Westerns Films Westerns Films Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Examples More Early Westerns Stars: Early westerns provided theater owners with second features and steady work for a countless stable of actors. During the earliest, pre-sound period of the westerns (the teens and the 20s) and into the 30s, the elderly William S. Hart was soon replaced by other more glamorous, swaggering, and action-oriented western stars of the primitive B-films: Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson (1881-1971) - the genre's first western film hero and star, who made about 400 "Broncho Billy" westerns, beginning with Broncho Billy and the Baby (1910); his last silent western role was in The Son of a Gun (1919) Tom Mix (1880-1940) (a prototypical western action hero with a wholesome screen persona, fancy cowboy outfits, and his horse Tony the Wonder Horse, a prominent star for Fox films), he often produced and directed his own films.

He was known as the first western superstar, and first appeared as Bronco Buster in Selig Polyscope's Ranch Life in the Great Southwest (1910), and then in many others (for Selig and later for Fox), including The Man From Texas (1915) and The Heart of Texas Ryan (1916), and later in such expensive features as Fox's Riders of the Purple Sage (1925) (from Zane Grey's 1912 melodrama of the same name) and The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926).

Mix was an accomplished rodeo horseman/cowboy who performed most of his own stunts Harry Carey, often featured as the frontiersman character Cheyenne Harry (Carey was the lead in twenty-four John Ford silents); toward the end of his film career, he played the lead in William Christy Cabanne's The Last Outlaw (1936), based on an original story by John Ford (who directed a silent version in 1919) Hoot Gibson, who usually performed supporting roles in the Ford-Carey western films at Universal, and became a major star in the 1920s Buck Jones ("The Red Rider") Bob Steele ("Two Fisted Hero of the West") Tim McCoy Charles Starrett Johnny Mack Brown Westerns were among the slowest of the film genres to mature although with the coming of sound, they achieved fuller development.

From the early 1920s, many westerns were unsophisticated, inexpensively-made, low quality, action-packed B-pictures from Poverty Row studios (predominantly Republic Studios), filled with familiar stock footage, often the bottom half of a double bill in feature-length and Saturday-matinee serial formats, although some of the early 40's westerns were A-budget films regarding social issues (e.g., The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) ). The first feature-length color western was the Zane Grey horse opera from Famous Players-Lasky, Wanderer of the Wasteland (1924). The Silent Western Epic: Notably, the first big-scale epic film of the silent era was also a western, James Cruze's landmark and highly successful The Covered Wagon (1923), an expensive effort which cost $800,000 yet brought $4 million at the box-office. This feature-length western from Paramount was the historical drama of a wagon train in the mid-1800s moving westward, encountering harsh environmental and weather conditions (a river crossing and prairie fire), and of course, hostile Indians.

Hollywood was encouraged to produce many more westerns in subsequent years. Its success led to another silent western tale of the building of the American empire by the construction of the Union and Central Pacific RRs - famed western director John Ford's silent railroad classic epic The Iron Horse (1924) for Fox films - his 50th film. Many of the genre's greatest directors, such as John Ford, developed their craft and scored their first hits with Westerns. The Iron Horse was shot almost entirely on location in the Nevada desert, and used real-life, original props (such as Wild Bill Hickok's vest-pocket Colt Deringer revolver). One of Paramount's last silent westerns was director Victor Schertzinger's tale of culture clash titled Redskin (1929) - a good-intentioned follow-up to the earlier epic western, director George Seitz' Zane Grey tale The Vanishing American (1925). It was partially shot in two-strip Technicolor, with white actor Richard Dix again in the role of college-educated Navajo Indian Wing Foot. Although the casting was such, it was the last Hollywood feature for two decades to take a sympathetic look into Native American culture.

After another of Ford's silent epics, Three Bad Men (1926), it would be another thirteen years before Ford's next western classic, Stagecoach (1939) . Accolades for Early Westerns: Warner Baxter won a Best Actor Academy Award as the Cisco Kid ("the Robin Hood of the Old West") in Fox-Movietone's In Old Arizona (1928/9), noted as the first sound Western produced by a major studio. [This was the film during which co-director Raoul Walsh lost an eye.] The Best Picture Academy Award winner in the 1930/31 ceremony was RKO's and Wesley Ruggles' Cimarron (1931), an epic tale based on Edna Ferber's tale of the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, with a young Irene Dunne and Richard Dix. The big-budget, somewhat dated film opened with a spectacular Oklahoma run sequence, requiring thousands of extras, herds of livestock, and dozens of cameramen for its success.

[For many years, it was the only western ever to win the Best Picture honor - until two 90s winners: Dances with Wolves (1990) and Unforgiven (1992) .] B-Movie Westerns: Beginning in the 1930s (and lasting until the late 1940s), inexpensive, formulaic B-westerns were churned out each year by the hundreds from the lesser studios (Columbia, Universal, and Republic) -- mostly for kiddie audiences at matinees. Some were multiple-chapter serials with cliffhangers or series Westerns (a succession of films with familiar characters). Others were "horse operas" - westerns with crooning added. They were mostly popularized by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers (with wife/heroine Dale Evans). 30's Low-Budget 'Singing' Cowboy Films with Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and More: During this time period, shorter, light-hearted, low-budget, non-violent B-Westerns, called singing cowboy films, highlighted the musical and singing talents of its stars in addition to gunslinging.

The first musical western that introduced the singing cowboy to the screen was Montana Moon (1930), with an early role for young starlet Joan Crawford. "King of the Cowboys" Gene Autry soon became the top moneymaker of the singing cowboy stars of the mid-to-late 1930s and early 1940s, after pioneering the Singing Cowboy movie formula with the newly-formed Republic Pictures. His debut was in the popular film In Old Santa Fe (1934), and his first starring western was Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935). Autry also headlined - in his first starring role - in Mascot's influential science fiction/western 12-episode serial The Phantom Empire (1935) (aka Radio Ranch).

Other singing stars, including Tex Ritter, Bob Baker, Dick Foran, Jimmy Wakely, "Smiley" Burnette, Eddie Dean, Rex Allen, black singing cowboy Herb Jeffries, and Bing Crosby, often played themselves and became cultural icons, in such forgettable films as: Moonlight on the Prairie (1935) and Song of the Saddle (1936) with Dick Foran Joseph Kane's Ride, Ranger, Ride (1936) with Gene Autry Song of the Gringo (1936), featuring the screen debut of Tex Ritter Rhythm of the Saddle (1938), another Gene Autry musical western The country-western singing group Sons of the Pioneers would often perform within the many films, making their film debut in Norman Taurog's Rhythm on the Range (1936) (Bing Crosby's only Western!). One of the most successful of all the singing cowboys was William 'Hopalong Cassidy' Boyd (who appeared in almost seventy films between 1935 and 1952) - he went on to a starring role in a long-running TV series.

