John Wayne plays a wavy haired, coonskin-cap wearing frontiersman. That's about all you need to know about this entertaining though thoroughly routine colonial tale of Wayne taking on corrupt British captain George Sanders. Claire Trevor plays the love interest, who falls for Wayne despite his mullet.

Disappointing and Rather Flat Historical Costume Adventure that has John Wayne (the year He became a real Movie Star, after Stagecoach) as a Salt of the Earth Pennsylvanian and His band of "Merry Men" having to put up with Marauding Indians and those Uppity Brits.Claire Trevor is Top Billed and has many a Scenes where She Tries to be "One of the Boys" and Tags Along with Long Rifle in hand. She is Thwarted at every turn by the Macho Men. One of the many "Comedy" Scenes has Her almost Succeeding until She is told to take off Her Shirt (she is in disguise as a painted up Indian). Ha Ha.This is a Movie where a lot of Guns are Fired but very few Hit their Target. Some of the time On Purpose. It has a Short Running Time and things move along briskly but not without some Clunk and Awkwardness. Trevor is Borderline Over the Top and Her Father's Happy Drunk anticipates John Ford's Fascination with the Type.Overall, George Sanders Steals the Show as a British Officer and His Contempt and Surprise at just how Defiant these Ruffians are is again, Comical, at times and it isn't meant to be. Wayne says at one point, and this is the whole purpose of This Thing, something like, "I guess you Brits will never understand our ways."Overall, Worth a Watch for Wayne's Breakout Year, but the Film Feels all Wrong. Average or a Tad Below for its Kind, Time, and Place.

Claire Trevor actually gets top billing in this one. She is the very fiery daughter of the local inn keeper. She is in love with Wayne who just fobs her off. He doesn't want to be reined in by any female. This is prior to the Revolution and the English are their typical a**holes. There is the crooked rum running arms trader to the Indians. He gets the frontiersmen in trouble with the Redcoats. The locals not only stand up to the Brits but take up arms, capture the fort and things get interesting from there. The nasty bad Indians attack some farms and capture a young girl. This gets the locals up in arms again. They mark up like the Indians and go after them. Claire Trevor wants to go as she can shoot as well as any of them. Wayne doesn't want her to go so says everyone must go shirtless so she has to stay. Every thing ends well for the good guys and the traders get their comeuppance.

American colonists in Pennsylvania rise up against an English army that allows illegal trading with the Indians.The movie might be more properly titled San Fernando Valley Uprising since the terrain is familiar from a thousand matinée Westerns. Still, the producers popped for a bunch of extras with redcoats and also an impressive looking fort that even has realistic tree stumps indicating a cleared forest on the approaches.To me, however, the movie's a disappointment. More importantly, the material shows why John Ford was such a master of this type of movie— that is,"winning the West" with roistering men and headstrong women, amusing drunks and slippery villains. The trouble here is that there's nothing humorous about the obnoxious drunk (Lawson), while Trevor in a padded part goes way over the top as a tomboy, but worse, she's allowed to interrupt the action just as it gets rolling. The screenplay doesn't help either. Note that despite all the shooting and confrontations, no redcoat kills a colonist or vice-versa-- a rather strange outcome for an armed "uprising". My guess is that the pre-war year 1939 didn't want to show potential allies against the Nazis killing each other; then again, maybe American or British casualties would have complicated sorting out blame, which otherwise lies with the sneaky traders (Donlevy & Wolfe). Whatever the reason, it remains a pretty unbelievable development, given all the shooting. On the other hand, Wayne shows potential as an outstanding leader of men, while Sanders is excellent as usual as a literate snob, this time an English officer. I did miss a strong Ward Bond-type as Wayne's buddy instead of the rather foolish professor (Hamilton). Anyway, the elements don't really gel into the kind of action movie that gets remembered. I just wish that superb story teller John Ford had gotten hold of the material first.