A poster for this Republic western plays up the fact that the main characters are passionate, and I suppose to some extent they are. Not necessarily passion in the romantic sense, though there is some of that, but maybe it's a passion or outright desire to survive. All the people in this story are plunged into a very challenging situation in the middle of nowhere on their way to Laramie.
Frederick Louis Fox wrote the screenplay for this engaging horse opera, and it certainly is full of tension and exciting sequences. Fox was a noted writer in the western genre, though after this feature, he turned his talents to writing hit TV shows of the day, including The Rebel for which he penned seven scripts. Fox had an innate understanding of what drives men and women in the bleakest of circumstances. And yeah, things get bleak in DAKOTA INCIDENT.
The story begins in an out of the way town called Christian Flats, where we are introduced to a group of individuals with assorted issues. Most of them are trying to get to Laramie for one reason or another and have come into Christian Flats to get the next outbound stagecoach.
However, when the stage arrives, the driver has an arrow struck through him; and the passengers riding inside are dead, having just been killed outside town by warring natives.
Right from the start, we sense the danger. But we also sense how determined this group of people are to get out on the trail and make the journey to Wyoming no matter what sort of trouble might be in store with the natives.
One of the characters is a liberal senator played by Ward Bond who is most sympathetic to the natives' cause, providing explanations about why they behave as they do. He believes that the whites and the Indians will be able to reach a peaceful sort of coexisting, even if that is not in the immediate future.
Besides the senator, the trip includes an aging saloon gal (Linda Darnell). She is accompanied by a business manager (Regis Toomey). Also along for adventure is a handsome bank clerk (John Lund) as well as a prospector (Whit Bissell) with only a bag of pyrite to show for his labors. They all have different reasons for traveling on the stage, and as the story gains traction, we learn more about what motivates each one.
Republic put a lot of money into this feature, filming it in Trucolor and taking the cast and crew out on location. The exterior scenes were done in Red Rock Canyon State Park. The park is located in Cantil, California and is a popular tourist attraction today.
While the drama that unfolds is a bit preachy and moralistic in spots, something that may comfort many of today's conservative viewers, I think it's a good example of how people can overcome a rough set of circumstances with determination. The natives are not necessarily the villains, despite the skirmishes and killings that occur.
An additional plot involves the character played by Dale Robertson, who takes over driving the stage and falls for Darnell en route. It is revealed that Robertson's kid brother (Skip Homeier) had betrayed him after a bank robbery with another partner (John Doucette). Robertson spares his brother's life, though the brother is later killed by a tribe of Cheyenne.
This plot point is revisited later, when the stage breaks down in the middle of a dry gulch. Robertson leads the others to defend themselves against attack by the enclosing natives. However, he ends up sparing the life of an Indian who eventually brings a horse and water to him and Darnell, thus facilitating their escape from near death. I guess the moral is that anything good you do for others may come back to save you later on, when you most need saving.
Frederick Louis Fox wrote the screenplay for this engaging horse opera, and it certainly is full of tension and exciting sequences. Fox was a noted writer in the western genre, though after this feature, he turned his talents to writing hit TV shows of the day, including The Rebel for which he penned seven scripts. Fox had an innate understanding of what drives men and women in the bleakest of circumstances. And yeah, things get bleak in DAKOTA INCIDENT.
The story begins in an out of the way town called Christian Flats, where we are introduced to a group of individuals with assorted issues. Most of them are trying to get to Laramie for one reason or another and have come into Christian Flats to get the next outbound stagecoach.
However, when the stage arrives, the driver has an arrow struck through him; and the passengers riding inside are dead, having just been killed outside town by warring natives.
Right from the start, we sense the danger. But we also sense how determined this group of people are to get out on the trail and make the journey to Wyoming no matter what sort of trouble might be in store with the natives.
One of the characters is a liberal senator played by Ward Bond who is most sympathetic to the natives' cause, providing explanations about why they behave as they do. He believes that the whites and the Indians will be able to reach a peaceful sort of coexisting, even if that is not in the immediate future.
Besides the senator, the trip includes an aging saloon gal (Linda Darnell). She is accompanied by a business manager (Regis Toomey). Also along for adventure is a handsome bank clerk (John Lund) as well as a prospector (Whit Bissell) with only a bag of pyrite to show for his labors. They all have different reasons for traveling on the stage, and as the story gains traction, we learn more about what motivates each one.
Republic put a lot of money into this feature, filming it in Trucolor and taking the cast and crew out on location. The exterior scenes were done in Red Rock Canyon State Park. The park is located in Cantil, California and is a popular tourist attraction today.
While the drama that unfolds is a bit preachy and moralistic in spots, something that may comfort many of today's conservative viewers, I think it's a good example of how people can overcome a rough set of circumstances with determination. The natives are not necessarily the villains, despite the skirmishes and killings that occur.
An additional plot involves the character played by Dale Robertson, who takes over driving the stage and falls for Darnell en route. It is revealed that Robertson's kid brother (Skip Homeier) had betrayed him after a bank robbery with another partner (John Doucette). Robertson spares his brother's life, though the brother is later killed by a tribe of Cheyenne.
This plot point is revisited later, when the stage breaks down in the middle of a dry gulch. Robertson leads the others to defend themselves against attack by the enclosing natives. However, he ends up sparing the life of an Indian who eventually brings a horse and water to him and Darnell, thus facilitating their escape from near death. I guess the moral is that anything good you do for others may come back to save you later on, when you most need saving.