Hopalong ("Hoppy") Cassidy was always dressed in black (unlike most B-western heroes). Gene Autry's Successor: Roy Rogers Roy Rogers, previously a member of the Sons of the Pioneers (when he was named Leonard Slye) became a movie-star in the late 30s for Republic Pictures after appearing in many bit roles. He made his starring film debut in the Republic Studios' B-western Under Western Stars (1938). Singing cowboy Roy's song in the film, Dust, was nominated as Best Original Song (written by Johnny Marvin), but the Academy Award went to Thanks for the Memory in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938). Rogers succeeded Gene Autry as 'The King of the Cowboys' during the 1940s (and was often seen with his horse Trigger, sidekick Gabby Hayes, and future wife Dale Evans), performing in King of the Cowboys (1943) and in director William Witney's Home in Oklahoma (1947), one of his best films. By the late 40s and early 50s, Autry, Rogers, and Boyd had all moved to the new entertainment medium - television.

1930s Westerns Talkies and Their Stars: In 1930s and 40s westerns, many well-known acting stars got their start, and added another round of clean-cut, idolized Hollywood heroes to the mix. The frontier heroes usually represented the ideal masculine role model, never smoking, lying, drinking, swearing, having sex, or gambling. Gary Cooper starred in an early talkie - Paramount's first sound western by director Victor Fleming titled The Virginian (1929) , known for its famous western phrase: "When you call me that, smile." John Wayne gained his acting experience during the 1930s in dozens of B westerns. "John Wayne" (born as Marion Robert and later given the nickname "Duke" after the family dog, and the full name of Marion Michael Morrison) was first discovered by director John Ford when he appeared as an extra in the silent war drama Four Sons (1928).

Ford recommended Wayne to Raoul Walsh, who cast the twenty-two year-old actor in his first starring role as a wagon train scout in the first sound-era epic western about an 1840s Missouri-to-Oregon wagon trail journey - The Big Trail (1930), but it was not a breakthrough film for Wayne (that wouldn't occur until his role in Ford's Stagecoach (1939) - see below). The $2 million production was filmed in both 35mm and in an early, revolutionary wide-screen 70 mm process called Grandeur, but proved to be a financial disaster at the box-office. It was a remake of the classic silent western The Covered Wagon (1923) mentioned earlier. Other stars in westerns were Wallace Beery who memorably portrayed a Mexican revolutionary in Viva Villa!

(1934), Barbara Stanwyck (in her first-ever western) as the famous markswoman in George Stevens' fictionalized Annie Oakley (1935) - the director's first western, and Randolph Scott in an early large-scale version of the French and Indian War (during America's colonial period) in the film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans (1936). Producer/director Cecil B. De Mille's stylish but historically imaginative The Plainsman (1937) starred Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane respectively, attracting a wider audience. The film impressively recreated the Battle of the Little Big Horn, shot on location in Montana with thousands of Native-Americans as extras. Two years later, DeMille filmed a spectacular version of the building of the transcontinental railroad, Union Pacific (1939).

Republic's 'Three Mesquiteers' Series: 1936-1943 After obtaining the rights in 1936, Republic Studios delivered a series of Westerns adapted from William Colt MacDonald's "Three Mesquiteers" novels (specifically Law of the 45's (1935)), about a trio of wandering Western heroes. The successful series eventually lasted eight years and included 51 films. The original trio consisted of Tucson Smith (Ray 'Crash' Corrigan), Stony Brooke (Bob Livingston, later replaced for awhile by Ralph Byrd), and comic sidekick Lullaby Joslin (Sid Saylor, replaced by Max Terhune in the second film). Future western star John Wayne portrayed Stony Brooke in eight Mesquiteer features in 1938-1939.

Some of the films' titles, most of which were 1-hour two-reelers, were: The Three Mesquiteers (1936) - the first in the series The Three Mesquiteers: Hit the Saddle (1937) The Three Mesquiteers: Heroes of the Saddle (1940) The Three Mesquiteers: Trail Blazers (1940) Riders of the Rio Grande (1943) - the last in the series A Classic Western: Stagecoach (1939) At the end of the 1930s, director John Ford's landmark classic Stagecoach (1939) about a stagecoach journey across Apache country marked a turning point. He had created a new kind of western film with standard B-picture action, epic scope, and the film had an intelligent emphasis on character and mood. This great mythic film transformed the western into A-film status. It was also Ford's first sound western. It was his first western since his silent western Three Bad Men (1926), since Ford had avoided the genre for over a decade. The film was written by Dudley Nichols, from the story The Stage to Lordsburg by Ernest Haycox.

With B-western stalwart John Wayne as Ringo Kid, a vengeful but noble gunslinger, Ford helped to make him a full-fledged charismatic, western star. John Wayne was the only truly iconic western figure to emerge from the simplistic western plots of the era. [Wayne also appeared in another historical western adventure in the same year called Allegheny Uprising (1939), and in a few Mesquiteer films (see above).] Stagecoach had a formative and regenerative influence on all future westerns, raising the stature of 30's B-Westerns for years to come by concentrating on the film's characters. It was skillfully composed of traditional action/chase sequences, the introduction of the beautiful, sweeping expanses of Monument Valley, and polarized, intelligent dialogue among clashing characters and personalities (a Grand Hotel-like assemblage including a sheriff and cowardly driver, with their passengers: a drunken doctor (a Best Supporting Actor Oscar-winning role for Thomas Mitchell), a whiskey drummer, an unscrupulous bank executive, a prostitute with a heart of gold, a pregnant, Eastern-bred lady and a genteel gambler).

Its-crisply edited Indian chase sequence across salt flats was thrillingly-made, and it had a decisive quote to end it: "Saved from the blessings of civilization". It was the first of seven films he made in the famed western Monument Valley. Westerns in the Early 1940s: The 1940s and 50s were to soon become the heyday of the classic film western - and director John Ford was considered the major craftsman of the western genre during the sound era. However, there were others that also contributed to the genre's success. King Vidor's great historical-adventure saga of colonial America, Northwest Passage (1940) starred Spencer Tracy as the leader of Roger's Rangers, battling Indians for territory - an anti-Native American picture. The first Western shot in color in Monument Valley was David Miller's Billy the Kid (1941).

