Cattle Queen of Montana
Cattle Queen of Montana | |
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![]() Original poster | |
Directed by | Allan Dwan |
Written by | Robert Blees Howard Estabrook |
Produced by | Benedict Bogeaus |
Starring | |
Cinematography | John Alton |
Edited by | |
Music by | |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Cattle Queen of Montana is a 1954 American Western film shot in Technicolor directed by Allan Dwan and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Gene Evans, Lance Fuller, Jack Elam, Chubby Johnson, and Morris Ankrum.
Plot[]
Pop Jones inherits a piece of family land in Montana, so he and his daughter, Sierra Nevada, decide to leave their Texas ranch and move there. As she bathes in a pond along the trail, Sierra Nevada encounters a stranger, Farrell, a hired gunman who warns her about dangerous Indians nearby.
Farrell is on his way to work for Tom McCord, a rich rancher. Quite a bit of rustling has been going on in the territory of late. McCord is in cahoots with Indians, in particular Natchakoa of the Blackfoot tribe, whose braves stampede the Jones family's cattle, knock Sierra cold, wound her cowhand Nat and kill Pop, after which McCord steals a document from Pop's dead body that grants rights to the land.
Sierra is nursed back to health by Colorados, a young Blackfoot who attends school among the whites, to the displeasure of the tribal chief, his father. McCord offers a $2,000 bounty to Farrell if he kills Sierra and Nat, but instead Farrell comes to her rescue.
Farrell reveals that he is actually an agent for the U.S. Cavalry, investigating the rustling and killing. With the help of Sierra, he blows up a McCord wagon filled with ammunition being sold to the Indians, doing away with McCord once and for all and bringing peace to the territory at last.
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)
- Hugh Sanders ... Col. Carrington
- Byron Foulger ... Land Office Employee
- Burt Mustin ... Dan
Influence[]
In Cattle Queen of Montana, one of Tom McCord's men is shot by Sierra Jones, and Farrel (Ronald Reagan's character, who is an undercover U.S. Marshal), another of McCord's men and 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, whose identity as an undercover police officer has been discovered by a wounded man, is asked to stick around at the gang's headquarters until all of the gang members' backgrounds have been checked, but leaves anyway despite the warning.
In the 1985 film Back to the Future, Marty McFly travels back to 1955 and notices the Cattle Queen of Montana displayed on the marquee at the Essex Theater in Hill Valley. Cattle Queen of Montana was also the last film that President Reagan watched during his eight years in office (according to records, he watched it at Camp David on January 14, 1989, six days before leaving the presidency).[2]
See also[]
- List of American films of 1954
- Ronald Reagan films
References[]
- ^ "Cattle Queen of Montana: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "Films Viewed by President and MRS. Reagan".
External links[]
- 1954 films
- English-language films
- 1954 Western (genre) films
- American films
- Films directed by Allan Dwan
- Films set in Montana
- Films shot in Montana
- RKO Pictures films
- Films with screenplays by Howard Estabrook
- American Western (genre) films