Dakota (1945 film)

Dakota
Dakota
	Theatrical poster to Dakota (1945)
Directed by	Joseph Kane
Screenplay by	Howard Estabrook; Lawrence Hazard
Story by	Carl Foreman
Produced by	Joseph Kane
Starring	John Wayne; Vera Hruba Ralston; Walter Brennan; Ward Bond; Mike Mazurki
Cinematography	Jack A. Marta
Edited by	Fred Allen
Music by	Walter Scharf
Production; company	Republic Pictures
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date	December 25, 1945;
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Dakota is a 1945 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane, and starring John Wayne.^[1] The supporting cast features Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, and Mike Mazurki.

Plot

The action is set in 1875. Wayne stars as John Devlin (John Wayne), a professional gambler who has married Sandra (Vera Ralston), daughter of railroad millionaire Marko Poli (Hugo Haas). John and Sandra flee her father's anger and go to Fargo in Dakota Territory, where Sandra thinks they can cash in on a land boom. But on the trip west, they are swindled out of their stake ($20,000 Sandra swiped from her father). In a desperate attempt to get back their money, Devlin enters into a heated range battle against the outlaws led by Bender.

Bender steals their money & uses it to attempt to buy the properties of the landowners in Fargo, Dakota. Devlin tries to prevent it but cannot. So he offers to buy the land contracts with the threat that he can ask Sandi's father to pass through another town which will mean Bender's purchase will be useless.

Right as Bender hands the lands over to Devlin an agent of Mr. Poli arrives with a secret intent to buy the lands. Bender finds out & Devlin runs away with the contract giving it to one of the settlers. As soon as Devlin leaves the house Bender's men enter & take away the contract & murder the settler.

When Devlin returns to town he is greeted by Bender who attempts to frame & hang him. Right then a group of settlers arrive on horseback with the lands of the settlers burning in the background.

Devlin goes looking for Bender & his second in command. As Bender is packing to skip town the second in command kills him & steals his money.

Devlin tackles the second in command & as they are about to leave for California Sandy (Devlin's wife) tells him that she gave the money she had to the boat captain to help him buy a new boat (since he ran aground the other boat when carrying them to Fargo).

Cast

John Wayne as John Devlin
Vera Hruba Ralston as Sandy Poli (Devlin)
Walter Brennan as Capt. Bounce of the Riverbird
Ward Bond as Jim Bender
Mike Mazurki as Bigtree Collins
Ona Munson as Jersey Thomas
Olive Blakeney as Mrs. Stowe
Hugo Haas as Marko Poli
Nick Stewart as Nicodemus (as Nicodemus Stewart)
Paul Fix as Carp
Grant Withers as Slagin
Robert Livingston as Lieutenant
Olin Howland as Devlin's driver (as Olin Howlin)
Pierre Watkin as Wexton Geary
Robert Barrat as Anson Stowe (as Robert H. Barrat)
Jonathan Hale as Col. Wordin
Robert Blake as Little Boy (as Bobby Blake)
Paul Hurst as Captain Spotts
Eddy Waller as Stagecoach Driver
Sarah Padden as Mrs. Plummer
Jack La Rue as Suade
George Cleveland as Mr. Plummer
Selmer Jackson as Dr. Judson
Claire Du Brey as Wahtonka
Roy Barcroft as Poli's Driver

References

^ Hans J. Wollstein (2014). "Dakota". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2016.

External links

Dakota at IMDb
Dakota at AllMovie
Dakota at the TCM Movie Database
Dakota at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Review at Variety

[NYTimes-1] Hans J. Wollstein (2014). "Dakota". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2016.

[1]

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links