Swashbuckler star Errol Flynn starred in three Michael Curtiz-directed, big-scale adventure westerns of the late 30s and early 40s for Warner Bros., displaying his athleticism and romantic appeal as a post-Civil War Texas cattleman in Dodge City (1939) with one of the best bar-room brawls ever filmed, and as an ex-Union officer in Virginia City (1940). In his third western, Flynn starred as cavalry officer Jeb Stuart chasing abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey) in Santa Fe Trail (1940) (with Ronald Reagan as General George A. Custer), and then he portrayed the flamboyant General Custer in an historically inaccurate biography from director Raoul Walsh, the romanticized They Died With Their Boots On (1941). In three of these four western films, his romantic interest was played by Olivia de Havilland. Flynn's last on-screen teaming with De Havilland (of their eight films together) was in their 1941 film.

Friday Film Review: Dodge City Friday Film Review: Dodge City Genre: Western Grade: B 1939 was apparently the year that the Western came into its own. “Stagecoach,” “Destry Rides Again” and “Dodge City” were all released then and elevated the genre from B grade status to vehicles for the studio stars of the day. “Dodge City” is slightly different in that the studio heads took a chance and cast star Errol Flynn, an Aussie, in a genre that usually featured only Americans in the lead role. It’s Kansas 1866 and the Civil War is over thus opening the way for increased western expansion. The railroad is being built and one of the new towns on the line is Dodge City where cattlemen drive their herds for transport. Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn) along with his sidekicks Rusty (Alan Hale) and Tex (Guinn Williams) have been supplying the railroad gangs with buffalo meat. But they draw the line at the actions of Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his boys who go on Indian land and slaughter their herds for hides. A confrontation seals the enmity between the two men which hasn’t died down six years later.

In the intervening years, Dodge City has grown into a sprawling cow town that specializes in wild times, gunfights and lawbreaking of all kinds. It’s the place from which decent folk are fleeing as any attempt at law and order results in sheriffs being killed or run out of town. Wade is leading a cattle drive up from Texas that includes pretty Abbie Irving (Olivia de Havilland) and her drunken brother Lee (William Lundegan). When Lee foolishly starts a stampede, Wade confronts him then is forced to shoot Lee in self defense. Abbie blames Wade and refuses to speak to him once they arrive at her uncle’s (Henry Travers) house in Dodge City. Wade has no plans to stick around longer than it takes to sell the cattle but events show him that the town desperately needs someone to clean it up. Backed by his buddies, he’s soon filling the jail cells. And along with an intrepid newspaperman Joe Clemens (Frank McHugh) and Abbie, who’s joined the news staff, he starts to build a case against Surrett.

But the corrupt Surrett hasn’t gotten to where he is by playing nice and Wade and Abbie find they might have bitten off more than they can chew. Can Wade bring this last villain to justice even as he romances Abbie? “Dodge City” is another Warner Bros production. It was shot in Technicolor (look for the dance hall girls’ dresses), directed by Michael Curtiz and had a flashy debut in Dodge City complete with trains bringing in studio stars for the event. It was also something of a gamble for Warner Bros to see if Flynn, who up til now had been cast in European historicals or contemporaries, could carry a film other than his usual swashbucklers. Here he’s a transplanted Irishman who’s junketed around the world – which I guess is a background designed to account for his accent. He also wears the biggest (not quite white but tan – and we all know what that means) 10 gallon hat of them all. It even has a rakish brim that cries out for a gigantic plume. He plays the role as a peaceable sort who only resorts to violence when pushed to the limit but who is ready with his six shooter when that time comes.

He and de Havilland have their usual onscreen chemistry and once he decides to woo Abbie, Wade is as slick as silk with stories of how his parents met. de Havilland is beautiful as the fresh faced, feisty Abbie. Abbie and Wade, of course, strike sparks early in the film which builds the romantic tension between them. They have a few funny scenes in which they’re still sparring but then suddenly! they seem to have resolved their differences. I can’t help but think a scene was deleted that showed the relationship breakthrough. Abbie is brave and a bit foolishly fearless in a final “confrontation with the villain sequence.” But watch for how Curtiz uses Abbie on the train to include his trademark “shadow figure” in the film. Abbie also turns into a selfless martyr who urges Wade to accept the position of lawman in a new and even wilder western town. The final scene shows the newly married couple, along with Wade’s sidekicks, headed to Nevada in a covered wagon – what a delightful honeymoon. There are a ton of great character actors in Dodge City many of whom loyal Warner Bros movie fans will recognize.

Alan Hale is his usual comic sidekick self, Henry Travers might be recognized as Clarence from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” villain Victor Jory was the slimy overseer in “Gone with the Wind,” Ann Sheridan played the lead in the post war “I Was a Male War Bride” and Guinn Williams made a career of playing in westerns. “Dodge City” contains almost all of the elements that have come to be classic “Western” fare. Cattle drives, cattle stampedes, flashy saloon ladies, gunfights in the streets, big 10 gallon hats, railroads, wide open vistas and one helluva saloon brawl. The only thing missing were Indians. The costume department made sure that the clothes showed up well in Technicolor even if perhaps those duds are a bit too clean to be believed. Also watch for the Pure Prairie League (anyone else besides me remember that group from the 70s?) out to reform Rusty. It’s even got the standard inspiring speech from Flynn’s character that could easily be transported to the deck of the “Arabella” or a tree branch in Sherwood Forest.

While a lot of the things that happen in “Dodge City” might come off as cliches now, it’s actually one of the movies that inspired the imitators. It’s another rousing lead hero performance from Flynn and a romantic pairing with de Havilland that, truncated as it is, still works for me. It also proved to Warner Bros that westerns could be A grade pictures. So check out Flynn and de Havilland in this “western swashbuckler” and see how big his hat really was. ~Jayne Ann Sheridan Biography Ann Sheridan was born on Sunday February 21st, 1915, in Denton Texas. She came into the world as Clara Lou Sheridan. Growing up on a ranch, Ann became quite the tomboy. She could bulldog a steer. She knew how to ride a horse exceptionally well and she was a pretty good shot with a gun. She attended Robert E. Lee Grade School and then Denton Junior High School where she enrolled in acting classes. As well as acting, she had another career aspiration. "I secretly wanted to be a band singer. But that meant I thought I was pretty and vanity was bad," she says.

