dougbrode Review of Santa Fe Passage

Santa Fe Passage (1955)

A frontier scout (John payne) guides a wagon train through Indian territory.

[8/10 · 19 March 2006]

Perhaps most interesting about this memorable B+ western is that it's the only Republic color western that doesn't look like a Republic color western - meaning that their usual color film stock, which makes everything appear to be a bizarre blend of soft blues and hot pinks, is not what we see. Rather, this looks (and feels) like one of oaters that Columbia Studios churned out at that time, particularly in terms of the color stock that was employed, and the only dead give away that this is indeed from Republic is the presence of Rod Cameron, one of their stock company members, as the second male lead who veers back and forth between being an okay fellow and a total villain, adding a patina of interest to the characterization. The plot itself is quite fascinating: John Payne plays a frontier scout who, along with his gruff sidekick (Slim Pickens), was disgraced when he tried to trick some Indians into letting his wagon train through hostile territory and inadvertently got the pioneers massacred. No one will hire him until he gets a job with a 'questionable' train run by Cameron and a gorgeous woman (Faith Domergue). Cameron wants to marry her, and doesn't care one whit that she's a halfbreed. But Payne, who has developed a fierce and vicious prejudice against all Indians owing to the despoiling of his reputation, fumes at her racial background - even as he too falls in love with her, creating an intriguing romantic triangle. Ultra PC types might mistake this for a racist western, though in truth its anti-western, as the hero arcs away from his own absurd prejudices and comes to accept her as a person. Slim Pickens is, as always, a joy to watch, particularly when high atop his bucking mule that would also be used in Walt Disney's THE SAGA OF ANDY BURNETT two years later. Terrific skirmishes with the Indian warriors, all of them well staged by William Witney, an old hand at above average B westerns.