StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 15 January 1934 by Monogram Pictures Corp. A Lone Star Western. No New York opening. U.S. release: 6 January 1934. U.K. release through Pathé: 3 December 1934. 6 reels. 56 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A blacksmith and his partner find gold in a creek bed.COMMENT: George Hayes puts on his "Gabby" voice for this one. Even though he doesn't wear the "Gabby" costume and make-up, he does give us a cleverly done old lady impersonation by way of a bonus. But even of more interest than Gabby are two outstanding action chase sequences. Halfway through Wayne jumps for Parker from horseback - but misses. So he literally skates after him down a storm-water channel. The climax finds both our heroes in hot pursuit of the two villains; Wayne on horseback, Hayes in an old jalopy versus Whitlock and Canutt on a speeding rail handcar. The handcar is used not only for thrilling near-misses with the flivver, but as a camera mount for exciting running inserts and tracking shots.Incidentally, in that otherwise excellent book on John Wayne and the Movies by Allen Eyles, the photo purporting to be from The Lucky Texan is wrongly captioned. The still actually shows Wayne, Hayes and Cecilia Parker in Riders of Destiny. Miss Parker is a petite blonde, but Miss Sheldon is smaller in stature and is neither as pretty nor as personable. However, Barbara's role in The Lucky Texan rates as rather inconsequential. Not only does she make a late entrance, but she figures very little in either of the movie's two interconnected stories.The movie suffers from the usual Lone Star defects of "B"-slow pacing and directorial whip pans (used for scene changes) that don't quite work, but Canutt has opportunities not only to act the villain but to double for Wayne in some thrilling stuntwork, while Wayne himself comes across in a most agreeable and sympathetic manner.Despite its small budget and obviously hasty shooting schedule, The Lucky Texan (the title has little to do with the plot. Hayes is the one who is "lucky". Not only does he find the gold - admittedly assisted by the Texan - but escapes death twice) comes over as one of the most exciting and most interesting of the Lone Stars. Certainly it's tops in the all-important action department.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . is the over-riding lesson of THE LUCKY TEXAN. When they have their Druthers, they'll rustle your cattle, swindle you out of your ranch, and swipe your gold mine, too, TEXAN teaches us. If these Fat Cat Robbers slip up enough so that there's a whiff of Crime in the air, they'll finger any surviving VICTIMS for these peccadilloes, with their legal lapdog sheriffs and judges only too eager to make such Trumped-up charges stick. All of the above takes place in TEXAN, as whistle-blower John Wayne yet again unmasks "The Men Behind the Curtain" (before he himself fell prey to Bad Influences, such as the infamous Yellow-Striper Ford, who back-shot Jesse James--or was it Dalton Trumbo?--when JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN). Good may appear victorious over Evil as TEXAN concludes, since it predates--by decades--Wayne's Evil Triumphant Trilogy (THE ALAMO, RIO BRAVO, and CHISUM), all of which feature a lawless Wayne killing good guys by the dozens. Too bad TEXAN writer\director Robert N. Bradbury did not put out ALL John Wayne movies.

Bill Slocum Watching those two icons of early Westerns, John Wayne and George Hayes, play off each other years before people knew them as Duke and Gabby, is worth something. At least "The Lucky Texan" gives you that.Jerry Mason (Wayne) and Jake Benson (Hayes) luck into a big gold strike, but their haul attracts the interest of some shady assayers who want not only the gold but Benson's ranch besides. Can Mason save Benson from wrongful imprisonment? Can Benson save Mason from same? Will Mason wind up with Benson's pretty granddaughter?Spoiler alert - What do you think?Wayne's Lone Star westerns are often criticized for formulaic plots, which is unfair here. You get two almost completely unconnected plots in this one. Neither makes sense, but at least they defy reasonable expectations that way. In the first, Benson gets arrested for murder by a sheriff who apparently didn't bother to make sure the victim was dead first. In the second, those assayers make their play for the gold with the subtlety of the 7th Cavalry.The only thing "Lucky Texan" has going for it is lucky indeed: Duke and Gabby in their second-ever on screen pairing, the first one where Wayne didn't have to pretend to sing and play guitar. There's real pleasure to be had watching the two meet in their opening scene, even with their exposition-laden dialogue."Say, you're a regular mountain, ain't yuh?" Benson asks Mason right off, who grins easily in reply. You want to hang with these guys, however dull the story around them.Lone Star did well with Wayne once they retired the singing cowboy shtick and worked humor more directly in his films, like here. "The Lucky Texan" actually goes pretty far in this direction, once the wheels come off story #2. Benson is the star of a wild courtroom scene which really deserves to be seen, for the total commitment of Hayes if nothing else. By movie's end, the villains are reduced to comic foils, which is fine as they weren't working as villains. I found the last 15 minutes pretty enjoyable overall. Not as thought-out or clever as it could have been, but fun.All this doesn't quite redeem "Lucky Texan." It's just too goofy otherwise, like Wayne's big stunt riding an upright stick down a log flume to catch up with a bad guy after falling off his horse. You get some schlocky dialogue ("So that's your game, eh?" is something Hayes actually says when the bad guys get the draw on him) and head-scratching moments like why a bad guy trying to get a canteen of gold from a bucking mule doesn't just shoot the beast.I'm glad he didn't; this is one Lone Star western where it's safe to say no animals were harmed in the production. It's not much to crow about otherwise, yet seeing Wayne and Hayes begin to define their enjoyable partnership is some compensation. Just try to ignore the feeble excuse of a plot being kicked around them.

jpritch John Wayne made 16 Westerns for Lone Star productions between 1933 and 1936. Many of them starred some of the same actors, (Wayne, Geo.(Gabby)Hayes, Yakima Canutt, Earl Dwyer etc.). The Lucky Texan is one of the best I've seen and I've seen nearly all of them. Sure the production techniques are primitive ( lots of jump cuts and zips, poor audio and editing) but these are marks of Bradbury's earlier films and only make these early films more interesting for me. Gabby Hayes is a laugh riot in drag in the courtroom scene and Canutt's "injun Joe" escape (through the open window of the courthouse) had me rolling. I loved this film. I'm glad I bought it.