John Wayne on ice? Yes, really.

Is it worth your time?

If you like old black-and-white stuff and want to see John Wayne in a hockey jersey, sure. It’s barely an hour long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. If you need deep character work or high-budget thrills, you're gonna have a bad time. Honestly, it’s mostly for people who find the idea of 1930s hockey and chicken farming an amusing crossover.

John Wayne is just… there. He’s not doing his usual western grit, which is honestly kind of jarring. He plays a guy named Johnny Hanson who just wants to expand his chicken farm. It’s a very specific, weird motivation that the movie keeps coming back to.

The hockey scenes are hilarious. They clearly didn't have the budget to make it look like a real game. Everyone just kind of shuffles around in their skates. You can tell they aren't actually playing, just drifting in circles.

Odd moments I noticed:

• The transition between the ice rink and the chicken coop is jarringly sudden.
• The gangsters are so cartoonish they make the hockey players look like Shakespearean actors.
• There is a woman sent to seduce him, and the way she just hangs around the hockey rink is so transparent it’s funny.

It’s nowhere near as polished as something like Cain and Mabel, which had a bit more flash to it. This feels like someone had a bet to see if they could make a sports movie in a weekend. The plot doesn't really try to trick you; it just hits all the notes you’d expect from a mid-30s B-movie.

Sometimes the camera just lingers on a shot of a chicken for too long. It’s like the editor was getting hungry. 🐔

If you’re looking for a serious sports film, look elsewhere. This is just a bizarre little time capsule. It feels like it was filmed in a broom closet half the time. The stakes are supposedly high, but I kept wanting to see more of the farm.

It’s not good, but it’s certainly not boring. You watch it for the sheer absurdity of seeing the Duke hold a hockey stick. That’s enough, right?