Cattle Queen of Montana (1954)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

While this allegedly featured some real Blackfoot Native Americans in extra roles, very few of them are noticeable on screen, making this colorful western shot on its real settings a major let-down. Beautifully photographed but filled with Native American stereotypes and one dimensional supporting characters, this is only noteworthy for the strong performance of Barbara Stanwyck as Sierra Nevada Jones, the daughter of a Texas rancher who has brought her up to Montana to create a new cattle ranch on the open plains. They have only just started to set up when the Blackfoot Indians attack, leaving papa dead and Stanwyck at the mercy of the chief's kind-hearted, university educated son (a very non-native Lance Fuller). He's rivals with brother Anthony Caruso, the stereotypical white man hating native who is in cahoots with sinister rancher Gene Evans to keep infiltrators like Stanwyck off of the land he wants for himself.While the film is certainly watchable, the elements of how the natives are treated here is beyond reproach and the presence of that emotionally absent actor turned politician Ronald Reagen adds more laughability to it as a secret agent working to expose Evans. Yvette Duguay plays a native maiden jealous of Stanwyck's friendship with Fuller who betrays him to his brother. A retread of already stereotypical types roles played by Myrna Loy in the late 1920's and early 30's and Rita Moreno earlier in the 1950's, the fate of this character is obvious from the moment she is introduced.If it wasn't for Stanwyck and the beautiful color location photography, I would rank this as a total bore not worth wasting time on. But with her incredible feisty performance and ability to do her own stunts, Stanwyck makes every mediocre action film she ever made worth seeing. Just forget about the presence of a future Republican president (then supposedly democrat) and focus on the toughest legendary movie star ever to ride over the range.

The Cattle Queen of Montana is a robust Technicolor western from RKO that displays the gorgeous scenery of Glacier National Park. Yes, outdoor photography may be most suited to the western genre. And this film proves it.It's easy to see that Barbara Stanwyck is in her element in a story that sets her in the great outdoors. The film, more than others on Stanwyck's varied resume, supports the idea that westerns served her very well. During the course of the story, Miss Stanwyck demonstrates her range as an authoritative ranch owner. Savage natives? Rough cowboys? Natural disasters? They are no threat when she rides on to the scene.

An unusual alliance is operating in the film Cattle Queen of Montana. Cattle baron Gene Evans and dissident Blackfoot chieftain Anthony Caruso have an arrangement of convenience. Evans provides whiskey and arms and in return Caruso makes sure the braves under his command raid and kill any settlers who come into the Montana valley that Evans wants to keep all to himself.Of course they pick on the wrong party when they attack Barbara Stanwyck's party. She and father Morris Ankrum have staked a claim on a piece of the valley. Her father is killed, but Stanwyck survives and his taken to the camp of Lance Fuller, Caruso's rival in the Blackfeet nation.So we have some unusual white/Indian alliances forming here and lurking through it all is a mysterious stranger played by Ronald Reagan who is not quite what he seems to be at all.It's a good, but routine western, helped considerably by good location photography and crisp direction by Allan Dwan. Stanwyck looks very much like she's in preparation for her role as Victoria Barkley in The Big Valley. And Ronald Reagan who while he doesn't do mysterious real well, does look right at home on the range.

What saves this film from being an average western, lost among so many others is the impressive scenery, beautiful strong colors, with a predominance of green because of the trees, the efficient direction of Allan Dwan, but most of all Barbara Stanwyck playing the main character, a part that would usually go to a man. Barbara was great in this type of role, she had already done it in "The Furies" and would do it again in "Forty Guns" and "The Maverick Queen". The story is plain routine, Colorados is the good Blackfoot, Natchakoa the bad one,and they are going to fight for power when the Chief (that looks more Irish than Blackfoot)dies. Ronald Reagan is the good guy acting like he is bad and Barbara the woman who comes from Texas with a lot of cattle and loses it all in a stampede.