Badlands of Dakota (1941) User Reviews

Entertaining Little Western

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 21 April 2002]

"Badlands of Dakota" is one of those compact little westerns, running about an hour and a quarter, that Universal churned out in the forties. As was the case with most of them, it is filled with lots of recognizable faces. Usually the leads were up and comers or second leads from the studio's bigger budgeted features.

The story briefly, starts out with rough and tough saloon owner (Broderick Crawford) sending his seemingly meek brother (a very young Robert Stack) back east to fetch his intended bride (Ann Rutherford). On the return journey they meet Wild Bill Hickock (Richard Dix) and fall in love and marry much to Crawford's chagrin. Crawford becomes bitter and joins up with Jack McCall (Lon Chaney Jr.) and his gang after arranging to have Stack appointed town marshal. You can probably figure out the inevitable ending.

The beautiful and troubled Frances Farmer appears as "Jane" (for some reason they dropped the rather obvious "Calamity"), and gives an excellent performance as the frontier gal Crawford tries to leave behind. Along for comic relief are Hugh Herbert as the Fire Chief/bartender, Andy Devine as the mayor and Fuzzy Knight as the stagecoach driver. Riding with Chaney are the likes of Glenn Strange, Carleton Young and Richard Alexander. Addison Richards appears as Colonel Custer. Poor old Charlie King is around just long enough to be gunned down by Dix. Also,look for Kermit Maynard as a card player.

Stack does OK as the hero and Ann Rutherford fresh from the Andy Hardy series, makes an appealing heroine. Dix does what he can with a limited role, Crawford growls as usual and Chaney is good as the chief bad guy, but it is Farmer who virtually steals the picture. One can only wonder how really great she could have been.

There is plenty of action including chases, stage holdups, fights, comedy and a slam bang Indian attack of the town at the film's climax. A really entertaining little western.

An A-level western...complete with all the cliches and fictionalized characters.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 February 2018]

During the golden years in Hollywood, studios created an image of the old west that was pretty much hogwash. Despite these movies, folks DIDN'T have shootouts on Main Street nor were there that many folks running about in cowboy hats. But the biggest mistake the films made was by taking real life westerners and completely fictionalizing their lives. The Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp of film fame simply bore very little similarity to their onscreen characters. In "Badlands of Dakota" they manage something many of these films didn't do...it used several of these fictional real life characters...such as Wild Bill*, Calamity Jane** and General Custer. As long as you don't take any of this as fact, it is entertaining and features a lot of familiar character actors.

The story concerns two brothers who have a falling out over a girl in the old west. There on hand are Wild Bill and others....all helping to bring truth(?) and justice to the West.

The younger brother is played by Robert Stack. I've seen several of his early films and have noticed that he must have taken voice lessons, as his voice has a different cadence and is much higher than it was in the late 50s onward. He does NOT sound like Elliot Ness in this one! He is supported in the film by Richard Dix (Wild Bill), Ann Rutherford, Broderick Crawford (the older brother) and many character actors such as Andy Devine, Fuzzy Knight, Hugh Herbert and Lon Chaney Jr.. The quality and caliber of these actors help out the film a lot and elevate it far above the usual quickie B-western. The only cheap portion was the runaway wagon sequence...with its awful rear projection. Also, I wasn't taken by Ann Rutherford's speech about the west (just before Robert Stack snogs her)...talk about ridiculous dialog! But apart from that, on balance, it's a pretty good FICTIONAL story.

*The death of Wild Bill was accurate in the film...shot in the back while playing poker and he had what's known (because of this) as the dead man's hand (with two pair...both spades).

**Calamity Jane was NOT the pretty rootin' tootin' cowgirl who loved fightin' and shootin' like she is seen in the movies. In reality she was quite different--a cross-dressing woman who was NOT especially beautiful and was an alcoholic. She also worked, off and on, as a prostitute and even a frontier scout! But she also was apparently incredibly kind and accounts of her helping the poor and destitute abound. I actually think the real Calamity would be the great subject of a film!

