While it wasn't a good year for Europe, 1939 was a great year for Hollywood. Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz only begin the list of memorable films from 1939, which also includes the westerns Stagecoach and Destry Rides Again. Obscure among the many good films of 1939 is Dodge City, the first western for Errol Flynn and one of the first to be filmed in technicolor.

The story and characters are an amalgam of familiar western movie formulas. The hero is Wade Hatton, apparently named as a pun for 'white hat on'. Wade (Errol Flynn) becomes the sheriff of the lawless railroad town Dodge City in Kansas. His two comic relief sidekicks (Alan Hale, Guinn Williams) are his deputies. Wade romances the pretty, goody-goody leading lady (Olivia de Havilland), preferring her to colorful showgirl Ruby (Ann Sheridan).

The bad guys are crooked gamblers and cattlemen, led by Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his henchman Yancey (Victor Jory). They are ineffectually opposed by honest, excitable newspaper publisher Clemens (Frank McHugh). Numerous confrontations follow, between Flynn and Cabot, and Flynn and de Havilland. These are resolved with complete predictability, but not before requisite western devices such as barroom brawls, runaway trains, jailbreaks and lynchings are worked into the plot.

The film doesn't fully come together. Surrett never takes the obvious step of simply having Wade shot. Sheridan receives third billing, but unfortunately is hardly used. Attempts are made to give de Havilland's character some spunk, but she basically plays yet another incarnation of Flynn's girlfriend; at first resistant but then succumbing to Flynn's roguish charm. This was the eighth of ten features that they would make together, the most famous of which is The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

What separates Dodge City from the typical big budget Hollywood western is the direction. Michael Curtiz, one of the best directors of the 1930s and 1940s, keeps the sets busy and the story moving. Curtiz, a frequent director for Flynn vehicles, compensates for the shallowness of characters and story with activity.

Among the supporting cast, burly Alan Hale has the best role. He's actually funny in several scenes, displaying good comic timing. Minus the mustache, and he's a dead ringer for his son, who played The Skipper in the 1960s sitcom "Gilligan's Island". Victor Jory is appropriately menacing, but Cabot is unconvincing while Guinn Williams is too campy.

Much of the cast and crew returned for Virginia City (1940), which was effectively a sequel. Blazing Saddles (1974) borrowed much of its story from Dodge City, although Madeline Kahn's saloon singer was a parody of Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again. (68/100)

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8