Since I've been devoting the past several weeks to reviewing movies of the original "Dallas" cast in chronological order, I've encountered many of Jim Davis' old movies on Netflix streaming. Here he plays Aaron Baring, a mean captain of a wagon train who doesn't care a lick about making a fair deal with the Indians whose land he plans to claim. Good thing the hero Jim Henry (Bill Williams) knows the tribe and will do anything to keep the peace. Oh, and there's also a lady named Lucky (Coleen Gray) involved...I'll stop there and just say that this was quite a nice surprise seeing how this Western was very much pro-Native American and how much screen time Mr. Davis got here considering his previous roles mainly very much supporting for other leads. And previously seeing him being really bad before, I'd say this role fits him like a fine glove. No wonder he became the father of J.R. Ewing! So on that note, I highly recommend The Wild Dakotas. P.S. The Indian chief, Red Rock, is played by one Iron Eyes Cody, who would become later known as the one who shed a tear for a pro-environment PSA on TV during the early seventies after seeing a car pour litter on one of his roads.
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JohnHowardReid15 August 2017Copyright 1956 by Sigmund Neufeld Productions. No New York opening. U.S. release through American Releasing: 28 February 1956. U.K. release through Exclusive: floating from October 1958 (sic). No Australian theatrical release. 73 minutes. Censored to just under 71 minutes in the U.K. in order to gain a "Universal Exhibition" certificate.
SYNOPSIS: A frontiersman tries to prevent the outbreak of an Indian war. (How many times have we run across that particular plot? Seven times? Or more likely, seventy times seven?)
COMMENT: Thanks to the liberal use of a parcel of rousing stock footage (some of it obviously ex-color) and careful matching of library long shots with close-ups of Indian encampments and the like, this humble black-and-white western provides more zing than most.
Jim Davis gives his usual full-blooded performance as the villain. The rest of the players are adequate enough in their customary stock roles, and somehow they all manage to survive their corny dialogue and clichéd situations.
Direction and other credits are likewise adequate, without being in any way super-exciting or distinguished. A half-hearted attempt to carry the title tune through the picture doesn't quite succeed.
Although the pace is often reasonably fast, a bit of trimming would certainly bolster the movie's entertainment qualities, especially as there's actually not all that much action and the climax itself is rather tame. -
searchanddestroy-110 November 2022I never miss the opportunity to watch a Sam Newfield's film, the most prolific director, at least one of the most, in terms of grade Z movies. It is lousy, bland, everything you wish to describe his work, but I don't know why, I always take pleasure to enjoy or endure his cute, enchanted craps. Maybe a masochistic and guilty pleasure. This topic of settlers, Indian uprising is so used, over used, that if you wanted to make a list, the phone book of New York City would be necessary. Before he became really famous in DALLAS series as the patriarch of Ewing family, Davis made plenty of this kind of stuff, plenty. I once confounded him with Lloyd Bridges, maybe the face or kind of characters too. A rare and good little western, rapidly forgotten because forgettable too.