Grade: D+
Synopsis: Wounded while pursuing his father’s killers, a cowboy (John Wayne) recovers to continue the search.
The Dawn Rider is, for better or worse, a fairly unremarkable entry among the westerns John Wayne made for Lone Star Productions.
The cast is fine. Marion Burns actually registers as Wayne’s love interest, a rarity among Wayne’s female co-stars in the Lone Star pictures, and Yakima Canutt provides a good villain, though the absence of frequent supporting player George Hayes is noticeable. For his part, Wayne is charming in the lead, though still a little wooden from time to time.
The biggest problem with The Dawn Rider is that it’s got little to recommend it. The stunts by Canutt are middle of the road for the genre, and writer/director Robert N. Bradbury telegraphs his plot in the opening minutes, providing little in the way of suspense or surprise. In a genre known for sacrificing story for action, The Dawn Rider opts to sacrifice action for story, with disappointing results.
Bottom Line: One or two knockout action sequences could have elevated The Dawn Rider to a solid entry, but as is, it’s sub-par.
