Dodge City (1939)

Dodge City

By cd  Oct 13, 2006

Pros: It's Errol Flynn's First Western

Cons: Who wrote this?

Dodge City, according to this movie, became corrupt because of a gang of men. Errol Flynn as Wade Hatton, a trail boss and good guy, becomes sherriff and sets out to clean up the town. It's filled with every single stereotype you can think of. T...he good hearted saloon singer (Ann Sheridan, who is wasted), the fun loving cowhands (including Alan Hale), the sweet and innocent girl (Olivia deHavilland, who is also wasted; any wonder she fought to get out of her contract with Warner Brothers); the Temperance Ladies (that was cute, actually) and the evil villain, played very well by Bruce Cabot. Oh, and there's a fire in a locked railroad car and Errol Flynn picks up Olivia and carries her to relative safety. Oh, please. She wasn't pregnant and she didn't have a broken leg. So let's for argument's sake say that she was clumsy and she had a long dress-she could have run anyway and put the fire out on her clothes. Please. I would have given this movie 1 star except for one thing. The brawl in the barroom. It's really, really well done. I am a Flynn fan (not fanatic, mind you) and personally, I thought he looked like a big dork in that hat. Sorry, where was the costume manager for that one? I mean, didn't anyone tell him? The other thing that made me give it an extra 1/2 star was that it was Mr. Flynn's first western. Do not buy this one--rent it. I got it as part of the Errol Flynn Signature collection. Would not have included this particular movie. Read more Less