Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Richie-67-485852 If you like westerns and Errol Flynn and who doesn't, prepare to be entertained. Cattle, sheep, a woman, ranches, shootings and all the rest take place in a rather quick paced plot that serves its purpose. It would have been a 5-6 rating but Errol is always a pleasure to watch as he has this way of acting that looks so effortless. Hollywood did well to take advantage how the camera loves this man. Good movie to eat a sandwich while watching with a tasty drink and perhaps some choice candy. There is a couple parts where they sing and in the bat scene, the song is quite catchy. Listen to the words or read them if you have closed captioning. It gives us a glimpse of life back then, what people liked and song subjects can be revealing. Just listen and learn. Okay boys, lets ride

zardoz-13 This lackluster Errol Flynn oater qualifies as one of his minor efforts. Clocking in at a sheer 73 minutes, "Montana" doesn't waste its time getting down to basics, but the narrative has its lapses. One character shows up and then is gone without an explanation. The performances are good and the Warner Brothers production values are bed-rock. Seasoned western writers such as James R. Webb and Borden Chase penned the screenplay, but they deliver little in the way of memorable dialogue and there are absolutely no surprises in this formulaic horse opera. Some of the situations, like our hero being duped into riding an unbreakable bronco, are old hat.Basically, Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn of "The Sea Hawk") plunges his flock of sheep into cattle country in 1879 and the cowboys refuse to tolerate these sheep-nanigans. No sooner has Lane and his flock entered cattle country than the cowboys descend on them at night with their guns blazing death. An unarmed, young Mexican shepherd becomes the first casualty with a bullet in the back. The following day Lane and company encounter Papa Otto Schultz (S.Z. Sakall of "Casablanca") who drives his peddler's wagon into their camp. Lane and Papa Otto become partners almost instantly and the two ride into Fort Humboldt to peddle his wares. Initially, Lane receives a chilly reception in the Little Big Horn Saloon where Slim Reeves (Ian MacDonald of "High Noon") goads him into a showdown after he labels Lane a sheep-man. Although he knows that it isn't any of his business, a bearded, leathery-looking Tecumseh Burke (Paul E. Burns of "Son of Paleface") pokes his nose into the confrontation. The older gunman offers Lane the use of his hardware since our hero doesn't pack a pistol. Tecumseh warns Lane that the trigger is tied back and he will have to fan the weapon. Slim shoves the holstered revolver and gun belt at Lane. Everybody clears out of the way so the two can shoot it out. Tecumseh starts the countdown to three, but the bushwhacking skunk that Slim is tries to shuck his six-shooter on two. Lane blows the revolver neatly out of his adversary's fist as easily as he might blow out a candle. The ruffian apologizes because he insists no sheepman could possibly wield a shooting iron with such dexterity."Montana" features a romance between the principal players. Predictably, it doesn't take our hero long to meet, greet, and get sweet with cattle queen Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith of "San Antonio"), even though she is engaged to marry rancher Rod Ackroyd. Lane has Maria eating out of his hand after he wagers that he can ride a bronco that nobody else has managed to stay aboard for a full minute. Sneaky Reeves whittles away at the cinch and Lane barely missing staying in the leather long enough. Apparently, the colossal loss of money that Papa sacrificed not only drove him out of his partnership with Lane but also out of the movie. Papa vanishes and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, Maria decides to lease Lane some land to run his steers on since he didn't tame the bronco. At this point, things take a turn for the worse for our protagonist. Inexplicably, Lane's sheep dog Jeanne prances into town that same day that Lane steps outside the bank with Maria with the lease for the land. Reeves and his cohorts expose Lane as a sheepman when the mutt goes to him. Naturally, Maria is furious, but what she doesn't know is that her fiancée has been two-timing her with the lawman's girlfriend. Indeed, the lawman, Sheriff Jake Overby (Lane Chandler of "Samson and Delilah") doesn't know that he, too, is being two-timed.Meantime, the ornery cattlemen cannot shed their deep-seated prejudice toward the mutton-minded Lane. Lane argues that sheep and cattle can get along together. He has seen it in Mexico, but the cattlemen don't believe him. Gunslinging cattleman Rod Ackroyd (Douglas Kennedy of "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold") leads the charge against Lane and his sheep and bites the dust. The showdown in front street at the end of the action looks like a mild imitation of "Red River" with our colorful heroine shooting the man that she loves. Flynn was looking a mite long in the tooth when he made this oater and the alcohol had robbed him of his spontaneity but not his charm. He looks a little more heavyset than usual. Smith doesn't look like she has changed since their last collaboration on "San Antonio" except that her outfits aren't as flamboyant. Mind you, she is a bit more hard-hearted and tough as a cattle queen who lost her father and brother in the war against the sheep herders."Montana" doesn't rank in the same league with Flynn's more prestigious westerns like "Dodge City," "Virginia City," and "They Died With Their Boots On." In fact, "Montana" rates as one of his least appealing westerns. At least the Technicolor makes this modest western look good. Strangely, the peddler that Sakall plays vanishes inexplicably from the action. If you want to see a genuinely entertaining cattle versus sheep western, watch director George Marshall's comedy western "The Sheepman" (1958) with Glenn Ford.