In 1933 her sister Kitty (Ann was the youngest of five), unbeknownst to Ann, entered her in Paramount’s "Search for Beauty" contest. When she saw her picture in the Dallas News announcing she had entered the contest, she drove 40 miles to Dallas to confront the editor of the paper John Rosenfield asking him why he would enter her in a contest without her permission. A few months later she received a phone call from Rosenfield telling her that she was one of six girls who won the contest. On September 15th 1933 she left Texas for Hollywood accompanied by her mother, father, brother and three sisters. The six contest winners were rewarded with a bit part in the 1934 film Search for Beauty starring Larry "Buster" Crabbe and Ida Lupino. She signed a six-month contract with Paramount at $50 a week (if they kept using her it would go up in $25 increments).

She adopted the name "Ann" after she was told "Clara Lou Sheridan" was too big to fit on the marquee for a 1935 stock company play she was performing in called "The Milky Way." Her character’s name was Ann, so "Clara Lou" became "Ann" as well. Her first movie as "Ann Sheridan" was "Behold My Wife." She only had two scenes in the movies (her character commits suicide). Ann's first movie where she played the lead role was 1935’s "Car 99" with Fred MacMurray and William Frawley. In 1935, she appeared in the A-film "Mississippi" which starred W.C. Fields, Bing Crosby and Joan Bennett. Ann had a small role playing a school girl. Around this time she considered going back to Texas. But instead she dropped her agent, Bill Meiklejohn and hired a new agent, Dick Polimer. Polimer got her a small part in the Warner Brothers picture "Sing Me a Love Song" (1936). Max Arnow the Warner Brothers casting director liked her performance and offered her a six month contract at $75 a week.

Her next movie was the powerful social drama "Black Lagoon" starring Humphrey Bogart and Dick Foran. On August 2th 1936, she married actor Edward Norris. They separated 375 days later (and divorced in 1939). In the latter part of 1938, Ann landed her first starring role in an A-List picture "Angels with Dirty Faces" starring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Pat O’Brien (directed by Michael Curtiz). (In total before making "Angels with Dirty Faces" Ann had made over 40 "B" movies in a combination of smaller parts and lead roles.) It was after "Angels with Dirty Faces" that famed journalist Walter Winchell, commenting on one of her photos, wrote "Ann Sheridan in this film has plenty of Umph." The studio changed the spelling to "Oomph" and set up a contest to name Hollywood’s "Oomph Girl." To no one’s surprise, Ann won.

It was later written that Ann once said, "'Oomph' is the sound a fat man makes when he bends over to tie his shoelace in a telephone booth." It was actually a press agent’s invention, but Ann agreed with it wholeheartedly. She never liked the idea of being "The Oomph Girl." She later said: "They nicknamed me 'The Oomph Girl,' and I loathe that nickname! Just being known by a nickname indicates that you’re not thought of as a true actress . . . It’s just crap! If you call an actress by her looks or a reaction, then that’s all she’ll ever be thought of as." In 1939, she also appeared in "Dodge City" starring Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHaviland. If you’re an Ann Sheridan fan, you won't find Ann's role in Dodge City all that stimulating. The role she played was a relatively minor one with limited dialogue. On November 1st 1939, Warner Brothers arranged a date between Ann and actor George Brent as a publicity stunt. Within six months however they were dating each other steadily.

When George Raft passed on "Torrid Zone" (1940) he was replaced by James Cagney who suggested Ann as for the part of torch singer Lee Donley. Torrid Zone nicely displayed Ann’s knack for comedy and fast dialogue. She was also featured in 1940’s "They Drive by Night" which starred Humphrey Bogart, George Raft and Ida Lupino. On January 5th 1942 she married George Brent. Exactly one year from the day they were married the Brents were divorced. Years later Ann said (to TV Guide) this about her first two marriages, "With both men there was no honesty between us.

And if two people living together can’t be honest, then I don’t want it." In the 1940's Ann made some of her most memorable films such as "City for Conquest" (1940), "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (1942), "Kings Row" (1942), "George Washington Slept Here" (1942), "Edge of Darkness" (1942), "One More Tomorrow" (1946 filmed in 1943), "The Unfaithful" (1947), "Nora Prentiss" (1947), "Good Sam" (1948) and "I Was a Male War Bride" (1949). In 1948, she made her last film on the Warner Brothers lot, "Silver River" with Errol Flynn. In hopes of landing better pictures, after making Good Sam for RK0, she bought out the last six months of her career from Warner Brothers for $35,000.

She then made two pictures for Twentieth Century Fox "I was a Male Order Bride" and "Stella" (1950) with David Wayne, Victor Mature and Frank Fontaine. She then agreed to a multipicture deal with Universal where she made the films "Woman on the Run" in 1950 and "Take Me To Town." In 1953 her beau Steve Hanagan died suddenly of a heart attack. (Hanagan left Ann $218,399 in his will). Also that year to settle a lawsuit with Howard Hughes (Hughes had signed her to start in the film “Carriage Entrance” which Ann had ended up not working on due to a disagreement over who her leading man should be – Ann wanted Robert Mitchum, Hughes had hired Mel Ferrer instead). Ann agreed to star in the movie "Appointment In Honduras" for Hughes’s RKO studio. Not a great film to say the least, Ann had this to say about it: “I was tired of fighting and thought it was just about time to call everything off and say oh, to hell with it.

So I consulted a lawyer and he told me to do it if I thought the script was worth it and I said “Oh well, it may be, I don’t know.” So I accepted it. Never saw it. I heard it was an absolute horror.” In the 1950's, the movie offers dried up a bit. In 1956, Ann starred in "Come Next Spring" starring Steve Cochran and appeared in "The Opposite Sex" in 1956 in a near cameo role. The last movie Ann made was in 1957 called "The Woman and the Hunter." Sold directly to television, it was never shown in theaters. In 1965, she joined the cast of "Another World" playing the role of Katherine Corning. She also appeared on game shows such as "The Price is Right," "To Tell the Truth" and "Match Game." In 1966, when the pilot to "Pistols ‘n’ Petticoats" was picked up she gave her notice to "Another World." That same year she was diagnosed with advanced cancer of the esophagus and liver.

