The Spoilers is a 1942 Western drama film directed by Ray Enright.
The movie is set in Nome, Alaska during the Nome Gold Rush, with Marlene Dietrich as Cherry Malotte,
Randolph Scott as Alexander McNamara, and John Wayne as Roy Glennister, a
nd culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight between McNamara and Glennister.
The Spoilers was adapted to screen by Lawrence Hazard from the 1906 Rex Beach novel of the same name.
Film versions also appeared in 1914, 1923 (with Noah Beery, Sr. as McNamara and Anna Q. Nilsson[/B] as Malotte),
1930 (with [B]Gary Cooper as Glennister and Betty Compson as Malotte;
this is the only time that Gary Cooper and John Wayne played the same role in two different films),
and 1955 (with Anne Baxter as Malotte, Jeff Chandler as Glennister, and Rory Calhoun as McNamara).
Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne
also appeared together that same year in a movie called Pittsburgh.
Remarkably, Scott was billed above Wayne in both movies,
even though Wayne's role was larger and more important in each.
Bestselling poet Robert W. Service (not credited) plays The Poet, a fictionalized version of himself.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
(John B. Goodman, Jack Otterson, Russell A. Gausman and Edward Ray Robinson).
Based on the Rex Beach novel of the same name, is set in Nome in 1900, during the Alaska gold rush.
Shot around Lake Arrowhead, once again cast Duke alongside Marlene Dietrich.
Deitrich found Duke more sure of himself, than when they filmed Seven Sinners
The chemistry between them was still, steaming, as was their real life affair.
Also Duke and Randoloh Scott, interacted well together, with the able support of
Margaret Lyndsay, and Harry Carey.
Duke and Scott, tore up the set, in a brawl of he-man proportions, and the bedlam pleased critics and audiences alike.
One reviewer called the fight,
QuoteA minor masterpiece of stunt action
User Review
QuoteDisplay MoreAuthor: bkoganbing
This is the fourth of five filmed versions of Rex Beach's redoubtable northern classic and since it's the only one out on video,*
it's the one best known to movie audiences. The stalwart trio of Marlene Dietrich,*
Randolph Scott, and John Wayne head the cast in this story about
goldminers losing their claims to con men and doing something about it.
Dietrich's Cherry Malotte is another version of the role she copyrighted in Destry Rides Again. And like in Pittsburgh,*
Randolph Scott and John
Wayne have their hormones in overdrive.
Randolph Scott is the gold commissioner/conman Alex McNamara and it's
the only time he ever played a thoroughgoing villain on the screen and he carries it off,*
but I prefer my Randolph Scott to be tough and heroic.
You need someone like Scott around because even though John Wayne's the good guy,
he's just a little too sure of himself where Dietrich is
concerned. Even though her heart's with the Duke, Marlene probably liked having Scott around.
Lots of slam bang action here, topped off by what some consider the most brutal movie fight in screen history.*
Its close rival in Pittsburgh also featured Wayne and Scott and this one is longer, but not as brutal as in Pittsburgh.
Nice cast of good supporting character actors and pay particular attention to Scott's companions in thievery,
Samuel S. Hinds and Charles Halton.
With Randy Scott and the Duke and la Dietrich, how can you go wrong.