Montana

Montana is directed by Ray Enright and adapted to screenplay by James R. Webb, Borden Chase and Charles O'Neal from a story by Ernest Haycox. It stars Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S.Z. Sakall, Douglas Kennedy, James Brown and Ian MacDonald. A Technicolor production with cinematography by Karl Freund and music by David Buttolph.

Flynn plays an Australian sheepman who comes to Montana looking for grazing space but finds local ranchers and a wealthy cattle-woman are greatly opposed to his plans.

Warning! Sheepherders Passing This Point Will Be Shot On Sight.

Just how many films are out there about the Sheep Vs Cattle Wars? What an interesting subject, that cattle ranchers were convinced that sheep were detrimental to the land and therefore a threat to the beef money market. This forms the basis for Montana, a modest budgeted production that never the less has glorious Technicolor to digest and Errol Flynn as a tough handsome dude.

Much of the film is given to talking about the sheep and cattle conundrum, with some duplicitous behaviour, ulterior motives and political nest feathering thrown in for good measure. Naturally there's a fiery romance bubbling away between Flynn and Smith, where they even duet on a song, "Reckon I'm In Love", while there's fist-fights, stampedes and some buckaroo to achieve the action quotient on "B" movie par. Some bad rear projection work shows its face from time to time, a shame because there's a lot of nice scenic photography to enjoy. But the best feature away from Flynn being Flynn, is that Technicolor photography, check out Smith's flame red hair and eyes chipped from Kryptonite, a dinner sequence rich in colour composition or just how the costumes burst out of the screen. This is a beautiful movie to look at even if it's routinely scripted from the page. 6.5/10

Reminds me a little of the Glenn Ford movie, "The Sheepman". Glenn Ford also brought sheep into bovine territory. I always like that movie and then just discovered this one on TCM this morning. Errol Flynn is one of my favorite actors and this little jewel will be added to my collection. The movies a classic B movie. But Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith was able to pull it off.

And to the person who called his sheepdog a mutt: that was a blue merle collie and could very well be my dog's great-great parent. Mac looked exactly like that. We lost him last year to cancer. This makes the movie even more cherished to me. I just purchased it on Amazon!

Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn) is an Australian sheep herder. He has come to Montana to graze his sheep despite attack by murderous local cattlemen. He encounters traveling huckster Papa Otto Schultz (S. Z. Sakall). He decides to play a peddler and infiltrate the town. Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith) is one of the local cattle ranchers.

It's a fine Errol Flynn western. Sheep herders are not the usual western fare. That's an unique spin. Otherwise, it's very standard and non-challenging. There are some cowboy stunts with the stuntmen. Errol Flynn is doing his leading man work. This is fine but a little slow.

Set in a post-civil war Montana location from the freeway in which takes place a strong confrontation between the leaders of the cattlemen against the sheep-men . It stars Errol Flynn who is opposed by local ranchers and a rich cattle-woman , Alexis Smith . As an Australian sheep-man called Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn) comes to Montana looking for grazing space . He goes to town along with Papa Otto Schultz (S.Z. Sakall) , disguising as a merchant , explains his Australian accent , and to be aware that Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith) , a strong-willed rancher , is at odds the family ranch in Montana . Lane wants to rent some lands to his sheep and Miss Singleton wants to keep the lands for her cows and while the cattle barons attempt to keep the sheep from nubbing away at the good grass . Now Morgan as a tough person trying to calm the conflict between shepherds , cattlemen and homesteaders . But Lane also finds time in a romantic triangle with heart-of-gold/Alexis Smith and Rodney Ackroyd (Douglas Jackson) , Miss Singleton's Fiancée , another ranch owner .

It deals with the classic cattle-vs.-sheep feud and it gets Western action , shootouts , a love story , street showdown gunfight and being quite entertaining . There is a twisted romance when Flynn falls for a girl who turns out to be a domineering woman who hates shepherds . This relationship tugs Morgan/Flynn and Miss Singleton/Alexis , wealthy owner of a large ranch but Singleton quickly decides that Morgan has a much better name than other suitor but keeps them apart . The violent conflicts emerge when Morgan/Errol encamps his sheep at the boundary line where the bad grazing ends and the good grazing begins . It's a medium budget film with nice actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . At the ending takes place a disastrous clash between the cattle and sheep factions with unexpected consequences . The film is totally set in Montana territory which was the first of the major railhead cattle territories , it was a booming depot , including cattle drives and shipping some Longhorns by railroad and meat markets in the East . With the numerous presence of homesteaders the towns prospered , stabilized and grew , its lawabiding citizens decided to discourage the troublesome cattle trade with his transient cowboys and early requested the cattlemen to drive their herds elsewhere . Well played by Errol Flynn who starred various ¨Sword and Swagger¨ films and was superstar of Warner Brothers swashbucklers . Errol is still nearly at his most agile and deft style . Errol Flynn was 40 when he made this movie , but his wild lifestyle had diminished his health and made him less able to perform his own stunts, as he had in earlier films . Previously , Flynn made his best swashbucklers and played successes as ¨Captain Blood¨ , ¨Adventures of Robin Hood¨, ¨The prince and the pauper¨ , ¨Sea Hawk¨, ¨The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex¨ , ¨Gentleman Jim¨ . Flynn also performed some Westerns as ¨Dodge City¨, ¨Virginia City¨, ¨Santa Fe Trail¨, ¨They died with their boots on¨, ¨San Antonio¨, ¨Silver River¨. And wartime movies as ¨Objective Burma¨, ¨Norhern pursuit¨, ¨Dive Bomber¨ , ¨Edge of darkness¨ , ¨Desperate journey¨.

The motion picture is directed in sure visual eye and with action enough . The yarn well produced by William Jacobs was professionally directed by Ray Enright . Ray was a craftsman who directed lots of Westerns . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres , though especially Western , the best are starred by Scott , all well screen-written . His Western film debut was ¨River's end¨ (40) , following ¨Bad men in Missouri¨ (41) about the Youngers , ¨The spoilers¨ (42) with a star-system , as Marlene Dietrich , John Wayne and Scott , ¨Men of Texas¨(42) , ¨Sin Town¨(42) , and various starred by Randolph Scott as ¨Trail Street¨(47) , ¨Coroner Creek¨(48) , ¨Alburquerque¨(48) , and starred by Alexis Smith : ¨South of St. Louis¨(49) and this ¨Montana¨ (50) . His last Westerns were ¨Kansas raiders¨(50) and Flaming Feather¨(52) , until his retirement in 1953 .

Errol Flynn, as a sheep-herder? Say it ain't sew! No wonder Flynn drank his way through this turgid Western. I'd be pulling the wool over your eyes by saying Flynn doesn't mail it in. Lots of short scenes with many edits plus obvious studio cuts against outdoor backdrops. Flynn's first film in 1950 but the miles and trials were taking a toll on Errol. His eyes were too bloodshot to shoot some scenes.

Nevertheless, the Technicolor cinematography (Calabasas Ranch)is first rate plus production values make up for the drab characters. It's tough to care about anyone except beautiful, flaming redhead, Alexis Smith. I've never seen whiter teeth in my life. Cute little scar on her chin too. Flynn and Smith have some nice scenes plus sing a fun little ditty: Reckon, I'm in love! Seriously, it's not bad! A sheep-herder invades cattle country! If this sounds like a bum steer of a film, you're probably right but it's Flynn in his final decade. He went downhill fast from here but "amoung other things", he still looks good next to Alexis.