Slam bang Indian attack on Deadwood

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 31 May 2019]

With such folks as General George A. Custer, Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill Hickok in the background, Badlands Of Dakota is the story of two brothers Broderick Crawford and Robert Stack and the girl they both love Ann Rutherford.

Sadly this is based on a rather silly premise. Stack is the wastrel brother of Crawford who keeps having to pull him out of some bad scrapes. But he gives Stack the job of bringing Rutherford to Deadwood where he owns the great saloon and gambling parlor the Bella Union. But Stack and Rutherford fall in love and Crawford goes over to the group of outlaws who've been robbing stagecoaches headed by Lon Chaney, Jr. as Jack McCall.

Richard Dix plays Hickok and Addison Richard is Custer and they are strictly in supporting roles. Frances Farmer plays Calamity Jane who has had it bad for both Dix and Crawford, but neither can see her.

The real Calamity Jane was not a beauty to put it mildly. But Frances Farmer sure was. What was wrong with both of these guys?

Some great familiar character players are in this one and there's a slam bang raid on Deadwood by the Sioux as a climax.

But the silly plot premise keeps Badlands Of Dakota from joining the ranks of really great westerns.

Frances Farmer and Lon Chaney

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 18 December 2013]

1941's "Badlands Of Dakota" is a higher budgeted 'B' Western from Universal, with a fascinating cast. Top billed Robert Stack gives the least interesting performance (not really his fault), as Jim Holliday, freewheeling brother of tough saloon owner Bob Holliday (Broderick Crawford); when Bob finds that his girl back east (Ann Rutherford) has decided to marry Jim, he falls in with Deadwood villain Jack McCall (Lon Chaney), whose gang commits raids disguised as native Indians. Of greater interest are the supporting players, Richard Dix as Wild Bill Hickok, and especially Frances Farmer as Jane (minus the 'Calamity'), who carries a torch for Bob, and must play a part in his downfall. With Hugh Herbert, Andy Devine, and Fuzzy Knight, we have an abundance of comic relief, and future Frankenstein Monster Glenn Strange is among Chaney's gang. Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert were coming off the comic Poe "The Black Cat"; Chaney and Crawford would work together again in "North to the Klondike," "Not as a Stranger," and "Big House, U. S. A."; Richard Dix soon reunited with Chaney in "Eyes of the Underworld." But in this film, no one can steal the thunder from Frances Farmer, whose commanding presence and captivating beauty prove to have been unique and unforgettable.

Brother Against Brother

[lugonian · 7/10 · 6 January 2019]

BADLANDS OF DAKOTA (Universal, 1941), directed by Alfred E. Green, is a western featuring an all-star cast headed by the youthful Robert Stack. Though Stack later starred in the popular television series, "The Untouchables" (1959-1963), he was known during his early movie years as the young man who gave Deanna Durbin her first screen kiss in his motion picture debut in FIRST LOVE (Universal, 1939). While Stack's name alone in 1941 was not strong enough to make BADLANDS OF DAKOTA into a top-rated film, veteran actors Richard Dix and Frances Farmer became added attractions, giving this production some added appeal. Ann Rutherford, better known to many film historians as Polly Benedict in the "Andy Hardy" movie series, assumes loan-out assignment duties from MGM working opposite Stack playing the young girl who comes between two brothers.

