. . . 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.

If you are a fan of early Duke movies, this Lone Star oldie is a good one. What more could you ask for than Duke, Yak, and Gabby. Lots of good ridin' and shootin'!!! I found it amazing that Duke's singing voice was Bill Bradbury, who is none other than Bob Steele's twin brother. It has been reported that Bob Steele was a high school classmate and friend of Duke, so twin brother Bill may have been too. Anyway, if you like good, clean, early western movies don't miss this one. We don't have to wonder about hidden meanings or try to figure out underlying themes. Just sit back, relax and enjoy a western movie from a simpler day and time. It's called entertainment folks!!!

Had the good folks at Lone Star Productions only decided not to dub John Wayne's voice with some forgettable cowboy ballads this would have been a far better western than it turned out to be.Of course Wayne in later years would cringe at the mention of these films. If you want a good idea of how he really sounded listen to him in McLintock singing a favorite ballad of his, The Moon Shines Tonight on Pretty Redwing. The Lone Star people might have even looked for a young band singer working day to day in clubs in New Jersey around this time named Frank Sinatra who over 30 years later actually had his voice come out of Wayne's mouth during a Dean Martin show.If they could have cut out the singing gimmick, Riders of Destiny is not a bad film, in fact a cut above some of the westerns the Duke was doing at the time. Ranchers in the valley are being squeezed out by a greedy villain played by Forrest Taylor. He's built a dam and controls all the water and it's either sell to him outright or pay his exorbitant prices for water. Gabby Hayes and his daughter Cecelia Parker happen to have the only other water around because they dug a well. Taylor especially wants their land.The citizens have written to the federal government in Washington for intervention and they get it in the form of John Wayne. I don't think I have to go any farther. The Duke finds a very clever solution for the water problem which you should see the film to find out.But don't lose your lunch hearing that Nelson Eddy wannabe voice coming out of Mr. Wayne's mouth.

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