. . . inattentive viewers of this flick probably will ask. My fashion consultant swears that Cilia Parker's bubble butt riding pants would clearly define her as female from a mile away, but the DUMB AND DUMBER henchmen featured in RIDERS OF DESTINY--"Bert" and "Elmer" (almost Muppets, but no cigar)--mistake her for a dude when they're just a block off. They assassinate Cilia's horse, enabling John Wayne to step into her lurch and spread her biscuits. Since DESTINY involves more twists and turns over water rights than CHINATOWN, this may all sound kind of sexy. Rest assured that incest is hardly hinted at among "The Dentons" (Ms. Parker and her Pops, Gabby Hayes). Having a ranch and gold mine in her family is more than enough to titillate John, on top of "Fay Denton's" tasty biscuits and buns. But the cut from wounded Sheriff Baxter to the shot of Fay being dismounted is both abrupt and perplexing. The one saving grace is that this early conundrum only takes half an hour to resolve, since DESTINY runs less than 53 minutes.

During the 1930s, John Wayne was NOT the huge star many would have thought, but just one of many minor stars playing in B-westerns to eke out a living. His westerns were made for many so-called 'poverty row' studios in that they had minuscule budgets and limited resources--and very modest pretenses. If you are the critical sort, you can find a ton of problems with these films, though if you are a more charitable sort, you'll see that they are entertaining...provided you understand they are just B-movies...and not particularly distinguished ones at that.Here in 1933, Wayne was in some of his earliest Bs, so his persona wasn't yet established. Some knuckle-heads thought he'd be great as "Singin' Sandy"--a singing cowboy much in the mold of Gene Autry. The only problem was that Wayne sang about as well as Andy Devine--so they had to dub this singing--and it's painfully obvious it ain't Wayne doing any of this! Seen today, it's laughable as the movie begins and Wayne is crooning a very maudlin tune--especially as he begins to sing each time he's about to have a shootout! You just HAVE to see and hear these scenes to believe them!! In addition to Wayne, the film has a few other familiar faces. Gabby Hayes is here--like he would be in most of Wayne's Bs. Al St. John is also here for comic relief along with Heinie Conklin. It's not surprising the pair would be included as comics, as both had extensive silent comedy experience. St. John was Fatty Arbuckle's nephew and nemesis in many of his films...and later a very familiar western sidekick in the 1940s. Conklin had worked for Mack Sennett as one of the Keystone Kops. Unfortunately, too often the pair just seemed way, way too dumb to be bad guys--no gang leader is THAT desperate for henchmen!! Plus, they never are nearly as funny as Sandy's singing!! Like just about all of Wayne's films, here he is a lawman investigating an evil gang leader. In this case, the gang's fighting over water rights. Their scum-bag leader owns the water for the valley and now that his contract is about to expire with the nearby ranchers, he's planning on charging ridiculous prices for the use of the water in order to destroy them. However, he is willing to buy them out--for only $1 and acre! Nice guy, huh? Can Wayne sort all this out before the ranchers either give up or an all-out range war take place? While this film is diverting, I have to say that compared to the westerns made for this same penny-ante studio in the next couple years (Lone Star), this one is clearly inferior. Most of this is due to the stupid singing gimmick, though St. John and Conklin didn't help matters any.

Please don't judge this film by the first 10 min.. John Wayne, alias Singin' Sandy Saunders, gets out his guitar in two spots, including the opening scene, and lip syncs to two very different sounding singing voices. Please spare us any more of this!It's pretty bad when you have to hold up the stage in order to beat the bandits you know, from experience, are going to hold it up a little later and take the money being sent to you. But, that's the predicament striking blond Cecilia Parker found herself in when Wayne saw her horse shot out from under her by the stage driver. Seems the expected bandits were part of the same criminal outfit, headed by a Mr. Kincaid, as the stage drivers. Actually, their main racket was hoarding nearly all the regional water and selling it dear to the ranchers. The ranch owned by Gabby Hayes and daughter Cecelia has a well, the only other water source in this region. Thus, Kincaid especially wants to acquire this property for a full water monopoly, while threatening to cut off his water to the other ranchers unless they sell their land to him for next to nothing. Nice guy, Eh? Well, ole John has a plan how to get the ranchers out of this impossible situation. Kincaid falls for it like Cecilia falls for Wayne and vice versa. During the follow up horse chase of Kincaid by Wayne, poetic justice is served, and the valley ranchers presumably live happily ever after. See the movie to learn the rather unexpected details. Clever man, that Singin' Sandy Saunders. Clever, but sneaky.

REAL early John Wayne! He's young and active, doing his own stunts like jumping on to a horse at a full run, and he actually sings! Sure his acting skills are a bit rough, but he looks great, and you can see the great future as a hero in front of him