The Spoilers

In its plot, The Spoilers is a fairly basic movie. Glennister (John Wayne) runs a successful mining operation with his partner Dextry, and some financial backing from his sweetheart Cherry (Marlene Dietrich), who runs the successful gambling parlor in Nome. Glennister is cheated of his claim by a trio of crooks: a judge (who has a daughter Glennister's been spending time with, complicating things with Cherry), a lawyer, and the local Gold Commissioner (Randolph Scott). Glennister attempts to fight back against the crooked system in a vigilante manner with the help of his friends. Good triumphs, and everything works out, supposedly.

There's a particular sequence that bothered me, specifically when Glennister, Dextry, and some of their miners rob the bank with their faces covered in soot. I don't know if that counts as blackface. None of the men behaved differently than they had up to that point, but the movie did have a gag where Glennister heads to Cherry's apartment afterward and is found by her black maid, Idabelle, who exclaims how happy she is there are finally 'some colored boys up here'. So I don't know, what that is exactly. I know I was uncomfortable watching it, and part of that came from there being no logical reason for them to use soot as a disguise.

Based on Idabelle's comments, there aren't any African-American males in Nome in 1900, let alone a half-dozen, so I can't imagine Glennister hoped to throw the authorities off the trail. Besides, it would have been rather odd for a random group of men to break into the bank, and only steal the safe with Glennister's money in it*, and nothing else. Also, some of those men are pretty recognizable, with their scruffy beards and awkward gaits, I don't think the soot would make them that unrecognizable. And the judge, lawyer, and gold commissioner all knew Glennister was going to do this because they'd purposefully forced him into this corner, so he wasn't fooling anyone that counted. Bandannas covering their faces would have worked just as well.

Ultimately, the soot served to allow for that one joke, and for Idabelle to later enter the room complaining to Glennister she couldn't remove the soot from his clothes when the Commissioner is there with his goons. Which makes it an especially stupid decision by the characters. Bandannas wouldn't leave hard to remove stains on clothes. So, poor choice in plot contrivance?

Anyway, there's also the issue of the marshall killed during the robbery. Not by Glennister, but it was pinned on him. The audience knows who did it, but he dies without admitting it, so even if it all becomes obvious that the judge, shyster, and Randolph Scott where scoundrels, there's still the matter of a murder charge Glennister has no way of clearing himself of. Other than "I didn't shoot him" *throws money around* Which might work.

There is a very impressive fight between John Wayne and Randolph Scott at the end, where they essentially destroy every bit of Cherry's bar. Well, they missed the chandelier, but managed to crash through every table, window, and most of the liquor selection. It's a really impressive fight, but I guess Randolph Scott's too big a name to lose easy.

* That had been confiscated because it was connected to the mine, and Glennister's claim on it was under a faked dispute, and he needed the money to send his lawyer to Seattle to prove it was all bunk)