MartinHafer Years ago, I saw Errol Flynn sing in "Thank Your Lucky Stars". He wasn't particularly good, but the song seemed to fit his limited range and was a pleasant addition to the movie. Little did I know that in addition to this movie, Flynn also sang in "Montana"--again, he wasn't that good, but the song was pleasant and worked because it worked pretty well for a man who was definitely not a singer. While this isn't THE reason to watch this film, for old time film nuts like myself, it sure is an incentive.This is one of several westerns Flynn made for Warner Brothers, though oddly the movie wasn't released for two years after it was completed. The reason doesn't appear to be because it's a bad film, as it's an amiable film--perhaps it had something to do with contract negotiations.For once, Flynn actually plays an Australian! Considering his accent, this made a lot more sense than some of these other films where you assume he's supposed to be a 100% born and bred American! And, like most of his other Warner westerns, this one is shot in glorious color--and it sure looks pretty.The film begins with Flynn and his men moving sheep into Montana--even though cattlemen have promised to kill any sheepmen who enter the territory. And, not surprisingly, soon on of Flynn's men is killed. Instead of an all-out response, Flynn goes undercover into town to scout out the situation. To do so, he joins up with Cuddles Sakall, who is a traveling merchant. In this guise, he soon works his way into Alexis Smith's heart--and she is the owner of one of the biggest cattle outfits. But, when his identity as a sheep lover (don't take that the wrong way, please) is discovered, the blossoming romance is dead. However, considering it IS Errol Flynn, you have an inkling that when all is said and done that they'll be back together.In the meantime, Flynn and his new buddy, Tecumseh (Paul Burns) realize that their beef (so to speak) isn't with ALL the cattle ranchers--just the big outfits that seek to boss everyone around. If the little ranchers and sheep ranchers could work things out, they could all get along...but what about the biggies? Tired of being pushed around, a shaky alliance is forged...but what about the biggies? As for Flynn, he's pretty much the usual Flynn--mostly because the effects of his wild life and alcoholism haven't yet shown. In other words, in this film, he's still rather 'pretty' and the Flynn most have come to enjoy. A decade later, he'd become big and bloated and appeared 25 years older--and he had trouble with his lines and acting because of all the booze. And, for Smith, she's the typical 'tough dame' you'd expect to find in westerns--the anachronistic and petulant lady who, down deep, is a ball of fire. She was good at the role, but it was awfully formulaic. One thing that IS interesting, though, is that there really is no 'big bad boss' in the film--a bad guy who seems to be THE power in the film and THE man who must be broken by the end of the movie. Smith fills in, somewhat, in this role but the film really does lack someone to truly hate. The closest you have is Smith's foreman or Jock, but they aren't quite up to it either.Generally the film was quite good despite being formulaic (thus making it predictable--especially at the silly ending). There was a goofy fight scene between the foreman and Flynn after the foreman murdered someone in front of witnesses. During this fight, no one--not one person--did ANYTHING--they just stood back and watched. Hey folks, the guy just murdered a cattle rancher--don't you think it's time you did SOMETHING other than just stand there and watch?! Overall, despite its script's shortcomings, it's a fun western and well worth seeing--even if it is all rather easy to figure out long before the end.

classicsoncall There was a line by old Tecumseh Burke (Paul E. Burns) that blew by a little too quickly for me to properly digest, but it had something to do with Morgan Lane and a reference to the Little Big Horn. It had me immediately recalling Erroll Flynn's role as General George Armstrong Custer in the 1941 film "They Died With Their Boots On". Truthfully, that might have been the highlight of the flick for me, right ahead of the brief divergence concerning Poppa Schultz's supply of antimacassars. I heard that term once in my youth long ago, and today I know what it means. But you'll have to catch the film to find out.For all the dozens of Westerns that ever came out with cattlemen versus sheep ranchers as a plot element, you can probably count on one hand the number in which someone thought it might be a good idea for both animals to try to get along. This was one of them. Not that Morgan Lane (Flynn) ever got to prove his point, when push came to shove, the sheep-men who made a stand simply turned away a cattle stampede and declared victory. I thought it was just too pat an ending for all that went before, with Miss Singleton (Alexis Smith) ever so willingly giving up her grudge against Lane. Not buying it.What's probably more interesting than the story is seeing Errol Flynn team up with Alexis Smith in a duet around the campfire singing 'Reckon I'm In Love', before they actually came to terms with that diagnosis. In the ensuing decade since Flynn's portrayal of Custer he looks like he might have aged twice as much. There seemed to be a few times when Flynn and his co-star might have had some good chemistry going, but that didn't seem enough to compensate for the kind of rivalry that went with the territory. Had I found myself in Flynn's shoes, I probably would have rounded up my men and got the flock out of there.