For this Western Night, Robert Nott choose BADLANDS OF DAKOTA (1941), and it’s a hoot!

Badlands of Dakota Movie Promo Banner
Set in Deadwood during its early gold rush days, two brothers, Jim and Bob Holliday (played by a young Robert Stack and a reliably gruff Broderick Crawford), are in love with sweet Anne Grayson (Ann Rutherford), and the complications that arise make for a mostly fast and furious movie. There are runaway stagecoaches, Indian attacks, murders, robberies, and some mighty hurt feelings.
While some real-life characters populate film, like Calamity Jane (a swaggering, well-coiffed and buckskin-clad Frances Farmer), Wild Bill Hickock (a dapper Richard Dix), his killer, Jack McCall (a villainous Lon Chaney Jr.), and George Armstrong Custer (Addison Richards), historical accuracy is somewhat scarce. And though there are some far-fetched moments, the film rushes along and even the problems don’t detract much from the enjoyment.
Directed by Alfred E. Green, who began his career in silent pictures, the film was written by Gerald Geraghty, along with Victor McLeod, who is interestingly credited with writing “Additional Comedy Sequences.”
Shot in black-and-white at Red Rock Canyon State Park in California and on the Universal backlot, BADLANDS OF DAKOTA runs 73 minutes and is available for free on youtube.com.
Along with Robert, award-winning journalist and author of several books on Western films, including his most recent RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY that examines the production, themes and legacy of the film that launched Sam Peckinpah’s career, our group includes Johnny D. Boggs, record nine-time Spur Award-winning author and Owen Wister Award winner whose work includes his latest, BLOODY NEWTON, Kirk Ellis, Emmy winning screenwriter and producer, and also author of the book RIDE LONESOME about the production, themes and historical relevance of the classic Ranown Western films starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher, Kirk’s wife, Sheila, and David Morrell, award-winning author and New York Times best-selling author of FIRST BLOOD, the novel that introduced the character Rambo.