Montana * (1950, Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S Z Sakall, Douglas Kennedy) – Classic Movie Review 11,614

Errol Flynn in Robin Hood.

Director Ray Enright’s 1950 Warner Bros Technicolor Western film Montana is based on a story by Ernest Haycox, and stars Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S Z Sakall and Douglas Kennedy.

Once again, it’s sheep-herders versus cattle-ranchers in the Wild West, where the cowmen and the sheepmen can’t be friends.

Flynn for once plays an Australian (his own nationality) in a forgettable role as sheep-herder Morgan Lane, trying to make his fortune in Montana, where he comes up against cattle boss Maria Singleton (Smith) and her nasty right-hand man Rodney Ackroyd (Kennedy).

A weak screenplay is low on action and surprises, and director Enright dawdles just when he should be hotting up the movie. Though Warner Bros ensures that the production is handsome, and there is some good character acting, particularly from Sakall as Poppa Schultz, this disappointing Western remains strictly formulaic and uninspiring. Karl Freund’s Technicolor cinematography is the one real bright spot.

Also James Brown, Ian MacDonald as Reeves, Charles Irwin, Paul E Burns, Tudor Owen, Lester Matthews as Forsythe, Nacho Galindo, Lane Chandler as Sheriff Jake Overby, Monte Blue, Billy Vincent, Warren Jackson, Forrest Taylor, and Almira Sessions.

Writers: James R. Webb (screenplay), Borden Chase (screenplay), Charles O’Neal (screenplay) and Ernest Haycox (story).

It is only the second time Flynn played an Australian on screen, after Desperate Journey (1942). It is his fourth and final pairing with Smith.

Flynn was fed up making Westerns. In 1949 he said: ‘There’s only one thing I really don’t want to do any more and that’s Westerns. I guess I’ve trod every back trail and canyon pass in the entire West. Every time the writers don’t know what to do next, they have me pull up ahead of my gang, assume a decidedly grim look, and say “All right men, you know what to do now.” The fact is I’ve made so many of these things, scripts seem so much the same, that what it adds up to in my mind is that the studio says, “Here’s a horse. Get on.”‘

Warner Bros ordered Flynn to return from his home in Jamaica and take the role under his contract and filming began August 1948, though the script was only half ready, despite having been in the pipeline since 1941. It was released on 28 January 1950.

The film took $3,647,000 on a cost of $1,589,000, so it was profitable.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,614

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