Montana (1950)

Best movie of this year hands down!

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely the worst movie.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Set in a post-civil war Montana location from the freeway in which takes place a strong confrontation between the leaders of the cattlemen against the sheep-men . It stars Errol Flynn who is opposed by local ranchers and a rich cattle-woman , Alexis Smith . As an Australian sheep-man called Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn) comes to Montana looking for grazing space . He goes to town along with Papa Otto Schultz (S.Z. Sakall) , disguising as a merchant , explains his Australian accent , and to be aware that Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith) , a strong-willed rancher , is at odds the family ranch in Montana . Lane wants to rent some lands to his sheep and Miss Singleton wants to keep the lands for her cows and while the cattle barons attempt to keep the sheep from nubbing away at the good grass . Now Morgan as a tough person trying to calm the conflict between shepherds , cattlemen and homesteaders . But Lane also finds time in a romantic triangle with heart-of-gold/Alexis Smith and Rodney Ackroyd (Douglas Jackson) , Miss Singleton's Fiancée , another ranch owner .It deals with the classic cattle-vs.-sheep feud and it gets Western action , shootouts , a love story , street showdown gunfight and being quite entertaining . There is a twisted romance when Flynn falls for a girl who turns out to be a domineering woman who hates shepherds . This relationship tugs Morgan/Flynn and Miss Singleton/Alexis , wealthy owner of a large ranch but Singleton quickly decides that Morgan has a much better name than other suitor but keeps them apart . The violent conflicts emerge when Morgan/Errol encamps his sheep at the boundary line where the bad grazing ends and the good grazing begins . It's a medium budget film with nice actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . At the ending takes place a disastrous clash between the cattle and sheep factions with unexpected consequences . The film is totally set in Montana territory which was the first of the major railhead cattle territories , it was a booming depot , including cattle drives and shipping some Longhorns by railroad and meat markets in the East . With the numerous presence of homesteaders the towns prospered , stabilized and grew , its lawabiding citizens decided to discourage the troublesome cattle trade with his transient cowboys and early requested the cattlemen to drive their herds elsewhere . Well played by Errol Flynn who starred various ¨Sword and Swagger¨ films and was superstar of Warner Brothers swashbucklers . Errol is still nearly at his most agile and deft style . Errol Flynn was 40 when he made this movie , but his wild lifestyle had diminished his health and made him less able to perform his own stunts, as he had in earlier films . Previously , Flynn made his best swashbucklers and played successes as ¨Captain Blood¨ , ¨Adventures of Robin Hood¨, ¨The prince and the pauper¨ , ¨Sea Hawk¨, ¨The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex¨ , ¨Gentleman Jim¨ . Flynn also performed some Westerns as ¨Dodge City¨, ¨Virginia City¨, ¨Santa Fe Trail¨, ¨They died with their boots on¨, ¨San Antonio¨, ¨Silver River¨. And wartime movies as ¨Objective Burma¨, ¨Norhern pursuit¨, ¨Dive Bomber¨ , ¨Edge of darkness¨ , ¨Desperate journey¨. The motion picture is directed in sure visual eye and with action enough . The yarn well produced by William Jacobs was professionally directed by Ray Enright . Ray was a craftsman who directed lots of Westerns . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres , though especially Western , the best are starred by Scott , all well screen-written . His Western film debut was ¨River's end¨ (40) , following ¨Bad men in Missouri¨ (41) about the Youngers , ¨The spoilers¨ (42) with a star-system , as Marlene Dietrich , John Wayne and Scott , ¨Men of Texas¨(42) , ¨Sin Town¨(42) , and various starred by Randolph Scott as ¨Trail Street¨(47) , ¨Coroner Creek¨(48) , ¨Alburquerque¨(48) , and starred by Alexis Smith : ¨South of St. Louis¨(49) and this ¨Montana¨ (50) . His last Westerns were ¨Kansas raiders¨(50) and Flaming Feather¨(52) , until his retirement in 1953 .

