In Old California (1942)

John Wayne plays Tom Craig, aka “Boston,” because he’s a pharmacist from Boston who shuns a business opportunity there to head west.

In San Francisco, he meets a pretty entertainer named Lacey Miller (Binnie Barnes) and sweeps her off her feet in order to carry her acrossa mud-soaked street.

That puts him at odds with her fiancee Brit Dawson (Albert Dekker), who wants no one manhandling his lady. Over Lacey’s objections, he has Craig tossed overboard on the boat ride to their destination, the booming town of Sacramento.

Craig makes it to Sacramento anyway — with new friend Kegs McKeever in tow. But Dawson has put out the word: No one is to rent shop space to a pill-pusher from Boston.

Apparently, Lacey didn’t get the word. She rents Craig the space next to her saloon and enters a partnership with him that offers her half profits from the pharmacy.

Naturally, sparks are going to fly.

That’s partly because Dawson has promised to build Lacey a grand home before they marry, with golden doorknobs if she’d like. He plans to finance that home by any means necessarily, including land grabbing.

That’s partly because a second beauty has shown up in Sacramento, a San Francisco socialite named Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish). She takes one look at the new pharmacist in town and decides she could groom Craig into a fine and successful husband.

John Wayne as pharmacist Tom (Boston) Craig, reflecting on the fickleness of fate in In Old California (1942)

Albert Dekker as Brit Dawson, suspicious of Lacey’s reason for entering a partnership with Craig in In Old California (1942)

Review:

After the success of Stagecoach (1939), Wayne starred in a number of non-John Ford Westerns in the 1940s.

This isn’t one of the best, but the handling of the romantic rectangle between the two male and female leads makes it worth a watch.

Parrish’s character doesn’t love Wayne, but wants him anyway. Barnes keeps luring Wayne away from her, all the while protecting him from Dekker, whom she has wrapped around her finger … at least for the time being.

Unfortunately, the plot meanders as the villain goes from land grabbing to gold mining to medicine stealing. And the larger-scale action scenes directed by McGann are handled in a way that they don’t make a lot of sense.

Binnie Barnes as Lacey Miller, twisting Brit Dawson around her finger again in In Old California (1942)

Helen Parrish as Ellen Sanford, trying to lure Tom Craig back to Sacramento in In Old California (1942)

Directed by:
William C. McGann

Cast:
John Wayne … Tom Craig
Binnie Barnes … Lacey Miller
Albert Dekker … Brit Dawson
Helen Parrish … Ellen Sanford
Patsy Kelly … Helga
Edgar Kennedy … Kegs McKeever
Dick Purcell … Joe Dawson
Harry Shannon … Mr. Carlin
Charles Halton … Mr. Hayes
Emmett Lynn … Whitney
Robert McKenzie … Mr. Bates
Milton Kibbee … Ezra Tompkins
Paul Sutton … Chick
Anne O’Neal … Mrs. Tompkins

Runtime: 88 min.

aka: Sacramento

Edgar Kennedy as Kegs McKeever, Craig’s sidekick with the sore tooth in In Old California (1942)

Patsy Kelly as Helga, warning Lacey of the possible repercussions of renting to Craig in In Old California (1942)

Memorable lines:

Lacey Miller: “Don’t worry about Brit. I can twist him right around my little finger.”
Helga: “Uh-huh, but someday, he might bite the hand that twists him.”

Lacey Miller after having been smacked by Ellen Sanford: “Thank goodness I’m not lady enough to hit anybody.”

Kegs McKeever, about how angry he gets when his tooth aches: “I might throw you off a window. I might cut your head off with an axe. So you see, I just can’t let you marry me, Helga … You’re too fine a woman for such a fate.”

Kegs McKeever, upon reaching the gold camp and finding most folks ill: “They need entertainment like a dead horse needs flies.”

Kegs McKeever, after Ellen Sanford stomps out: “I seen the same look in a rattlesnake’s eyes once, after I stomped on it.”

Joe Dawson: “I gotta hand it to you, Brit, for being the meanness coyote this side of the Rockies.”

Dick Purcell as Joe Dawson, Brit’s brother and partner in crime in In Old California (1942)

Harry Shannon as Mr. Carlin, one of the ranchers Brit Dawson tries to swindle in In Old California (1942)

John Wayne as Tom Craig shows off his strength by bending a coin while Brit Dawson (Albert Dekker) looks on in In Old California (1942)

John Wayne as Tom Craig and Edgar Kennedy as Kegs McKeever, running out of places to set up shop in In Old California (1942)