But Wayne made over 150 films in his long career and not all were classics. John Wayne: "The Duke" collects six hour-long films starring Wayne. All the films in the collection, however, are creaky and simple. These B-movies are filled with foolish comedic banter that isn't funny and poorly shot action scenes. None is particularly memorable as the hammy supporting players and lame plots make them ripe for the cinema trash heap. If anything makes the films worth preserving it's obviously Wayne who was already developing his powerful, rigid style in these early pictures. His swagger and sly grin are already here a few years before the seminal Ford film Stagecoach.

Desert Trail shows Wayne as the rodeo champ wrongly accused of murder. Wayne gets to flex his comedy chops here as well as drool over lusty Juanita but even if this stilted film were better written this rendition would be sunk by the horrendous synthesized score that's been added to it. It's totally out of place and makes a mockery of an already pretty weak film.

Paradise Canyon finds Wayne going undercover to bust a crooked medicine show. More hambone performances and more bizarre synth score make this another groaner.

The Trail Beyond finds Wayne once again falsely accused of murder. This time, however, he hides out, discovers a map to gold, and has to outwit the Mounties. Sounds like fun, eh?

Two Fisted Law concerns an evil land baron and the struggle to save the farm for little Betty. Aside from some extremely boring dialog scenes this one at least doesn't feature any synthesizers on the soundtrack.

Riders of Destiny is another evil land baron yarn, this time with Wayne leading a full-blown rancher rebellion. Plus it's the return of the synth. It's also around this time that I notice that not only is the synth score awful but it's also the exact same music from film to film! What were they thinking?

West of the Divide is yet another evil land baron soap opera with Wayne once again mistaken for a murderer. In case you haven't noticed, the plot elements in these films are totally interchangeable and really once you've seen one you've seen them all.

VIDEO:
Overall the video quality is pretty bad. These films haven't been preserved particularly well and not much care seems to have been given to the transfers either. They are grainy, shaky and blurry. Compression is visible. Overall not an impressive effort.

AUDIO:
The Dolby Digital audio varies from acceptable, if flawed, to practically unlistenable. Combine that with the horrific synth scores used presumably to "update" the film and you get one rootin' tootin' mess.

EXTRAS:
Nothing besides the six films.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Serious John Wayne fans will likely enjoy seeing his embryonic stage here but overall this isn't what most modern audiences - even those with an appreciation for classic Hollywood - will consider entertainment.