4/5 40s romantic adventure yarn set in the Andes
  by Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)
TYCOON is an RKO release that features John Wayne as a construction engineer named Johnny Monroe. His job: tunnel through an Andean mountain. The task is complicated by Frederick Alexander (Cedric Hardwicke), the project's millionaire bankroller. His insistence on corner-cutting (a refusal to line the tunnel with concrete to prevent collapses), and Johnny's romantic pursuit of his daughter Maura (Laraine Day), is also problematic. She has a penchant for following the curious local courting customs, while her father wants Johnny to steer clear of his girl entirely.

After she's sent to the country, Maura defies the old man and makes her way toward town. Meanwhile, Johnny heads out in his jeep on the same road. They meet halfway; Johnny gives Maura a ride to Tenango, but he runs out of gas near some Incan ruins. That night as they huddle by a fire, Mr. Alexander and a search team locate them. To settle matters, Johnny and Maura get married-- and that event marks the beginning of their problems.


John Wayne's next picture after this was the John Ford classic, FORT APACHE (1948).


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.0) Tycoon (1947) - John Wayne/Laraine Day/Cedric Hardwicke/Judith Anderson/James Gleason/Anthony Quinn/Grant Withers/Paul Fix/Fernando Alvarado/Harry Woods/Michael Harvey/Charles Trowbridge/Martin Garralaga (uncredited: Jan Sterling)

2/5 Nice Color But Dull John Wayne Flick!
  by Cuthbert J. Twiddle (Sacramento, CA USA)
I'm a big John Wayne fan, have more DVDs with him in them than those with any other actor. This one put me to sleep though! Very nice Technicolor, lovely on location South American scenery, competent performances from the Duke and a good supporting cast but it just drags, especially in the first half of the film. Even if you're a major Wayne fan as I am and want to see everything he made I'd save my money and wait until this one plays again on Turner Classic Movies. Big disappointment in my humble opinion! The entertaining short and cartoon were better than the feature!

4/5 Neglected vintage action movie
  by F. J. Harvey (Birmingham England)
The UK movie magazine Empire ran a feature a year or so back on "The most under-rated actors in movies ".Kevin Bacon "won" and John Wayne came second ,the article going on to point out that he was often dismissed as a "star" and a "presence"rather than an actor.It is a valid point and for my money one area where he especially excelled was in playing "driven" men -those keen to get things done at whatever price .He showed this talent in two undeniable classics -Red River and The Searchers .Tycoon is nowhere near to being a classic but it does enable the Duke to show this facet of his talent to good advantage

He plays an engineer,Johnny Munroe ,entrusted with the task of building a trans -Indian railroad and not unduly fussy about methods ,driving his work force long and hard .He does not let his obsession prevent him from amorous dalliance with Maura (Laraine Day )who just happens to be the daughter of his boss Frederick Alexander (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) who objects to Munroe over both the courtship of his daughter and the draconian methods Munroe applies .Conflict is inevitable and a bitter spirit enters his soul driving him to even further levels of obsession

Wayne is fine and there is solid back up from Hardwicke and Judith Anderson with a young Anthony Quinn as a devious baddie .Day is a little flat but the love scenes with Wayne she her raise her game -it was reputed they were an off screen item as well

The script by Borden Chase and John Twist might politely be described as funtional and it really needed a stronger director than studio hack Richard Wallace to drive the movie forward .The action is plentiful and well staged with an especially good storm scene and the Technicolor photography is splendid

A solid slice of vintage Hollywood hokum is the result of all this .It is enjoyable and entertaining but not quite top drawer Duke or top drawer movie making either





3/5 Tycoon
  by Gerald Hartman
Tycoon
The Movie
Here we have the Duke as a railroad man blasting tunnels thru a mountain. He falls for a weird rich mans daughter. Then all the drama begins. It takes a long time to get to it too. It is slow paced not edited well and not one of the dukes best films. That's not to say its bad it just doesn't move along and doesn't pull you into the story

The Video
The video is bright lots of color in full frame. It has some damage here and there but all in all a watch able print.

The Audio
Mono 1.0 no update which is a shame with all the dynamite it been nice to have a 5.1 mix too rattle the windows.

The Extras
Hollywood Wonderland
Sixteen minutes of a musical about Hollywood made in 1947. I am not sure what this has to do with the movie but its here it's a Disney like parade of music and dance with some cameos interesting once but like most extras never watched twice.

Red Hot Rangers
A Tex Avery cartoon with two bears trying to put out a forrest fire. Most of us have seen this one before but due to the smoking in the first scene it is not shown on regular tv anymore.

Summary
As for my collection of duke movies it is a most. For the casual fan it's a rent if u can find it. For six bucks though it is priced right. Frankly the cartoons better than the movie on this one.


5/5 A Great Early John Wayne Movie!!
  by
John Wayne stars as an engineer struggling to build a rairoad tunnel to reach the mines as his task becomes more complicated when he falls for the bosse's daughter.This is a great early John Wayne Movie!!