CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA 1954 (VCI)

It has been a number of years since I first wrote about this movie here and I thought it was time for a second look.

I first heard about the movie when I was very young and then again in the 1980's. It was during this time I heard it was one of the worst films ever made. Turns out that was just political bunk written by people who don;t like Ronald Reagan.

In reality, this is a very well done western directed by Allen Dwan for RKO studios. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Sierra Nevada Jones, a young woman who comes to Montana with her father played by Morris Ankrum.

Soon after they arrive to stake their claim on some orime land her father is killed and the cattle stolen by a renegade Indian named Natchakoa (Anthony Caruso) who is in turn working for a white man named McCord (Gene Evans) who wants all of the land and cattle for himself.

Sierra and her friend Nat Collins (Chubby Johnson) are left for dead after the raid and later rescued by a kind Blackfoot Indian named Colorados (Lance Fuller).

This angers Natchakoa and McCord who want them both dead. Sierra sets out to prove that McCord is the one behind all of the trouble between the Indians and the white men. Ronald Reagan is Farrell, a US Government agent working undercover as a plant in the McCord gang, and this brings about the eventual demise of McCord and Natchakoa.

Even thought this is a standard western, it's still a heck of a lot of fun and should please any western fan. My roommate picked this up at a dollar store and it was a pleasant surprise. As I said, I hadn't seen it in years. If you get a chance check out the beautiful technicolor film.

The rest of the cast includes Jack Elam, Yvette Duguay, Myron Healey, Byron Folger and Burt Mustin.