movie backdrop

4 days ago

Dodge City

a review by DonGable

A mediocre western set to be carried by the charisma of its two leading actors.

Root out the bad guys and get the girl is what "Dodge City" can be boiled down to. It has many predictable moments that you don't have to be an astute viewer, to see coming. That fact does, however, not make it a drag to watch, which is down to the phenomenal cast.

Olivia de Havilland doesn't get much to do except to stand around and look pretty, which is such a waste of one of the finest actresses the medium ever had. Flynn is charming and charismatic as ever. Alan Hale does a great job as the funny sidekick that you cannot help but adore as the film goes on.

One thing the film itself deserves praise for, is its bar fight, which has to be the nuttiest one I have seen in any western. They go all out, and I can't imagine someone didn't get hurt for real during it.

It's a motion picture mostly for die hard fans of cast members such as Flynn or de Havilland. Other than that, there's not much to it. If you're not the biggest western fan, this surely won't win you over, and western connoisseurs will most likely be bored.