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Riders of Destiny
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In the first of his 16 Westerns for Monogram, John Wayne plays Singin' Sandy Saunders, a drifter who witnesses what he at first believes to be a stage robbery. In reality, the "road agent" is a girl, Fay Denton (Cecilia Parker), and she is "stealing" her own money in order to prevent a phony stage holdup further down the road. As Fay's father, Charlie "Dad" Denton (George Hayes), explains, the culprit behind a rash of pretend stage holdups committed by two bumbling drivers (Al St. John and Heinie Conklin) is James Kincaid (Forrest Taylor), who is also forcing the local farmers off their lands by demanding an outrageous price for his water. When Sandy appears on the horizon, Kincaid engages a notorious gunman, Slip Morgan (Earl Dwire), but Sandy disarms the bandit for good by shooting him through both wrists. Much to Fay's disgust, Kincaid quickly hires the newcomer, now known as "the most notorious outlaw since Billy the Kid," and Saunders suggests that they dynamite Dad Denton's well, the only other available source of water in the area. It is all a ruse, of course, and Sandy soon reveals himself to be a government agent in disguise. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
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Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
"As 'Singin' Sandy,' John Wayne introduces a new type of outdoor action pictures," Monogram publicity trumpeted in November of 1933. "He's a soft-singing, hard-fighting hombre..." Actually, somebody else provided Singin' Sandy's "soft-singing" voice, which rather obviously did not belong to Wayne himself. Contrary to popular belief, the ghost singer was not band vocalist (and future singing cowboy) Smith Ballew, who would spend the rest of his life denying culpability. Series producer Paul Malvern agreed, always maintaining that the rather rich baritone was provided by Bill Bradbury, the son of the film's director. Although it failed to popularize singing cowboys, Riders of Destiny survives as a buoyant and rather optimistic little B-Western, in its day undoubtedly inspired by a new, more hopeful spirit in a country still in the throes of the Depression and reintroducing a young actor who, although a rather hesitant thespian, at least looked and sounded the part better that many of his rivals. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
 

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