Old Fashioned Justice
As a young boy John Clayborn (John Wayne) watched on helplessly as Alexander Stiles (Cy Kendall) murdered his parents when they refused to sell up their land to him. Many years later John returns to the Pecos having trained in the law with plans to bring justice to Stiles who now calls himself King of the Pecos. John quickly learns that Stiles is still making others lives a misery as he comes across two ranchers struggling because of Stiles' treachery. When John tries to bring Stiles to justice in the court and finds that the local judge is too afraid to do what's right it forces him to reach for his gun to bring some old fashioned justice to the Pecos.
Every once in a while I go on a western spree, watching a whole hoard of old hour long westerns from the 1930s and 40s as the briefness of these movies appeals to me. The thing is that many of these westerns now end up feeling a little cheesy either due to them featuring singing cowboys or sharing storylines. But when you stumble across one which features John Wayne they are well worth watching as whilst often featuring a familiar storyline he brings something extra to them.
It is John Wayne who makes "King of the Pecos" entertaining as it is his characterisation of a level headed lawyer but one who wants revenge which keeps you involved. Some might say that Wayne is just doing what he did in all his westerns but it is a lot less cheesy than what some other western stars delivered. But what you also have in "King of the Pecos" is this storyline of corruption and revenge but one which evolves as we go from revenge in the courts to revenge with the gun which draws you in more than you might expect.
What this all boils down to is that "King of the Pecos" is for the most a typical 1930s western from that group which came in around the hour mark. But whilst some of these westerns suffered from feeling cheesy this one has a nice performance from John Wayne and a decent storyline which evolves nicely.
