The Spoilers (1942) Reviews

• Double Entendres Abound!

  bobbyatgloss2000-07-22

  This movie's got a good enough plot that it's been made at least 4 times, so you know that part's covered. It's a good story that holds up and moves at a good pace. The cast of stars are caught at interesting times in their varying careers. Dietrich is riding the Destry saloon girl role in a carbon copy of the original that belabors a huge oversized Gibson-girl wig and multiple extraordinary outfits befitting Marlene "the star". She brings her distinctive charm to the role and has a tongue-in-cheek ball with the sexually loaded script, but her role has nothing extra-special or magical. John Wayne is full of swagger and charm and working his way up the ladder towards the title of big stud cowboy on campus. Randolph Scott is turning the corner of his career into Westerns also; abandoning those light comedy or milquestoast leading roles and showing a glimpse of the hardnose tough guy & questionably moral cowboy that he came to be in later career moves. This is the penultimate film for Richard Barthelmess and his role is a morose and bitter one that fits his personal situation of a star who had had his day in the sun and was ready to step-down. Kudos, big laughs and a robust round of applause to the best delivery, lines and most entertaining scenes which are all handled by Marlene's maid - Idabelle - played beautifully and naturally by Marietta Canty. She WILL have you laughing out loud! This film is chock full of sexual innuendo, lust-filled motivation and snide comments; all subtly and enjoyably delivered.

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• No fighting in here allowed unless it's over me.

  Spikeopath2008-10-09

  We are in Nome, Alaska, miner Roy Glennister {John Wayne} and his partner Dextry {Harry Carey}, are forced to fight to save their gold claims from the crooked commissioner, Alexander McNamara {Randolph Scott}. Backed by sultry saloon owner and entertainer, Cherry Malotte {Marlene Dietrich}, the team must overcome the odds and suspect politicians in order to get their just deserts. Rex Beach's novel has been adapted five times thus far, and it's not hard to see why because the story is as solid as it gets. This take on the source has a wonderful sense of fun and adventure oozing from it, the cast are uniformly great and the direction from Ray Enright is tight and unobtrusive. Some fine set pieces dot themselves throughout the picture, culminating in a right royal {and lengthy} punch up between Wayne & Scott. No overkilling or tediously ham sequences are here, this is simply an enjoyable Western achieving all it set out to achieve from the off. 7/10

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• Knock-Down, Drag-Out "Northern"

  telegonus2001-12-18

  The old Rex Beach chestnut, The Spoilers, has been filmed several times, from the early silent days to the Eisenhower fifties. A durable tale indeed. When the first version was made the Emperor Franz Josef was still on the throne in Austria. All versions feature the famous fight between McNamara and Glennister, that begins in a saloon and ends several miles down the street. Windows get shattered, tables and chairs fly through the air, and people gasp in horror. This 1942 film, directed by the reliable Ray Enright, is actually genteel compared to the silent versions, and as much a vehicle for Marlene Dietrich as anything else. As she was riding the comeback trail, in the wake of her spectacular success in Destry Rides Again, she plays a saloon singer, which had become her specialty. A rousing "Northern" western, set in the days of the Alaskan Gold Rush (which was, incidentally, closer in historical time to the year this film was made than we are to World War II), The Spoilers has a fairly conventional plot about prospectors, claim-jumpers, and the various hangers-on, honest and crooked, that made mining towns like Nome so exciting,--and so dangerous. Leading men Randoloph Scott and John Wayne make rugged adversaries, though I find Scott somewhat more appealing, which isn't supposed to be the case. Wayne is competent if a little anonymous here. The supporting cast includes the reliable Harry Carey, Richard Barthelmess, Samuel Hinds, and in a cameo (I'm not making this up), the poet, Robert Service, best known for "The Shooting Of Dan McGrew". I guess if you're going to cast a poet in a film like this you don't go for Edna St. Vincent Millay. Service is most appropriate casting. The sets are quite good, and at times quite fancy; and the streets are muddy, though I seem to remember the earlier films as having a more realistic, dirty look, as Alaska here is cleaner and at least physically less forbidding than one might expect. As to the climactic fight, it is well enough done, and properly violent, though neither participant seems nearly so bloodied up as he ought to. Overall, the movie is satisfying, more routine than I expected, and yet a worthy entry in that fascinating sub-genre, the Gold Rush Western.

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• "What You Win You Can Collect."

  bkoganbing2004-07-18

  This is the fourth of five filmed versions of Rex Beach's redoubtable northern classic and since it's the only one out on video, it's the one best known to movie audiences. The stalwart trio of Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne head the cast in this story about gold miners losing their claims to con men and doing something about it. Dietrich's Cherry Malotte is another version of the role she copyrighted in Destry Rides Again. And like in Pittsburgh, Randolph Scott and John Wayne have their hormones in overdrive. Randolph Scott is the gold commissioner/conman Alex McNamara and it's the only time he ever played a thoroughgoing villain on the screen and he carries it off, but I prefer my Randolph Scott to be tough and heroic. You need someone like Scott around because even though John Wayne's the good guy, he's just a little too sure of himself where Dietrich is concerned. Even though her heart's with the Duke, Marlene probably liked having Scott around. Lots of slam bang action here, topped off by what some consider the most brutal movie fight in screen history. Its close rival in Pittsburgh also featured Wayne and Scott and this one is longer, but not as brutal as in Pittsburgh. Nice cast of good supporting character actors and pay particular attention to Scott's companions in thievery, Samuel S. Hinds and Charles Halton. With Randy Scott and the Duke and la Dietrich, how can you go wrong.

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• Wayne and Scott Brawl Highlights Classic !

  cariart2000-11-14

  'The Spoilers' may be the most often-filmed western, ever, yet it has been largely forgotten by today's moviegoers, which is a shame! This is a riproaring adventure yarn with claimjumpers, a sexy romantic triangle, loads of humor, and, to cap things off, the most spectacular fistfight in screen history! The second of three Marlene Dietrich/John Wayne teamings (and Duke is third-billed, behind Dietrich and Randolph Scott!), the plot is simple; evil government 'agents' arrive in Alaska, steal goldminers' claims, until the miners finally take matters into their own hands! In the midst of all this is Wayne, who owns a mine with partner Harry Carey (who is wonderful, as always!) and has had a long-time 'relationship' with saloon-owner Dietrich. When a 'judge' arrives with a pretty daughter (Margaret Lindsay), Wayne's eye begins to wander, and Dietrich sees red! She flirts with handsome Scott, a gold commissioner who is new in town, and obviously smitten! What isn't known is that Scott and the 'judge' (Samuel S. Hinds, who would one day play Jimmy Stewart's dad in 'It's a Wonderful Life'!) are in cahoots to steal gold claims. After a series of tragedies, however, Wayne figures things out (Dietrich had, long before!), and confronts Scott in the middle of Dietrich's saloon...and the 'fight to end all fights' begins! You can hold up 'The Quiet Man', or 'Hard Times', or 'Any Which Way But Loose' as having epic brawls, but this one tops them all! We're talking shirts ripped to shreds, broken furniture and windows, rolling under horses and through the mud mayhem, here! If this were pro football, both Scott and Wayne would make the All-Madden Team, for sure! Wayne is the one still standing (barely) at fight's end, and Dietrich is his proud (and willing) prize! This film may never make a 'Classic Westerns' list (other than mine!), but it is a VERY enjoyable tale that shouldn't be forgotten! If you love a good Western, particularly if you're a John Wayne fan, 'The Spoilers' is a MUST!

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