
dialogue to the action.
Gabby's support contributes to the film's success.
Barbara Sheldon, and Earl Dwire, Monogram favourites,
propping up the cast list

User Review

Author: B.Smith,from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Lucky Texan is one of a series of Lone Star westerns made by Wayne between 1933-35.
This one is a cut above the average.
The plot involves Wayne and his partner (George Hayes) finding gold and the efforts of baddies
Lloyd Whitlock and Yakima Canutt to cheat them out of it.

This film contains a couple of oddities for a series western.
Firstly, while pursuing one of the bad guys on horseback,
Wayne actually misses tackling him off of his horse and lands at the bottom of a ravine.
But fear not. A large downward sloping sluce just happens to be nearby and the Duke grabs a tree branch,
mounts it and slides down the sluce in time to leap up a tree and jump the fleeing villain.
Secondly, the final chase sequence is also interesting in that the baddies are escaping in an old railway utility car
and are pursued by Hayes in a vintage auto which criss crosses the tracks Keystone Cops style with the villains,
and of course by Wayne on horseback.

It is also noteworthy that Hayes, who played many different characters in this series,
plays Jake Benson very close to his eventual "Gabby" character, which he had not fully developed at this time.
The series also benefited from the stunt work of Yakima Canutt
who can be clearly seen doubling for Wayne and others in this entry.

[Senta]

Hi Keith,
I have big attraction to early Duke movies, and this one I have seen. So I enjoy you review and all detailes about it.
So it is seen that all stunts are done by Yak. But when he jumps on the horse back from different positions (and from the tail in many films) I thought that he is doing it himself (or not?)
Regards,
Vera

[ethanedwards]

Hi Vera,
Glad you're enjoying these reviews, and there's more to come.
As you can tell, these Lone Star westerns are personal favourites of mine.
What you often see, on the films, is Yak dressed as Duke and vice versa,
with Yak doubling for Duke, in the fight scenes and chases etc.
Many times, you will often see Yak, chasing Yak dressed as Duke, if you see what I mean?????

[chester7777]

Here is a 1939 re-release poster for this film.

[badger]

i watched this last night and enjoyed it - the only problem was the sound quality was not that great but i supposed i shouldn t really complain about that

[ethanedwards]

Watch the Full Movie:-


The Lucky Texan

The Lucky Texan

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[The Irish Duke]

This was really really fun, The young Duke was really hitting his stride here and Gabby Hayes was hilarious in support and even ended up in drag, took me about 15 minutes to recognize him without his beard. A surprisingly strong story with a few twists and good action particularly for the period.