Riders of Destiny

Riders of Destiny
Riders of Destiny
	Film poster
Directed by	Robert N. Bradbury
Written by	Robert N. Bradbury
Produced by	Paul Malvern
Starring	John Wayne; Cecilia Parker; George "Gabby" Hayes; Al St. John; Yakima Canutt;
Cinematography	Archie Stout
Edited by	Carl Pierson
Distributed by	Monogram Pictures
Release date	October 10, 1933 (USA);
Running time	53 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Riders of Destiny is a 1933 pre-Code Western musical film starring 26-year-old John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders, the screen's second singing cowboy (the first being Ken Maynard in the 1929 film The Wagon Master). It was the first of a series of sixteen Lone Star Westerns made for Monogram Pictures between 1933 and 1935, by Wayne and director Robert N. Bradbury, and the first pairing of Wayne with George "Gabby" Hayes.

Plot

Sandy Saunders sees Sheriff Bill Baxter staggering in the desert and then falling. On examining him he finds he was shot in the back. Saunders takes Baxter to the nearby town of Starbuck for treatment.

Later, Sandy sees a stage coach robbery in progress. As the robber rides away, the stage drivers, Bert and Elmer, shoot the robber's horse from under them. Sandy gets to the robber before Bert and Elmer and finds that it is a woman, Fay Denton, who says she's not really a robber and asks Sandy to help her. With her horse dead Sandy lends her his. She says she will leave his horse in town. Bert and Elmer chase after Sandy on foot but eventually give up.

Fay returns home and gives the money to her father. Sandy hides on the stage and Bert and Elmer return and continue their run. They encounter two men and tell them there is no one on the stage to rob and the moneybag has already been stolen, implying they all knew that a "robbery" was supposed to occur. Bert and Elmer report to their boss, James Kincaid, and say they have been robbed "again". Sandy and Fay enter in time to hear Kincaid, owner of a land and water company, say they could identify the owner of the dead horse by checking its brand. Kincaid greets Fay and she tells him her horse was stolen the previous night. Sandy gives Fay a ride home.

Fay's father, Charlie, explains that they own half shares in a mine and that they get regular payments that come in on the stage. They found out that someone was opening their mail and knew when the payments were coming and the stage was robbed each time. Charlie tried to beat the robbers to it but got shot, so next time Fay tried, which was when Sandy saw her. Kincaid arrives having found the dead horse, and brings Fay her saddle. Kincaid wants to talk to Charlie about buying his farm, Fay says he is too ill at the moment. Bert spots Sandy's horse behind the barn. Kincaid tells them to wait until Sandy leaves and arrange for him to have an "accident".

Kincaid controls the only water source in the region, except for the Denton's well, and is charging the landowners extortionist rates for the water supply. He then offers them rock-bottom prices for their farms. The farmers are waiting for a reply from their complaint to Washington, but Kincaid says if they don't pay in three days they will have to pay four times what he is asking to get water.

Bert and Elmer try to trap Sandy, but he easily defeats them, then ties them up and drags them into town. He deposits them in Kincaid's office with a note saying to not try anything as he will be around until the sheriff gets back. Sandy finds a letter to one of the settlers and passes it to him. It is a reply from Washington saying they have sent a man to investigate.

A wagon with water from the Denton's well is heading to town when it is attacked by Kincaid's men. Sandy arrives and drives them off and takes the wagon to town where they are desperate for water. Kincaid tells his hired gun Slip Morgan to face off against Sandy in the street. Kincaid give Sandy one minute, but Sandy doesn't hesitate to face off with Morgan. Sandy easily disarms Morgan by shooting him in both hands. Kincaid offers Sandy a job which he accepts. sandy suggests blowing up the Denton's well, which Kincaid accepts and Fay is shocked to overhear. Fay tells Charlie and they search Sandy's room, finding Sheriff Baxter's badge and thinking Sandy killed him. Sandy tells the ranchers to accept Kincaid's offer, but to make sure to add in a special clause.

Sandy arrives at the Denton's and Charlie says he knows all about him and that he will never blow up their well. Just then Bert and Elmer do blow up the well, which creates an entirely new stream. Sandy tells the Dentons their well is the headwater for the water in Kindaid's dam, and that by tomorrow the dam will just be a mudhole. He says Baxter made him a deputy and that he will arrive back the next day, and also that he is the man from Washington.

When Kincaid finds out his dam is emptying and the ranchers have a new river which is out of his control, he is ruined and swears to get even. Sandy and Charlie arrive with the stage carrying Sheriff Baxter. Kincaid is angry with Morgan, who said he'd killed the sheriff, and shoots him in cold blood. Kincaid races off, followed by Sandy. Morgan confesses to the sheriff before he dies. Sandy shoots Kincaid who falls off a cliff into the new river where he drowns.

Saunders returns to the Dentons and as he is about to leave, Fay says she does not want him to leave. He tells her that he will be back for supper, if she will bake him about a hundred biscuits. As Saunders rides off into the distance Fay runs in happily to bake a hundred biscuits.

Cast

Theatrical poster

John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders
Cecilia Parker as Fay Denton
Forrest Taylor as James Kincaid
George "Gabby" Hayes as Charlie Denton (billed as George Hayes)
Al St. John as henchman Bert
Heinie Conklin as henchman Elmer
Yakima Canutt as henchman
Earl Dwire as Slip Morgan
Lafe McKee as Sheriff Bill Baxter
Addie Foster as Mrs. Mason
Silver Tip Baker as townsman (uncredited)
Horace B. Carpenter as rancher (uncredited)
William Dyer as rancher (uncredited)

Notes

John Wayne as Saunders

Wayne's singing voice was dubbed, and the film is considerably darker than the Gene Autry singing cowboy movies that followed it; for example, Singin' Sandy's ten-gallon hat was black instead of white and he would grimly chant about "they'll be blood a'runnin' in town before night" and "you'll be drinking your drinks with the dead" as he strode purposefully down the street toward a showdown. Equally dark, the bad man in the film says he has made the ranchers "an offer they can't refuse." The supporting cast includes George "Gabby" Hayes, the acrobatic comedian Al St. John, and the stuntman Yakima Canutt. The movie was written and directed by Robert N. Bradbury. It was the first of the Lone Star Productions released through Monogram Pictures. The actual singer, who was singing as this film and Lawless Range were being made, was Bill Bradbury, son of director Robert N. Bradbury and brother of Robert A. Bradbury a.k.a. Bob Steele. Glenn Strange did the singing in Lawless Range.

Wayne's dubbed singing, which bore no resemblance to his unique speaking voice, was the reason he soon abandoned the singing cowboy format, as he later played a singing cowboy—though not Singin' Sandy—at least once, in Lawless Range, but he was embarrassed during personal appearances when he couldn't accommodate children who clamored for a Singin' Sandy song. Gene Autry was chosen by the studio as Wayne's replacement in the new genre, immediately solving the live singing problem while ushering in a much lighter take on the format than Wayne's grimly intense rendition.