It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Famed Western with a magnificent Barbara Stanwick and a splendid Ronald Regan who is ideal as a mysterious gunslinger . This Western movie produced by RKO , Radio Picture Inc , deals with confrontation between cattlemen and settlers . This exciting picture tells the story of the Jones family , formed by father , J.I. 'Pop' Jones (Morris Ankrum) , and his gutsy daughter (Barbara Stanwyck with the super name Sierra Nevada Jones) , both of them about to prove claim to prime Montana land . Then , they are attacked by rebel Indians led by Natchakoa (Anthony Caruso) in league with nasty neighbor McCord (Gene Evans) , the latter gets most of the stolen cattle and their lands . Nobody is willing to help them ; however , appearing a good guy , a college-educated chief's son called Colorados (Lance Fuller) and two survivors are helped by him . Later on , there appears a good-looking gunfighter , Farrell (Ronald Regan) , investigating weapon smuggling and livestock rustlings and with whom Nevada Jones falls in love . Now Sierra Nevada Jones must confront enemies , as villainous outlaws , as Indians raids . This classic western is plenty of thrills and emotion as showdown approaches and the protagonists realize he must stand alone against impossible odds , while Nevada Jones attempts to clear her father's murder . The flick is of a higher than habitual calibre for a regular oater , filled with betrayals , hateful , ambition and Indian uprising. Montana prairies provide the backstage for a torrid love between Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Regan . Western fans will enjoy the continuous pursuits and confrontations among a brave Stanwyck supported Reagan , being raided by Indians , and against ominous villains as Gene Evans , Jack Elam , Anthony Caruso . Furthermore, an exciting ending climax at the meadows in which the protagonists are besieged by Indians and cutthroats . Nice acting by Barbara Stanwyck , she stars an uncomplicated lady who fights for her land against legal technicalities and assorted villains . Barbara Stanwyck as usual did her own stuntwork , so impressing the local Blackfoot Indians that they named her Princess Many Victories and made her an honorary member of the tribe . Acceptable acting by Ronald Reagan , his role of Farrell was originally offered to Robert Mitchum, who turned it down because he didn't like the script , it was then offered to Ronald Reagan, who took it . Large support cast does well , full of known secondary actors as Gene Evans , Lance Fuller , Chubby Johnson , Anthony Caruso , Jack Elam , Morris Ankrum , many of them usual in Western . Although made in no much budget by the producer Benedict Bogeaus is a very efficient film and very entertaining . It packs a colorful cinematography print in Technicolor by John Alton who along with Nicholas Musuraca are considered to be two of the best cameraman specialized in Noir cinema . Marvelous scenario is really superb , shot on location in Glacier National Park, Montana, and Iverson Ranch , Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California . Thrilling as well as evocative musical score by Louis Forbes . This middle budget movie was professionally directed by Allan Dwan , though has some flaws and gaps . Dwan was a good craftsman working from the silent cinema . He was Gloria Swanson's favorite director and after he began to work for Triangle in 1916 , he also won the respect of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford , who were , at that time, the most powerful couple in the film business . Dwan directed over 1400 films , including one-reels, between his arrival in the industry (circa 1909) and his final film in 1961 . Among them some good Western as ¨ Restless breed¨, ¨The rivers edge¨, ¨Cattle Queen of Montana¨ and ¨Montana Belle¨ , being ¨Silver Lode¨ is his unqualified masterpiece . ¨Cattle queen Montana¨ results to be an acceptable and passable picture . Watchable and presentable results for this classic western movie .

While this allegedly featured some real Blackfoot Native Americans in extra roles, very few of them are noticeable on screen, making this colorful western shot on its real settings a major let-down. Beautifully photographed but filled with Native American stereotypes and one dimensional supporting characters, this is only noteworthy for the strong performance of Barbara Stanwyck as Sierra Nevada Jones, the daughter of a Texas rancher who has brought her up to Montana to create a new cattle ranch on the open plains. They have only just started to set up when the Blackfoot Indians attack, leaving papa dead and Stanwyck at the mercy of the chief's kind-hearted, university educated son (a very non-native Lance Fuller). He's rivals with brother Anthony Caruso, the stereotypical white man hating native who is in cahoots with sinister rancher Gene Evans to keep infiltrators like Stanwyck off of the land he wants for himself.While the film is certainly watchable, the elements of how the natives are treated here is beyond reproach and the presence of that emotionally absent actor turned politician Ronald Reagen adds more laughability to it as a secret agent working to expose Evans. Yvette Duguay plays a native maiden jealous of Stanwyck's friendship with Fuller who betrays him to his brother. A retread of already stereotypical types roles played by Myrna Loy in the late 1920's and early 30's and Rita Moreno earlier in the 1950's, the fate of this character is obvious from the moment she is introduced.If it wasn't for Stanwyck and the beautiful color location photography, I would rank this as a total bore not worth wasting time on. But with her incredible feisty performance and ability to do her own stunts, Stanwyck makes every mediocre action film she ever made worth seeing. Just forget about the presence of a future Republican president (then supposedly democrat) and focus on the toughest legendary movie star ever to ride over the range.