On June 5th 1966 she married actor Scott McKay. “I’m going to be all right.” Those were the last words spoken by Ann Sheridan to her husband just before she died on January 21, 1967 one month shy of her 52nd birthday. A few years before her death, Ann was asked to evaluate her position in film history. She said… “There’s no position, really. It’ll be just one of those things that’s written off, for heaven’s sake. It won’t mean anything.” She was wrong, of course. For me and thousands of other classic movie fans, Ann Sheridan will always occupy a warm and cozy place in our hearts. Dodge City Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 35 out of 38 people found the following review useful: "Dodge City Will Be Cleaned Up" from London, England 19 March 1999 Michael Curtiz directed this large-scale western. Colour is used to great effect in this early experiment with the new process. For the first half of the film, while characters and storyline are being established, the Technicolor palette is restrained, keeping mostly to browns and ochres.

As Errol Flynn's character, Wade Hatton, emerges as the hero, colour begins to reinforce meaning. Wade wears a succession of impressive shirts (prussian blue, plum). Others wear plaid, but Wade's shirts are each of a single hue, emphasising his monolithic moral certainty. Wade is a bigger man than the others, and he wears a bigger hat. Dodge is a wild cattle town. The railhead for transport back to the 'civilised' United States, it is the point to which Texan cattle are driven. The interface of rail and hoof is significant. When the cowpokes hit town after weeks on the trail they have a strong inclination to kick up their heels, and bulging pay packets with which to do it. There is no effective law in Dodge, and gunfights are commonplace. Powerful cattle dealers like Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) cheat the merchants with impunity. Dodge City needs a strong, principled man if it is to change its lawless ways.

The film's opening image is a train hurtling westward at full throttle, a symbol of the burgeoning industrial strength of the USA, and of the Manifest Destiny which is already turning America's energies towards the Pacific and obliterating the frontier. We see the train slicing across the magnificent Kansas plains, and 'racing' the stagecoach. Machines are supplanting horses, and the train wins the race. Olivia de Havilland is at her wide-eyed prettiest as Abbie Erving, the young woman who treks north with the cattle and eventually falls in love with the handsome sherriff. Flynn is an aussie actor playing an Irishman in Kansas, and both he and de Havilland are terrific as the romantic leads. A young Ann Sheridan plays Ruby the showgirl, Alan Hale is Rusty the abstemious cowhand and Ward Bond is Taylor the minor baddie. Victor Jory has fun playing Yancey, the mean ornery villain with the straggly beard. Wade Hatton personifies the American Way.

An immigrant who has done well for himself by dint of hard work, sharp intelligence and plenty of talent, he is fearless when it comes to protecting the weak or righting wrongs. When the call comes to pin on a badge and restore law and order to Dodge City, he doesn't hesitate. Wade stands up to an angry lynch mob, even though the 'victim' is a worthless crook. A liberal alliance between the new sherriff and the town's newspaper proposes to bring down the evil Surrett. The newspaper's office has a portrait of Abe Lincoln on the wall. Appropriately, a killer is brought to justice because his hand is stained with indelible printer's ink - serving notice on all bad guys that the Press will always be there to expose wrongdoing. The clowning is well done. Watch for the cowpoke who has his head driven against a post, or Flynn athletically tripping, falling and being hit in the back by a swing door. Rusty preaches temperance, but is gradually overcome by the tempting sounds of the saloon punch-up.

Wade's clean-up policy is depicted skilfully in the scene where a newspaper headline dissolves into the arrival of peaceful settlers by train, showing us neatly how Dodge is being tamed. Verdict - A good-natured western with appealing performances by Flynn and de Havilland. Was the above review useful to you? 36 out of 40 people found the following review useful: Errol Goes West from Buffalo, New York 9 August 2005 Errol Flynn in his autobiography said he never understood his popularity in westerns. He never felt he was suited for them in the way Johnny Wayne was (that's right, that's how he referred to the Duke), but that he went with the flow at Warner Brothers. In addition to giving Flynn technicolor and his favorite leading lady Olivia DeHavilland, Warner Brothers gave him a script with an Indian attack, a wagon train, a saloon brawl, a cattle drive and the usual results when at the end of a cattle drive the cowboys start celebrating and one blazing railroad train. Lots of western clichés, but served up very well indeed.

Bruce Cabot the town boss of Dodge City and henchman Victory Jory make some big money in many ways by keeping the town as rough and wild as possible. These two guys are pretty standard villains for westerns, but they play it with style. Since this was Flynn's first of eight westerns, Warner Brothers felt it necessary to explain his Aussie accent by saying he was an international soldier of fortune from Ireland. Later westerns wouldn't even bother. The climax involves Flynn, DeHavilland, and Alan Hale in a burning railroad car shooting it out with the bad guys. You can see it a hundred times and still be thrilled with how our intrepid heroes deal with their situation. Mention has been made before of the saloon brawl. Possibly one of the biggest filmed on screen. Stock footage was used from it for years in subsequent Warner Brothers films. Olivia DeHavilland hated this when it was first being made. She was trying at the time to escape playing the crinoline heroine to Errol Flynn and other stars. In truth that's what she is here. She fought for and eventually got the roles worthy of her talents.

But she related on an interview I saw with her that she was at a revival of this and of Robin Hood and seeing both of them again some forty years later and commenting on how well the audience responded, she felt a pride in the work she did. As well she should. Was the above review useful to you? 26 out of 28 people found the following review useful: Warner Western Gamble Pays Off with Flynn Hit... from Las Vegas, Nevada 7 October 2003 1939, the greatest year in film history, produced a number of classic westerns (John Ford's STAGECOACH, George Marshall's DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, Cecil B. DeMille's UNION PACIFIC), and while Michael Curtiz' DODGE CITY may not be in quite the same league, it represented a considerable gamble for Warner Brothers, and had a major impact on the career of it's star, Errol Flynn. Prior to DODGE CITY, there had NEVER been a successful western with a non-American leading man; foreign actors were considered too alien to the settings and action of this most American of genres.

