Santa Fe Trail (1940)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writer:

Robert Buckner (original screenplay)

Release Date:

28 December 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

A Magnficent Portrayal of a Thrilling Era !

Plot:

The story of Jeb Stuart, his romance with Kit Carson Holliday, friendship with George Custer and battles...

Plot Keywords:

John Brown | Jeb Stuart | American Civil War | Father Son Relationship | African American

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	Jeb Stuart
Olivia de Havilland	...	Kit Carson Holliday
Raymond Massey	...	John Brown
Ronald Reagan	...	George Armstrong Custer
Alan Hale	...	Tex Bell
William Lundigan	...	Bob Holliday
Van Heflin	...	Carl Rader
Gene Reynolds	...	Jason Brown
Henry O'Neill	...	Cyrus K. Holliday
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Windy Brody
Alan Baxter	...	Oliver Brown
John Litel	...	Martin
Moroni Olsen	...	Colonel Robert E. Lee
David Bruce	...	Phil Sheridan
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Doyle

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (1986) | Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #6559) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Lasky Mesa, West Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Raymond Massey starred as John Brown again in Seven Angry Men (1955), the main story of which is also the trial and hanging of the abolitionist.

Goofs:

Factual errors: J.E.B. Stuart's wife was named Flora Cooke, not Kit Carson Holliday.

Quotes:

John Brown: I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood. Aye, let them hang me. I forgive them, and may God forgive them for they know not what they do!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Along the Santa Fe Trail

Solid. First rate western.

The two stars of this film, Ronald Reagan and Errol Flynn show an easy grace, a comfort before the camera, and an abundance of charm. They're both good actors, though not great. Flynn of course, with his English accent, seems slightly out of place as southerner JEB stuart, and Reagan isn't quite as boisterous as one might expect a Custer to be. But then, this is not an historical movie--it's a basic western. As an early buddy flick, Custer and Stuart have a good rapport, and Olivia De Havilland has the camera in love with her most of the movie.

The movie is full of familiar faces, among them Alan Hale and Raymond Massey. The latter is a dead ringer for John Brown and puts in a great performance as the unhinged radical. The plot is a little more interesting than the usual white hat-black hat western, with John Brown on his raids in Kansas and Virginia.

Still this movie is largely fiction--which is too bad since John Brown, a clearly unbalanced religious fanatic, is an interesting case study in early American terrorism; and which brings up issues related to the level of violence that is acceptable in fighting something one considers evil. But again, this is a western, and political and social issues are largely absent--I think the deepest point the movie makes is that Custer and Stuart were brash young officers out to make names for themselves. Which they both did.

A good solid western, not in the "great" category with "High Noon" and "Fort Apache", but certainly first rate.