Discount Allegheny Uprising (1939)

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I have to admit it. John Wayne made a LOT of "generic" westerns.

This hides the fact that he really DID provide some STELLAR performances.

And this is one of them.

ALLEGHENY UPRISING, Stagecoach, The Searchers, Back To Bataan and True Grit are ALL John Wayne at his best.

He got the Oscar for Best Actor in "True Grit" but he deserved it more for his performance in "The Searchers." a movie in which he portrays a man dead-set on EVIL revenge.

Allegheny Uprising presents John as an early colonist (before the American Revolution). It tells a fascinating tale of when we were all proud to call ourselves "British" citizens.

No cheesy shootouts or costumes...but an intricate portrayal of the building of our Nation.

Newly out on DVD...it's well worth a watch!

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This is an enjoyable movie set in Colonial America, and it seems fresher for that reason than maybe it really is. But the story is good, managing to be both patriotic and cynical, until a limp ending.

John Wayne battles Loyalist George Sanders and corrupt trader Brian Donlevy, who is selling arms to Indians, under the *protection* of Sanders. So Duke does what Duke does so well, busting up the shipment and seeing that the values of Western Civilization prevail. Then the movie ends not with a shootout or tomahawk battle, but rather with well-acted yet shallow courtroom intrigue. Sigh.

Still, another thing that makes this movie better than the plot might otherwise allow is the charismatic Claire Trevor, beautiful even in what is basically a throwaway tomboy role. Let's call her the Duchess, at least for the purposes of this movie; not because she was in very many notable westerns or had any particular tie to the Duke, but because she was such a consummate performer that she could hold her own in a scene with him, as she did in Stagecoach.

Another point this film serves to illustrate is how even programmers like this one had better scripts than most anything produced today. Despite the lopsided story, it is evident that great care was given to the dialogue, and much devotion given to performances.

In summation: Generally more entertaining than Drums Along the Mohawk; not better, mind you, just more entertaining.

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I had never heard of this movie before reading about it on Amazon. It sounded good and I took a chance. I won! This is an early John Wayne movie, and some of those are not very good. This one is terrific! I loved the early American time period. The acting was very good, and the script--fresh. This is one of the better movies I've seen in a while. Watch it. You won't regret your time!

Honest reviews on Allegheny Uprising (1939)

The same year Stagecoach was released, John Wayne and Claire Trevor teamed for another movie, Allegheny Uprising, that's almost completely forgetten in relation to the John Ford classic. In 1760 after three years in captivity by an Indian tribe, James Smith and his friend, the Professor, return home to find several tribes on the warpath. These Indians have been supplied with muskets, shot and powder, and tomahawks by a trader looking to make it big. Smith and his neighbors must figure out how to stop the traders before they too are attacked, all the while dealing with the British command nearby who thinks Smith and Co. want to destroy British goods. This isn't a great movie, but it's an exciting movie for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It's fun to see a movie set in the colonies before the Revolution, a period often ignored in movies.

Teaming up again, Claire Trevor, with top billing, and John Wayne lead the cast. Trevor is Janie MacDougall, a tomboy who's loved James Smith as long as she can remember and isn't about to let him slip away a second time. Wayne plays Smith, the tough leader of his valley trying to protect the community. The parts aren't as good as in Stagecoach, but the two still have good chemistry. George Sanders is very good as Captain Swanson, the commander of the British troops in the valley trying to figure out exactly what's going on. Brian Donlevy is excellent as Callendar, the trader selling guns and whiskey to the Indians, an evil bad guy role he played many times. The supporting cast includes Wilfrid Lawson as Mac, Janie's father who loves drinking and fighting, and John Hamilton as the Professor, Smith's friend who does all the talking. Also look out for a young Chill Wills as one of Smith's friends, that voice is instantly recognizable.

The DVD is a good buy although there's some odd features added. The movie is shown in a good-looking standard presentation, really nice considering it's 80 years old. The features include a 16-minute live action short film about the Bill of Rights and a WB cartoon, a "Merry Melodies," that's got nothing to do with the movie or the storyline. Maybe I'm missing something. Still, it's a good but not great John Wayne movie, so give Allegheny Uprising a try!

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Claire Trevor may get top billing in this movie (as Janie MacDougall, a frontier tomboy and dead shot), but she spends most of it tagging along after John Wayne's Jim Smith and being frustrated that he won't let her be a part of his life. Wayne himself--who that same year had teamed with Trevor in Stagecoach, the movie that made him a star after a decade in B's--plays a young frontiersman who spearheads a sort of armed protest against the British in 1759, when Western Pennsylvania was the "far West." His grievance isn't taxes or "quartering," but the apparent inability of the Redcoats to prevent smugglers from trading with the hostile Indians, and most particularly from providing them with guns, powder, and shot. Balked by the aristocratic and scornful Capt. Swanson (George Sanders), and supported by Magistrate Duncan (Robert Barrat), he and his neighbors in the Conococheague Valley (a river of that name does exist in Pennsylvania) struggle to balk the sinister Indian trader Ralph Callendar (perennial film villain Brian Donlevy) and eventually find themselves forced to besiege and occupy the local British fort. Wilfrid Lawson as Trevor's father "Mac" MacDougall, a supposed tavernkeeper who spends most of his time haunting the forests, provides both support and comic relief, and John F. Hamilton, Moroni Olsen, Eddie Quillan, and a young (and slim!) Chill Wills appear as Jim's neighbors. This little-known movie is surprisingly satisfactory and would make a nice double feature with another "Eastern Western" of Wayne's, The Fighting Kentuckian.