This old B/W Republic movie gives us a great cast, in some unusual roles. A young John Wayne is working his way West with his sidekick, "Gabby" Hayes, with Wayne getting into fights so that Gaby, acting as a western dentist, can pull people's teeth, at 2 bits a tooth, after Wayne knocks them loose.
As Bob Seton (John Wayne) and his sidekick Doc Grunch (George "Gabby" Hayes) arrive in Lawrence, Kansas in 1859, we begin a movie about "Bleeding Kansas" when both Northerners and Southerners are moving in to help claim this territory—soon to be a state (1861)—as either a future "Slave State" or a "Free State" in keeping with the poorly conceived Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
Once in Lawrence, the patriotic Texan, Bob Seton, stops to listen to the school children from Will Cantrell's (Walter Pidgeon) class singing "America." When Mary McCloud (Claire Trevor) wants to pass by Cantrell's wagon, Cantrell "takes a liking" to her not realizing that she is the sister of Fletch McCloud (Roy Rogers). Fletch and Will become friends. Mary and Fletch's father is the town's banker and informal leading citizen, Angus McCloud (Porter Hall).
Fletch wants to become a cowboy—remember that Roy Rodgers was later known as "The King of the Cowboys"--like Will and starts to emulate him. Will Cantrell wants to marry Mary, but she rebuffs hid advances.
As the town grows bigger and more lawless, Angus McCloud decides the town needs a full-time marshal and approaches the local judge, Judge Buckner (Raymond Walburn) with the idea of hiring one. The need for the town of Lawrence to have a full-time marshal leads Bob Seton and Will Cantrell to run against each other for the office. (Though not generally know, Seton is illiterate and had previously sought out Cantrell to teach him to read and write, which had set up the two as friends before the election). But, the competition for town marshal puts a strain in their friendly relationship. When Seton wins the election, Cantrell decides to "follow a different path" than teaching, by making money as quickly as possible.
Cantrell joins an illegal run-running guerrilla army and becomes its commander. Without knowing about Cantrell's moving to "the dark side," Mary marries Cantrell's as his mother (Marjorie Main) looks on, knowing that her last son has turned bad just like his brothers before him did.
Raymond Walburn, as the town's judge, supplies comic relief to the movie with his confusing and impulsive excitement and bumbling speech.
The open screen of this movie tells us that "Some portions of the photoplay are based upon actual incidences in the lives of its principal characters. All other event and characters are fictitious,and any similarity to actual events or person is coincidental." Yet, the true characters portrayed have different names in the movie and, as the IMDb tells us, there were some story changes:
"The character of Will Cantrell is loosely based on the real life Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill. Like Cantrell, Quantrill was born in Ohio, taught school in Lawrence, Kansas, became a guerrilla fighter on the Confederate side and burned Lawrence to the ground. However, the Confederacy eventually distanced itself from him and later revoked his commission and disowned him, because of his band's propensity for executing prisoners, massacring civilians, looting and raping. The real Quantrill died not at the hands of "Bob Seton" but during an ambush by a Union cavalry unit, Unable to escape on account of a skittish horse, he was shot in the back and paralyzed from the chest down. He was brought by wagon to Louisville, Kentucky and taken to the military prison hospital, located on the north side of Broadway at 10th Street. He died from his wounds on June 6, 1865, at the age of 27."
As Bob Seton (John Wayne) and his sidekick Doc Grunch (George "Gabby" Hayes) arrive in Lawrence, Kansas in 1859, we begin a movie about "Bleeding Kansas" when both Northerners and Southerners are moving in to help claim this territory—soon to be a state (1861)—as either a future "Slave State" or a "Free State" in keeping with the poorly conceived Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
Once in Lawrence, the patriotic Texan, Bob Seton, stops to listen to the school children from Will Cantrell's (Walter Pidgeon) class singing "America." When Mary McCloud (Claire Trevor) wants to pass by Cantrell's wagon, Cantrell "takes a liking" to her not realizing that she is the sister of Fletch McCloud (Roy Rogers). Fletch and Will become friends. Mary and Fletch's father is the town's banker and informal leading citizen, Angus McCloud (Porter Hall).
Fletch wants to become a cowboy—remember that Roy Rodgers was later known as "The King of the Cowboys"--like Will and starts to emulate him. Will Cantrell wants to marry Mary, but she rebuffs hid advances.
As the town grows bigger and more lawless, Angus McCloud decides the town needs a full-time marshal and approaches the local judge, Judge Buckner (Raymond Walburn) with the idea of hiring one. The need for the town of Lawrence to have a full-time marshal leads Bob Seton and Will Cantrell to run against each other for the office. (Though not generally know, Seton is illiterate and had previously sought out Cantrell to teach him to read and write, which had set up the two as friends before the election). But, the competition for town marshal puts a strain in their friendly relationship. When Seton wins the election, Cantrell decides to "follow a different path" than teaching, by making money as quickly as possible.
Cantrell joins an illegal run-running guerrilla army and becomes its commander. Without knowing about Cantrell's moving to "the dark side," Mary marries Cantrell's as his mother (Marjorie Main) looks on, knowing that her last son has turned bad just like his brothers before him did.
Raymond Walburn, as the town's judge, supplies comic relief to the movie with his confusing and impulsive excitement and bumbling speech.
The open screen of this movie tells us that "Some portions of the photoplay are based upon actual incidences in the lives of its principal characters. All other event and characters are fictitious,and any similarity to actual events or person is coincidental." Yet, the true characters portrayed have different names in the movie and, as the IMDb tells us, there were some story changes:
"The character of Will Cantrell is loosely based on the real life Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill. Like Cantrell, Quantrill was born in Ohio, taught school in Lawrence, Kansas, became a guerrilla fighter on the Confederate side and burned Lawrence to the ground. However, the Confederacy eventually distanced itself from him and later revoked his commission and disowned him, because of his band's propensity for executing prisoners, massacring civilians, looting and raping. The real Quantrill died not at the hands of "Bob Seton" but during an ambush by a Union cavalry unit, Unable to escape on account of a skittish horse, he was shot in the back and paralyzed from the chest down. He was brought by wagon to Louisville, Kentucky and taken to the military prison hospital, located on the north side of Broadway at 10th Street. He died from his wounds on June 6, 1865, at the age of 27."