''Riders of Destiny'' is a 1933

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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 1933-1935, by Wayne and director Robert N. Bradbury, and the first pairing of Wayne with

George "Gabby" Hayes George Francis "Gabby" Hayes (7 May 1885 – 9 February 1969) was an American actor. He began as something of a leading man and a character player, but he was best known for his numerous appearances in B-Western film series as the bewhiskered, c ...

Plot

The movie begins with Saunders riding his horse and singing on his guitar when he finds Sheriff Bill Baxter tottering in the desert after being shot in the back. The scene cuts to Saunders witnessing Ms. Fay Denton robbing a stagecoach owned by Mr. Kincaid and when she attempts to get away her horse is shot from under her. Saunders rescues her, gives her his horse and then evades the captors attempting to find him. Ms. Fay turns up to the Sheriffs office to report that her horse has been stolen. The town "land and water" developer Mr. Kincaid seems to be running things and he attempts to console her. Kincaid and his henchmen have been plotting to hoard the water in the region, charge the landowners extortionist rates for the water supply and then convince them to hand over their lands. They have also been stealing Denton's proceeds from a claim in a mine. When Kincaid and his men recover Ms. Fay's saddle they return it to her at the ranch but notice that Saunders' horse is there. They suspect Saunders of being the stagecoach robber and lay a trap for him. Saunders walks into the trap but easily outguns the two henchmen that Kincaid sent to kill him. Meanwhile the towns people are arguing about what to do with Kincaid who is extorting them & compelling them to sell their land at a very low price. Kincaid as retaliation cuts off their water. In response the land owners try to steal some water. Saunders helps but the coach driver is shot and dies. Kincaid then hires Bert to take down Saunders in a town square duel. Saunders easily wounds and disarms Bert. Kincaid then attempts to bribe and hire Saunders. Saunders plays along and convinces Kincaid to blow up the well on the Denton property so they have no water and have to sell the property to Kincaid. Kincaid's men blow up the well but the well ends up springing a fountain head of water which turns into a river. Kincaid gets upset over this and murders his henchman Bert and runs for his life only to perish in the river. Saunders returns to the Denton's and as he is about to leave Ms. Fay, she tells him she does not want him to leave. He tells her that he will be back for supper and to bake him a few hundred biscuits. As Saunders rides off into the distance Ms. Fay runs in happily to bake a hundred biscuits.

Notes

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 "streets soon running with blood" 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

, the

acrobatic Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

comedian

Al St. John Al St. John (also credited as Al Saint John and "Fuzzy" St. John; September 10, 1892 – January 21, 1963) was an early American motion-picture comedian. He was a nephew of silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, with whom he often performed on ...

, and the stuntman

Yakima Canutt Enos Edward "Yakima" Canutt (November 29, 1895 – May 24, 1986) was an American champion rodeo rider, actor, stuntman, and action director. He developed many stunts for films and the techniques and technology to protect stuntmen in performing t ...

. The movie was written and directed by Robert N. Bradbury. It was the first of the Lone Star Productions released through

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. 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 ''Lawless Range'' is a 1935 American Western film released by Republic Pictures, directed by Robert N. Bradbury and starring John Wayne. He appears as a "singing cowboy" in the film, with his singing voice dubbed by Glenn Strange, who later ...

'', 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.

Cast

* John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders *

Cecilia Parker Cecilia Parker (April 26, 1914 – July 25, 1993) was a Canadian-born American film actress. She was best known for portraying Marian Hardy, the sister of Andy Hardy in eleven of the Andy Hardy film series. Early life and career Cecilia ...

as Fay Denton *

Forrest Taylor Edwin Forrest Taylor (December 29, 1883 – February 19, 1965) was an American character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of color films. Early years Taylor was born in B ...

as James Kincaid *

as Charlie Denton (billed as George Hayes) *

as henchman Bert *

Heinie Conklin Heinie Conklin (born Charles John Conklin; July 16, 1880July 30, 1959) was an American actor and comedian whose career began in the silent film era. Early years Conklin was born Charles John Conklin on July 16, 1880, in San Francisco, Califo ...

as henchman Elmer *

as henchman *

Earl Dwire Earl Dwire (October 3, 1883 – January 16, 1940), born Earl Dean Dwire, was an American character actor who appeared in more than 150 movies between 1921 and his death in 1940. Dwire acted for three years in stock theater with companies i ...

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)

External links

* * * {{Expand Spanish, Jinetes del destino, date=May 2017 1933 films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Robert N. Bradbury American black-and-white films 1930s Western (genre) musical films Monogram Pictures films American Western (genre) musical films Articles containing video clips 1930s American films

Plot

See also

Notes

Cast

External links