Truly Dreadful Film

Such a frustrating disappointment

hyped garbage

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

'Dodge City' had a huge amount going for it, with a great director like Michael Curtiz ('The Adventures of Robin Hood', 'Casablanca') and with a cast like Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Alan Hale, Bruce Cabot, Victor Jory, Ann Sheridan and Guinn Williams.While not the best, or one of the best films, of all involved, 'Dodge City' is still a very good and very entertaining film. As radiant and charming as she is it is a real shame that De Havilland's role isn't bigger and that her role doesn't have much to it at all. The story is pretty ordinary, and does start off somewhat plain.However, 'Dodge City' is handsomely mounted and beautifully shot in lush early Technicolor. Curtiz directs exuberantly, especially from the saloon brawl scene onward, while Max Steiner's music score is rousing, witty and rich in sumptuous orchestration, typical Steiner really.The script is smart, well-crafted and witty, and the story does have great moments. The highlight is the revered saloon brawl, which is one of the greatest brawls on film, but there is also an exciting final show-down and interesting opening sequence.Flynn is full of likable charisma and looks completely at ease, despite being a different role it is the kind of charisma that makes his Captain Blood and especially Robin Hood so iconic. He does share a very poignant chemistry with De Havilland. Hale and Williams are very funny in the comedic roles, and Cabot and Jory are great smarmy villains. Sheridan is delightful in her short (too short) role.Overall, very good and entertaining film and not one to dodge. 8/10 Bethany Cox

After the end of the United States Civil War, the recovering nation turns to the building of the unsettled west. Handsome young Irish immigrant Errol Flynn (as Wade Hatton) arrives in Dodge City, Kansas, to help. But, cattleman Flynn finds the wealthy city is controlled by lawless Bruce Cabot (as Jeff Surrett), an old enemy. Due to Mr. Cabot's presence, a young boy is horrifically killed during one of the town's frequent shoot-ups; so, Flynn decides accept a Sheriff's position, and rid the town of its rats.Beautiful Olivia de Havilland (as Abbie Irving) provides romantic interest, although Flynn gets off on the wrong foot by helping cause the death of her brother (William Lundigan). Saloon singer Ann Sheridan (as Ruby Gilman) and brawling Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (as Tex Baird) are among the others making fine impressions, in this richly produced Warner Brothers western. The direction (Michael Curtiz) and Technicolor cinematography (Sol Polito) combine for some outstanding scenes and images.******** Dodge City (4/1/39) Michael Curtiz ~ Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Bruce Cabot, Ann Sheridan

He'd already been a pirate and an outlaw for director Michael Curtiz, but in 1939 Errol Flynn was cast in the rather unexpected role of sheriff Wade Hatton in Dodge City, part of the western boom of 1939.Dodge City is home to practically every western genre cliché in existence – cattle drives, covered wagons, lynch mobs, bar brawls and so on. It's been remarked that at the time these weren't clichés, they were fresh ideas. But that would be to forget pictures such as The Big Trail (1931), The Plainsman (1936), not to mention a host of silent westerns, in which all these typical goings on were well established. This isn't a criticism – after all genres are built on clichés, and there's no shame in that. Dodge City merely appears to have been intended as a kind of rough homage to the western rather than trying to take the genre anywhere new. These Flynn/De Havilland/Curtiz pictures were never meant to be anything more than simple fun. If you're casting Errol Flynn in his first western after audiences have accepted him as Robin Hood and Captain Blood, you're not going to make something like Stagecoach.Having said all that, in spite of its lack of depth, Dodge City truly is a quintessential western in that its underlying theme is the most common idea that unites virtually every western ever made – the friction between the old and the new, and the forging of the American civilization. This is set up in the very first scene, in which a stagecoach and a steam train try to race each other. As the picture progresses, the point is made that the price of progress is lawlessness, and that the taming of the wilderness must be coupled with justice, education and order.Dodge City also represents the high point (or should that be low point?) of Hays Code moralism in the western. At this time Hollywood was desperate to ensure the outlaws remained villains, and that no crime went without punishment, and this is one of the strongest statements of that. In his struggle to clean up the frontier town, Flynn is virtually a puritan, not to mention a strict authoritarian. The lines of good and evil are as stark as in any of his earlier adventures. The trouble is the western genre lacks the right feel that makes such fairytale ethics enjoyable. You can accept the hissable villain and dashing, perfect hero in an over-the-top swashbuckler movie, but in the old west setting they don't seem to work so well.Errol Flynn would later play some great roles in westerns (for example, They Died with Their Boots On), but here he is really just playing Robin Hood in a Stetson, and only the vaguest attempt at an American accent (although, like Captain Blood, he's supposed to be an Irishman here, making his plummy English tones even more bizarre). Dodge City also features one of the weaker Alan Hale sidekick roles. He's a bit too much of a bumbling oaf for the majority of the picture, then suddenly becomes incredibly competent and authoritative out of the blue for action scenes. There are no real standout performances, and even great character actors like Henry Travers and Victor Jory are underused here.Still, the Michael Curtiz mark of quality is definitely here. The big crowd shots are perfectly constructed as always. However the most breathtaking landscape shots appear to come from matt paintings, and Curtiz doesn't handle the wide open spaces of the west particularly well. For me the only real standout moment is a massive barroom brawl, with dozens of participants. Curtiz was great at handling these large scale action scenes, but none of the smaller stand-offs really get off the ground.Dodge City is a certainly watchable film, but there are far better westerns from this period, not to mention far better Errol Flynn films.