But there had never been an actor like Errol Flynn, the wildly successful Tasmanian who had proved himself as comfortable on a horse as with a sword in his hand. Coming off the most prolific year of his career (THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, THE DAWN PATROL), Flynn had become such a box office draw that the WB decided it was worth the risk to star him in a big-budget western. The risk paid off, as DODGE CITY was a major hit for the studio! As Wade Hatton, an adventurous 'soldier of fortune' who decides to try his hand herding cattle in the 'Wild West', Flynn looks too boyishly handsome to be true...but teamed (yet again!) with Alan Hale and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams (a new 'drinking buddy' for his off-screen carousing), he proves himself more than a match against the desperadoes ever present in these films. When his boss, Col. Dodge (veteran WB character actor Henry O'Neill), needs a man to bring law and order to the town named after him, the fast-shooting, incorruptible Hatton (loosely based on Wyatt Earp), is his only choice.

Of course, with Flynn present, it was nearly inevitable that Olivia de Havilland would be on hand, as well, although a tragedy early in the story would delay their romance for a bit. Meanwhile, corrupt town boss Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot, another off-screen pal of Flynn), plots to rid 'his' streets of the annoying crusading sheriff. Adding to the fun is rising star Ann Sheridan, as a saloon singer who is also Surrett's mistress. In her first film with Flynn, she matches his rakish, 'devil-may-care' attitude, and would go on to make two more movies with him (EDGE OF DARKNESS and SILVER RIVER). Featuring broad comedy by Hale and Williams (including one of the most memorable barroom brawls in screen history), a terrific large-scale climactic shootout, and Flynn and de Havilland's potent on-screen chemistry, DODGE CITY offered audiences all the elements they expected in a western...with Technicolor (one of the first major westerns to use it), and a famous Max Steiner score, to 'sweeten' the mix. There is a curious twist at the film's end; Dodge City now tamed, Col.

Dodge informs our heroes that another community, Virginia City, needs their help, in what looks like an obvious lead-in for a sequel. While VIRGINIA CITY would be made, in 1940, again directed by Curtiz, with a Max Steiner score that repeated the DODGE CITY themes, and starring Flynn, Hale, and Williams, their names would be different, and the film would NOT be a sequel to DODGE CITY! With the success of DODGE CITY, Errol Flynn proved his profitability in westerns, which would became a staple of his career. He made a total of eight at the WB over eleven years, and, in fact, made more westerns than swashbucklers OR war movies. The western 'experiment' completed, Flynn and de Havilland now returned to tights and medieval gowns, to join Bette Davis in THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX... Was the above review useful to you? 25 out of 29 people found the following review useful: Old-fashioned, fast, enjoyable Western.

from Deming, New Mexico, USA 6 November 2004 Olivia de Havilland is really attractive here, fresh faced and brunette with big dark eyes. She looks so thoroughly American. Any normal man would want to throw himself at her feet, show her his bankbook and genealogical tree, and beg her to marry him. Marry -- not simply cohabit, because she's not that kind of girl. It's strange too that she look like an ex prom queen when in fact she was born in, where, Tokyo? And into a famous British family, responsible for the design of the superb DeHavilland "Mosquito" of World War Two fame. Errol Flynn came from a professional family too. His father was a marine biologist and a professor in Tasmania. But you'd never know it from Flynn's personal history. His autobiography, "My Wicked Wicked Ways," is full of humorous anecdotes, although the best revelations must have been edited out.

(Eg., he owned a house on Mulholland Drive with a glass ceiling in the guest bedroom so that he and his friends could creep into the attic and laugh at the goings on.) He's an Irishman here with a brawling and rebellious past. It was the last movie in which they tried to explain his Brit accent to the audience. The rest of the cast will look familiar to any Warners aficionado -- Frank McHugh, Ward Bond, Alan Hale, Big Boy Williams. There is a great fight scene, outrageously overdone, resulting in the near total destruction of a barn-like saloon. The brawlers smash through the wall into the meeting of the Lady's Temperance Society next door. And nobody even gets a bloody nose, no matter how many chairs have been smashed over his head. It isn't as comic as the saloon fight in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," but it's a big one and it IS funny. The movie features Frank McHugh as an honest and courageous newspaper editor who is about to expose the chief heavy, who is by the way a complete stereotype with not a decent bone in his body.

Victor Jory, a slimy henchman, comes into the office, threatens McHugh, and smashes him across the face with a small heavy whip. I wonder if Ford saw this before making "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence." Come to think of it, before the fight scene, some ex-Union soldiers begin singing "Marching Through Georgia," which annoys the Confederate veterans who strike up, "Dixie." The two groups face off and sing at one another. The same sort of competition reappears in "Casablanca," under the same director, Michael Curtiz. Flynn wears a broad-brimmed flat-topped cowboy hat. This must have been a liminal period for cowboy hats. Before then, cowboy hats were huge and round topped with a slight crease down the middle. Tom Mix wore such a hat in the 20s and John Wayne made a couple of Gower Gulch masterpieces wearing a fifty-gallon corker. Ten years after "Dodge City," cowboy hats came to resemble ordinary fedoras with smaller brims, sometimes twisted upward in odd ways, like a vaudeville comic's. A little bit of hat iconography there. The plot's entirely conventional.

The good guys versus the bad guys, with nothing in between. Well -- that's how the universe is really put together, isn't it? Oh, how I hate Alpha Centauri. One bothersome thing. A careful historiographical search reveals that, the cast of characters in this movie notwithstanding, absolutely no cowboy has ever been named Wade, Matt, Cole, or Yancey. The historical record shows no evidence of the use of such names, and goes out of its way to emphatically deny their existence in the Old West. It is also an established historical fact that the most common name among cowboys was Montmorency. Hadn't seen this for years but was able to relax and get a kick out of it. Was the above review useful to you? 23 out of 29 people found the following review useful: 5 Reasons To Like This Old Western 14 October 2005 This is one of the better old-time westerns because: 1 - It is a very fast-moving story. No lulls here. 2 - The hero of the story (Errol Flynn) is a very likable guy.

3 - The gorgeous Technicolor (not many color films made around this time) which looks even bolder and brighter on the DVD. 4 - The story sports a good combination of action, drama, romance and comedy. 5 - A very young Olivia de Havilland at her prettiest This was one of the first westerns to feature a well-known actor, helping to give the genre a boost in reputation. Bruce Cabot and Victory Jory are credible as villains. Alan Hale is tolerable in his normal role as the buffoon. The only disappointment was Ann Sheridan, a beautiful woman who did not look as attractive in this film and had a role much smaller than one would believe from the billing she gets on the DVD back cover. Was the above review useful to you? 16 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Western With An Excellent Pace from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1 November 2005 In 1866, Kansas, the American civil war has just finished and the armies disbanded. The building of the West begins, and in 1872, the new city of Dodge City is ruled by violence and shootings.

