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Good movie but grossly overrated

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

THE DAWN RIDER is another of the many B-movie westerns that John Wayne made throughout the 1930s before he really hit the big time. This one's serviceable enough, not one of the best but quite watchable. The story is okay but the action sequences are lacking at times and it's never quite as exciting as it should be. Wayne's father is bumped off at the outset and he himself is badly wounded, and he ends up falling in love with the nurse tending to him. A love triangle develops and various plot twists ensue until the expected climax. It's not bad, watchable enough for undemanding fans.

As one of the last 'Lone Star' productions this is one of the best in many ways. It has more character interaction and development, and even a love triangle. As others have noted, all the scenes work toward building up to the climax. It also features three early versions of some of the great clichés of the Western.William K. Everson quotes from Variety reviews of 1908-1909 westerns that mention that those films were competently made but "It all has been done so often before, and usually better." Well, here 27 years later we get these new wonderful clichés all excellently done: 1) the hero and a stranger meet and fight, then go to the bar for a drink as pals and become 'pards' (John Wayne as John Mason vs. Reed Howes as Ben McClure in the opening scene); 2) the 'get out of town by four o'clock or I'll come gunning for ya' saloon threat by the villain (the handsome, evil voiced, quintessential bad guy Denny Moore as Rudd Gordon) to John Wayne; and then 3) the final gunfight down the middle of Main Street, during which the tension builds with good cross cutting and the fact that Mason doesn't know his own gun is loaded with blanks! To back track on the plot, Mason's father is killed by Rudd in a robbery Mason witnesses. Chasing Rudd, Mason is shot and nursed back to health, at Ben McClure's place, by Rudd's sister Alice, who falls for Mason (shown in a telling scene where he talks about boots, but she thinks he's talking about a wedding ring). Ben is in love with Alice, and thinking Mason has designs on her, puts the slugs in his gun. Ben later realizes his mistake in a moving silent sequence, and then rides off to stop, warn or help Mason in his showdown with Rudd.Yakima Canutt gets to play a villainous barkeep, and do some good stunt work as well. No George Hayes in this one, but everything works fine without him. Plus of course, we have John Wayne! You can the sense the development of his patented swagger as he walks down the street during the showdown. So, we get one of the better 'Lone Stars' here. I give it a 5.

As in John Wayne's earlier film "Blue Steel", a polka dot neckerchief figures in the plot of this Lone Star production. It belongs to Rudd Gordon (Dennis Moore), the man who killed John Mason's (Wayne) father in a botched hold up attempt. Racing after the bandit gang, Mason is injured, and is nursed back to health by Rudd's sister Alice (Marion Burns). Alice is the object of Ben McClure's (Reed Howes) affection, but it seems she has eyes for Mason. It doesn't take long for Mason to sort things out, and in a final gun battle, McClure takes out Rudd who lies in ambush for Mason, while the saloon owner portrayed by Yakima Canutt guns down McClure.As in most of the Lone Star films, Wayne's character gets the girl in the end, even when he's not trying. In fact, Mason encourages McClure to propose to Alice, even after the engagement ring Ben bought for her winds up stolen. Nevertheless, the film closes on a wagon leaving town, Mason and Alice aboard with a sign on the back reading "Just Hitched Up".If you're a John Wayne fan, you'll give this film a try, but don't expect much. It suffers from clumsy editing, and as typical with Wayne's other Lone Star films, the title has nothing to do with the story.

John Wayne turns in a better than journeyman's performance in this Thirties'-style formula western. John Mason, returning home from a long absence, arrives at the time his father is killed in a bank robbery. His best friend's girl takes care of him after being shot, leading to tension between these cowboy movie iconical characters.