I much enjoyed this Technicolor latter day Flynn western, more so than my initial viewing some years ago. Although the viewer can soon guess the ultimate outcomes in the intertwined romance and business departments, the details of getting there are entertaining in typical Flynn fashion. Some reviewers deride it for its relatively short length, but I'd rather have a well-paced shorter film than a tedious long one. Flynn is once again cast as a romantic rebel, this time as sheepman Morgan Lane, intent on invading cattle-only territory in western Montana. He cleverly poses as a hawker for traveling salesman Papa Schultz('Cuddles' Sakall), in order to get his foot in the door. Although he claims to be an Australian who decided to move to the US, if you listen carefully, his father(probably when he was a small boy), as a sheepman, was run out of this region by cattlemen, and he has returned to reestablish a mix of sheep and cattle. He knows it will be a tough sell, but he's undeterred.Cattle queen Maria Singleton(Alexis Smith) long ago lost her father and brother in a sheepmen-cattlemen war, presumably the one involving Lane's father, although this connection is never explored. Thus, she and neighboring cattleman fiancé Rod Ackroyd have warned death to any attempt to reestablish sheep in their corner of Montana. Before she learns Lane's true intentions, Maria is impressed with Lane's skills with a gun(in a showdown with foreman Slim Reeves), a guitar, and riding a notorious bucking bronco; thus offers to lease him some of her best grazing land, presumably to establish a cattle herd. Naturally, she is horrified to learn that he is the proprietor of the sheep flock recently harassed nearby. Maria spends the rest of the film being alternatively attracted to Lane's charm and ranch skills and repelled by his sheep past and plans: a classic conflict between an irresistible force and an immovable object.Lane eventually convinces most of the small ranchers, one big rancher, and a banker that, given the depressed prices for cattle products, sheep plus cattle is the way to go. He arranges to move his sheep onto the land of a cooperating big rancher, who is then assassinated by Slim, who then accidentally shoots himself in a grapple with Flynn. The non-cooperating cattlemen then plan a cattle stampede through the sheep flock, but are thwarted by Flynn and cooperating cattlemen, who were forewarned. Ackroyd is trampled to death by his own cattle after losing a grapple with Lane. To rub Maria's nose in his victory, Lane herds his sheep into town, where she is waiting with a gun. Well, you can guess the outcome of this showdown, more or less. End of story.The two leads are very well cast and charismatic. Flynn, with his past success at combining physical skill, imagination, wordy charm and humor, made a believable upstart, and Alexis made a great brassy beautiful adversary/romantic counterpart. Her flaming red hair and bright gray-green eyes were made for Technicolor. I was surprised to learn this was their fourth(and last)film pairing. Unlike some reviewers, I thought Flynn still looked rather good for age 39(The film was actually shot in '48, not '50). He definitely looks much better in the film than on the jacket of the current DVD! You may or may not be charmed by the charismatic talkative Hungarian refuge 'Cuddles' Sakall, who becomes Flynn's initial local 'old timer' partner and adds some lightness to the story. Sakall disappears after bankrupting himself, losing multiple bets on Lane staying on that bucking bronco for at least one minute(Lane loses this bet due to undetected foul play). He is replaced as Flynn's 'old timer' friend by bewhiskered Paul Burns, as Tecumseh.In addition to the background music, Flynn and Alexis's duet "I Reckon I'm in Love" is a pleasant diversion in their getting acquainted process. In addition, there is a short traditional Latin song around the campfire, interrupted by a cattlemen attack, and a harmony ditty "Ole Dan Tucker" in the saloon.So, how does this story relate to actual history? Lane's sheep and shepherds got off very easy compared to some actual depredations by cattlemen. Actually, Montana was one area of the Great Plains where cattle-sheep wars were relatively few, and sheep were often grazed with cattle and horses. In part, this was because individual investors often had both cattle and sheep flocks, and sheep and cattle raising began about the same time in the 1860s. The later '80s and early '90s were a difficult time for northern plains cattlemen, as mass cattle deaths from severe winters and drought, and economic depression drove many into bankruptcy. In this film, only the price drop is mentioned as a hardship.This film dramatizes some of the common prejudices of the times by cattlemen against sheep and shepherds: sheep eat vegetation down to the roots, are smelly and their meat inferior to beef, while sheepmen usually are inexperienced at riding horses and using firearms, and are financially poor. Most sheperds were Mexicans, Native Americans or poor immigrants, as depicted. In fact, sheep prefer forbs to grass, opposite to cattle. If raised around cattle, they often follow cattle, which tend to scare off lamb predators, abetting guard dogs.Presently available as part of the Flynn westerns DVD collection, and has played occasionally on the Encore Westerns TV channel.

