THE DESERT TRAIL is a somewhat unremarkable early outing for John Wayne in which the actor's larger-than-life presence, although not quite as out-there and assured as later on in his career, is the best thing about the movie. He plays a rodeo star who finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit, forcing him to leave town with his buddy. Much of this is a bickering comedy which is workable enough, but there's not much in the way of action to get excited about and the whole thing is more than a little dated. The driving orchestral score seems to have been added on at a later date as it sounds very modern.

. . . are the best words with which you can describe John Wayne and his DESERT TRAIL sidekick. Wayne's character "John" also is something of a sex pervert. He bundles himself with hooker Juanita's underthings while hiding in her closet. After he's come out of the closet, Wayne commands young store clerk Anne to climb a steep ladder two feet in front of him as he's shown crouching down, leering as he peeks up under Anne's skirt. All of this comes after Wayne's duo robs their boss at gunpoint, while enabling this old gent's murder by less tidy crooks (a clear case of Capital Murder One on Wayne's part under Today's Red State Law). There's no hint here that John and his card sharp buddy have ever held down a legitimate job, or turned in an honest day's labor anywhere. This story ends by implying that John will hook up permanently with Anne, living off her inheritance until it's all squandered on his fancy Western Dude Shirts. Once that happens, it seems likely that John will use his evident expertise in Juanita's World to derive continued support from Anne. But, as Terrence Howard once sang, "It's Hard to Be a Pimp."

This is yet another of John Wayne's early B-westerns that has been mercilessly updated and is being shown on the Encore Channel. Some bone-head thought it was a good idea to add a musical accompaniment to the film. However, the music is just awful. It's way too loud, inappropriate because of its use of very modern electronic music, often inserted haphazardly AND the same music is used in all the films! So, each Encore presentation of a Wayne film has the exact same intro and incidental music! Now these Wayne films already are very similar to each other, but with these 'enhancements', it's much worse. My advice is to download the films off the links on IMDb--it costs nothing, is perfectly legal and has the original music.The film begins with Wayne and his completely dull sidekick (some bald guy with the personality of a shoe whose name I won't even bother to look up)...oh heck, it's Eddy Chandler) coming into town. Wayne is there to participate in the rodeo but after winning some prize money, he learns that the people running the event are crooks--and they only offer him a quarter of the money he earned. Not being content with this offer, Wayne and his bald buddy use their guns to convince the guy to pay them their due (which, from what I remember, is a lot like what O.J. is now serving time for in Nevada). However, soon after the pair leave, another guy comes in and robs the same guy--then kills him! And, to cover his tracks, the murderer claims Wayne and his partner are guilty. Since the two were seen leaving shortly before the murder, it appears as if they are guilty.In another town, Wayne and Mr. Dull assume new identities and blend in as best they can. But with Wayne being an action hero, he soon draws notoriety by saving some guy....and is rewarded with being jailed when someone recognizes him ("no good deed goes unpunished"). However, the dull sidekick does have an ally...and naturally everything works out just fine in the end.One of deficits for the film (apart from the music--which you can't blame on the original production company) are the reuse of both footage from another Wayne B-movie and the plot idea of a crooked rodeo from "The Man From Utah". Another is pairing Wayne with a dull sidekick who is neither funny nor endearing. However, like the rest of Wayne's films of the era, it is pleasant and entertaining provided you can appreciate the niche such B-movies played. They weren't meant as high art and at a breezy one hour in length (or a bit less), they were pretty much like a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers series film--and kids loved them. And, like many of the Autry and Rogers films, there are some odd anachronisms that seemed unusual in the West--such as the leading lady's very modern style of dress.

This early John Wayne Lone Star western has a bit more going for it than the run-of-the-mill oaters Wayne had been making for Lone Star up until that time. For one, it has his old friend Paul Fix in it; Fix, being a much better actor then the standard Lone Star villain, brings a much needed professionalism to the surroundings instead of the usual hesitant line-readings often delivered in these oaters. The plot, about mistaken identity, payroll robbery and murder, is as trite and perfunctory as you'd expect it to be in a 1930s low-budget western, but Wayne's strapping good looks, easygoing charm and way with a line go a long way to making this more enjoyable. Plump, balding Eddy Chandler isn't quite believable as Wayne's womanizing "partner", and there's a running gag about something that happens whenever Chandler and Wayne are about to get into a fistfight that grows tiresome. On the other hand, Wayne's love interest is played by none other than Mary Kornman, the little "Mary" of the early "Little Rascals" fame. She is a grown-up 20-year-old now, blonde and cute as a button. Most of Wayne's leading ladies in these Lone Star/Monogram "B's" were fairly bland and colorless, but Mary is perky, cute and, yes, sexy. There's a scene in the general store, where she works, in which Wayne asks her to get him a bottle of "nerve tonic", which happens to be on the top shelf, so she has to get a ladder and climb up to the top shelf. Wayne's ogling of her pert little backside as she ascends the steps, then again as she comes down, then again a few minuter later when he asks her to climb up and get him another bottle, is surprisingly racy for a film made in 1935. Wayne makes no attempt at all to hide the fact that he is definitely checking out her butt. It's surprising that this got past the Hays Office censors, but they were probably more concerned with the product that came out of the "main" studios rather than a cheap "B" western from some--as far as they were concerned--no-name outfit.Anyway, it's an interesting little "B", not great but not as choppy and disorganized as many of his Lone Star productions of the time. The final gunfight isn't handled all that well, and Chandler gets somewhat irritating after a while, but all in all, it's worth a look, if only to see a cute and sexy Mary Kornman.