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John Wayne's last film for Republic during the war years is one of his worst westerns, not counting the B-westerns he made during the 30s before his breakthrough with Stagecoach.

The film goes through the motions, but the plot is muddled and the writing lacks inspiration. Wayne is not helped by the rest of the cast. Vera Ralston lacks acting skills. Even Walter Brennan, who other reviewers praise, seemed tiresome to me. His comic relief routine with Nick Stewart received way too much screen time here.

Lackluster and dull, only for John Wayne completists.

It's really interesting to look at some of these old movies from the 40s and 50s. They had a directness and economy of style and language that is lacking in so many movies and TV series these days.

Modern screen writers could learn a lot from watching them. Note, if you will, that few have the same writer and director - a fact that makes them far, far better than the vast majority of writer/director movies these days, certainly at least as far as story goes.

Dakota is typical John Wayne fare. John Wayne plays John Wayne and we love him for it. We know who the good and bad guys are and the script is not without its subtleties. We know who's going to win but not always who the casualties may be.

A (relatively) young Walter Brennan plays, er, Walter Brennan - yes, and that's why we love him! - and the whole thing is packaged in an economy. bite-sized package, ideal Saturday morning fare and, of course, a must for anyone who loves Westerns and John Wayne.

Side note - the plot does, in part, include 'fields of wheat;, a phrase that will resonate (possibly in an ironic way) with viewers in the UK in 2018!

John Wayne elopes with the daughter of a wealthy immigrant family. Taking off for Fargo, he squares off against nasty Ward Bond, who had his life-savings stolen and is in the process of taking land in anticipation of the coming railroad.

One of the minor Republic vehicles the Duke cranked out in the nineteen-forties, this starts out well, though it runs out of steam mid-way, ending up being okay but unspectacular and unmemorable.

Production values and performances are good, but this seems bloated, even at 83 minutes. Republic should have tightened it up and made it one of their hour-long programmers.

The best thing about this is crusty, old riverboat captain Walter Brennan. He and his sidekick almost steal the movie.

This is one of the worst John Wayne flicks of the 1940s. By this point in his career, Wayne was now a star and deserved better material and a better leading lady. If you compare this film with THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, which came out the same year, the contrast is great. DAKOTA is simply a B-western with lousy and very confusing writing. While it has good supporting actors in Ward Bond and Mike Mazurki, Vera Ralston as Wayne's wife is incredibly wooden and she sports a bizarre accent that can't be accounted for in the script (her dad seemed like he had a French accent and she was Czechoslovakian). Most of the time, she's kind of pretty to look at, but becomes more of an annoyance than anything else. It was hard to figure WHY Wayne would have married such an idiot in the first place! The only reasons she got ANY roles is that her lover was the head of Republic Pictures--otherwise, she was much more of a liability than an asset. As I already mentioned, the plot is completely convoluted--and I really had to struggle to figure out what was going on. Part of this COULD have been because the movie just wasn't engaging. This is a forgettable film and only of interest to big fans of John Wayne. There are so many better Wayne films available--try watching one of them first.

This is not an award winning movie by any means- but with the fast paced action, this was a western that was enjoyable to watch. Some western movies move slow as it builds up excitement as the plot may have two or three action packed segments. However, this tale moves from one situation to another never slowing down for a rest making the movie seem even shorter than the 80 minute length. John Wayne and Vera Ralston worked well together with Wayne beginning that swagger that he was so famous for in later films. This being a low budget film, there are some rough spots in production. The use of very obvious backdrops and sound-stage fake backgrounds made the film look cheap but the story still held up well. An entertaining film that kept the viewer's attention from beginning to end.