Dallas, ville frontière

After Confederate officer Blayde Hollister's (Gary Cooper) home and family are destroyed and massacred by the sociopathic Marlowe Brothers during the Civil War , he swears for vendetta , refusing to surrender and becoming a wanted man with a reward on his head , as posters captioning : Wanted alive or dead . In order to track down the three brothers into Texas, Hollister fakes his own death in a staged shootout with his friend Wild Bill Hickock (Reed Hadley) . He then befriends Martin Weatherby (Leif Ericson) , the newly appointed U. S. Marshal to Dallas, and both of them scheme a twisted caper by replacing personalities . Meanwhile , the eldest of the Marlowe brothers, Will (Raymond Massey) , masquerades as a law-abiding real estate dealer while feigning righteous indignation over the cruel acts of corruption and lawlessness against the honest citizens of Dallas carried out by his nasty brother Bryant (Steve Cochran) . When all of Texas was a powder keg...they lit the fuse! The fury of violence and vengeance echoes across the Texas Plains ¡.

A run-of-the-mill plot but plenty of diversions on the trail , as Coop pretending to be a dandified US marshall in frock coat and top hat , horse-back chases , impressive gunfight and furtive romance . The big star Gary Cooper sleepwalks though he is supposed to be the laconic outsider-type , this doesn't matter at all . It contains adequate production values , thrilling musical score by the classic composer Max Steiner and blazing , glimmering Technicolor camerawork by Ernest Haller , basically a B-Western though . Stars the great Gary Cooper giving an acceptable acting in his usual style , but he starred much better Westerns , such as : High Noon , The Virginian , Unconquered , The Westener , Along came Jones, Friendly Persuasion , Garden of Evil , Distant Drums , Vera Cruz , The Hanging Tree, They came to Cordura , among others. He's well accompanied by the beautiful Ruth Roman with whom two suitors have a triangular romance , developed between Cooper/Hollister and Weatherby/ Leif Ericson as an affable, but not very experienced lawman, who agrees to let Hollister assume his identity . And other notorious secondaries as Raymond Massey , Steve Cochran , Barbara Payton , Jerome Cowan , Reed Hadley , Monte Blue and Antonio Moreno .

The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Stuart Heisler . Director Stuart Heisler began his film-industry career as a prop man in 1913, joining Mack Sennett at Keystone the following year. He worked as an editor for Samuel Goldwyn at United Artists from 1924-25 and again from 1929-34 and at Paramount from 1935-36. He graduated to second-unit director with John Ford's The Hurricane (1937). He started his directorial career at Paramount in 1940 and stayed there until 1942, turning out mostly "B"-grade films but was occasionally given an "A" picture. Heisler made various films with known actors and diverse genres , such as Gary Cooper (Along Came Jones ,Dallas) , Susan Hayward (Tulsa , Smash-up) , Linda Darnell (This is my love) , Jack Palance (Died a thousand times , a remake of High Sierra) and Tony Curtis (Beachhead) , among others . A cool cast , professional direction from Heisler with riveting climax and enhanced by energetic score make this a must , but only for Gary Cooper fans . Rating : 5.5/10 , worthwhile watching.

A throwback to the "old fashioned" Westerns of the 30s and 40s (such as DODGE CITY), DALLAS has a number of things going for it: Gary Cooper at his coolest, blazing Technicolor photography by Ernest Haller (GONE WITH THE WIND) and a pulse-pounding Max Steiner (KING KONG, GWTW, DODGE CITY et al.) score. In addition, there is a masquerade, mistaken identity, a faked death and more hair-breath escapes than a Republic serial. As always, Cooper defines what it is to be a man under pressure. Forget the 50s angst Western... this is pure entertainment!

This stylized and well financed Western looks good but is light and flimsy for the genre. It can not hold a candle to other Gary Cooper vehicles like High Noon, however it is worth a view if you catch it like I did on a lazy afternoon on the Encore Western channel.

The film's setup seems contrived and the dialogue is uneven and sometimes even clumsy but it does include enough star power such as Raymond Massey, Ruth Roman, and Leif Erickson (who lend their considerable talents) to make it worthwhile.

Cooper is always a force to be seen and this is no less so in this forgettable Western but even his presence can not totally save this movie.

Watch if there is nothing else compelling on, but don't expect great Western fare like High Noon, Gunfight at the OK Corral or The Lawman. This just isn't it.

I understand why some might rate this rather mediocre film highly as it is difficult to downgrade any film in this (nowadays) under appreciated genre. But there are such amazing Western films out there that great ratings should only be reserved for the true crème de la crème so that those just dipping their toe into this wonderful pool of cinema are not mislead or unduly disappointed and consequently disenchanted with the whole Western genre.

I don't think I've ever watched a good cast work harder to make a bad script work. Which means the directing had to be good too. And, for the period, the production values are pretty high too. But the real candidate for lynching was the writer, not the bad guy in the movie.

I would have scored it lower but for the laughs I got out of the woefully bad dialog and virtually every cast member's heroic efforts to keep a straight face while delivering their bits. If you're a Gary Cooper fan, or just like to listen to Ruth Roman's sexy husky voice, the rest is worth a watch for just how funnily bad it is. Funnier than many an intentional western parody.

The only reason I watched this film was because of Gary Cooper. While maybe not the nicest person in the world in real life, he was a wonderful actor and I'd watch even one of his weaker films just to see him act. And, as usual, he was very good (though a bit old to win the girl at the end of the film).

The problem, then, is that despite all of Cooper's talent, the film is just a very ordinary and run-of-the-mill cowboy film. I could EASILY have imagined almost any other actor being able to do Cooper's role and the film would STILL have been mediocre. It's because so many elements of the plot just seem too familiar and too clichéd.

About the only thing that stood out was the interesting character played by Leif Erickson---who oddly received such low billing in the film even though he was one of the main characters! The idea of an Eastern "dude" coming West to impress his girl was kind of funny and he did provide a few cute moments and an interesting sidekick, of sorts, for Cooper.

Aside from that, the film is imminently skipable. It's a film that only Cooper addicts or B-quality Western addicts should watch--there are frankly too many better films out there worth your time.