Grade: C-
Synopsis: A cowboy (John Wayne) protects a miner and his daughter from an outlaw.
The Lawless Frontier reunites much of the cast and crew from Riders of Destiny (1933), and even recycles some of the footage (love that horse dive!). The result is fairly entertaining, if a bit ridiculous, movie that improves on its predecessor. George ‘Gabby’ Hayes is great as a crotchety old miner and John Wayne does well in the lead. Unfortunately, Earl Dwire is utterly laughable as the villain and the story will have you scratching your head in more than a few places.
Still, the great stunts and fight scenes (courtesy Yakima Canutt) more than make up for it, and the 52 minute running time keeps things moving along at a brisk pace.
Bottom Line: I’m tempted to recommend it just for the horse dive, but I’ll leave it for fans of Wayne or the genre.
