Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

JohnHowardReid John Wayne (John Blair), Lane Chandler (Larry Adams), Phyllis Fraser (Barbara Forsythe), Douglas Cosgrove (Cal Drake), Sam Flint (Dr Forsythe), Lew Kelly (Rocky), Bob Kortman (Cherokee Joe), Jon Hall (Jim, a Pony Express rider), Yakima Canutt (Smokey), W. Merrill McCormick (Pete), Ed Cassidy (Dodge, the Pony Express manager), Chris Franke (Grahame, boss of the telegraph crew), Bud McClure, Jack Ingram (guards), Joe Yrigoyen (Pike), Jack Rockwell (marshal), Arthur Millett (postmaster), Tracy Layne (Reed), Art Mix (Ed, a Pony Express rider), Horace B. Carpenter (man with sick child), Herman Hack, Henry Hall, Murdock MacQuarrie, Clyde McClary, George Morrell, Francis Walker (townsmen), Bud Pope (henchman), Lloyd Ingraham (helpful old man), Cliff Lyons (Pony Express rider).Director: MACK V. WRIGHT. Original story and screenplay: Joseph Poland. Film editor: Robert Jahns. Supervising film editor: Murray Seldeen. Photography: William Nobles. Music supervisor: Harry Grey. Title music composed by Louis De Francesco. Stock background music by Heinz Roemheld, Arthur Kay, Paul Van Loan. Production supervisor: Paul Malvern. Sound recording: Terry Kellum. RCA Sound System. Producer: Nat Levine.Copyright 6 July 1936 by Republic Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 15 June 1936. No recorded New York opening. U.K. release: June 1937. 6 reels. 58 minutes. COMMENT: One of the best of Wayne's pre-Stagecoach westerns, thanks to a superior screenplay by Joseph Poland, stylish direction by Mack V. Wright, an able group of support players, deft camera-work — and plenty of action. Wayne plays with a casually charming ease and is smoothly partnered by Lane Chandler, while Phyllis Fraser makes a convincing heroine and Lew Kelly a passable comedian. The villains are headed by a nicely confident Douglas Cosgrove, with Bob Kortman trailing along as a splendidly sneering henchman and Yakima Canutt in there pitching (and obviously doubling for Kortman in a lively punch-up with Wayne in which our hero does all his own fighting). The climactic stagecoach race is every bit as thrilling as the script promises with heaps of hard riding (excitingly filmed in running inserts), plus some really spectacular stunt-work.

Leofwine_draca WINDS OF THE WASTELAND is a B-movie western feature for the stalwart star of that genre, the one and only John Wayne. He was already a veteran of the genre even at this stage of his career and WINDS OF THE WASTELAND is another perfectly acceptable slice of action and courage. This film's story is set in the dying days of the Pony Express and features Wayne and his buddy going into the stagecoach business, only to find their plans thwarted by a ruthless rival. There's a little action, a little romance, plenty of sunshine, and a decent climactic stagecoach chase which isn't quite up there with the ending of BEN HUR but which still does the job well.

mark.waltz John Wayne's extremely low budget features of the mid 1930's are an entertaining mix of various western themes that are often repetitive, yet never boring. In the case of "Winds of the Wasteland", he is the sucker who buys a stagecoach of the practically vacant ghost town of Crescent City. But when Duke's the hero, he's bound to get revenge in the most clever way, and here, it is the rebuilding of that community and the race to get a government grant to deliver the mail through their stagecoach. Lane Chandler is his "Gabby" Hayes like sidekick who humorously finds an interesting intruder into the stagecoach when they first come across the decrepit vehicle. Of course, there's a young lady involved, and she's Phyllis Fraser, the big-city raised daughter of Crescent City's doctor who has lied to her in the mail over the city's population. Lots of humor (especially the delight of the town's mayor/sheriff/drug store operator at doubling the town's population from 2 to 4!) fills up the short running time as Wayne cleverly goes up against the bad guys who commit a lot of nefarious actions in order to keep Wayne from winning the race. The result is an entertaining programmer that Duke fans will want to watch again and again.

kidboots Lane Chandler started out with Gary Cooper - they appeared together in "Legion of the Condemned" (although Cooper was the star) and he even made a film with Clara Bow as well ("Red Hair" (1928) but by the next year his name had started to appear way down the cast lists. By mid 1930 however, he had found his niche - Westerns!!!, sometimes as the star, more often as the amiable side kick!!Two friends, John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Addams (Lane Chandler),who worked for the Pony Express, decide to pitch in and buy a stage coach - but they need a route!! Cal Drake, a crooked coach dealer, has a line that he will sell to them for $3,000 (in 3 easy payments)!!! They decide, on the spur of the moment, to buy it but afterwards learn that it terminates at a ghost town!!! There is a sheriff, Rocky,(a crusty old timer) who also doubles as a postmaster - he tells the boys that if they can win a stage coach race, they will win a mail contract worth $25,000. Drake, who is as crooked as they come, along with his evil henchman, Cherokee Joe (Bob Kortman) is determined that our two heroes will not win that contract.Blair's first passenger is Barbara Forsyth (Phyllis Fraser) and she is very excited to see the town. Her father has been writing to her - all about the fancy shops and the interesting townsfolk, so she is paying him a surprise visit. She is extremely upset to see it is a ghost town. Soon after her arrival, a wagon pulls up with a sick child - they are looking for a place to settle. Things are looking up for Crescent City. Blair then comes across a group of sick men - they have been drinking poison creek water - someone has removed the sign. He saves their lives and in return they promise to run telegraph wires through Crescent City. Drake offers Blair a job carrying a gold shipment, with a promise to wipe out his debt if he succeeds in delivering the gold. Of course Drake intends to have the shipment held up but Blair has a trick up his sleeve. He sends the henchmen on ahead, then takes the coach on a different route!!!Meanwhile Larry has been seriously hurt. While driving a coach full of men to work as linesmen, he is ambushed and shot. The old doctor is forced to operate and the success of the operation restores his eroded confidence. The mail race is about to start - but without Blair, who is in jail on a trumped up charge. No big deal, he is released on bail and furiously rides off to help Rocky and eventually save the day.This is one of John Wayne's best westerns. There is an exciting stage coach race, the story is interesting, the action never lets up and the love interest is kept to a minimum. Bob Kortman is excellent as Cherokee Joe - he always seems to play the "baddies" with much gusto. You will also recognise Jon Hall, as a handsome young pony express rider in the first scene.Recommended.