Dodge City (1939)

Dodge City
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Robert Buckner
1939/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Dr. Irving: I tell you, Ellen, we’re the public disgrace of America. You know what the New York newspapers are saying? There’s no law west of Chicago… and west of Dodge City, no God![/box]

Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn) is an Irishman turned Texas buffalo hunter and cattle trader. While guiding a wagon train en route to Dodge City, Kansas, he kills Abbie Irving’s (Olivia DeHavilland) drunk and rowdy brother in self-defense.  On arrival, he finds that Dodge City is terrorized by nasty casino owner Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his henchmen.  The townsfolk beg Wade to take over as sheriff.  The rest of the story details Wade’s efforts to bring law and order to the town and his blossoming romance with Abbie.  With Alan Hale as Wade’s comic sidekick, Frank McHugh as  a crusading journalist, and Ann Sheridan as a saloon singer.

This is actually a more representative Western story than the more famous Stagecoach released the same year.  As such, we get an epic barroom brawl and high suspense on a burning train, among other classic Western tropes.  To get through it, one must accept that Flynn’s character has superhuman powers allowing him to stop about 20 armed bad guys single-handed simply by asking their leader to hand over his gun. Fortunately, Flynn is so generally charming (and looks so great in Technicolor) that this is not an insurmountable obstacle.  The famous Flynn-DeHavilland chemistry is also there in full force.

I kept wondering where I had seen the main bad guy before.  It turns out, of course, that it was in King Kong.  Cabot really made an excellent villain.

Trailer – World Premiere in Dodge City, Kansas with red carpet footage