Winds of the Wasteland is a vast step up from John Wayne's earlier "Lone Star" Westerns in both production values and execution, and though former actor Mack V. Wright may not have been the most visionary of directors, the climactic stagecoach race, as staged by stunt expert Yakima Canutt, remains an exciting harbinger of what Republic Pictures would accomplish in the very near future. John Wayne himself is still a bit wet behind the ears, acting wise, but the supporting cast is uniformly good and the Sacramento Valley locations refreshingly different from the well-traveled Lone Pine vistas.