Listonixio
Fresh and Exciting
Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
JohnHowardReid
Don't be deceived by the re-issue poster which prominently features George "Gabby" Hayes (sic). Oh, Hayes is in the movie all right. In fact, he plays two key roles, but neither is a "Gabby". One is the very reverse – a mute who writes copious notes on scraps of paper. You won't recognize the other "Gabby" either. Nevertheless, Hayes is excellent in both roles, and part of the reason for wanting to see this film is to enjoy George Hayes's dual, offbeat performances. John Wayne fans, however, are going to be a bit disappointed. True, he's in good form but, despite the fact that he's playing the title character, he isn't in the film for long stretches. Therefore, as you might expect, there's not a great deal of action and what there is – a couple of chases from fixed camera positions and a tame fist fight with Yak Canutt – is not all that inspiring, thanks to Harry Fraser's dull direction. Even the locations fail to impress – aside from the waterfall into which Yak, doubling for Wayne, does a spectacular dive! Still the story and its characters are mildly intriguing – and everyone remembers the chilling and really weird opening sequence. In fact, this is the most effective scene in the movie. The heroine is a bit of a write-off – and she has a large part too! Aside from Hayes, and perhaps Canutt, the support cast is totally uninteresting. However, all in all, although not one of Wayne's most exciting Lone Stars, "Randy Rides Alone" does have its points of appeal.
dougdoepke
Above average fare from the Lone Star crew of worthies-- Hayes, Canutt, Dwire, and of course Wayne. Lindsley Parsons did several scripts for Wayne and Lone Star, but this one's arguably his best. Wayne's an undercover agent on the trail of an outlaw gang whose latest robbery ends in a massacre of saloon patrons and staff. The opening is a grabber as the camera surveys the corpse strewn floor, while a player piano bangs away in the background, eyes peer from holes in a painting, and a secret panel opens. The outlaw gang has a neat hideout in a hollow behind a waterfall. Their digs even includes, of all things, its own jail where the leading lady ends up! Some good hard riding, including (alas!) a trip-wire spill that looks dramatic, but I wonder if the horse survived. Canutt comes up with usual spectacular stunt as Wayne takes a fall from a ladder high up a rock face. Can't help but notice that Alberta Vaughn looks much too young to stack up as an adult leading lady, but manages okay in the acting department. The movie's unusual for rare use of a miniature as a special effect. It's pretty well done and money well spent since the ending makes unexpectedly good use of it. All in all, it's good clean fun, as they used to say.
LebowskiT1000
I've never been a fan of westerns, which is probably why up until last night I'd never seen a film starring John Wayne. Of course it doesn't help that our lives only overlapped by a year, so I didn't have a great deal of opportunity to see any of his films (in the theater at least). I received this film in a VHS films lot that I won from ebay, so I finally popped it in last night and gave it a whirl.I went in expecting a really low budget, really old western...needless to say, my expectations were pretty low. All in all, I'd have to say the film really isn't that bad. I don't have any other John Wayne films to compare it to, so thus far it's my favorite. I can however, compare it to other westerns, and frankly, it was no "Tombstone", but it was worth my time.The story is nothing fantastic, but it's has it's moments. The acting was just fine as far as I could tell and overall production value was OK, granted it was made in the 30's, so again, I wasn't expecting much. One scene in particular made me laugh out loud. Whenever the halfway-house is shown from a bird's eye view it is CLEARLY a scale model, it's hilarious how bad it actually looks...but again...30's.In any case, I have no idea who to recommend this film to, but I will say that it's really short (60 minutes) so it won't take up too much of your time and it's kind of fun to see a film this old to appreciate films of today and how far they've come, not to say that this is bad, but just to further appreciate film-making.Hope you enjoy it.P.S. I just realized that this film has the honor of being the 3rd oldest film I've ever seen (as of 7-26-2006).
var-1
I had seen this movie when I was a boy (Before WWII) and was surprised that the local library had a copy. Saw it again after some sixty years and forgot how bad it was. This is an example of a movie that was not a "A" movie. No editing, poor script, weak acting and not much directing. Should not even be as high as a "B" Had a laugh at how jaded I've become over the years. Seems to me I thought it was good when I originally saw it.
