Montana (1950 film)
| Montana | |
|---|---|
1950 Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | Ray Enright |
| Produced by | William Jacobs |
| Written by |
James R. Webb Borden Chase Charles O'Neal |
| Based on | story by Ernest Haycox |
| Starring |
Errol Flynn Alexis Smith |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
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Production
company |
Warner Bros
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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76 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2 million or $1-$1.5 million |
| Box office | $2.1 million (US rentals) £131,969 (UK) 1,899,891 admissions (France) |
Montana is a 1950 Western film starring Errol Flynn. It was only the second time Flynn played an Australian on screen, the first time being Desperate Journey (1942).
The film was Flynn's fourth and final pairing with frequent co-star Alexis Smith.
A narrator tells of the great wars that raged in Montana territory over the grazing of cattle versus sheep. Men on both sides of the battle died, but eventually it was the sheep herders who were driven out. Morgan Lane (Flynn), an Australian sheepman, rides to Montana territory in 1871. He and his men come across a sign declaring that any sheep herders crossing the line into the area will be shot on sight as the surrounding plains are strictly for cattle grazing. The men set up camp for the night just before the boarder. During the night their young unarmed Mexican watchman is shot dead by a local gang of cattle raisers.
The following morning, after Morgan and his men have buried the body, a travelling peddler known as Papa Schultz (Sakall) comes by. Morgan coerces Papa Shultz into pretending they are partners and they ride into town together so that Morgan can find out who the local ruffians are. In town he passes himself off as a peddler and discovers the gang in the saloon. Suspicious of him because he is a newcomer in the town, Slim Reeves challenges him to a pistol duel. Slim attempts to cheat by drawing before the count of three but Morgan proves his skills by shooting the gun out of his hand. Morgan discovers that there are three chief landowners in the area. The main two are Maria Singleton (Smith) and her fiancé Rod Ackroyd, who are both vehemently opposed to sheep herders in their area. The third is a man named Forsythe.
Morgan rides over to the Singleton ranch with a guitar as a present for Maria and the two get on well and have a sing-a-long together. Rod is suspicious of Morgan and is in a foul mood after being thrown from a wild stallion earlier in the afternoon. Maria invites Morgan to join them for dinner and Morgan reveals to them that he wishes to purchase some of their land. They believe he wants it for cattle grazing, and Rod makes a bet with him for the land. If Morgan can stay on the wild horse for exactly one minute, he can have the land. Rod's right-hand man Slim cuts the stirrup so that Morgan falls from the horse a few seconds before the minute mark. Maria, feeling sorry for Morgan, offers to rent him a piece of her land that would have belonged to her deceased brother. The following day she discovers that Morgan is a sheep herder and is livid at his betrayal.
During the night, Morgan rounds up the minority cattlemen in the area and enlists the help of the banker and Forsythe to fight another war with the cattle owners. Forsythe invites everyone to his home for a party and announces their intentions to fight. Maria confronts Morgan about his deceit and he tears the lease up and gives it back to her. She shares a kiss with him but then discovers that he intends to wage war against her and her friends and she becomes angry and leaves the party. Slim shoots and kills Forsythe which invokes a fight between Morgan and Slim, during which Slim fires his own gun and unintentionally kills himself.
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