The Man from Monterey

The Man from Monterey ends with a Scooby-Doo-style chase culminating with John Wayne (who’s dressed as a caballero) alongside his sidekick (who’s dressed in drag) grabbing a sword off the wall and fighting off a horde of bad guys. Note: Wayne’s fencing consists of him waving the sword back and forth while the guys clutch their chests and fall to the ground. Not great filmmaking, but its silly earnestness charms.

Not what you’d expect, given the dry plot. Wayne plays a cavalry officer sent to encourage holders of Spanish Land Grants in California to register their titles with the US Government.

The opening scenes don’t bode well. After some stock footage, we get reams of exposition. Don Pablo urges his wealthy friend Don Jose not to register his lands, saying it’s a government trap. We can tell Don Pablo’s a bad guy by his dark brow and mustache, but the script has him verbalize his plans moments later. Don Pablo is broke and wants Don Jose’s lands to fall into public domain so he can seize them.

As a backup, Don Pablo’s also positioning his son, Don Luis, to marry Don Jose’s daughter Dolores. The performers deliver this info dump as though reading off cue cards. Worse still, their attempts at accents only add to their stilted delivery.

Then we cut to a cantina where a mariachi, Felipe, performs, hoping to earn his pay in wine. Don Pablo’s son, Don Luis, enters and Felipe draws his ire. Don Luis smashes Felipe’s guitar and prepares to do worse before Wayne enters and rescues Felipe from Don Luis’s wrath.

As usual in these Warner westerns, Wayne’s stiff but still charismatic. Luis Alberni, however, shines as Felipe. He’s the first performer speaking his lines instead of reading them. The film’s highlight, Alberni appears to relish his over-the-top role. Wayne even seems amused by Alberni’s performance, and his scenes with Alberni prove some of Wayne’s most natural.

Anyway, the grateful Felipe joins up as Wayne’s sidekick, and the pair set out to convince Don Jose to register his lands.

Along the way, Wayne rescues Dolores from a runaway stage and falls for her. This convinces Don Jose to trust Wayne. But Don Luis kidnaps Don Jose en route to the registrar’s office, then forces Dolores to marry him.

Despite all signs pointing to Don Luis, Wayne’s convinced a group of American pioneers might have kidnapped Don Jose, so he rides up, pulls a gun and demands they produce the prisoner. Their entire defense amounts to “We didn’t do it,” which he accepts without argument.

Next, Wayne hatches a plan to infiltrate the wedding disguised as a caballero. Felipe accompanies him dressed in drag. Don Luis and his goons spot the ruse after a few minutes and chase Wayne and company all over the house, culminating in the aforementioned sword fight. But one thing struck me: This is the old west. Didn’t anyone think to grab a gun?

This was the last movie produced under a six-picture contract Wayne signed in 1932 to remake some Ken Maynard westerns. See my review of The Big Stampede for details. Unique among the six, this picture isn’t a remake, and only recycles the runaway stage footage from The Canyon of Adventure, meaning most of the film consists of original footage.

This, along with Alberni’s charming performance, sets The Man from Monterey atop the Warner westerns Wayne churned out for this contract. It’s not a good movie, but it never pretends to be one. It’s goofy fun worth a look for fans of so-bad-it’s-good B-westerns or those fans curious to see John Wayne before he was John Wayne.