Les Dalton arrivent

Another new DVD release from the vaults of Universal that's about as action-packed as JESSE JAMES (1939), which also came out around the same time. This too, carries the same western myth that Hollywood has about certain outlaws. If society had only treated them fairly, then they wouldn't have become outlaws in the first place.

The Daltons have been railroaded off of their farm and turned into outlaws by greedy land speculators who manipulate the law to suit their own ends. So begins the chase out of the courthouse, through the woods and onto a moving train in order to make good their escape. It even has some good Yakima Canutt stunt work involving a stagecoach robbery.

Randolph Scott and his love interest Kay Francis really are on the sidelines as those who are siding with the Daltons in spirit, even though they aren't out robbing bank and trains with them. They're really are only supporting players here even though they headline in the credits.

The real star is Broderick Crawford who despite his New York Bronx accent, really shines here as the lead Dalton, even scene-stealing away from Brian Donlevy who takes a back seat. This movie is Crawford's show, no question about it.

Director George Marshall has done better with oaters like DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) and Texas (1941), but this film is no slouch, either. There's not a lot of deep plot characterizations but if you want 40s action that moves along pretty nicely, then you can't go wrong here.

6½ out of 10

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".

It is just shoddy handling that has made this splendid entertainment drop out of sight. It should have gone on accumulating admirers down the years.Director George Marshall missed out on attention too, though this film, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and his succession of Glenn Ford films have a consistent, light handling that shows he was one of the best people in this field. Let's throw in the fact that Broderick Crawford has his biggest pre ALL THE KING'S MEN role. He gets as much screen time as top billed players Scott and Francis and acts them off the screen. He's terrific, in a straight role, as the chief Dalton Brother.

The film has the standard ingredients - shoot ups, chases, western timber town atmosphere, over-laid with the usual plot elements about the wrongly persecuted family. What isn't expected is the expert pacing, emphasis and the humor - the lynch mob bursting into the jail to find the whole gang waiting for them, guns drawn, is classic. The film also has one of the best filmings of the Yak Canutt routine of falling under the runaway coach horses. A class act.

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.

East coast lawyer Tod Jackson (Randolph Scott) travels to Kansas where he meets the Dalton brothers: Grat (Brian Donlevy), Bob (Broderick Crawford), Ben (Stuart Erwin), and Emmett (Frank Albertson). They're farmers, with Bob a local law man, but when a crooked land company tries to steal their property, the brothers end up fugitives from the law. They soon embark on a spree of bank and train robberies that mark them as the most wanted men in the region. Meanwhile, Tod makes time with Bob's girlfriend Julie (Kay Francis).

The cast is good, but the goofy script is almost 100% pure baloney, and production lurches from nicely competent to threadbare and cheap. One primary problem is that ostensible protagonist Scott is pointless to most of the story. I kept waiting for him to be reluctantly forced to go after his old friends, but that never happens. His character could have been removed from the whole thing with little change to the overall tale. I expected Donlevy to take the lead among the Daltons, but instead it's Crawford who gets the leadership role. Andy Devine plays the comic relief, naturally, but his character is also an inveterate skirt-chaser with a succession of women on his knee, not exactly what one expects from Devine.

Two odds points from the film: there's a scene where the gang robs a train, and they steal the horses belonging to lawmen on the train. The horses are on an open-top corral train car, and they actually ride them off of the side of the moving train. It looked like an extremely dangerous stunt for the horses, but it's shown with no cuts, and none of the horses seemed injured, despite some spills. There's also a big shoot-out in the movie with the gang members inside a saloon with their opponents outside in the street and on opposite buildings. There is a lengthy exchange of gunfire through the saloon's large picture window, and the window never breaks, instead the bullets passing through and leaving bullet holes. Once or twice I can believe it, but a succession of rifle and pistol shots through a large sheet of glass and no shattering? That's some strong glass!