A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)

From my favorite movies..

Best movie ever!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I noticed one reviewer gave this very standard western a 10. Well, I am not sure I saw what they did in the film, though it is, in my opinion, an agreeable film albeit filled with cliches and one incredibly dumb character.The film begins with some baddies deliberately halting a train out west. You learn later that some jerk-face is trying to prevent the trains from encroaching on stagecoach territory...a rather silly premise if you really think about it. Soon after this, some baddies attack the nearby sheriff and his rootin', tootin', butt-kicking daughter, Kit (Anne Baxter), immediately KNOWS that Johnny (Dan Dailey) is responsible...though HOW she came to this determination made no sense at all. And, through much of the film, she mistrusts him though there is no apparent logic to this. Can Johnny help Kit get the train through to the end of the line? Tune in and see...or not.As you noticed in my summary, I hated the character, Kit. She often seemed irrational and goofy...which is a shame as otherwise it's a decent film and Dailey has one of his better performances. A watchable time-passer in color...but otherwise a not particularly special film.

A feel good, moderately entertaining western farce, along the lines of 'Calamity Jane' and 'Anne Get your Gun', but mostly lacking the musical aspects of these better known films of the same early '50s era. Actually, Anne Baxter(Kit) had played a rather similar tomboy with an itchy trigger finger a couple of years earlier , in the conventional western "Yellow Sky". It does feature the versatile and likable Dan Daily, who did star in quite a few lesser known musical comedy romances, perhaps most notably, several with Betty Grable. Dan plays a small time traveling salesman and con artist who journeys to a small town(Epitah) in western Colorado by train, on its maiden trip, with Walter Brennan as the engineer. Anne stars as the cute seemingly naive Calamity Jane-like granddaughter(Kit Dodge) of the town sheriff, who takes an immediate dislike toward Dan's character. Marilyn Monroe, in one of her early bit parts, is one of the show girls in a traveling troop, that happens to land in Epitah about the same time as Dan.One of those rare westerns actually shot, mostly, in the region it is scripted to be in(in the mountainous region near Durango, making use of the Denver and Rio Grande railway). The main plot involves the mostly botched attempts of the local stage line owner to sabotage the coming train line. The other significant aspect of the plot is the initial blatant hostility of Kit toward Dan's character, which gradually changes to an unlikely infatuation. True, Dan seems rootless and superficial, but he has seen much of the world, in contrast to Kit's lack of experience in the world beyond her little corner of Colorado. Included is a very strange parade-like train trip from Epitah to Tomahawk(both bogus town names for CO) with no rails for the first portion of the trip, the train being pulled by a team of horses, and the showgirls following in a stagecoach! Later, a war party of Arapahoes attack, stirred to action by the stage line owner. The Chinese train passenger plays a surprise role in finally scaring off the war party. Also, it's discovered that the chief used to be in a Wild West show with Dan! Thus, the remaining Arapahoes switch sides and help fight the would-be train saboteurs. There follows a stolen train and fight to reclaim the train. Dan is involved in the heroics, but the fleeing stage line owner appropriately is done in by a tomahawk. Dan and Kit have to decide whether they want to make their whirlwind association permanent. Be prepared for a 'surprise' flip flop. Evidently, Kit made good on her threat to give Dan a permanent limp to discourage his resumption of a wanderlust lifestyle!

This film is more a stage show full of gypsies than a western full of cowboys, though the latter do get a chance to live up to their titles. Somehow, while breaking down the barriers of the frontier, the passengers aboard the first iron horse this far west, manage to bring all the jolly luxuries of civilisation with them. And though they're on a mission to secure a rail subsidy for a route thought so dangerous the first passenger would have to be hoodwinked, they aren't even remotely dampened. Along the way you'll be able to enjoy: a colourful music hall show, complete with dancing girls and a mechanised theatrical organ; a Chinese laundry service that always over starches your boldly coloured shirts; and the same tired card tricks you thought you left behind in the last town. The real focus however, is the romance between the tom-boy Sheriff's deputy, Kit, and the world-wise adventurer, Johnny Behind-the-Deuces, who's always playing his trick cards in futile attempts to impress. With her limited knowledge of the fairer sex, her heart flitters over these innocent advances and sticks to the conniving spanner-in-the-works instead.Trundling off the edge of the rails, it's customary that adventurers should have to swat away a few pests. Even with the frequent appearances of loud-mouthed schemers, we know that with little effort: Natives will be placated, saboteurs routed and bureaucrats negotiated into lifting their contractual trade barriers.(minor gimmicky spoiler)The ending is quite odd, and is summed up with a great line: maybe you wouldn't be so loose footed if I gave you a permanent limp. To drive this point home, Kit surprises Johnny by pulling five tricks out of her sleeve -- all daughters to boot -- and gets him a job on the rails to trick his insatiable wanderlust. The ending's a compromise on both fronts; probably just as many women are infuriated by her choice, to give up being a gun slinging deputy and take her rightful (said with a sneer) place at home, raising the kids. It leaves you with an unsettled feeling, that a year down the line, things won't be quite so pleasant in Tomahawk.

A fun movie. Marilyn Monore had a bit part as a dance-hall girl. Colorado mountain colors were beautiful. Need more movies like this.