Dakota
by Joseph Kane
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Actor: John Wayne, Ona Munson, Vera Ralston, Walter Brennan, Ward BondDirector: Joseph Kane
Brand: Lions Gate
Cinematographer: Jack A. Marta
Producer: Joseph Kane
Editor: Fred Allen
Writer: Carl Foreman
Writer: Howard Estabrook
Writer: Lawrence Hazard
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-05-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Republic Pictures
DVD Reviews of Dakota
DVD Review: Wayne in a comedy
Summary: 1 Stars
He's a happily married newlywed who is a little henpecked by his strong Polish wife.
He dances, makes faces, and tells jokes.
He's not a very good shot, gets beaten up a lot, sucker punched, robbed, and rides around in a carriage.
He's..... John Wayne.
John Wayne!? Yup. John Wayne. Not the 1930s singing cowboy from the 50+ B movies, but a post 1939 ("Stagecoach") John Wayne who had just finished "Back to Bataan" and "They Were Expendable" and would shortly redefine the western hero with films like "Red River" and "Fort Apache" (1948) and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949).
So what is he doing in this stinker from Republic? And what fool wasted this cast that contains Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, Paul Fix, Mike Mazurki, Nick Stewart, Grant Withers, and Robert Barrat, to name a few.
This is probably Walter Brennan's worst film. He rants and raves and is clearly over the top, even for Walter Brennan. Brennan won 3 Oscars for Best Supporting Actor ("Come and Get it" in 1936, "Kentucky" in 1938, and "The Westerner" in 1941) and was nominated for his work in "Sergeant York" (1941). We know him best for his Emmy nominated role in the TV series "The Real McCoys", and his film comedies ("The Over the Hill Gang") or as the grumpy side kick Stumpy in "Rio Bravo", but he was equally capable of playing the villain, as he showed in "The Westerner" (1940), "My Darling Clementine" (1946), and again In "How the West Was Won" (1962). Brennan and Wayne teamed up in 8 films including "Red River" (1948), "Three Godfathers" (1948) and the most memorable being "Rio Bravo" (1959).
Ward Bond plays a villain. He was a football player at USC with his life time friend, John Wayne, and together they appeared in nearly a dozen films including "They Were Expendable" (1945), "Fort Apache" (1948), "3 Godfathers" (1948), "The Searchers" (1956), "Wings of Eagles" (1957), and "Rio Bravo" (1959). Without Wayne, Bond was also a staple in Ford's stock company and appeared in "Young Mr. Lincoln" (1939), "Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)", "My Darling Clementine" (1946), and "The Grapes of Wrath (1940) among the 25 films they made together. He's probably best remembered for his role as Major Seth Adams on the TV series "Wagon Train" (1957 - 1961), based on the 1950 film "Wagon Master" in which he appeared. Bond was in more Top 100 AFI films (7) than any other actor, and appeared in 11 films that were nominated as Best Picture. Bond's friendship to Wayne shows through the entire film, diminishing his role as a villain
Big Jim Mazurki plays Bond's enforcer. At 6'5" he was an imposing figure in more than 100 films from 1934 to 1990. He played Indians, Arabs, and Italians. In the 1950s he transitioned to TV. He does his usual effective menancing job.
Robert Barrat plays a land owner. He appeared in more than 100 films. He did 7 films with Jimmy Cagney (e.g., "The Mayor of Hell") and appeared in such classics as "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937), "Captain Blood" (1935), "Union Pacific" (1939), and "They Were Expendable" (1945). He's best remembered for his role as Chingachgook in "Last of the Mohicans" (1939). If you blink you'll miss Barrat.
Grant Withers plays a thug. He is the heavy you love to hate. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1925 to 1958. He was in many John Wayne and John Ford movies, and the Duke was his best man when he married in 1953. I remember him best as Ike Clanton in "My Darling Clementine" (1946).
Paul Fix has a small role as another of Bond's henchmen. Fix was originally Wayne's acting coach and eventually appeared in 26 films with him including "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "The Fighting Kentuckian" (1949), "Big Jim McLain" (1952), "Hondo" (1953)" and El Dorado" (1967). Fix played in more than 200 films, many of them westerns, starting in the silent film era. He gave us such memorable roles as old man Maxwell in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973), and Joan Crawford's confidant Eddie in "Johnny Guitar" (1954). He's best remembered for his role as the Marshall in Sam Peckinpah's TV series "The Rifleman" (1958-65).
Nick Stewart plays Brennan's shipmate. We know Stewart best as Lightnin' from the great Amos and Andy TV series. He started in films in 1932 and transitioned to TV in the 50s. He provides good comic relief.
Vera Ralston plays Wayne's wife, a role also exclusively reserved for Maureen O'Hara. She was a Czech skating star and was brought to the US to be the next Sonja Henie. Ralston and director Joseph Kane were having an affair while she was married to Republic Pictures president Herbert Yates. She made a total of 27 films from 1941 to 1958. Her acting is OK and it's rare for a woman to overshadow Wayne, but that's the nature of the film given her husband and her lover. They worked together one more time and then Wayne refused to continue to work with her.
Production values are terrible. Most of the film is shot in a studio. Backdrops are obvious and the use of models makes the early British films look like Star Wars.
Joseph Kane is the director. Kane directed Wayne in "Lawless Nineties" (1936) and "Flame of the Barbary Coast" (1944) but his real experience came from Gene Autry and Roy Rogers films and he really doesn't understand how to use Wayne.
On any terms this is a poor film. Given the year it was made and the quality of the cast, there is no excuse for such a poor film.
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Description of Dakota
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