This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

John Payne plays Kirby Randolph, a disgraced Indian scout who along with his trusty side-kick Sam Beekman (Slim Pickens) finally gets hired by Aurelie St. Clair (Faith Domergue) & Jess Griswold (Rod Cameron) to escort a wagon load of guns through Indian territory. With the past hanging over him like a bad smell and the Indians on their trail, the last thing Kirby needs is Aurelie catching his eye. Especially since she's Griswold's girl. This is sure to be one perilous and life changing journey.There's a lot of common words been used in reviews for this William Witney directed film. Routine, different, exciting, boring & unusual, all of which proves just how divisive cinema can be. Adapted by Lillie Hayward from an Esquire Magazine story written by Heck Allen, Santa Fe Passage is out of Republic Pictures and is shot in the Trucolor process on location at St. George, Utah {Bud Thackery photographs}. Personally speaking I found the film something of a chore to get thru, which in a Western that has a high action quota is some what surprising to me. A lot of it can be put down to the wooden acting from the principals and the rather bland screenplay.Payne never convinced in Western's, and here he is showed up by the reliable Pickens. In fact ex-convict Leo Gordon who is also in the piece would probably have been a better choice for the lead role of Kirby! Domergue is a picture of doe eyed sexuality, her engaging features benefiting from one of Republic's better color prints, but she struggles with the meandering script and looks bored in love scenes with old stiff Payne. Worst of the bunch tho is Irene Tedrow as squaw Ptewaquin, if you manage not to laugh then you deserve a medal.The failings in the cast are a shame because Witney manfully does a good job with the action. A horse stampede and two Indian attacks are real entertaining highlights fit to be in some other higher budgeted Western. But then the focus has to revert back to uninteresting characters being given uninteresting portrayals. It's clear what the makers were trying to do. The old Anti-Western/Anti-Racist core to be mixed with action and a potential complex love triangle, looks good on paper. But when you come out of the film only remembering Domergue's green eyes and an unintentional comedy squaw character, well you got problems. A creaky 4/10 from me.

A strikingly photographed but also strikingly ordinary western. Payne leads a cattle drive through 'Injun' territory. Do you reckon they're going to let him through peacefully? It's admittedly never short on action, but such trifle now seems more than a bit outré considering the contemporarily modish spate of 'be nice to Indians' Westerns. Fair to say though, that even though 'Broken Arrow' had set such a trend 5 year back, traditional Western audiences regarded the concept with less-than macromolecular significance. With Faith Domergue being typically insipid (This Island Earth was still one year off), but looking as if she thinks she deserves to be paid like Barbara Stanwyck.

Managing to be both standard and unusual at the same time, this western should entertain most viewers for its 91 minute running time. Payne plays a trail scout who, with his sidekick Pickens, helps wagon trains cross hostile Indian territory. After one of his jobs goes horribly wrong, he has trouble finding work until Cameron hires him to assist his team of packhorses (and three wagons) on a drive to Santa Fe. Also on the trip is tough, skeptical Gordon as the trail boss and Domergue, who plays Cameron's girlfriend and owner of the cargo being transported. Domergue has an Indian companion (Tedrow!) who combs her hair and gets her gussied up each night at camp in one pretty gown after another. Before long, a love triangle develops between Payne, Domergue and Cameron, with Domergue harboring a shameful secret. Meanwhile, the Indians (led by chief Keymas) try everything they can think of to destroy and loot the wagon train. Some of the usual "Pioneers versus the Indians" clichés are touched on here, but the film does have more than a few unique and interesting touches. (It must have the most authentically muddy city streets of any film from this period.) It's also quite picturesque and relatively full of action and interest. Payne does a decent job and shows off a still fit and trim physique (in a memorably uncomfortable scene involving being caught in his drawers by Domergue.) Domergue, outfitted with some distracting and anachronistic earrings, is also strong in her role, though her storyline borders on the preposterous. Cameron, who at 6'5" towers over everyone (making even 6 foot tall Payne seem diminutive!), is solid and tough throughout. He has a memorable scene involving the handling of a traitor. Pickens is authentic and mildly entertaining in his sidekick role. What really sends this flick into Bizarro-Land is the presence of Tedrow as an old Indian squaw. Stone-faced, smeared with tan Ben Nye make-up, borrowing Groucho Marx's eyebrows and speaking in a tone 3 octaves lower than usual, she is hysterically funny. Best of all is when she comes alive near the end of the film and turns into a knife-wielding Super Squaw, running at the speed of light, fiercely riding a horse and taking part in skirmishes with her enemies! No viewer of Tedrow as Miss Lucy Elkins on "Dennis the Menace" could ever have envisioned that she once played this role in a movie! The viewpoint towards Native Americans in the film is mostly the standard unsympathetic one of this time with some exceptions. Keymas is wounded at one point and sports some hilariously unconvincing injury makeup. One memorable sequence involves a very dusty pony stampede and the attempts to divert it. There's also a big "twist" ending that is completely discernible within the first 15 minutes of the film. It's a familiar type of tale, but one told with a diverse cast, lots of activity and some edge in the story and direction.

Why Payne is in any western is the question. Rod Cameron is clearly suited to perform both roles at the same time. The guy that played the indian chief Satang was also totally unbelieveable. I like my westerns with less wimps. This reminds me of several other that were miscast because the producer wanted to star in a western. Willie Nelson comes to mind.