Review of The Lawless Nineties (1936) by Aaron A — 03 Mar 2012

"what preventin' you from gettin' married yourself?".

Synopsis: Federal agent John Tipton goes to the Wyoming territory to clean out the bandits who are harassing settlers and preventing a vote for statehood.

Before John Ford's classic Stagecoach, westerns were the equivalent of the sci-fi films of the 50's and sixties. Instead of the obligatory monster, there was in it's place the obligatory gunfight or physical confrontation. The characters were poorly developed and the actors chosen were often of limited talent. Productions were small and economic and the writing was considered inferior to other contemporary genre's. Or, so i've read.

The Lawless Nineties is my very first pre-Stagecoach B-movie western. And everything i've read about such a film is completely represented in this John Wayne picture. The film is very blunt, simple, and uninspired but the actual story is a rather interesting one involving voting polls and a motion for statehood. This early western is also greatly helped by some fine action sequences, and when the film takes to horseback, it's surprisingly entertaining. Inevitably though, when the picture returns to the studio to capture interior scenes the film loses it's momentum.

Otherwise there really isn't much to say about The Lawless Nineties, it's obviously shares many similarities with the later sci-fi films of the sixties, meaning it's quite campy in it's own way, but it's a nice curiosity for fans of westerns, and probably one of the better to hail from a time before john Ford redefined the genre.