The Dawn Rider (1935) |

53min. // A lone rider drifts into a rough frontier town and almost immediately lands in a bare-knuckle brawl with hotheaded Ben McClure. Tempers cool as quickly as they flared, and over drinks the two strangers discover an unexpected bond: McClure works for the newcomer’s father at the local freight company. Their uneasy camaraderie is barely formed when they stride into the freight office and straight into a holdup in progress.

Inside, Mason’s father is being forced to empty his own safe at gunpoint. In a desperate bid to defend what’s his, he reaches for a weapon and is cut down by a bullet fired from outside the window. With his dying breath, he gives his son the only clue to the murderer’s identity: a polka dot bandanna. From that moment, the story becomes a grim pursuit, as Mason sets out to find the faceless killer hidden among the town’s ranch hands, drifters, and outlaws.

Suspicion, shifting loyalties, and the code of the Old West collide as Mason digs deeper into the mystery. Every card game, saloon encounter, and shadowy alley might conceal the man with the telltale bandanna, and every ally could prove false when guns are drawn. The film builds its tension not just on flying fists and six-shooters, but on the question of whether justice on the frontier will be served by the law—or by a son’s thirst for vengeance.

Directed by: Robert N. Bradbury

Writing Credits: Lloyd Nosler

Starring: John Wayne, Yakima Canutt, Marion Burns, Dennis Moore, George “Gabby” Hayes