Watch The Star Packer For Free

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

AS THE OLD, time worn joke goes:"We saw an old Western with Gaby Hayes on Late Night TV last night and this was so old, that Gabby got the Girl!" *WE CAN ALL forgive the unknown author of this oral knee-slapper; as it did provide us with at least a mild chuckle, while, at the same time, making a point. The anachronistic miscues we can chalk up to Literary License.**WHAT IS A SHORT feature of about an hour (give or take a minute or two), provides plenty of action, a better than average story and a theme that Depression Era Matinée viewers could strongly identify with. In this case, a crime problem that was too big and nefarious for the local authorities to deal with; so enter the Feds, in the person of Duke Wayne, cast as an undercover U.S. Marshall. The New Deal saves the day!SOME OF THE factors that contribute to the movies' seeming to be even more ancient of a film are the sound track, the break-neck speed of the theme music and the extensive shooting of scenes outdoors; as well in what appear to be rather spartan, though highly realistic, indoor locales. Sheriff's Office, Meeting Hall and local Saloon all appear to have a rather frugal, yet somehow, realistic appearance about them.THERE IS AN infusion of incidental music into the action scenes that was obviously added at some later date than 1934; probably having been done by some TV film distributor, after having acquired the rights and to seek to make these LONE STAR (MONOGRAM) productions more salable to the various outlets, both local stations and cable systems.AS WE STATED earlier, this could well have take at least some inspiration from the LONE RANGER; which had premiered in the previous year of 1933 on Radio Station WXYZ, Detroit. The pairing of John Wayne and Yakima Canutt (as his "faithful Indian Companion:, 'Yak')bears a strong and seemingly more than coincidental resemblance to the Lone Ranger & Tonto.AS WITH THE rest of these Lone Star Westerns, we find this to be great escapism, highly entertaining and worthwhile. NOTE: * Veteran New York Stage Actor, George Hayes, went West to Hollywood in the wake of the 1929 Stock Market Crash, but did not become known as "Gabby" Hayes until circa 1935.NOTE ** Be sure to make sure that your Literary License is up to date and not expired!

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.

Mystery, excitement, big shootouts, and a hard riding hero. So what else could a grown-up kid ask for. Yeah, I know it's gotta have a girl, but at least Wayne doesn't have to kiss her-- what mush!Great Lone Star action fare. Some good touches-- the river canoe, the white bandannas, and even the dangerous tree stump. George Hayes has a "straight" role here, showing what a talented creation his "Gabby" was. Okay, I didn't know it then, but those are "trip wires" that make the horse go hind-quarters over head. They made for thrilling spills, but they often broke legs and we know what happens then. I'm really glad the business was made to wise up and quit them. A lot of 30's Westerns had mystery-man masterminds behind the bad guys. This one does too. But he's hardly a secret since they tip his hand early. Anyway, I gladly plunked down my dime in those B Western days and still think those are the best dimes I ever spent.

The reason I like these matinée westerns from this era is probably because they make me feel like a kid again but I have other reasons that I think are pretty good. For one thing they are utterly without pretense. They do not pretend to be anything but entertainment for kids and unpretentiousness is real hard to find. There may be some out there but if you look for it you will find that it doesn't grow on trees. And they're just fun. The female lead is always charming, and the horsemanship, these films are always loaded with extras that are real cowboys. Apparently the reduction of manpower needed on the large cattle ranches coincided with the rise of the film industry so all these unemployed cowboys went to Hollywood. And could they ride. They just tore around like a house on fire and the ease and control that they demonstrate with these horses is a wonder to watch for a tenderfoot like me. But the plots get a little monotonous, I think there's only about two of them or three, maybe. You have to kind of overlook that. Anyway Star Packer is no exception. What makes it stand out is for one thing it has George "Gabby" Hayes one of the greatest character actors ever. But the main thing is that it has one of my Hollywood favorites, Pendleton Round-Up Rodeo champion and pioneer stuntman Yakima Canutt. Now John Wayne made a lot of westerns in this era and Yakima Canutt was in every one of them as Wayne's stunt double. He was also in practically every one of the as one of them as one of the bad guys, usually the leader. What makes this movie special is that, as far as I know, this is the only time he ever appears as a good guy.He has a very entertaining part as John Wayne's Tonto-like side kick. This includes an extremely charming and hilarious final scene in which he completely enthralls Wayne's young son with his Indian dancing and attempts to corrupt him into becoming an Indian himself. This is much to the amusement of Wayne and his wife, Verna Hillie. I have noticed that a bunch of these John Waynes have been colorized. My brother won't look at them but I think that as long as I have access to the original, I like having them. The landscapes are particularly beautiful. It's the sound that's bad. They dub in new voices that are terrible. And the music, it's some kind of spaghetti western sounding stuff that has nothing with the charm of the era. View at your peril.