Riders of Destiny

Riders of Destiny is a 1933 pre-Code Western musical film starring 26-year-old John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders, the screen's second singing cowboy (the first being Ken Maynard in the 1929 film The Wagon Master). It was the first of a series of sixteen Lone Star Westerns made for Monogram Pictures between 1933 and 1935, by Wayne and director Robert N. Bradbury, and the first pairing of Wayne with George "Gabby" Hayes. Plot The movie begins with Saunders riding his horse and singing on his guitar when he finds Sheriff Bill Baxter tottering in the desert after being shot in the back. The scene cuts to Saunders witnessing Ms. Fay Denton robbing a stagecoach owned by Mr. Kincaid and when she attempts to get away her horse is shot from under her. Saunders rescues her, gives her his horse and then evades the captors attempting to find him. Ms. Fay turns up to the Sheriffs office to report that her horse has been stolen. The town "land and water" developer Mr. Kincaid seems to be running things and he attempts to console her. Kincaid and his henchmen have been plotting to hoard the water in the region, charge the landowners extortionist rates for the water supply and then convince them to hand over their lands. They have also been stealing Denton's proceeds from a claim in a mine. When Kincaid and his men recover Ms. Fay's saddle they return it to her at the ranch but notice that Saunders' horse is there. They suspect Saunders of being the stagecoach robber and lay a trap for him. Saunders walks into the trap but easily outguns the two henchmen that Kincaid sent to kill him.