Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
Console
best movie i've ever seen.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
utgard14
Early John Wayne oater is pretty routine stuff for this point in his career. Duke plays an undercover marshal who teams up with cantankerous sheriff Gabby Hayes to stop a group of crooks whose leader is plotting to steal land from the townsfolk. You see, thar's gold in them thar hills. Eleanor Hunt plays Duke's love interest. Stuntman extraordinaire Yakima Canutt plays the Polka Dot Bandit. Gotta love that. As usual with a lot of these old westerns, the stunt work is first-rate. Duke and Gabby are fun. Early snicker-worthy scene in hotel run by George Cleveland has a newlywed groom telling Cleveland "I can't find it." What exactly he can't find is never explained. I'll leave it to you to figure out.
James Hitchcock
This "Blue Steel" has no connection with the Jamie Lee Curtis vehicle from the late eighties. This one is one of the many Western B-movies which John Wayne made during the mid-thirties. The title, in fact, seems fairly meaningless, and the film is also sometimes referred to as "An Innocent Man", a title which makes more sense in the context of the plot. In most of his Westerns made in this period, Wayne plays characters with the Christian name John, probably a deliberate attempt by the studio to create a distinctive identity for him. Here he plays John Carruthers, an undercover US Marshal who is in a small Western town investigating a string of robberies committed by the "Polka Dot Bandit", so called from the distinctive neckerchief he wears. While in town, however, Carruthers uncovers a completely different crime. A leading local citizen named Malgrove has discovered that, unknown to anyone else in town, there is a rich vein of gold underneath the area. Malgrove and a gang of bandits have therefore formed a plan to force the local people out of town so that he can purchase their land for a pittance and claim the gold for himself. The bandits have cut off all food supplies, leaving the townspeople with the choice of either fleeing or starving to death. (It is never explained why the town was established in a remote desert location with no local farms or other means of feeding itself). It falls to Carruthers to try and thwart this dastardly plot with the help of the local sheriff. The sheriff, who is unaware that Carruthers is a US Marshal, wrongly believes him to be the Polka Dot Bandit, but (again for unexplained reasons) fails to arrest him."Blue Steel" is typical of many of the Westerns made by "Poverty Row" studios during the thirties, and shares many of their flaws- a confusing or irrational plot, some dodgy acting and some badly done action sequences, especially the fist fights. (Most of them seemed to feature at least one punch-up between the hero and his antagonists- perhaps the censors would not have been happy with too much gunplay, which was the more common way of settling disputes in the Old West). It lacks the striking landscape photography which distinguishes another Wayne Western from 1934, "The Trail Beyond". Some of the stunts are well performed- the cast includes the famous stunt man Yakima Canutt, a close friend of Wayne- and there are occasional moments of excitement, but this is really one of those films that is only remembered today because its leading man went on to become a Hollywood icon. 4/10
FightingWesterner
Mystery man John Wayne assists Sheriff George (pre-Gabby) Hayes in his search for polka-dot bandit Yakima Canutt and in the course of the investigation, uncovers a plot by a crooked mining company to steal land from innocent property owners.Blue Steel is quite possibly the best film Wayne made during his tenure as a Lone Star/Monogram Pictures contract star, helped along by some great camera work, editing, and excellent use of locations, as well as some nice work by legendary stuntman Canutt. The special effect at the film's climax is also pretty good for a poverty row production.In one scene, some metal power-lines are clearly visible atop a ridge!Lastly, a colorized version blandly retitled Stolen Goods looks really neat and is worth checking out, that is if you're not an old fuddy-duddy!
morrison-dylan-fan
A few years ago i went on a holiday to wales and in a shop i saw a DVD with 3 films that star John Wayne!Having got round to seeing Blue Steel at last,I have to say i was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. The Plot:During one night in a hotel,a bunch of outlaws sneak in and crack the safe and take all the money.Just after they leave,Wayne wakes up and (having seen the safe left open.)He decides to chase after them (what Wayne does not know is that someone else woke up,and thinks he did it!)Later on that day the outlaws shoot a girls father.With all this happening,can Wayne make the town safe again. View on the film:Direction/Screenplay-The writer and director was Robert Bradbury.One of the things Bradbury does well is to start the film the film off with scenes that feel a bit like the Frank Capra classic classic Arsnick and Old Lace.He also does well in creating other very enjoyable scenes(the barn yard scene and the stuns with the horses are the stand outs.) Final view on the film: A very enjoyable short John Wayne Western.
