Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Broderick Crawford is Bob Holliday, one of the men who helped settle Dakota and now one of the leading citizens of Deadwood, where he owns the Bella Union saloon.

He’s become so successful, he’s decided it’s time to settle down with a bride by his side, much to the chagrin of his partner Jane (Frances Farmer), the woman who loves him.

Instead, Bob Holliday sends younger brother Jim (Robert Stack) to St. Louis to fetch childhood sweetheart Anne Grayson, who has all sorts of romantic notions about the West.

Problem is, on the way West, those romantic notions begin to include Jim. And by the time she reaches Deadwood, she’s already married Bob Holliday’s brother.

Outraged, Bob goes bad, joining outlaw Jack McCall in a series of holdups carried out so that the blame will be placed on the Sioux.

And when Deadwood decides to appoint a marshal, Bob recommends Jim for the job. Bob figures Jim might catch a bullet, giving him another chance with Anne Grayson.

But after some initial trouble, Jim settles into his new job just fine.

Of course, he gets a helping hand from Jane, from Wild Bill Hickok and even from Gen. George Armstrong Custer.

Robert Stack as Jim Holliday, about to be dispatched to St. Louis to fetch his brother’s fiance in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Broderick Crawford as Bob Holliday, owner of the Bella Union and one of Deadwood’s leading citizens in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Review:

Not the movie anyone would want to use as a history lesson since Custer outlives Wild Bill, Jack McCall rides around robbing stagecoaches dressed as an Indian and Jane is smitten not with Wild Bill, but the owner of the Bella Union.

But from a pure entertainment standpoint, this is a fun film, featuring spirited performances from Robert Stack and Broderick Crawford, both of whom sure could have used some of that spirit to enliven their roles in the 1950s Westerns in which they’d star.

With Fuzzy Knight, Hugh Herbert and Andy Devine on hand, there’s plenty of comic relief. For action highlights, the film offers a runaway stage and a large-scale Sioux attack on Deadwood as the film roars to its climax.

Frances Farmer, meanwhile, makes for the loveliest Jane every to grace a film. It marked one of her last movies and her only appearance in a true Western. She spent most of the remainder of the decade in a series of mental asylums.

Ann Rutherford as Anne Grayson, already dreaming of adventures out West in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Frances Farmer as Jane, depressed over Bob Holliday’s decision to prusue another woman in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Directed by:
Alfred E. Green

Cast:
Robert Stack … Jim Holliday
Ann Rutherford … Anne Grayson
Richard Dix … Wild Bill Hickok
Frances Farmer … Jane
Broderick Crawford … Bob Holliday
Hugh Herbert … Rocky Plummer
Andy Devine … Spearfish
Lon Chaney Jr. … Jack McCall
Fuzzy Knight … Hurricane Harry
Addison Richards … Gen. George Custer
Bradley Page … Jesse Chapman

Runtime: 73 min.

Richard Dix as Wild Bill Hickok, headed to Deadwood to search for gold in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Hugh Herbert as Rocky Plummer, the Bella Union bartender who doubles as Deadwood’s fire chief in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Memorable lines:

Ann Grayson: “Tell me about the social life in Deadwood. I supposed they have dances every Saturday night.”
Jim Holliday: “I’ve even seen men dancing Friday afternoon. At the end of a rope.”

Jane: “You just come in on the stage?”
Wild Bill Hickok nods.
Jane: “What’d she look like?”
Wild Bill: “A lady.”
Jane stomps out of the Bella Union.

Jane to Bob Holliday: “If that girl you picked is your idea of a beautiful, faithful, trusting female, I’m downright sorry for ya.”

Lon Chaney Jr. as Jack McCall, leader of the outlaw gang in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Addison Richards as Gen. Custer, conferring with Jane (Frances Farmer) on the likelihood of Indians robbing stagecoaches in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

General Custer: “These towns have got to learn to protect themselves.”
Jane: “This one boasts of being wide open. They won’t know how wide open it is til they see those redskins gallopin’ through from both ends.”

Ann Grayson: “I’ve decided I was wrong. I’ve lost all those silly, romantic notions. I have to laugh at myself when I think how I wanted us to take the West by the tail and swing it around our heads.”

Ann Grayson: “Leaders never settle a country … Custer and Wild Bill and Bob are like bright stars that blaze a trail across the heavens and disappear. But we’re like trees that take root and grow old and replenish the earth. Oh, Jim, this is the last frontier, and it’s people like us who will make it part of America.”

Robert Stack as Jim Halliday, finding an incriminating piece of evidence against his brother in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Fuzzy Knight as Hurricane Harry, a driver ready to defend his stagecoach in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Bradley Page as Jesse Chapman and Andy Devine as Spearfish in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Richard Dix as Wild Bill Hickok and Robert Stack as Jim Holliday, waiting for ‘Indians’ to attack a stagecoach in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Broderick Crawford as Bob Holliday, disguised as an Indian to rob a bank in Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Ann Rutherford as Anne Grayson, fearing Jim Holliday (Robert Stack) has been struck by a stray bullet in Badlands of Dakota (1941)