Santa Fe Trail
Reviews
John Chard
Errol, Ronnie and Olivia, directed by Curtiz. This is based around the story of one Jeb Stuart, a Southern born gent who would go on to become one of the South's greatest cavalrymen during the American Civil War. We follow his romance with sweetheart Kit Carson Holliday, his friendship with George Armstrong Custer, and onto his battles with abolitionist John Brown. Though it's mostly agreed these days that Santa Fe Trail has no great historical worth, it is however still a decent movie that boasts great drama, a sweet romance, and no little amount of action. Knowingly directed by the astute Michael Curtiz and featuring the acting of Errol Flynn (dashing as Stuart), Olivia de Havilland (gutsy as Carson), Ronald Reagan (solid as Custer), and Raymond Massey (acting overdrive as Brown), the picture certainly holds up well on the technical front. However, the relatively low rating on internet movie sites is of much interest to me, for being as I'm British I have no sort of conflict of interest with the actual story. Patriotic fervour booms out from the screen, but this appears to be at odds with the John Brown arc, the character's ambitions are nearly accepted as noble, creating a sort of odd coupling. I could of course be way off, but I wonder if the story doesn't sit well with some of our American friends?. Still the picture is never less than enjoyable, the great music from Max Steiner adds to the occasion and the finale is high reward for the viewers patience. 6.5/10
CinemaSerf
First thing to do before you watch this star-studded tale, is to forget anything you might actually know about the history of the start of the US Civil war - that way, you can sit back and enjoy this adventure film in the spirit Mike Curtiz intended. Errol Flynn is Jeb Stewart and Ronnie Reagan is George Custer who both pass out from West Point and are assigned the difficult task of helping to thwart the gun-runners and insurrectionists led by Raymond Massey as "John Brown" who is determined to assert his rather racially enlightened strategy to free all the slaves in the United States, and no talking about it. There's a bit of a love story between Flynn and a very tomboyish looking Olivia de Havilland ("Kit"); a bit of subterfuge from Van Heflin as "Rader"; some strong support from Alan Hale and a few good cameos from Ward Bond and Charles "Ming" Middleton but this rather episodic acton move belongs entirely to the Rasputin-esque Massey - to, more specifically to his eyes; those of a despotic maniac that even though his goals are laudable, make you mistrust everything about him. He is great. The narrative mixes fact and fiction as you might mix a cocktail, and like a cocktail sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't - but it's a decently paced yarn with a bit of a conscience and a flourishing ending that is still worth catching up with today.
Movie Recommendation
The Ugly Dachshund1966-02-16The Garrisons are the "proud parents" of three adorable dachshund pups - and one overgrown Great Dane named Brutus, who nevertheless thinks of himself as a dainty dachsie. His identity crisis results in an uproarious series of household crises that reduce the Garrisons' house to shambles - and viewers to howls of laughter!More...
Wagon Master1950-04-22Two young horse traders guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter rugged terrain, the cutthroat Clegg gang, hospitable Navajo, and moral challenges on the journey.More...
Fahrenheit 4511966-09-07In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…More...
Along the Great Divide1951-06-02US marshal Len Merrick saves Tim Keith from lynching at the hands of the Roden clan, and hopes to get him to Santa Loma for trial. Vindictive Ned Roden, whose son Ed was killed, still wants personal revenge, and Tim would like to escape before Ned catches up with him again. Can the marshal make it across the desert with Tim and his daughter? Even if he makes it, will justice be served?More...
I've Gone Viral2023-10-11Mabel has gone viral. And in the least desirable way possible. During her flight to Polynesia, she unlocks her sleeping husband's cell phone with innocent intent, but what she finds is proof of infidelity.More...
Ride in the Whirlwind1966-10-23Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse.More...
Santa Fe Passage1955-05-12A disgraced Indian scout and his partner are hired to escort a wagonload of guns through Indian territory.More...
Santa Fe1951-04-01After their service in the Civil War, four brothers go their separate ways, but later find themselves on opposite sides of a final showdown.More...
Rush Hour1998-09-18When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the sidelines, Lee and Carter form an unlikely partnership and investigate the case themselves.More...
Monty Python and the Holy Grail1975-04-03King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure. On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight who, despite having had all his limbs chopped off, insists he can still fight. They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as "it is a silly place".More...
Us2019-03-14Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.More...
Weekend at Bernie's1989-07-05Two young insurance corporation employees try to pretend that their murdered employer is alive by puppeteering his dead body, leading a hitman to attempt to track him down to finish him off.More...
