JohnHowardReid Copyright 22 January 1934 by Monogram Pictures Corp. Presented by Lone Star Productions. No New York opening. U.S. release: 10 October 1933 (sic). U.K. release through Pathe: 16 July 1934. 6 reels. 58 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Undercover government agent helps ranchers get their rightful water rights.NOTES: Wayne's first of sixteen Lone Star westerns. Negative costs rarely exceeded $12,000 on an incredibly rapid shooting schedule of less than a week.COMMENT: The first of the Lone Stars starts off on a distinctly wrong track by attempting to pass John Wayne off as a singing troubadour. Mouthing to the somewhat inappropriate voice of Smith Ballew, Wayne "sings" two songs. We like the one about "There'll be blood a-runnin' in town before night. There'll be guns a-blazin; and singin' with lead. Tonight you'll be drinkin' your drinks with the dead." Wayne seems definitely uncomfortable in this warbling role, but fortunately is obviously much more at ease in the action spots, especially when doubled by Yakima Canutt. In addition to doubling Wayne and general stunting (he performs a fine quota of spectacular falls and leaps), Canutt has a minor genuine on-screen role as one of the villain's henchmen, though he disappears from view at an early stage. G."G". Hayes, on the other hand, has a major part, doing a variant on his famous "Gabby" characterization. Heroine Cecilia Parker is a lovely girl, but though appealingly photographed, her acting is so amateurish it's a miracle she survived to be re-born as Andy Hardy's sister. Normally respectable Forrest Taylor has an off-beat role as the heavy, with Heinie Conklin of all people as a pratfalling henchman. Wayne himself is reasonably personable. There's enough action to satisfy the fans ("Make it fast, Slippery. This is your last draw!"), and for once the background locations are not drably uninteresting. Bradbury's direction is competent, though his fondness for whip pans as a scene-changing device will make the movie seem even more dated and old-hat to current viewers.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . inattentive viewers of this flick probably will ask. My fashion consultant swears that Cilia Parker's bubble butt riding pants would clearly define her as female from a mile away, but the DUMB AND DUMBER henchmen featured in RIDERS OF DESTINY--"Bert" and "Elmer" (almost Muppets, but no cigar)--mistake her for a dude when they're just a block off. They assassinate Cilia's horse, enabling John Wayne to step into her lurch and spread her biscuits. Since DESTINY involves more twists and turns over water rights than CHINATOWN, this may all sound kind of sexy. Rest assured that incest is hardly hinted at among "The Dentons" (Ms. Parker and her Pops, Gabby Hayes). Having a ranch and gold mine in her family is more than enough to titillate John, on top of "Fay Denton's" tasty biscuits and buns. But the cut from wounded Sheriff Baxter to the shot of Fay being dismounted is both abrupt and perplexing. The one saving grace is that this early conundrum only takes half an hour to resolve, since DESTINY runs less than 53 minutes.

csimpkins53 First of all, joeytheBrit says that Cecilia Parker "...bakes cookies too." No, no, no. She does NOT bake cookies in this movie she bakes BISQUITS! Bisquits are entirely different from cookies! In the old west, biscuits were usually made with buttermilk and were eaten primarily with breakfast. Anyway, Joey is certainly correct in saying that Cecilia Parker is impossibly cute, I wish I could meet someone like her! As for the film itself the story is actually quite good and told in a fairly entertaining manner. Remember, this was filmed in 1933! The acting is just passable. Yakima Cannutt should have stayed with the stunt work as he was certainly no actor! John Wayne as "Singing Sandy" is ridiculous. The songs are just silly and don't belong in the movie. It is very obvious that Wayne did NOT do the singing. The voice in the songs sounds nothing like Wayne's voice. The songs only detract from the otherwise fairly decent story.

dougdoepke Forget the lame opening of Singin' Sandy (Wayne) warbling a tune that sounds about as much like Wayne's singing voice as mine does. This is still a solid Lone Star programmer. There's not a lot of hard riding or fast shooting, but there is a strong story-line, along with that stellar cast of Lone Star regulars-- George Hayes (before Gabby), Yakima Canutt, Earl Dwire, and Forrest Taylor, excellent as the head bad guy.I expect the plot really resonated with Dust Bowl audiences of the time. Bad guy Taylor wants to use water rights to buy up all the little farmers in the valley. The effects of water returning to the valley are quite well done for a programmer. Also the crowd scenes look like real farmers, while the 30 seconds of the plain-faced frontier woman appealing to the crowd should be studied by A-grade Westerns.Wayne is quite engaging as the good guy, looking every inch the part. Also, look for Al (Fuzzy) St. John, sans whiskers, as one of the bad guys, no less. One complaint-- there are two really tumbling trip-wire scenes that send the poor horses head over hoofs. I hope they survived. That was one real problem with these 30's Westerns. Anyway, it's still an entertaining 60 minutes for fans of Wayne and Lone Star.