Il cavaliere audace

This was one of those B-movie Westerns John Wayne had to pay his dues, and learn his craft in, on his way to superstardom and becoming a household name. His acting chops, while coming along and becoming more multidimensional, are still developing, and he gets by more or less on his charisma and big smile. Joseph Kane provides decent, pedestrian direction--all of the exciting scenes are directed by Wayne's longtime associate, Yakima Canutt (the one who would later direct the outstanding chariot race in 'Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'), and Vera Ralston is great as the loving wife who just seems to do the wrong thing at the worst possible time.

Ward Bond and Mike Mazurki are excellent as the bad guys, and Walter Brennan (as the most bipolar ship captain one will EVER find in cinema) and Nick Stewart (as his harped-on assistant) steal every scene they're in. Ona Munson even throws in an entertaining song-and-dance number, and provides an interesting love possibility for Wayne, if he wasn't such a one-woman guy.

This was released on Christmas Day in the States, and it's no lump of coal in one's stocking, but a small, likable gift for fans of the genre. Worth a watch if you like Westerns, and a purchase and rewatch for Wayne enthusiasts.

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!

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 the most enjoyable "B" Western I'd seen in quite awhile. It is fast-paced, mostly light-hearted yet doesn't stint on the serious implications of the dramatic sequences; it makes you feel and believe the human tragedies that would occur if town boss Bender (Ward Bond, marvelously effective and subtle as smooth-talking and thoughtful villain) were to be successful at bankrupting his fellow townspeople, paving the future railroad towns with the rubes' broken dreams. John Wayne was starting to solidify the nucleus of the stock company of supporting actors he would make many movies with in the future (on hand besides Bond are Paul Fix, Walter Brennan, Grant Withers, Olin Howard, Bruce Cabot, and Mike Mazurki.

Wayne is perfectly cast as the rough-and-tumble gambler who falls for railroad heiress Vera Rhuba Ralston, much to father Hugo Haas' chagrin who is a rather slick and powerful operator himself. The twist here is that Ralston is as cunning and devious as her Dad and new husband combined, and is continually effective in steering things in the direction she wants them to flow. Not normally a Ralston fan, I thought she played the role with flair, attractiveness, and a perfect energy level. She doesn't have the on-screen chemistry with Wayne that Maureen O'Hara or Gail Russell later did, but when your husband owns the studio, you don't want to allow the chemistry to get too real-looking. Ona Munson as "Jersey" is hotter and makes both her scenes memorable. Walter Brennan is perfectly cast as a persnickety riverboat captain, and Nick Stewart provides able comic assistance as his blunt first mate(Racially stereotyped, of course, but still very funny, and not at all demeaning if you look at it objectively). Bond and Mazurki are excellent as the deceptive villains. Fix and Withers are professional and provide subtle special touches as Bond's hired guns.

Given the budget and the generally pedestrian record of Director Kane, this is actually a surprisingly well made. My demands/expectations of this oater were small when I tuned it in on the Encore Western channel. I was looking for a fast-paced, check-your-brains-at-the-door oater to have on in the background as I picked up around the apartment. Instead, not only is it tautly directed, fast-paced, wry, and well-acted, but it has an extremely well-crafted adapted screenplay from Carl ("High Noon") Foreman. The insights conveyed by the script, even including some of the background and "throwaway" lines, are literate and register long after the lines have passed.

Overall, this movie can be recommended on many levels. Deapite it's quite modest roots, it is a durable, high-spirited, well-acted, and well-directed oater that also is exceptionally well-written. Not the type of title that will impress your art-house buddies, unless they accept your challenge and actually watch it before they write it off. Those actually watch it are in for special treats.

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.