Mama Weed2020-09-09A translator working for the police gets involved in the other side of drug dealing.More...
Top Gun: Maverick2022-05-21After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.More...
Joker2019-10-01During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.More...
Your Name.2016-08-26High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.More...
Titanic1997-11-18101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.More...
Midsommar2019-07-03Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.More...
Green Book2018-11-16Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.More...
Dracula 20002000-12-22When a team of techno-savvy thieves break into a high-security vault, they don't discover priceless works of art... they find a crypt unopened for 100 years.More...
Similar Movies
Vivo, ergo tu moris
2013-09-05In a time when poor mexicans, contemptuously called indians, were treated as slaves by the rich. Things were unfair, unbalanced. Django, a mexican indian, runs for his life trying to escape his abusive patrón... but he fails. After a beating that renders him unconscious, he awakens to meet Dr. Shultz, a bounty hunter that likes to keep thing in balance. Dr. Shultz has a lot to teach Django, about bounty hunters and the way of the gun, so Django can live.Trail of the Falcon
1968-06-21In the latter half of the 19th century, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota people. Gold diggers, profiteers and adventurers flock to the region. Among them is the hard-hearted land speculator Bludgeon, who tries to expel the Lakota using brutal methods. Lakota warriors retaliate, and soon the gold diggers' town becomes a battlefield.Silverado
1985-07-10Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.Carambola's Philosoph...
1975-01-01Len and Cody are two friends who can not spend more than two minutes without arguing. These crazy gunmen snatched a Confederate colonel charged an archaic machine gun sidecar soon becomes a coveted prize for all offenders in west Texas.Little Big Man
1970-12-23Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.Sweet Country
2018-01-25In 1929, an Australian Aboriginal stockman kills a white station owner in self-defense and goes on the lam, pursued by a posse.Massacre at Sand Cree...
1956-12-27A fictionalized account of the infamous massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek by a militia unit led by an extremist Colonel.Miro
2017-08-13When Miro returns home at the end of World War II he finds his land taken, his people gone, his daughter stolen and his service record treated with contempt. But the battlefield has taught him how to fight and he sets out to reunite his family waging his own form of justice.Almost Heroes
1998-05-29Two hapless explorers lead an ill-fated 1804 expedition through the Pacific Northwest in a hopeless, doomed effort to reach the Pacific Ocean before Lewis and Clark.The Scalphunters
1968-02-29Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them.The Shepherd of the H...
1941-07-18Young Matt Matthews, an Ozark Mountains moonshiner, hates the father he has never seen, who apparently deserted Matt's mother and left her to die. His obsession contributes to the hatred rampant in the mountains. However, the arrival of a stranger, Daniel Howitt, begins to positively affect the mountain people, who learn to shed their hatred under his gentle influence.La Generala
1971-01-01During the Mexican Revolution, a hardened and rich lady landowner is overtaken by the violence of the times. Losing her land and house, she falls in love with a revolutionary leader that is killed by a sadistic and corrupt federal officer. She takes the revolutionary flag and leads a rampage of violence and destruction.One Man's Hero
1999-08-02One Man's Hero tells the little-known story of the "St. Patrick's Battalion" or "San Patricios," a group of mostly Irish and other immigrants of the Catholic faith who deserted to Mexico after encountering religious and ethnic prejudice in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The plot centers around the personal story of John Riley, an Irishman who had been a sergeant in the American Army who is commissioned as a captain in the Mexican army and commands the battalion, as he leads his men in battle and struggles with authorities on both sides of the borderGreen Flake
2020-12-03Green Flake, a southern slave, joins Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a child. Later on in his life he is sent to pave the way to what is now the Salt Lake Valley and his faith sustains him.War Arrow
1953-12-26A thrilling Cavalry-versus-Indians adventure starring Jeff Chandler as an Army official recruiting Seminole allies, against his superior's wishes, to stop a planned Kiowa attack.Django Unchained
2012-12-25With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.A Song Of Love
No data for this movieA love triangle with a cowboy who steals the heart of a girl and turns out to have a mysterious past related to that of the other love interestThe Legend of Nigger ...
1972-03-16A trio of runaway slaves evade authorities in the Old West.The Bike God
2023-03-21On a sunny day, the glorious Bike God walks across the Earth's soil and faces one of his greatest enemies, the Car God, in an epic battle that will go down in history.Rio Grande
1938-12-08No relation to the 1950 John Ford classic of the same name, Rio Grande is yet another rubber-stamp Charles Starrett western from the Columbia assembly line.