THE STAR PACKER is a simple and fast-paced B-movie western for rising star John Wayne. The story is a familiar one about an outlaw gang terrorising a small town, at which point Wayne decides to take up the mantle of sheriff and do something to stop them. There are low rent action scenes, a little romantic time for the ladies, and the usual genre tropes and staples. Hardly profound, but it does the job.

When the sheriff is shot dead by a gang of bandits he had sworn to eliminate, John Wayne pins the badge on and picks up where his predecessor left off.Though the Star Packer isn't as well paced as some of the other films Wayne made as a contract star for Lone Star/Monogram Pictures, there's a pretty thrilling chase climax worth waiting around for, featuring some good scenery and stunt work.There's also an interesting role reversal with George "Gabby" Hayes playing the president of the cattlemen's association, living a double life as "The Shadow", leader of the outlaw gang and the usually villainous Yakima Canutt playing the role of Wayne's Tonto-esquire Indian sidekick.

I watched the beginning twice, could NOT make sense of it, and it bothered me for the whole movie.So, work this out with me: Wayne (the GOOD guy) jumps on the stagecoach, disarms the drivers (!), steals the money (?!), and takes off.Disarmed, one driver is then killed and the other wounded by the bad guys. Thanks to Wayne, who disarmed them, and then watched it happen.Then Wayne drops the money in the dirt, rescues the girl, rides into town, chuckles it up with Yak (too bad about the dead guy, I guess)...and then later says he "found" the money back at the scene. And everyone's okay with that.And he's the good guy? And I'm pretty sure there weren't small, hand-held flashlights at the time. And Bell did his first phone demo in 1876... were they in houses then? Am I thinking too hard about this one? Normally, I'm happy to suspend judgment to enjoy a movie, but this one bothered me. And that's a sign the move didn't really work for me.

This epic 'Lone Star' effort has a huge cast (of riders), but seems too squeezed for its 53 minutes. It is filled with serial trophes (mystery villain, hidden gunshots, hollowed tree, 'ghostly' haunts, a final mass posse chase to capture the villain), but in contrast to most other Lone Star films, it tries to do too much in too short a time. It seems rushed. This one could have used a sprawling 90 minutes to: flesh out all the evil henchmen introduced by name, including 'Chuckawalla' Red, 'Slippery' Williams and 'Spike' Morgan; show the back story of how George Hayes took over the ranch; give the faithful Indian companion,"Yak," (played by Yakima Canutt himself!) more to do; and give development to the romance between the interesting blonde, Verna Hillie (showcased in a subtle bed sequence), and John Wayne --the last scene shows their domesticity with their now five year old son! (Contrast this with the last 30 seconds of Buster Keaton's 1927 'College'!) Yak, skin darkened to look more 'Indian,' speaks in Tonto talk: "We do-um," and "Hi you skookem! Big fun!" But mostly John Wayne just tells him to "Stay here and keep an eye out..." You can see even more of the versatility of the pre- 'Gabby' George Hayes as a REALLY despicable villain in the clunky serial 'The Lost City.' Finally, even though the movie moves along interestingly enough, suddenly, everyone in town is going to chase after the villain and his gang. The cutting and pace of the film abruptly quickens, and while we see in the final epic sequence hundreds of riders (well, maybe only about 40), it came up too fast for me, and the film ended too quickly.I'll give it an E for Epic, in other words, a five.