Schmutzige Dollars

Dennis Morgan was a very handsome dude and his acting was quite all right. Jane Wyman also already showed her acting talent in this movie. Outlaw bandits on horses robbing the stagecoaches or the banks were the typical major western genre since day one. Adding some convenient romance was also pretty typical arrangement for the handsome leading male and female characters was an inevitable ingredient almost in every western movie other than the gun fights or a final show down.

But what I have to point out again and again for the earlier western movies, the deafening, overly played soundtrack, the score, usually through those whole movies soon as the movies started. At that time, these movie companies used to hire contractual orchestras to play the music specifically scored for each movie. Boy Oh boy, weren't them not just loud and most of the time so inappropriate and exaggerated. Every scene would sync and combine with music, but most of the time, absolutely unnecessary and over-killed.

The soundtrack in this 1947 western was exceptionally loud, annoying and inappropriate, almost like military marching music specially drafted. The music in this movie undoubtedly can be used in those WWII war movies and might be more appropriate. Battleships sailed to battle with the German or Japanese navy forces, or bombers taking off one by one to cross the English Channel on the missions to bomb German military industries.

But for the mercy of God, instead of battleships or bombers set off to the battleground, the military like musical soundtrack in this film was used just on a stagecoach with only three passengers on it and one driver and one supporting shotgun beside him as well as several bandits on the horses rushing down the hill to rob the stagecoach. This kinda music and scores later were so blindly used on Walter Disney's cartoons to sync every movement of the cartoons' caricatures, making the western movies without any big difference from cartoons. For this movie, I have to turn down the volume almost to nothing to allow me to watch on.

Dennis Morgan stars as Jim Wylie, gentleman gambler and fast gun in Cheyenne which by the look of it was a project originally intended by Warner Brothers for Errol Flynn. It has a lot more plot than most westerns of the day did. With Raoul Walsh directing and a score by Max Steiner it bares no small resemblance to the classic Flynn movie San Antonio which these gentlemen worked on as well.

Morgan got himself into a bit of a shooting scrape in Carson City and the law wants him there. But Wells Fargo detective Barton MacLane offers him a proposition, if he'll go undercover and smoke out a bandit known as 'the poet'. They'll square things with the law for Morgan if he helps out. Since that's the best offer he's had all day, he takes it.

His detective work takes him to Cheyenne where the poet is not only robbing Wells Fargo, but he's also taking trade away from other honest robbers like Arthur Kennedy as The Sundance Kid and his gang. Making the journey with him to Cheyenne are a pair of women who will figure prominently in Morgan's life for a period, Jane Wyman and Janis Paige.

Our poet is so named because he leaves a bit of verse at the scene of each robbery. Giving Wells Fargo the finger so to speak in rhyme.

Although the poet's identity is actually revealed early on, the film takes on a Columbo like twist as Morgan and the poet try to outsmart each other. That's the real heart of Cheyenne and why it's as good a film as it is.

Alan Hale, also a regular in Flynn films, is on hand as an oafish deputy sheriff, more the kind of part Andy Devine used to play. Hale does well in it though and his presence in the film convinces me even more that the film was originally intended for Errol Flynn.

Cheyenne is a well plotted adult type western, still with enough action for the Saturday afternoon matinée trade. It holds up very well after 62 years. Even if Errol Flynn didn't get to star in it.

That's how you supposedly pronounce Cheyenne. Wanted man Dennis Morgan (Jim) is given a second chance by lawman Barton MacLane (Yancey) if Morgan heads to Shy-Anne and leads him to "The Poet" who is robbing stagecoaches. This poet is even upsetting the local bad gang headed up by Arthur Kennedy (Sundance). Every time Sundance pulls a robbery, "The Poet" has beaten him to it and left him a poem in the treasure trunk. Every time. Ha ha. That's pretty cheeky. Anyway, Kennedy wants to team up with this guy and carry out some big hold-ups. Morgan has to find and capture the poet and gets involved with a couple of ladies on the way – Jane Wyman (Ann) and Janis Paige (Emily). You know these two ladies are going to figure in the story just a little more than on that initial stagecoach ride into Shy-Anne….

This film is entertaining and contains a great saloon song – "Going Back to Old Cheyenne" – as sung by Janis Paige. The film leads you through its journey with action, drama, comedy and various set pieces and the overall result is a good western.

It's the Wyoming Territory 1867. Lone bandit 'The Poet' is hounding Wells Fargo stagecoaches. The law catches up to gambler James Wylie (Dennis Morgan). He's given one choice. He has to catch The Poet. He and Ann Kincaid (Jane Wyman) have a meet-cute over a bath. They and Emily Carson (Janis Paige) board the stagecoach.

The meet-cute is fun. The misunderstanding afterwards is even better. It's a pretty threesome and pretty fun. It's too bad that the potential love triangle gets sidelined. The story could play with that a bit more. There are probably way too many bandits. The only bandit that matters is The Poet. It's interesting to have The Sundance Kid watching this from the future. This is a fun western.

There are just enough new era elements in CHEYENNE to keep us interested and titillated, for a "typical" western directed by Raoul Walsh, who had directed his share of them. Well-dressed gentleman Wylie (Dennis Morgan) takes the stage to Cheyenne with Ann Kincaid (Jane Wyman) and Emily Carson (Janis Paige). Wylie's job is to bring in the "poet" robber, who is holding up all the stage coaches even before the regular robbers can get to them. It probably would have been too naughty to show one of the women in the bath, so we see Morgan take a bath in the hot water brought up for Ann. Throughout the film, Wylie and Ann toy with the fact that they may be married (for the inn-keeper's sake)... Also some pretty risqué chit-chat between Kincaid and Wylie. Pretty rough for a movie industry that had been under restrictions for ten years. Beautiful outdoor scenery of Sedona, although it looks like some backdrops were used during filming the chase scenes. There are some good surprises in here to keep things lively. Keep an eye out for Alan Hale senior, who was great in any type of film. He doesn't have a big part, unfortunately, which left him time to make five films in 1947. He made 235 films in less than 40 years... more than 6 films a year. Busy guy. Cheyenne didn't win any Oscars, but Jane Wyman will go on to win one in 1949 for Johhny Belinda.