Les Dalton arrivent

Lawyer Randolph Scott arrives in Kansas just in time to witness childhood friends the Dalton brothers turned into outlaws and thieves, after doing battle with crooked business interests, stacked courts, and violent mobs of mindless vigilantes.

Top-billed Scott melts into the background as the film is easily stolen by it's real stars Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, and Andy Devine, who plays an overweight, hayseed version of Casanova, who joins the Dalton boys in order to get away from the large amount of aggressive women in his life!

Excellent, rowdy entertainment, this features some really awesome stunt work from Yakima Cannut, including the classic stagecoach backslide, where the stuntman goes from being dragged between the horses to the back of the coach by letting go and grabbing the back axle, as well as several horse jumps onto and from trains and cliffs, truly eye-popping! There's some exciting gun-play at work here too.

A good example of twisted Hollywood history, there's so much sympathy for the outlaws here, it's hard to imagine this making it past the National Board Of Review!

This story of farmers becoming outlaws when the big shots screw them over is nothing new or all that different from the Westerns of the 40's. Indeed, the film has its Hays code required ending, its requisite action scenes and the soapy love triangle. This film will not win any new devotees of the genre. But if you are fond of Westerns this a good matinee flick to throw on.

A lot of it has to do with the stunt work and action scenes. While still be identifiably 40's, they stand out as impressive and even a little more realistic than you normally get from this genre and time period. The film also benefits from well-timed comic relief and a well rounded cast. This is a B Western for sure but one of the more polished ones I have seen.

The Dalton brother -- Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, Frank Albertson and the murdered Stu Erwin go from peaceful farmers to desperate outlaws.

There's much to admire in this movie, from the way in which the first 20 or so minutes are lighthearted and often funny, making the fix the brothers get into tinged with a certain sense of tragedy. Kay Francis seems like luxury casting, as does George Bancroft as the banker, but undoubtedly that was a canny move, trying to replicate the major studio minor stars who had made such a hit of Marshall's DESTRY RIDES AGAIN the year before. Thus the top billing for Randolph Scott, even though the movie, as shown, centers far more on Broderick Crawford, the hot-tempered lama of the brothers who starts off engaged to Miss Francis and winds up... well....

The big sequence about two thirds of the way through, where they escape from the law -- thanks to quick thinking by Andy Devine! -- and wind up robbing a train on the way out is very well done, with lots of good trick riding. Who knew there were such towering mountains in Oklahoma, or such rushing, swollen rivers. Who knew it was even called Oklahoma all the time in the 1890s, instead of The Indian Territories (an appellation I have seen in print as current into the 1930)?

In the end, it' a big, brawling A Western that owes a lot to other recent A westerns. If it wasn't as big a hit for Universal as DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, it's very entertaining on its own sentimental terms.

Forget Randolph Scott who is Involved with this Sleight-of-Hand Billing and Should of Known Better.

Here He is Far-Cry from Boetticher and a Great Exit Decade of the 1950's where this Kind of Hoodwink would Certainly Be Beneath the Grizzled "Western-Movie" Icon with almost 70 Odd Under His Gun-Belt.

Speaking of Gun-Belts, Randy's is No-Where to be Seen. He is Primped-Up and Wears a Suit. The Only Thing He Does is Steal Broderick Crawford's (Grat Dalton) Girl-Friend (Kay Francis).

Thanks Randolph, Collect Your Paycheck...All is Forgiven Because...

The Rest of the Name Cast Has a Field-Day Along with the Yakima Canutt and Stunt-Team.

That's the 2nd-Half, when the Daltons Ride...Robbing Banks and Trains as the Wanted Posters Keep Raising the Bounty Exponentially.

When the Dalton Family is Railroaded for Murder and a Miscarriage of Justice, They Turn to the Rail-Roads for Much Needed Cash.

It's All Done with Fast-Pacing Action...

Incredible, Dangerous Criminal Dynamics as the Audience Forgets About Randolph Scott and Dives Into a Conglomerate of Hollywood Dream-Factory Western Shenanigans that Take the Breath Away.

Especially the Ending Town Shoot-Out with Hundreds of Bullets Flying and People Dropping Like Flies. Certainly One of the Most Gun-Crazy Movies of the Genre of that Era.

By Randy...See You in 10 Years when You Hook-Up with Budd Boetticher.

Say Thanks to Your Co-Stars...Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, Andy Devine, George Bancroft, Frank Albertson, Stuart Erwin, with Mary Gordon, Kay Francis, and The Stunt-Team for "Saving Your Bacon".

A fast paced and often light-hearted film that purports to tell the story of the infamous Dalton gang, "When the Daltons Rode" boasts a fine cast of stalwart western actors under the sure direction of veteran George Marshall. Tod Jackson, a lawyer, stops in Kansas en route to Oklahoma to visit his childhood friends, the Dalton family. Convinced to stay long enough for a good visit, Jackson is smitten with the local telegraph operator and becomes involved in the Daltons' problems with a corrupt land-development company. The exciting action swings from a humorous melee in a courtroom to a wild shootout on the streets to robberies aboard speeding trains, although the film climaxes in a too-tidy finale.

Western icon Randolph Scott has top billing as Jackson, but he is often off screen, and Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, George Bancroft, and Andy Devine all have nearly equal roles. A romantic-triangle subplot features Kay Francis, and Mary Gordon plays Ma Dalton, matriarch to the unruly Dalton brood. Devine is the comedy relief, and he has some good moments, although both he and Crawford ostensibly perform stunts that neither of the beefy actors could convincingly accomplish. However, the film's stunt team should take a bow for their outstanding work with a slide under a racing stagecoach, with leaps from rocky cliffs onto moving rail cars, and with jumps from a speeding train while on horseback. A behind-the-camera asset is Hal Mohr's fine black-and-white cinematography, which beautifully captures the action and the western landscapes.

If your Saturday matinees featured posses and gunfights, brawls and chases, laconic cowboys and pretty school marms, "When the Daltons Rode" will bring back fond memories of popcorn, Milk Duds, and 25-cent movie tickets. Lots of action, a smidgen of humor, and a touch of romance, Marshall's film may not be among the classic or even best-remembered westerns, but all the elements of a solid oater are present and in top form for an entertaining afternoon at the movies.