Directed by: Robert N. Bradbury
Starring: John Wayne, Barbara Sheldon, George “Gabby” Hayes, Yakima Canutt, Lloyd Whitlock

STORY
Before John Wayne became The Duke—before Stagecoach, Red River, The Searchers and the monumental Westerns that would make him an American screen icon—there was the young Wayne of the 1930s, already learning how to command the saddle, the screen and an audience.
Jerry Mason (John Wayne) arrives in the West to join old family friend Jake Benson (George “Gabby” Hayes), a rancher and blacksmith with considerably more character than cash. Their fortunes change dramatically when the two discover gold. Suddenly Jerry and Jake aren't merely trying to make a living, they may have struck it rich. But in the Old West, finding gold is often easier than keeping it.
Their discovery attracts the attention of the crooked Harris (Lloyd Whitlock) and his dangerous accomplice Cole (Yakima Canutt), who have every intention of separating our heroes from their newfound fortune. Soon Jake is attacked, Jerry is framed, and what began as a gold-strike adventure becomes a fight to clear Jerry's name and turn the tables on the men trying to steal everything they've found.
And THAT is where The Lucky Texan earns its place in Absolutely Westerns. This is lean, economical B-Western filmmaking: good guys, bad guys, gold, horses, fistfights, stunt work and John Wayne developing the easy physical authority that would eventually make him synonymous with the Western itself.

AIN BACKSTAGE SECRETS & AINTOIDS

BEFORE “GABBY” WAS QUITE GABBY
George Hayes plays Jake Benson—but audiences who know him as the wonderfully whiskered Gabby Hayes may need a second look. He's considerably less furry here! Hayes hadn't yet fully developed the bearded, cantankerous Western sidekick persona that would make him one of the genre's most recognizable character actors.
And The Lucky Texan gives us something even better: Hayes in drag. During the climactic chase, Jake disguises himself as a woman—and the future Gabby Hayes provides one of the movie's wonderfully unexpected comic sights. Contemporary historical material confirms Hayes is the woman driving during part of the chase sequence.

JOHN WAYNE BEFORE SUPERSTARDOM
Wayne was only 26 years old when The Lucky Texan was released.
His starring role in the expensive epic The Big Trail four years earlier hadn't turned him into an overnight superstar. Much of the 1930s instead found Wayne working—constantly—through lower-budget Westerns such as this one.
That's part of what makes these pictures so fascinating today. We're watching a future screen legend learning his craft in public.

YAKIMA CANUTT — THE MAN WHO HELPED MAKE MOVIE ACTION MOVE
Look closely at bad guy Cole: that's Yakima Canutt, one of the great stuntmen and stunt coordinators in motion-picture history.
Canutt wasn't merely another actor in these early Wayne Westerns. He became an enormously important figure in the development of movie stunt work and action filmmaking—and Wayne's association with him helped influence the physical screen style audiences would eventually associate with The Duke.
So when the action gets rough in The Lucky Texan, AIN viewers aren't merely watching another B-Western heavy. They're watching one of the pioneers of Hollywood stunt performance.

WAYNE + GABBY + CANUTT
And THIS is one of our favorite AIN reasons for putting The Lucky Texan into the Treasure Chest.
John Wayne.
Gabby Hayes.
Yakima Canutt.
Three names that would become deeply associated with the American Western are right here together in a compact little 1934 programmer.

FROM A HORSESHOE TO A GOLD MINE
The movie wastes very little time getting to its hook: Jerry and Jake's fortunes change when gold turns up in connection with Jake's blacksmith operation. It's exactly the sort of simple, instantly understandable story engine these economical Westerns did so well.
Gold means opportunity.
Gold means greed.
And, naturally, gold means BAD GUYS.
Welcome to the West.
THE MOVIE HAD ANOTHER NAME
The Lucky Texan originally carried the working title Gold Strike River. Years later, a colorized home-video version was also released using that title.
AIN prefers the original.
THE LUCKY TEXAN sounds like a Western.

SHORT, FAST AND MADE TO ENTERTAIN
AFI lists the film at approximately 55–56 minutes.
That's another wonderful window into B-picture production. These movies weren't designed to spend three hours contemplating the existential implications of the frontier.
Get Wayne on the horse.
Find the gold.
Bring in the villains.
Start the chase.
ROLL CAMERA.
Independent filmmakers at AIN can appreciate that philosophy!

AND THE CAMERAMAN WAS NO SLOUCH EITHER
The cinematographer was Archie Stout, another name worth remembering. Stout went on to a long Hollywood career and later shared the Academy Award for color cinematography for John Ford's The Quiet Man.
Which starred...
JOHN WAYNE.
Twenty-eight years before that Oscar, Stout was already photographing Wayne right here in The Lucky Texan.
Now THAT'S an AINtoid.