The Irishman Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn) is a man adapted to these days and presently is conducting a group of pioneers, including Abbie Irving (Olivia de Havilland) and her reckless brother, to Dodge City. Once in the city, Wade is invited to be the local sheriff, and an incident makes him accept the position. He tries to clean up the cattle town, ruled by the powerful outlaw Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his gang, with the support of the decent local people. "Dodge City" is a western with an excellent pace. The athletic Errol Flynn is excellent in the role of a fair man, and Olivia de Havilland is very beautiful. The story has no plot point and is very conventional, but there are good scenes, such as the dispute between the future and the past, symbolized by the race between the train and the stagecoach and the fight in the saloon. I like, but I am not a great fan of western movies; however, "Dodge City" is a great entertainment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Dodge City" from Falls Church, Virginia 1 January 2004 I like Errol Flynn, but I don't think he's at his best in westerns. This one has a "clean up the town" storyline, plenty of action, but perhaps too much comedy, given the course of the plot. For the most part it's a typical product of Warner Brothers' golden era, with Flynn's usual supporting cast, including Olivia de Havilland, Alan Hale, and Guinn Williams. The film does have one very interesting sequence, especially in light of future movie history. In a saloon scene about halfway through, a group of cowboys with northern roots, or at least Union sympathies, start singing "Marching Through Georgia." Not to be outdone, another group, led by Williams, begins to sing "Dixie." Before long, punches are thrown and a mammoth brawl breaks out. Sound familiar? Except for the fight, the scene resembles the song duel in "Casablanca", made at Warners three years later.

Although the screen writers aren't the same, I have to think this was the inspiration for the battle between "Wacht am Rhein" and "Les Marseilles." Was the above review useful to you? 12 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Good early Flynn western in need of color restoration... from U.S.A. 4 April 2001 'Dodge City' is a slambang western complete with cattle stampedes, runaway trains on fire, saloon fights and all kinds of mayhem--enough action to satisfy the Saturday matinee audiences for which it was probably intended. The taming of the wicked city of the west is left to Errol Flynn, the new sheriff who has to convince the pretty newspaperwoman (de Havilland) that he is not the man she despises for shooting her errant brother (William Lundigan). Ann Sheridan has a cameo role as the saloon singer girlfriend of Bruce Cabot, the main villain of the piece. All of it is photographed in early technicolor that must have been a lot better than current video prints would have us believe. Some of the outdoor scenes are fine but the interiors have a muddy look.

Max Steiner has provided a lusty background score for this very robust entertainment that will probably please fans of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland--but it is definitely not their best venture together. Their main love scene while on an outdoor horseback ride in the country is charmingly done--clearly their chemistry made them an ideal screen team. As usual, all of the proceedings are directed with gusto by Michael Curtiz. One of the comedy highlights features Alan Hale who finds himself as the only male attending a women's temperance meeting--before the screen's wildest saloon fight breaks out next door. Fair entertainment but not as solid as it could have been. Compare the color photography to another Flynn western, 'San Antonio' (seven years later)and observe the vast improvement in technicolor photography. Needs restoration for future video prints. Was the above review useful to you? 8 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Well, well. So this is Dodge City, huh? Sort of smells like Fort Worth, don't it? from United Kingdom 15 August 2009 "Dodge City, Kansas - 1872.

Longhorn cattle center of the world and wide-open Babylon of the American frontier - packed with settlers, thieves and gunmen". "Dodge City... rolling in wealth from the great Texas trail-herds... the town that knew no ethics but cash and killing". Enter trail boss Wade Hatton, cunningly disguised as a dashing Errol Flynn........ Dodge City, an all action Western from start to finish, finds Errol Flynn {in his first Western outing} on tip top form. Based around the story of Wyatt Earp, Michael Curtiz's expensively assembled film charms as much today as it did to audiences back in 1939. All the genre staples are holding the piece together, dastardly villains, pretty gals, wagon train, cattle drive, iron horse, Civil War, shoot outs, fist fights and of course an heroic Sheriff. All neatly folded by the astute and impressive Curtiz. Aided by Sol Polito's fluid Technicolor enhanced photography, and Max Steiner's breezy score, Curtiz's set pieces shine as much as they enthral. A burning runaway train and the finest saloon brawl in cinema are the stand outs, but there are many other high points on which to hang the hat of praise.

Very much a male dominated film, it's with the ladies that Dodge City fails to reach greater heights. Olivia de Havilland, who is always a feast for the eyes in Technicolor, disliked her role as Abbie Irving, and it's not hard to see why. There is not much for her to get her teeth into, it's a simple role that demands nothing other than saying the lines and to look pretty. Ann Sheridan as Ruby Gilman gets the more sparky role, but she sadly doesn't get that much screen time. Which is a shame because what little there is of Sheridan is really rather great. Those problems aside, it's with the guys that Dodge City is rightly remembered. Flynn attacks the role of Hatton with gusto and a glint in his eye. When he straps on the Sheriff badge for the first time it's akin to Clark Kent shredding his suit to become Superman. Yes it's that exciting. Bruce Cabot and Victor Jory are growly and great villains, while comedy relief comes in the fine form of side-kickers Alan Hale and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams. Dodge City sets out to entertain, and entertain it does.

In a year that saw other notable and lauded Westerns also released {Stagecoach, Jesse James and Destry Rides Again} give credit where credit is due, Dodge City deserves its place amongst those offerings. Most assuredly so as well. 8/10 Was the above review useful to you? 11 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Dodge City-Don't Dodge this Film ***1/2 from United States 3 April 2006 Errol Flynn's British accent was showing big-time in this 1939 film but he made the most of it. This is an exciting film dealing with western expansion following the Civil War. Michael Curtiz's expert directing along with a strong cast and great story make for one interesting film. We have Bruce Cabot as usual playing a villain. He will purchase cattle but will kill the seller so as to avoid paying. The bodies begin to mount. After a tragedy befalls a child whose father had been killed by the Cabot character, Flynn, a cattle dealer, decides to clean up the lawless town. Earlier, we meet Olivia De Havilland with her irresponsible, reckless brother, played by a very young William Lundigan.