Complicated Technicolor western, mostly filmed in the scenic foothills of Glacier National Park. Blackfoot 'Indians', both real and manufactured, are prominent in the story. The Blackfoot reservation adjacent to the Park was a convenient source of 'Indian' extras. As was common at the time, the main 'Indian' roles went to Hollywood actors who spoke Hollywood 'Indian' pigeon English: very stilted, for the most part. Reagan seems out of place as a famed gunslinger.The complicated formulistic plot includes rivalries among both the Europeans and Blackfoot, both men and women, with some alliances of convenience included. Tom McCord(Gene Evans) is the thoroughly evil, backstabbing, cattle baron of this 'Buffalo Valley' region of apparently west central Montana. 'Pop'Jones and his matronly daughter Sierra Nevada(Barbara Stanwyck, age 46)headed a leisurely 7 month cattle drive from Texas to this well-watered grazing land, with only a preliminary claim on it, unaware of how criminal their well-established neighbor was. McCord is determined to scare off or dispose of these new land claimants, as he has previous ones. He utilizes the European -hating war chief Natchakoa to engineer a nocturnal stampede of their cattle, while dispatching their minimal cowhands. Initially, it is thought that all the Jones outfit died in this incident. But Sierra and her foreman Nat(Chubby Johnson) survived and were taken by friendly Blackfoot leader Colorados to a Blackfoot village to recuperate.Meanwhile, army undercover agent Farrell (Ron Reagan) signs as a hired gun for McCord and is given the assignment of dispatching the stampede survivors. He pretends to agree, but is captured by Blackfoot, who now realize that it's bad for them to be involved in the planned murders. Meanwhile, McCord has filed a claim to the land Sierra assumed would be hers, as well as a claim on her cattle brand, thinking her dead. When he discovers his error, he sends Farrell to offer to buy her cattle, on the condition she return to Texas. At one point, she agrees, but then discovers that McCord was behind the stampede. Farrell discovers that McCord has been the source of the illegal rifles being supplied the Blackfoot, which is his main purpose here. Farrel gradually shifts his allegiance from McCord to Sierra, who has lost her companion Nat to a Natchakoa arrow.The old Blackfoot chief Powhani dies. Rivals to replace him, Colorados and Natchakoa have a hand to hand duel, which Colorados wins, but declines to dispatch Natchakoa, to his later regret. We are now ready for the final confrontation between the 'good' and 'bad' elements. Blackfoot princess Starfire, jealous of Colorados' friendship with Sierra, leads her and Farrell into an ambush by Natchakoa's forces, but is accidentally killed herself. McCord's and Colorados' bunches now show up for a complicated 4 team shootout, and all the baddies are killed. Sierra and Farrell hint at a possible future together.According to the stone property marker, this story took place in 1888, very close to the end of the open range period on the Western Plains. However, we have the anachronism of Colonel Carrington: Farrell's boss. This is a historically relevant name, as Colonel Carrington headed the effort to control Sioux raids on immigrants going to southwest Montana along the Bozeman Trail in the mid-1860s. But, he left this region after only a rather brief stay, and never made it past WY. Interestingly, the first significant drive of Texas Longhorns from Texas to Montana occurred during this same period, as dramatized in the '55 Clark Gable-starring "The Tall Men".Barbara was not the first, nor most impressive, Hollywood Montana 'cattle queen'. For example, a much younger, more glamorous- looking Alexis Smith posed as an established 'cattle queen' a few years earlier in the Technicolor "Montana", with a more charismatic adversary/love interest in Errol Flynn.The plot of this film appears to owe much to the historic story of 'Cattle Kate', which includes an established southwestern WY cattle baron named Boswell: a character very similar to that of McCord in this story. Unfortunately, newcomer 'Cattle Kate' didn't fare as well as Sierra, being framed as a cattle rustler herself, resulting in her execution.Strange that the great cattle die off in the 1886-7 Montana winter wasn't mentioned. Many herds were decimated and ranchers ruined by the extreme cold and lack of winter feed. This is just prior to when this story supposedly takes place.The whites-friendly Blackfoot leader Colorados supposedly had studied at a college. Most likely, this was actually the Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, PA, established just a few years earlier. Neighboring Sioux were among the prominent early students.

Barbara Stanwyck doesn't take adversity laying down in director Allan Dwan's "Cattle Queen of Montana" as the eponymous, pistol-packing, lead-slinging, red-headed Sierra Nevada Jones. This adventurous horse opera features future U.S. President Ronald Reagan playing second fiddle to Stanwyck as a hired gun on her side in an Indian war. This is the kind of western that has good Indians and bad Indians. "Magnificent Obsession" scenarist Robert Blees and "Hell's Angels" scribe Howard Estabrook let Barbara kill her quota of guys, while Reagan gets to blast his six-gun out of her fist in one scene. The Glacier National Valley scenery makes the perfect backdrop to this larger-than-life oater. Basically, "Cattle Queen of Montana" is a revenge western with the heroine searching for the men who ambushed her dad. The villain is ambitious, but he seems a little short-handed when it comes to having dependable help. Stanwyck, her father 'Pop' Jones (Morris Ankrum), and their foreman move a herd of over a thousand cattle into the territory to lay stake to a ranch in the middle of the wilderness. Renegade Native Americans bushwhack Jones and her family. Jones' father bites the dust and their friend Nat is laid up while our heroine tries to absorb what has happened. She is surprised when good Indians arrive to help them. The Indians are Blackfeet, and two of them are vying to lead the tribe after their ailing father migrates to the Happy Hunting Ground in the sky. Colorados (Lance Fuller) is an educated Indian who asks questions before he fires his weapon. His volatile brother Natchakoa (Anthony Caruso) is an uneducated, liquor-swilling brave who shoots first and asks questions afterward. Colorados allows Sierra and Nat to recuperate in his village. The villain is greedy cattleman named Tom McCord (Gene Evans) who wants Natchakoa to scare off the settlers so he can buy their land up cheaply. Neither Natchakoa nor McCord are prepared to tangle with Sierra. She has no problem packing a pistol and putting lead into people. A wandering gunman, Farrell (Ronald Reagan), rides into the country, too, and takes a job as one of McCord's minions.