Ruta a Santa Fe

Some rather questionable character motivations make this particular Republic western something of a mixed bag for me. John Payne's dislike of Indians and his distrust of mixed blood people make it a rough road in courting Faith Domergue who is half Indian.

Santa Fe Passage casts John Payne as a frontier scout who lost his last wagon train going to Santa Fe because of some bad judgment he made about the Kiowas and their chief. Now he and sidekick Slim Pickens can't get a job in their profession and have a lot of people ready to shoot them on sight.

That is until Domergue and her partner Rod Cameron hire them over the objections of Leo Gordon their trail boss. They're taking a shipment of rifles to Mexico for sale and of course that perks up interest among the Kiowas.

There was a little too much doublecrossing and all the males of the cast Payne, Cameron, and Gordon are thinking with their male members and truly beyond reason. Even Slim Pickens gives Domergue more than a second glance. The plot made little sense to me, but the action was pretty good.

Disgraced Indian scout and his sidekick lead a wagon train carrying freight through Kiowa country to Mexico. John Payne is the scout, Slim Pickens is his sidekick and Rod Cameron and Faith Domergue are the wagon train "bosses". Director William Witney was an expert at making tight, fast-moving westerns, but he had a bad day here. Except for a well-handled wild-horse stampede and a couple of slightly less well-handled Indian attacks, this picture moves like molasses, with performances ranging from enjoyable (Pickens) to stiff (Cameron) to indifferent (Domergue) to awful (Irene Tedrow as a Kiowa "squaw" accompanying Domergue on the train). Payne looks like he'd rather be somewhere else and doesn't connect at all with Domergue, his ostensible love interest. Only Pickens and Leo Gordon as a villainous (what else?) trail boss manage to breathe any life into their characters, and the script holds no surprises for anyone (especially the "twist" ending). An OK time-waster, that's about all.

A scout with a questionable reputation guides a wagon train through hostile Indian country in an okay but predictable western. John Payne and Rod Cameron are the top cast names and their main interest here is a half-breed girl as the train makes its way to Santa Fe. Good support is given by Slim Pickens, Anthony Caruso and Leo Gordon, old hands in the western genre, and Faith Domergue does what she can with a one-dimensional role. The action is decent and a wild horse stampede adds excitement to the film but otherwise there's nothing about the movie that separates it from dozens of others of its type. The picture has beautiful camera work and displays pretty Utah landscapes to good advantage. The film was based on a novel by Clay Fisher who had some of his other works made into excellent westerns.

Along with Silver Lode and Rails into Laramie, this is another enjoyable western that keeps one engaged all throughout. A good wagon train story with plenty of good action - such as the horse stampede - and great location. John Payne plays scout who hates Indians due to a previous incident. Things get complicated when he falls for the ravishing Faith Domergue who, unknown to him, is half-injun.

Once again, Republic Studio brings together a great cast in a superior Western tale. Payne is the discredited scout, Pickens his side-kick, hired to guide a wagon full of guns through hostile Indian territory. As the action unfolds, Payne must overcome the hostiles, gun-runners and his own prejudice to win out. There is a lot of suspense here, and never a dull moment. An excellent watch!