WANTED DEAD or ALIVE SCREAMED THE NATION WHEN the DALTONS ROAD
1940-08-23
N/A
81 min
Young lawyer Tod Jackson arrives in pioneer Kansas to visit his prosperous rancher friends the Daltons, just as the latter are in danger of losing their land to a crooked development company. When Tod tries to help them, a faked murder charge turns the Daltons into outlaws, but more victims than villains in this fictionalized version. Will Tod stay loyal to his friends despite falling in love with Bob Dalton's former fiancée Julie?
Action packed western about the real life Dalton gang with truth stretching of course, but that doesn’t affect the fun. Randy was certainly under used here, since he doesn’t even hold a gun during the entire film, but that makes sense since he wasn’t part of the gang. A slow start meets the half way point that marks the beginning of a 45 minute nonstop action string of set pieces that ends predictably, with the gang’s demise, and it was thrilling nonetheless. Also—the Kino Lorber print is outstanding. With this all star cast of western regulars, you need to go see it now!
[insert any Andy Devine quote here.]
This is quite a solid western adventure depicting how the unstoppable railroad and their developers rode roughshod over all in their path. The "Dalton" family are one such family and when they engage "Jackson" (Randolph Scott) to help them out legally, to obviously no avail, they resort to lawlessness and start making life difficult for the trains and pursuing law enforcement alike. Scott actually features quite sparingly here, most of the film belongs to Brian Donlevy ("Grat") and Broderick Crawford ("Bob) and to the scene stealing Andy Devine ("Ozark") who knows how defuse a potentially lethal gun battle with a stagecoach and a little brass neck. It's only 80 minutes and George Marshall sees that the romance is kept to a minimum and that there are plenty of horse chases, shoot 'em ups and even some humour as the gang try to stay one step ahead. It's always nice to see Mary Gordon ("Ma Dalton" here, but always "Mrs. Hudson" in the Rathbone/Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" mysteries) and I quite enjoyed this.
