Another full length free movie on Veoh.com - Errol Flynn's first westerm the 1939 Dodge City. Pre-Died With Their Boots On. Pre-Sante Fe Trail.
Damned good movie. Another "Family Classics" staple. Dodge City is almost a textbook example of the basic 1930s/40s Western genre. Gunfights. Stagecoaches racing trains. Cattle stampedes. Saloon brawls. Everything except an Indian war party. Perhaps the longest huge western bar fight prior to Blazing Saddles.
On the other hand, in how many movies does the leading man (Errol) meet the leading woman (Olivia DeHavilland) by shooting her brother to death. I guess ""What's your sign?" wasn't quite in vogue yet.
Minor historical inaccuracy: The movie opens with a train from the Atcheson Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad making its first run to Dodge City in 1866. In reality, Dodge City wasn't founded until 1871, and the ATSF railroad didn't reach it until 1872. Minor quibble. However, this movie did have one lasting effect on the history of modern music: the band Pure Prairie League took their name from a temperance league in the movie by the same name.
Favorite lines:
Errol Flynn: "William Shakespeare."
Alan Hale: "Never heard of him. What part of Texas is he from?"
Errol: "Stratford-Upon-Avon."
Ah, 1939. Errol at his peak. Great stuff.
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