The Dalton Girls
The Dalton Girls
NR | 01 December 1957 (USA)
The Dalton Girls Trailers

Female relatives of the infamous Dalton gang carry on the family tradition.

Reviews
Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.
Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
mark.waltz This '50's drive-in chick flick is a cheesy western with amateurish acting that takes all the bad girl exploitation films and adds on corsets while taking away the bee-hive hairdo's. An inappropriate use of dramatic music shows this for the clunky bomb it is. One of the girls sings a song about not trusting a man cause they'll betray you while a gun will stay with you until you die. "You kill like other women love men" one of the sisters tells another. That sums up the best dialog in this misfire where there is no real motivation for the girls robbing coaches and saloons other than the fact that men have exploited them. Not a camp classic, but enjoyable if you know what you're getting yourself into.
David_Brown "The Dalton Girls" is NOT "Bad Girls", it is a totally different film than the 1994 Stowe, Barrymore, Masterson, MacDowell film. Basically the only things they have in common are: 1: There are four women involved, and spoilers ahead: 2: A bad guy was killed because he tried to abuse a woman, so he got killed. 3: Something I will save for last. I have to say, it is a much harsher film than "Bad Girls", because the worst of the "Bad Girls" Lilly (Barrymore), was not a cold blooded killer in the way that Rose, and even Holly are. Another factor that makes it harsher (MAJOR Spoilers ahead)is the fact that Rose and Marigold die, Holly surrenders (and you know will be hanged), and only Columbine escapes the fate of her sisters, because she will not kill unarmed men (Including "Illinois"), and saves them from getting murdered, so I guess for that reason, the town let "Illinois" take her away. By comparison, the "Bad Girls" all get away, with Cody (Stowe), Anita (Masterson), & Lilly going off to dig for gold, with Eileen (MacDowell), staying behind to get married and help run a ranch. "The Dalton Girls" is a very good film, and worth watching (Although it is not the modern classic "Bad Girls" is). The one character in "Bad Girls" you see a lot of in "The Dalton Girls" is Eileen. She has elements of three of the Daltons. 1: She has regrets like Holly did of her choices in life. 2: Instead of living an outlaw life, She wants to ranch and be married (Like Marigold). 3: She is the one who is willing, and eventually will separate from the others, as Columbine did. What is different, of course, is Eileen's fate is much better than any of the Daltons.
aimless-46 Like Howard Hughes' "The Outlaw" (1943), "The Dalton Girls" (1957) was a mixed genre film; a standard "B" western with very deliberate exploitation elements. Although both films attempted a tie-in to real western history, "The Dalton Girls" wisely soft-peddled this element; the only connection being that the four girls were sisters of the guys who started the Dalton Gang.Although almost any "B" western fan will enjoy the film, it is a must see for those who get off on cowgirls in tight jeans and gun belts. That was the film's drawing card at the time of its release and even today it doesn't get any better than Merry Anders, Lisa Davis, and Penny Edwards robbing stagecoaches and banks. Edwards is my all-time favorite cowgirl and does all the difficult riding stunts in the film. There is even a scene where she hogties a teenage boy. The film also features John Russell (who would soon star in his own television show, "Lawman") as an early anti-hero. He is an interesting mix of Richard Boone's "Paladin" character (tough but philosophical) and Bret Maverick (a calculating realist of a gambler). Sam Rolfe may have seen this film in pre-release and incorporated some of Russell's traits into the "Paladin" character he was creating. Oddly, the character's name is W.T. (Illinois) Grey but he claims New Orleans as his hometown. "The Dalton Girl's" moves along nicely and then kind of clunks to a stop with an extremely lame and rushed ending. The screenwriter (Maurice Tombragel) obviously had a lot of fun with this adaptation, and the story operates on two levels. There are some nice self-parody elements inserted throughout the story. The best is a scene where Lisa Davis is singing about how having a gun is better than having a man:"Oh you can't trust a man, because a man will lie. But a gun stays beside you, until the day that you die. Oh a man is a cheater, with his trifling ways. But a gun's always faithful, because a gun never strays. Oh a man is unfaithful, he will lead you to strife. But a gun is my true love, yes a gun is my life".Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
dougdoepke Actually this is not a half-bad Western if you're not expecting much, and certainly the title doesn't promise much in the way of artistry. What this B-flick has going for it are some well- staged scenes on the prairie and a couple of tough-minded chick scenes, especially the robbery episodes. The acting is uneven, to say the least. Merry Anders is fine as Holly, the leader, as is Lisa Davis as Rose, the second toughie. However, poor Sue George as Marigold should have auditioned for Leave It to Beaver. Maybe you won't have as much trouble as I did telling these "flowers" apart, but they do look alike and it can get confusing. Judging from the title, you'd probably expect more titillation than there is-- after all, this is the 1950's. Nonetheless, there is a legitimate feminist undercurrent even if much is compromised in the end. All in all, this minor production from a couple of old pro's (director Le Borg and producer Schenck) remains a rather interesting artifact as well as a fairly viable piece of period entertainment.