Cattle Queen of Montana
| Cattle Queen of Montana | |
|---|---|
 Original poster | |
| Directed by | Allan Dwan |
| Written by | Robert Blees |
| Produced by | Benedict Bogeaus |
| Starring | Barbara Stanwyck Ronald Reagan Gene Evans |
| Cinematography | John Alton |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date | November 18, 1954 |
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Cattle Queen of Montana is a 1954 American Western film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Jack Elam, Chubby Johnson, and Morris Ankrum, and the movie was directed by Allan Dwan.
Plot
The Jones family, about to prove claim to prime Montana land, is raided by renegade Indians in league with villainous neighbor McCord, who gets most of the stolen cattle. Two survivors are helped by college-educated chief's son Colorados. Now Sierra Nevada Jones must fight for her land against legal technicalities and assorted villains. Can she gain the help of McCord's hired gun, Farrell?
The film is rare in that unlike the vast majority of westerns the main hero is a capable woman.
Cast
- Barbara Stanwyck ... Sierra Nevada Jones
- Ronald Reagan ... Farrell
- Gene Evans ... Tom McCord
- Lance Fuller ... Colorados
- Anthony Caruso ... Natchakoa
- Jack Elam ... Yost
- Yvette Duguay ... Starfire
- Morris Ankrum ... J.I. 'Pop' Jones
- Chubby Johnson ... Nat Collins
- Myron Healey ... Hank
- Rodd Redwing ... Powhani (as Rod Redwing)
- Paul Birch ... Col. Carrington
- Byron Foulger ... Land Office Employee
- Burt Mustin ... Dan
Influence
The adventure story and stock characters are similar to the narrative conventions found in "Star Wars". For example, the use of two villains, McCord and Natchakoa, in Cattle Queen of Montana, and Palpatine and Darth Vader in Star Wars. Both narratives use two male leads, each a dramatic foil to the other; Colordos, the more conventional hero, future chief to his tribe, struggles to change the negative image the settlers have of his tribe, and Farrel, a gunslinging anti-hero, struggles between helping out Sierra Nevada Jones and performing his duties for Tom McCord, the rancher that had her father killed. Both characters are anchored to the story by the protagonist, Sierra Nevada Jones, and they're roles are similar to the roles played by Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in the Star Wars movies.
In the Cattle Queen of Montana, one of Tom McCord's men is shot by Sierra Jones, and Farrel (Ronald Reagan's character), another of McCord's men witness to the shooting, lies about how the altercation took place to one of the gang leaders, and leaves despite being asked to wait at the headquarters for Tom McCord to show up. In Martin Scorsese's film, "The Departed", Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Billy Costigan, is asked to stick around at the gang's headquarters until all of the gang member's backgrounds have been checked, but leaves anyway despite the warning. In The Departed there is also a wounded man that's discovered Costigan's identity as an undercover police officer, like that of Farrell's character of an undercover US Marshall, Costigan decides to leave the gang's headquarters, for fear that his status as an undercover agent may be uncovered.
Cattle Queen of Montana was the film playing at the Essex Theater in Hill Valley, in the film Back to the Future, on November 5, 1955.
External links
Cattle Queen of Montana at IMDb
See also
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