Years ago, I saw Errol Flynn sing in "Thank Your Lucky Stars". He wasn't particularly good, but the song seemed to fit his limited range and was a pleasant addition to the movie. Little did I know that in addition to this movie, Flynn also sang in "Montana"--again, he wasn't that good, but the song was pleasant and worked because it worked pretty well for a man who was definitely not a singer. While this isn't THE reason to watch this film, for old time film nuts like myself, it sure is an incentive.This is one of several westerns Flynn made for Warner Brothers, though oddly the movie wasn't released for two years after it was completed. The reason doesn't appear to be because it's a bad film, as it's an amiable film--perhaps it had something to do with contract negotiations.For once, Flynn actually plays an Australian! Considering his accent, this made a lot more sense than some of these other films where you assume he's supposed to be a 100% born and bred American! And, like most of his other Warner westerns, this one is shot in glorious color--and it sure looks pretty.The film begins with Flynn and his men moving sheep into Montana--even though cattlemen have promised to kill any sheepmen who enter the territory. And, not surprisingly, soon on of Flynn's men is killed. Instead of an all-out response, Flynn goes undercover into town to scout out the situation. To do so, he joins up with Cuddles Sakall, who is a traveling merchant. In this guise, he soon works his way into Alexis Smith's heart--and she is the owner of one of the biggest cattle outfits. But, when his identity as a sheep lover (don't take that the wrong way, please) is discovered, the blossoming romance is dead. However, considering it IS Errol Flynn, you have an inkling that when all is said and done that they'll be back together.In the meantime, Flynn and his new buddy, Tecumseh (Paul Burns) realize that their beef (so to speak) isn't with ALL the cattle ranchers--just the big outfits that seek to boss everyone around. If the little ranchers and sheep ranchers could work things out, they could all get along...but what about the biggies? Tired of being pushed around, a shaky alliance is forged...but what about the biggies? As for Flynn, he's pretty much the usual Flynn--mostly because the effects of his wild life and alcoholism haven't yet shown. In other words, in this film, he's still rather 'pretty' and the Flynn most have come to enjoy. A decade later, he'd become big and bloated and appeared 25 years older--and he had trouble with his lines and acting because of all the booze. And, for Smith, she's the typical 'tough dame' you'd expect to find in westerns--the anachronistic and petulant lady who, down deep, is a ball of fire. She was good at the role, but it was awfully formulaic. One thing that IS interesting, though, is that there really is no 'big bad boss' in the film--a bad guy who seems to be THE power in the film and THE man who must be broken by the end of the movie. Smith fills in, somewhat, in this role but the film really does lack someone to truly hate. The closest you have is Smith's foreman or Jock, but they aren't quite up to it either.Generally the film was quite good despite being formulaic (thus making it predictable--especially at the silly ending). There was a goofy fight scene between the foreman and Flynn after the foreman murdered someone in front of witnesses. During this fight, no one--not one person--did ANYTHING--they just stood back and watched. Hey folks, the guy just murdered a cattle rancher--don't you think it's time you did SOMETHING other than just stand there and watch?! Overall, despite its script's shortcomings, it's a fun western and well worth seeing--even if it is all rather easy to figure out long before the end.

There was a line by old Tecumseh Burke (Paul E. Burns) that blew by a little too quickly for me to properly digest, but it had something to do with Morgan Lane and a reference to the Little Big Horn. It had me immediately recalling Erroll Flynn's role as General George Armstrong Custer in the 1941 film "They Died With Their Boots On". Truthfully, that might have been the highlight of the flick for me, right ahead of the brief divergence concerning Poppa Schultz's supply of antimacassars. I heard that term once in my youth long ago, and today I know what it means. But you'll have to catch the film to find out.For all the dozens of Westerns that ever came out with cattlemen versus sheep ranchers as a plot element, you can probably count on one hand the number in which someone thought it might be a good idea for both animals to try to get along. This was one of them. Not that Morgan Lane (Flynn) ever got to prove his point, when push came to shove, the sheep-men who made a stand simply turned away a cattle stampede and declared victory. I thought it was just too pat an ending for all that went before, with Miss Singleton (Alexis Smith) ever so willingly giving up her grudge against Lane. Not buying it.What's probably more interesting than the story is seeing Errol Flynn team up with Alexis Smith in a duet around the campfire singing 'Reckon I'm In Love', before they actually came to terms with that diagnosis. In the ensuing decade since Flynn's portrayal of Custer he looks like he might have aged twice as much. There seemed to be a few times when Flynn and his co-star might have had some good chemistry going, but that didn't seem enough to compensate for the kind of rivalry that went with the territory. Had I found myself in Flynn's shoes, I probably would have rounded up my men and got the flock out of there.