FORWARD: "A few years after the War between the states - Dakota territory was given to the Sioux Indian nation and patrolled by the Seventh Cavalry under the command of General Custer. In 1874, gold was discovered and Custer was unable to keep out the hordes of white settlers who swarmed into the territory. Thus was born Deadwood, a red, raw town in a burned out gulch." Following brief scenes involving wagon trains traveling west and the building of the town called Deadwood, Speed (Andy Devine) is introduced as the master of ceremonies presenting some upcoming acts that are to be performed at the Bella Union, a saloon owned by Bob Holliday (Broderick Crawford). Bob's youngest brother, Jim (Robert Stack), takes advantage of those fearing Bob's rough exterior by cheating at cards and getting drunk at the bar. Having been in Deadwood for six months after being talked into staying by Bob, Bob decides to have his irresponsible brother do him a favor by heading back to their hometown of St. Louis to bring back with him Anne Grayson (Ann Rutherford), the girl Bob intends to marry. While Jim has known Anne during their childhood days, he is surprised finding the once homely little girl to be an attractive 22 year-old woman. During their venture home by riverboat, Jim first makes the acquaintance of a gambler by the name of James Butler Hickok, better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok (Richard Dix), and later falls in love with Anne, marrying her during the boat's stop at Fort Pierre. Disappointed by the news of their marriage given to him by Jane (Frances Farmer), who loves Bob (who only looks upon her as a business partner), Bob joins a group of bandits headed by Jack McCall (Lon Chaney Jr.) doing a series of stagecoach holdups while at the same time appoints his weakling brother as the new town marshal more out of for vengeance than as a favor to him.

The supporting cast also consists of Hugh Herbert ("Rocky" Flemmer, bartender/fire chief); Fuzzy Knight ("Hurricane" Harry); Addison Richards (George Armstrong Custer); Bradley Page (Chapman); and Samuel S. Hinds (Anne's hard-of-hearing Uncle Wilbur). Dwight Latin, Guy Bonher and Walter Carlson, credited as The Jesters, play musical entertainers performing such tunes as: "McNamara's Band," "We're Going to Have a Big Time Tonight" and "No One to Love." Of its cast members, Frances Farmer, billed simply as Jane, stands out as the character inspiration of Calamity Jane. Dressed in pants, buckskin clothes and western hat, her character is very much the tough talking, bar drinking and jealous nature Calamity Jane, and different style to the same character as portrayed by Jean Arthur in THE PLAINSMAN (Paramount, 1936). Unlike other movies about Calamity Jane's involvement with Wild Bill Hickok, BADLANDS OF DAKOTA shifts gears by having her more to the liking of Bob Holliday. Her involvement with Wild Bill Hickok, excellently played by Richard Dix, is barely existent here. Dix, sporting curly hair and mustache, is given little to do, which is surprising. His character is around long enough for attention, but other than gambling scenes, actually comes to Deadwood Gulch to find gold, and being more observant to Stack's activities than being a participant. Lon Chaney Jr., shortly before his achievement in horror films such as THE WOLF MAN (1941) and its sequels, plays a cattle thief known to Hickok for being the one who shot the Kansas Kid in Abilene in the back. Willie Fung resumes his stereotypical role of a Chinese laundryman, while Glenn Strange is seen with Chaney as one of his henchmen.

Aside from Robert Stack playing a weakling turned into a town marshal, reminiscent but not superior to James Stewart's classic take in DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (Universal, 1939), BADLANDS OF DAKOTA doesn't disappoint with typical western action-packed style of gun shooting, Indian attacks, cavalry rescues, and so much more crammed into its 74 minutes. If the plot in general doesn't prove interesting, then the impressive casting of its players or runaway stagecoach scene involving Fuzzy Knight should.

Not seen regularly on commercial television since the 1970s (notably New Jersey station, Channel 68, in 1978), BADLANDS OF DAKOTA has turned up decades later on cable television's Encore Channel. Due to its latter day viewings, the film overall should be a worthy rediscovery for western film buffs or anyone unaware of its existence. Overlooking the plot toying with historic facts and characters, BADLANDS OF DAKOTA, with comedic overtones, is fast-paced and surprisingly well-done. (**1/2)

this oater is not quite a substantial meal

[bengleson · 4/10 · 28 September 2002]

Like a number of his earlier works, Badlands of Dakota assisted Broderick Crawford to develop the pained, overachieving Willie Stark he so absorbingly played in ALL THE KINGS MEN. The warpaint he occasionally dons does detract from the seriousness of his delivery but with plot twists like the finale, the paint probably was a welcome cover for his embarrassment. What I did like about the film was the restrained performance of Richard Dix as Wild Bill Hickok and the raw and bitter characterization of Calamity Jane by the exquisite and doomed France Farmer. The film is worth the time spent watching it if only to watch Farmer's swaggering scenes and to hear her deep and soothing voice.

