Nick Lukats | Through the Shattered Lens

The son of a Norwegian carriage builder who immigrated to the United States in 1892, Knute Rockne (Pat O’Brien) attends Notre Dame, revolutionizes football as both a player and a coach, and leads Notre Dame to upset victory after upset victory. Other coaches look to Rockne and see how to build and inspire a team and learn the importance of taking chances when the game is on the line.

This rah-rah biopic of real-life coach Knute Rockne elevates the character to near sainthood. I was surprised that he didn’t heal any sick children or single-handedly end World War I. Pat O’Brien is just the right age to play Rockne as an aging, veteran coach but the movie also has him playing Rockne as a college student. It’s strange to see Rockne telling his father that he’s decided to go into coaching and that he hopes he won’t be a disappointment to his family when both the father and the son appear to be the same age.

If there is one thing about this movie that really works, it’s the performance of future President Ronald Reagan as George Gipp, a college baseball player who is recruited to the football team after Rockne sees how far and how high he can kick the ball. Gipp becomes a surrogate son to Rockne and Ronald Reagan’s innate likability is put to good use. As an actor in forgettable B-movie, Reagan could seem stiff and uncomfortable but, as George Gipp, he seems surprisingly relaxed and natural. It’s easy to see why this film temporarily made him a star. The scene when George Gipp, on his death bed, tells Knute to tell the team to “win one for the Gipper” is a classic tear-jerker moment and Reagan’s image as being the selfless Gipper, the man who was all about inspiring the team at even the worst of moments, served him well when he went into politics.

(It also served the makers of Airplane! well when Leslie Nielsen needed to give Robert Hays an inspiring speech to get Hays back into the cockpit of that plane. Win one for the Zipper!)

Ronald Reagan’s performance is the only thing about Knute Rockne, All American that has aged well. The movie made me want to win one for the Gipper.

John Wayne plays Dare Rudd, a friendly rogue who aspires to be the best poker player west of the Mississippi. When he and his sidekick, Dinkey Hooley (Syd Saylor), ride into Montana, they meet up with Dare’s cousin, Tom Filmore (Johnny Mack Brown, billed as John here). Filmore needs some help on his cattle drive and Dare sure does like Tom’s girl, Judy (Marsha Hunt). Dare replaces Lynn Hardy (John Patterson) as head of the cattle drive and Lynn teams up with rustler Bart Hammond (Monte Blue) to try to get revenge. While Dinkey tries to sell lightning rods, Dare moves the herd and even finds time to play poker with notorious gambler Buck Brady (James Craig).

This is another one of the B-westerns that John Wayne made before John Ford made him a stars by casting him in Stagecoach. This one is interesting because Wayne is not playing his usual stolid do-gooder or even an expert marksman. Instead, Dare is impulsive and reckless and he’s ultimately not as smart a card player as he thinks he is. It’s rare to see John Wayne need help from anyone but that’s what he gets from Johnny Mack Brown, who shows up in time to reveal that Dare is getting cheated in his poker game. For fans of the genre, this short oater is worth watching for the chance to see two western icons acting opposite each other. Johnny Mack Brown and John Wayne would both go on to appear in a countless number of westerns. Wayne became a superstar, appearing in big budget studio films. Brown remained a mainstay on the B-circuit. They’re amusing to watch in this film as they bounce dialogue off of each other and continually try to steal scenes from one another. Brown is playing the type of no-nonsense, hard-working westerner who would later become John Wayne’s trademark character.

Based on a novel by Zane Grey, Born to the West is a fast-paced western featuring two of the best to ever ride a horse.