The Lone Star John Wayne westerns are a weak series in the main; this early effort proves no exception despite a promising opening.Randy Bowers (Wayne) rides to an isolated saloon to talk to the proprietor, only to find him and two others shot to death inside. Moments later, the law arrives and takes a protesting Randy into custody. Can Randy clear his name and bring the true perpetrators to justice?"You don't look like a killer," says the proprietor's niece, in what amounts to Randy's only interrogation."Well, I'm not," he answers. "Just give me a chance. I can prove it."The opening sequence is a mini-masterpiece of mood setting. We see Randy enter the saloon, his face suddenly registering the carnage inside. In addition to the bodies, there's an open safe and a player piano still playing a happy tune. Real eyes follow him from the cut-out eyeholes of a portrait; next to the safe is a shot-up wanted poster with a warning: "Lay off sheriff, or you'll get the same thing..."But director Harry L. Fraser is pretty much out of bullets after that. Instead, we are treated to a double role by George (not yet "Gabby") Hayes, as a genial mute storeowner who secretly runs the gang of villains behind the triple murder.Why is Randy there? Why is the sheriff so quick to slip the cuffs on him? Why does the niece keep her silence about Randy's innocence? Most critically, why is the town so easily taken in by "Matt the Mute's" fake mustache, while his scowling face decorates so many wanted posters?"Randy Rides Alone" is not a film for such introspection. It's designed as a brief boys-own escape from Depression-era miseries, with many elements that would be used in other Lone Star Wayne vehicles before and after. There are secret passages, double identities, horse chases, a lazy sheriff, and a nasty henchman, the latter two played by Lone Star regulars Earl Dwire and Yakima Canutt, respectively. Randy manages to win the girl's affections, another trope.There are moments you feel like Fraser was having fun with the formula. The opening is unusually effective, and watching Hayes finally tire of his "Matt the Mute" charade in a showdown with the niece (Alberta Vaughn) with his last line ("No one makes a fool of Marvin Black") has a silly zest about it.What kills the film is the outrageously slow pacing. Others point out the scenes where we have to wait for "Matt" to write out one of his messages, but the whole film moves like that, slowly and with a kind of counter-energy. Fraser may have had a talent for mood-setting, but directing for action seems beyond him. The final showdown is a major letdown this way. We see the villainous outlaws surrounded in their hideout, and have been told the area is littered with hidden dynamite. Sounds promising, but the shooting fails to trigger any explosions and is over quickly while Randy chases Marvin/Matt for a final scene that strains credulity. Instead of escaping, Hayes' character goes back to the saloon to get the loot he believes is there, only to get a faceful of splinters for his trouble.At least Wayne is in good form, and seems to be having fun in this B- picture outing. That's more than I could say for me.

Wait, John Wayne plays a guy named Randy? Seriously? If there was ever a guy who looked less like a Randy than John Wayne, I haven't seen him. Oh and the bad guy's name is Marvin! Anyway, so cowboy Randy walks into a saloon and discovers everybody inside murdered. While he's looking around, the sheriff and a posse show up, assume Randy is the killer, and arrest him. Randy manages to escape, however, and begins looking for the real killers. The lead bad guy Marvin is played by Gabby Hayes. When Marvin, who's been disguising himself among the good guys, has meetings with his gang he takes time to change into an all-black outfit, complete with the standard black hat. Classic. After the opening few minutes, which were interesting, this becomes a pretty routine horse opera. The only thing missing is that no girls were tied to railroad tracks. Wayne does fine but it's all standard programmer stuff so don't expect much.

John Wayne enters a saloon to find a player piano tinkling the ivories to a room full of dead people and is promptly arrested! The real culprit is Hayes, who masquerades as kindly Matt the mute (!) and had the men killed as part of a land grab scheme.There isn't as much action in Randy Rides Alone as there is in some of the other John Wayne/ Lone Star productions, though there are a few good stunts courtesy of Yakima Canutt, the one where he leaps forward off a rolling horse being a particular standout.What really makes this good is the irresistible chance to see one of the few performances in which the clean shaven George Hayes plays a black-hatted heavy.Waynes quip, "That's the end of Matt the mute.", is priceless!

"Randy Rides Alone" is one of the better entries in John Wayne's Lone Star westerns made in the early to mid 30s. And if you've ever wondered what George "Gabby" Hayes looked like without his whiskers, then this film is for you. Wayne plays undercover investigator Randy Bowers who is sent to investigate a series of robberies committed by Marvin Black (Hayes) and his gang. He comes upon a half-way house which has apparently been robbed and everyone in it killed. But heroine Alberta Vaughn has escaped by hiding in a secret back room. Bowers meanwhile, is arrested for the carnage by the sheriff (Earl Dwire). Black masquerades as Marvin the Mute, the General Store owner, a respectable townsman. Bowers escapes jail and manages to infiltrate the gang and well, you probably can guess the rest. John Wayne was in the midst of learning his craft in this series. This entry is better than most, particularly the "Singing Sandy" pictures. Hayes before he became "Gabby", played a variety of roles in the series. Sometimes he was the villain, other times the father of the heroine and sometimes a forerunner of the grizzled sidekick that we would soon come to know. Veteran stuntman Yakima Canutt also worked regularly in the series doubling just about everybody. He also played the parts of henchmen in several of them. In this one he's Hayes chief henchman "Spike". Not a bad "B" western for its time.