When his drunken shooting causes a cattle stampede with death (including his own) and destruction ensuing, his sister (Olivia) despises Hatton (Flynn) for firing the shot that ultimately killed her brother. Ann Sheridan plays a dance hall queen who will cover up for the brutal Cabot. Miss Sheridan's part is wasted here. She has little dialogue but does light up the screen by her singing and dancing. As Flynn begins to clean up Dodge City, the arrests and shootings mount up to an exciting climax. A bar room brawl is memorably staged in the film. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 5: Guinn Williams — The Movie Database (TMDb) Read More From Wikipedia Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. (April 26, 1899 – June 6, 1962) was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as Dodge City (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and The Comancheros (1961). He was nicknamed "Big Boy" as he was 6' 2" and had a muscular build from years of working on ranches and playing semi-pro and professional baseball.

Williams made his screen debut in the 1919 comedy, Almost A Husband, with Will Rogers and Cullen Landis, and was featured in a large supporting role ten years later in Frank Borzage's Lucky Star with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Throughout the 1920s Williams would have a string of successful films, mostly westerns. He then appeared in The Great Meadow alongside Johnny Mack Brown, which was Brown's breakout film. Throughout the 1930s, Williams acted in supporting roles, mostly in westerns, sports, or outdoor dramas. Although not the lead actor in any of them, he was always employed, and was successful as a supporting actor. He often played alongside Hoot Gibson and Harry Carey during that period. In 1941, he became one of many actors cast by Universal Pictures in their large film series, Riders of Death Valley. From the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, Williams appeared in supporting roles in a number of A-pictures, sometimes with high billing, such as You Only Live Once, and in Columbia's first Technicolour film The Desperadoes (1943).

Williams was frequently teamed with Alan Hale, Sr. as sidekicks to Errol Flynn in several of his pictures. In 1960, he was cast in the epic film The Alamo and in Home from the Hill with Robert Mitchum. His last role was opposite his close friend John Wayne and Stuart Whitman in The Comancheros. The Ten Faces of Wyatt Earp – From Kevin Costner to Erroll Flynn – AMC 1. Kevin Costner , Wyatt Earp (1994) While the other movies included here tend to take on pieces of Earp’s life, Costner deserves credit for painting on a larger canvass. He deals with Earp’s boyhood in Missouri, his gunfighting at Tombstone, and even his prospecting in Alaska. As such, Costner’s Earp is a more full-figured film portrait, even if it could have done with a little more trimming and focus. 2. Kurt Russell , Tombstone (1993) This is one of the best Western portrayals of the Earp story — surprising, since Earp’s character is largely relegated to the background.

Sam Elliot, Bill Paxton, and, of course, an anemic Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday are all more fleshed out than the man at the center of things. But perhaps it’s because Russell is able to be a kind of mythic silhouette that makes the film work. We know who Earp is, so why belabor the point? 3. James Garner , Hour of the Gun (1967) A decade after making Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, director John Sturges decided to take another shot at the legend with this sequel. Rather than the muscle-bound Burt Lancaster, however, he cast Mr. Maverick himself, James Garner. So how does this reprise fare? Not badly. The movie goes where most don’t: into the elegiac third act of his life. Garner played Earp again (as an amateur detective) in the 1988 TV movie Sunset. 4. Guy Madison , Gunmen of the Rio Grande (1965) What’s the spaghetti Western take on Earp? That’s easy! Violent shoot-outs, historical inaccuracies, and allusions to Rio Bravo and A Fistful of Dollars.

Playing fast and loose with the facts, Gunmen of the Rio Grande tracks Wyatt as he journeys to the Mexican border to vanquish a den of desperados. Like Eastwood, Guy Madison was a Western TV actor who found himself within the price range of European genre directors. Not much has been written about this 1965 film, but the trailer alone whets the appetite. 5. James Stewart , Cheyenne Autumn (1964) Okay, this is the least essential Earp. But as an irreverent interlude in John Ford’s final flick, it’s still one of my favorites. James Stewart plays the former marshal for laughs, as he tries his luck at the gambling table beside old compadre “Doc” Holliday (Arthur Kennedy). If you want, you can bundle this with another humorous take by Stewart: as hangdog hound dog Wylie Burp in An American Tale: Fievel Goes West. 6. Burt Lancaster , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) Lancaster’s strong performance set the standard for future Earps, not to mention Kirk Douglas’s scene-stealing, hard-drinking version of cardsharp Doc Holliday.

But the movie’s true star will always be the tour de force shoot-out that gives the movie its name. The elaborately staged scene took a reported 44 hours to film (for a mere six minutes of screen time). 7. Joel McCrea , Wichita (1955) Call it The Young Wyatt Earp Chronicles. Here we see at the frontiersman’s early days as a policeman on the mean streets of…Wichita. Sound made up? That part’s actually true! The rest, with Earp single-handedly battling the lawless elements of the Kansas cow town, is more suspect. In any event, Joel McCrea, an unjustly forgotten star who worked with everyone from Preston Sturges to Peckinpah, does a fine job portraying the formative years of a man destined for great things. 8. Henry Fonda , My Darling Clementine (1946) This is one of the most famous instances of bringing law and order to a forlorn Western territory. Fonda’s turn as Earp also has to be one of the most easygoing portraits of the man. He seems like one swell guy, sitting on his porch, going to dances, and meeting with the Clanton gang.

I appreciate the stoicism, Fonda, but come on! Show a little spunk! 9. Randolph Scott , Frontier Marshall (1939) Before doing his best work with Budd Boetticher, Randolph Scott made history in 1939 by playing one of the first screen versions of Earp. Foreshadowing his solitary characters in the Boetticher films, Scott is all by his lonesome as he faces down the Clantons at the O.K. Corral. It’s a solid performance, but in the end it’s overshadowed by the interesting trivia surrounding the movie: It was actually a remake of the same film that led to My Darling Clementine. 10. Errol Flynn , Dodge City (1939) Swashbuckler Errol Flynn doesn’t go by the name Earp (the name’s Wade Hatton), but his role is clearly based on the gunslinger, as he strives to bring justice to Dodge City. This is the debonair actor’s first Western, and Flynn proves himself capable, even if the shootouts trump his usual swordplay. But there are some oddities: while Flynn hails from Australia, for some reason he speaks in an Irish brogue.

Question: Who played the lead male role in the 1939 film-western, 'Dodge City'?
Answer: ERROL FLYNN