Absolutely superb mix of comedy, action, romance....and fiction!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 24 November 2018]

Some of the great legendary folk Heroes of the Wild West make appearances in this extremely entertaining A grade western from Universal Studios. A huge cast of very familiar faces fill out the ensemble of this look at the rivalry between two brothers (Robert Stack and Broderick Crawford), the woman they both love (Ann Rutherford) and the woman (Frances Farmer) who loves Crawford unconditionally in spite of his rather brusque nature. simply referred to as Jane, it is obvious that Farmer is playing Calamity Jane, and at certain points, her character is not very likeable, certainly not anything like Doris Day. The main plot involves gold robberies by local Indian tribes, but there's a twist that Stack, made sheriff at Broderick suggestion, is unaware of.

The film starts with Stack going to collect Rutherford to bring her back to Crawford whom she is engaged to. But when Stack comes back, a confrontation between Rutherford and the jealous Farmer leads to the revelation that Stack has married Rutherford, setting up revenge from one brother towards the other. it becomes obvious when Crawford drops his brother's name as a candidate for Sheriff, he wants the town riff raff to go out of their way to kill Stack so he can move in on Rutherford. The look on Farmer's face says it all which leads to her sudden movements in the final scene.

The Supporting Cast is filled with very popular character actors of the time, going from Andy Devine as the proprietor of the town saloon to Hugh Herbert as the town fireman/saloon bartender. While Lon Chaney Jr. is listed in the credits, I was unable to spot him, but I assumed that he was one of the gang that was perpetrating a scheme to steal the gold. The only eye raising element of the film is the presence of Chinese character actor Willie Fung as, you guessed it, the local laundry proprietor. He is so badly stereotyped in this movie that it becomes laughable, especially when he starts babbling in Chinese at the locals who can't understand the words that he's saying. However the film overall is so entertaining and fast-moving that elements like this are easy to overlook considering the time period, with a horseless wagon on the run driven by Devine that nearly tears the town apart before the final battle between the villainess gang and the town good guys. this may not be a classic on the level of universals previous big Western hit, "Destry Rides Again", but it is up there as one of the best westerns made during this time that makes me long for the days of the Saturday matinee when these type of films were very popular.

A star studded cast...

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 17 September 2020]

Except most of them were not stars yet. Lively but ordinary western from Universal which, in true Hollywood "respect" of history, throws a variety of famous historical names into the pot with mixed results. The film is perhaps most noteworthy for the cast of familiar film veterans.

The main story has two brothers (Robert Stack and Broderick Crawford) have a fall out over a girl (Ann Rutherford), Crawford turning bad and falling in with some outlaws, lead by Jack McCall (Lon Chaney Jr.). Custer's name is thrown into the mix, as well as that of Wild Bill Hickok, played by Richard Dix who is dressed to look like the lawman but has disappointingly little to do. The sudden recreation of the lawman's famous death is a surprisingly throwaway moment in the film.

Oh, there is also a gun slinging tom girl in buckskins just called "Jane" (played by a beautiful Frances Farmer in one of her final roles). Nobody calls her "Calamity" but the assumption is that's it's her anyway. Hugh Herbert and Andy Devine are also present for the usual comedy relief. The rest of the film, though, is hardly to be taken seriously.

The film moves quickly enough but what plot there is is trivial and uninvolving, not helped by the fact that it's difficult to take Stack seriously in the film's second half when he becomes the new law of Deadwood. Stanley Cortez photographed it all nicely, and you can recognize the same Universal stock music taken from Destry Rides Again, filmed two years before.

A minor quibble: watching Crawford and Chaney share a few scenes together, I was disappointed they didn't get drunk and start to break up the furniture. Maybe they saved that for when the cameras stopped rolling.