Dodge City (1939): Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Bruce Cabot, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Anne Sheridan, Victor Jory, John Litel, Henry Travers, Henry O'Neill, William Lundigan, Bobs Watson, Guinn Williams, Gloria Holden, Georgia Cane, Douglas Fowley, Charles Halton, Ward Bond, Cora Whiterspoon, Russell Simpson, Monte Blue, Hank Bell, Clem Bevans, George Bloom, James Burke, Nat Carr, Horace B. Carpenter, Spencer Charters, Tom Chatterton, Richard Cramer, Jim Farley, Thurston Hall, Robert Homans, Vera Lewis, Milton Kibbee, Lilian Lawrence, Pat O'Malley, Henry Otho, Francis Sayles, Guy Wikerson....Director Michael Curtiz, Screenplay Robert Buckner.The year 1939 was a big year for movies (Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Goodbye Mr. Chips) and this "Old West" film from director Michael Curtiz was but one of two of his films that were in theaters that year to great acclaim; the other being Private Lives of Elizabeth And Essex with Bette Davis. Errol Flynn had achieved Hollywood stardom with "Adventures of Robin Hood" opposite Olivia De Havilland, who was herself emerging as an actress. Hollywood at the onset of World War II was enamored of Flynn and De Havilland and they starred in various films together. In "Dodge City", we find ourselves in Kansas, 1866, right after the Civil War has ended. The small cattle town of Dodge City is a lawless, dangerous and unhappy place, controlled by a corrupt Sheriff (Bruce Cabot). It's up to our hero Errol Flynn (as Wade Hatton) to turn things around and save the day. Olivia De Havilland portrays his love interest, Abbie Irving, a beautiful and resourceful prairie-born-and-bred girl whose brother Joe (Frank McHugh) is reckless and is eventually killed by Wade. This puts a damper on the relationship between Wade and Abbie but after she takes a job as newspaper writer and spends more time with Wade, the two fall in love. Before long, the bad guy/guyss are defeated and Wade becomes the town's new mayor. This film is possibly bland and predictable next to other Westerns that have stood the test of time (Giant, Hondo, How The West Was Won) but it has some good aspects and was a beloved Western in its day. Filmed in Technicolor at a time when it was rare to see films in color, the cinematography (by Sol Polito who worked for Warner Bros and for Curtiz's films is very beautiful, owing to the fact it was filmed outdoors in Kansas-like landscapes and realistic-looking sets. The music is by Max Steiner, who worked like crazy on dozens of films for Warner Bros. This film represents a kind of flower of the Hollywood studio system, as far as Westerns. Errol Flynn is superb, Olivia De Havilland is lovely and there is enough action (train and stagecoach race, bar fights, gun duels, etc) to perfectly fit into a classic, high-calibre Western. If you enjoy Errol Flynn (he did his own stunts at a time when no one did) and Olivia De Havilland, this film is highly enjoyable. But despite the historic setting, you will not learn much about post-Civil War America. In fact, the whole thing suffers from stereotypes of the Old West: the vulgar but good-hearted saloon girl, the good cowboy vs the evil sheriff, etc. This is a film that was meant to take you back to the Old West purely for entertainment.