Movie Review: Blue Steel (1934)

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Synopsis: After his gang stops another shipment of vital supplies to a remote wild west town, Malgrove believes he'll be able to buy the local ranches for pennies on the dollar and mine them for gold. However, his plan has one sudden and unexpected obstacle, a stranger, John Carruthers, who has ridden into town and is helping the local sheriff investigate.

Who's in it? The movie stars John Wayne, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Eleanor Hunt, Edward Peil, Sr. and Yakima Canutt.


Review: I had time to scroll through movies while waiting for my daughter to get done with work last night and ultimately decided on Blue Steel. I watched it this morning and thought it was a good choice.

One of the first things I noticed about this movie is it had a bit of a silent film-feel to it. There's not a ton of dialog and a lot of the story is told through body language and a whole lot of horse riding. This works in the movie's favor, I think. The plot isn't anything overly complex and it allowed for more action, which included fist fights and gunfights.

Another thing I liked about this movie was the sense of overwhelming odds against the hero, John (Wayne). Malgrove (Peil) had an army of well-armed outlaws at his disposal. All John had was a local sheriff (Hayes) who thought he was a criminal and didn't fully trust him. It did make me wonder just how he was going to save the day when I doubted he had enough bullets to fend off the bad guys.

Speaking of that, one thing I didn't like about this movie were the ranchers he was trying to help because that bunch, at least in my opinion, came off as both lazy and kind of stupid. First of all, if you need the shipment of supplies and know there are outlaws trying to stop that shipment from reaching you, why wouldn't you send an armed posse to guard it? It was as though they wanted to be robbed.

Secondly, if you are smart enough to figure out there is an inside man helping the outlaws and one of your own suddenly decides to "be generous" and buy your land for much less than it's worth so you can leave, wouldn't that raise a big red flag? I know I'd at least have questions. Though to be fair; I have seen episodes of Scooby Doo!

I also found I wasn't a huge fan of the love interest/damsel in distress, Betty (Hunt), mostly because she really doesn't do a whole heck of a lot to establish herself as being even remotely interesting. And don't even get me started about the romance angle between her and John. They literally just met, had maybe three minutes of conversation between them, and were ready to get married and ride off into the sunset? That honestly might be a new record. 

Seriously, buy her a cup of coffee first.

Final Opinion: It's a basic movie with a relatively simple plot and easy-to-spot (unless you're one of the ranchers) bad guy. However, there's quite a bit of action in it and it was entertaining to watch as a result.

My Grade: B

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Here are some reviews of other movies with a land-stealing villain:

Movie Review: Phantom Rancher (1940)

Movie Review: Queen of the Yukon (1940)

Movie Review: Water Rustlers (1939)

Movie Review: Black Gold (1936)

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