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Santa Fe TrailRating:
Release Date: 14 October, 1999 Retail Price: $19.95 OUR Price: $17.96 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: Complete Cast (13 total) |
Santa Fe Trail Reviews
Rousing but inaccurate adventure movie
The title may well lead people to expect a Western and indeed this is how the movie has been packaged ,but I would argue it is nothing of the sort .While the Santa Fe Trail is mentioned and the role of the railroad in opening up the West is touched upon the movie is really about the origins of the Civil War .
Flynn stars as J E B Stuart -arguably the most famous cavalry commnader in the Confederate army .We first meet him as a West Point cadet, along with several other men who became prominent in the military in subsequent years chief among them being Custer (Ronald Reagan ) Phil Sheridan ( David Bruce) and George Pickett( Willam Marshall ) .His nemesis at the Academy is "Rader" played by Van Heflin ,a fervent abolitionist and disciple of the firebrand preacher John Brown .The two get involved in a brawl and Rader is sent down for having abolitionist pamphlets in his locker .Already the Civil war is casting its shadows over the military -;we meet Lee and Davis ,men who were to play a key role in events in the following decade .
Stuart ,Custer and Sheridan are sent to "Bloody Kansas" to keep the peace in the face of John Browns agitation for it to become a free state .They clash early on when they foil a gun running bid by Brown and his followers who now number the embittered and mercenary Rader in their ranks (it is made clear he fights for money ,not belief in the cause) .Further confrontations with Brown arise ,culminating in the bloody affray at Harper's Ferry
There is no shortage of movies dealing with the Civil War but very few have adressed its origins which makes this aspect of tghe movie so disappointing .Perhaps mindful of the need not to damage its potential in the South ,scriptwriter Robert Bruckner has come up with an evasive screenplay which sits on the fence politically .Brown is depicted as a fiery psychopath and an irrational madman whose cause is founded on the need for someone to hate rather than any love of the blacks or sense of moral righness ,while the Heflin character is a vain ,envious opportunist who loves only money and betrays any cause he feels does not value his contribution to it .He is shown as interfering in a system which Stuart claims is reforming itself from within ,and by so doing bringing about an avoidable conflict This is a gross distortion of the facts .Thus ,faced with such moral equivocation ,the best thing to do is enjoy it on an action movie level and here it works well .The action is lively and plentiful and the acting is pretty solid .Flynn is ideally cast as the archetypal military man -one who fights nobly for his cause ,despite his own doubts and de Havilland is excellent as the feisty tomboyish Kit Carson Halliday over whom Custer and Stuart bicker .Raymond Massey is hypnotic if hammy as Brown and there is a solid "best friend of the leading man "turn from Reagan ,whose character is allowed a few tentative pro-Brown remarks
One scene stands out -when Custer ,Sheridan ,Stuart and Pickett consult an Indian seeress they are told they will all be generals but will never again all meet as friend ;they react with uneasy laughter but in the scene we see the gathering clouds of the impending war ,
Muddy monochrome photography from the usually dependable Sal Polito does not help while Max Steiner's score is not his best by a long eway
Enjoy it as a vigorous and robust action picture from the great Michael Curtiz and this is okay but as a serious treatment of the issues it is sunk by its own timorousness and refusal to address reality
An incredible movie for its time
When I picked up this movie I expected a simple Errol Flynn movie, some action, some heroics, some Olivia, with Alan Hale and President Reagan thrown in for good measure. Instead I got a movie that had all of what was listed but incredible depth. Particularly when you consider when it was made.
In 1940 America was a segragated country, Civil war vets on both sides were still alive, their children had very particular views of the war and of John Brown.
This movie hits every note right, Brown, played by Massey with vigor and passion is convinced of the rightious of his cause and forshadowing the words of Lincoln says the judgement of the Lord is on the country.
All the characters wrestle with the justice of the situation, Brown is justly shown as a killer but even there the shades of grey abound. Reagan & Flynn as Custer & Stewart clash over what is right and wrong.
The only flaw is the protrayal of the ex-slaves as waiting to be lead. In fact Brown's speech to the crowd saying that all must take care of themselves as other free men do is a high point in the drama.
The rest of the formula remains the same as other movies, but the clash that is coming and the tension it creates raises this movie up so high that any historical fudging can't hurt it.
Fantastic as a movie but even better as a view of how the country wrestled with the issue in 1854 AND in 1940.
Buy it.
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