The Plainsman **** (1936, Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen Burgess, Porter Hall, John Miljan) – Classic Movie Review 6839

Producer-director-showman Cecil B DeMille goes West in 1937 — and he does not take his history book along with him. But he does take a cast of thousands of Indians, lots of Paramount’s money, and two nice, welcome stars in Gary Cooper as Wild Bill Hickok and Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane, who have an affair in the romantic part of the movie. In the more interesting action part of the movie, Hickok tries to stop an Indian uprising started by white gun-runners.

The screenplay is based on two books – The Prince of Pistoleers by Grover Jones and Courtney Cooper, and Wild Bill Hickok by Frank J Wilstach.

Also involved are Charles Bickford as the gun-runner John Latimer, James Ellison as Buffalo Bill Cody, John Miljan as General George A Custer, Frank McGlynn Sr as Abraham Lincoln, Helen Burgess, Porter Hall, Victor Varconi, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes and Anthony Quinn as a Cheyenne Indian. (Quinn told DeMille he spoke fluent Cheyenne but speaks in gibberish though DeMille was impressed.)

This Thirties vintage Western combines biography, history and romance and is everything it should be – robust, spectacular, extravagant and amusing. It is just a shame it is not filmed in colour. It is the kind of movie that is crying out for Technicolor.

Also in the cast are Paul Harvey, Granville Bates, Frank Albertson, Purnell Pratt, Fred Kohler, Pat Moriarty [Moriarity], Charles Judels, Harry Woods, Francis McDonald, George Ernest, George McQuarrie, Fuzzy Knight, Irving Bacon, Arthur Aylesworth, Lane Chandler, Franklin Farnum, Francis Ford, Jonathan Hale, Wilbur Mack, Hank Worden, Charles Stevens, William Royle, Edwin Maxwell, and Carl Miller.

The Plainsman is directed by Cecil B DeMille, runs 112 minutes, is released by Paramount, is written by Waldemar Young, Lynn Riggs, Harold Lamb and Jeanie Macpherson, based on The Prince of Pistoleers by Grover Jones and Courtney Cooper, and Wild Bill Hickok by Frank J Wilstach, shot in black and white by Victor Milner and George Robinson, produced by William LeBaron, Cecil B DeMille and William H Pine, scored by George Antheil, and designed by Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson.

It was remade as The Plainsman in 1966 with Don Murray, Guy Stockwell, Abbie Dalton, Leslie Nielsen, Bradford Dillman, Henry Silva and Simon Oakland.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6839

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