Strictly for western buffs,

Dead wood

[AAdaSC · 3/10 · 12 June 2011]

Robert Stack (Jim) is the wimpy younger brother of Deadwood saloon owner Broderick Crawford (Bob) who sends him to bring Ann Rutherford (Anne) from another town so that Crawford can marry her. However, on the journey back to Deadwood, Stack and Rutherford fall in love and marry. Guess what - Crawford isn't too happy about this! Crawford plans his revenge and gets brother Stack elected Marshall of Deadwood while he joins up with the town's bad guys and takes part in a couple of robberies. At the end, we have an Indian attack on the town of Deadwood and the inevitable confrontation between the brothers.

The quality of this film is poor and unfortunately, the story drags. It's not very interesting. Frances Farmer (Jane) and Richard Dix (Wild Bill Hickok) are wasted in this film. The emphasis should have been on these two characters and Crawford rather than the sickeningly bland relationship between Stack and Rutherford. The film picks up pace at the end with the Indian attack but it's too late to save the day. It's a shame because given the cast, the film promises more than it delivers, apart from the comedy characters who are always annoying. In particular Andy Devine's irritating voice - he sounds like he has got a frog permanently in his throat. CLEAR YOUR THROAT BEFORE TALKING. Don Barclay as the drunk is another low-point - please get him off the screen, he's not funny.

The 2 leads in this film fail to excite the audience and this, coupled with the poor quality, results in your mind wandering off to more interesting places.

Frances Farmer's best late performance as Calamity Jane

[jmk56 · 8/10 · 31 March 2001]

An interesting, fairly high-budget (at least by Universal standards) western, mixing historical characters like Will Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane in a fictional environment. The cast is uniformly excellent and fairly eclectic, including Broderick Crawford and Robert Stack as brothers (and there is quite a family resemblance--NOT), Lon Chaney Jr., comedy relief by Andy Devine and Hugh Herbert, a barbershop quartet (in fact, everything including the kitchen sink), but most importantly, a radiant Frances Farmer in an impressive characterization as Calamity Jane. More luminous than Jean Arthur, and more raucous and even vulnerable than Doris Day, this is easily Farmer's best performance from the last part of her career before her unfortunate arrest and institutionalization. The film seems to have been worked on by several writers, and veers back and forth between straight narrative and some obviously interpolated comedy bits and barbershop numbers. An enjoyable, if historically laughable, western from Hollywood's golden era. Farmer fans will be thrilled.

Not even close, no cigar

[grunner00 · 1/10 · 18 April 2019]

A terrible distortion of the truth. Poor acting by normally great actors. Hampered by horrible script with lame attempts at humor.

Farmer was a great actress!

[Flaming_star_69 · 8/10 · 11 September 2005]

The plot is simple: It's based around 1876 in South Dakota and the Custer/Wild Bill Hickok events. Farmer plays Calamity Jane, although they never use the tag "Calamity" when speaking to or about her. One varied notice from other films, she's not in love with Wild Bill in this one but a saloon owner (Broderick Crawford) and then winds up killing him.

This is a typical early day Western with lots of shootin', ridin', Indians, outlaws, and, of course, duo love interests which rival each other. It's a really good Western based upon that and comes even with some comedy (Andy Devine). It was well worth the money I paid to get it and I will certainly watch it again later.

I won't speak about the historical points because, although there are a few of them (such as Wild Bill getting killed) they are not anywhere close to accurate.

Rather, I bought the video because it had Francis Farmer in it. I'd never seen a movie with her until yesterday when I viewed two of them. I was most curious about this beautiful woman whose mother had her mutated.

I gave this movie an 8 simply based upon Francis Farmer's acting in the movie. She was a great actress. I say that now based upon viewing two of her films this past week (Son of Fury). Criminals, like those who did what they did to this wonderful woman ought to be damned but time has taken them, as well as she, from our presence so we can. I notice she only made 15 films before they cut her brain. I would have loved to have seen more movies with her and, no doubt, had they not had their way, she would have made many more.