Pals of the Saddle (1938) John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune, Doreen McKay, Joseph Forte Movie Review

Pals of the Saddle (1938)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Pals of the Saddle (1938)

The Stony Duke

After saving a girl, Ann (Doreen McKay) on a runaway horse, The Three Mesquiteers and in particular Stony (John Wayne) find themselves aiding her as she is in fact a government agent. Ann is trying to get to the bottom of who is smuggling a chemical used to create poisonous gas out of the country and in to Mexico. But after posing as a foreign Agent Stony fids himself being taken a prisoner.

As a western "Pals of the Saddle" is nothing special, yes the story which sees chemical smuggling is a bit different but the whole good guy masquerading as one of the bad guys and ending up in prison is as routine as they come. As such as some western entertainment "Pals of the Saddle" never manages to be anything more than just some 1930's western fun which doesn't last any sort of lasting impression.

But "Pals of the Saddle" is significant as a piece of western movie history as not only was this made the year prior to him getting his big break in "Stagecoach" but this was the first of 8 movies which The Duke made as Stony Brooke, part of The Three Mesquiteers. And to be honest whilst the storyline is as I said nothing special you can see how relaxed John Wayne was in this and looking like he was having fun starring alongside Max Terhune and Ray Corrigan.

What this all boils down to is that as western "Pals of the Saddle" is nothing special, just a routine oater from the 1930s. But as a John Wayne movie is significant for being the first of his 8 movies appearing as Stony Brooke from The Three Mesquiteers.


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