Product Details

• Actors: John Wayne, Vera Ralston, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Ona Munson
• Directors: Joseph Kane
• Writers: Carl Foreman, Howard Estabrook, Lawrence Hazard
• Producers: Joseph Kane
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Republic Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 12, 1999
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300208109
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,013 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It was invariably a bad sign when Republic saddled John Wayne with a wife and obliged him to wear a city feller's coat. To make matters worse, in Dakota the uxorial appendage is Czech kewpie doll Vera Hruba Ralston (a wife offscreen, too--to studio boss Herbert J. Yates). Eloping with her from the Chicago mansion of her railroad-baron daddy, Wayne wants to head west for California. Ralston prefers the wheat lands of Dakota and, not for the last time, gets her way.

With a slew of seasoned character actors (starting with Walter Brennan as a choleric riverboat captain), auspicious writing credits (Carl Foreman, Oscar-winner Howard Estabrook), and an offbeat setting--a melting-pot Fargo with immigrant farmers wearing the costumes of their native lands--Dakota really ought to be a more memorable movie. Instead, despite plenty of chases, robberies, and killings, it seems never quite to get started. The only mildly interesting aspect is Wayne's having to play it smiley and affable toward the likes of land-grabber Ward Bond and his henchmen Mike Mazurki, Grant Withers, and Paul Fix even as he knows they're responsible for every nasty thing that befalls the community.

Second-unit director Yakima Canutt stages a spectacular last-reel wheat-field fire, but mostly the movie is hamstrung by Republic's penchant for cheap miniatures and an overabundance of (awful) process photography. At one point, the riverboat on which the cast is traveling comes to an inglorious halt on a sandbar--and behind them, the scenery continues to glide merrily by. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to potential, January 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dakota [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Dakota is a film loaded with potential that never really comes together. Big names like Walter Brennan (Rio Bravo, Red River) and Ward Bond (The Searchers) join John Wayne in an interesting plot. The problem lies with the directing and screenwriting. At times the screenwriter confuses confusion with action. During the finale you can see what looks like the same wagon tipping over three times (different angles/reversing film). At times it is difficult to understand what the characters are saying, and why things are happening. Die hard Wayne fans will want to buy this film, but many will probably give it a pass.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars John Wayne, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond - how can it miss?, October 13, 2002

By 

razoredge (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dakota (DVD)

But it does. Vera Ralson is part of the problem, she's pretty but bland in the role of Wayne's new bride who sweet-talks him in going to the title state so they can run a riverboat business, but the real weakness is the overall look of the film. An overabundance of rear projection and rather obvious indoor/outdoor scenes gives this 'outer' a distint fake feeling. Duke is amicable in the lead, Bond makes a sturdy villian, Brennan is fine doing his Gabby Hayes impersonation and the film has a rousing climax, but it never rises beyond it's B origins

1.0 out of 5 stars Wayne in a comedy, December 9, 2010

By 

Dr. James Gardner (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dakota (DVD)

He's a happily married newlywed who is a little henpecked by his strong Polish wife.

He dances, makes faces, and tells jokes.

He's not a very good shot, gets beaten up a lot, sucker punched, robbed, and rides around in a carriage.

He's..... John Wayne.

John Wayne!? Yup. John Wayne. Not the 1930s singing cowboy from the 50+ B movies, but a post 1939 ("Stagecoach") John Wayne who had just finished "Back to Bataan" and "They Were Expendable" and would shortly redefine the western hero with films like "Red River" and "Fort Apache" (1948) and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949).

So what is he doing in this stinker from RKO? And what fool wasted this cast that contains Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, Paul Fix, Mike Mazurki, Nick Stewart, Grant Withers, and Robert Barrat, to name a few.

Well, for one thing, the war had ended and people were getting a little sick of watching war films. Wayne had made a slew of them, starting in 1942 with "Flying Tigers" followed in quick succession by "Reunion in France" and "Pittsburgh", then "Fighting Seabees" (1944), "Back to Bataan" (1945) and "They Were Expendable". The last film came out post war and was a flop at the box office. "Dakota" was an attempt to put Wayne back into the profitable Republic westerns he had made prior to the war.

Then there was Republic's President Herb Yates' new girlfriend (and future wife), Vera Ralston (1919-2003), whom Yates insisted get the leading lady role. Ralston plays Wayne's wife, a role later filled usually by Maureen O'Hara, but up until 1945 Wayne was unmarried in films even if he did get the girl at the end of the picture. Ralston was a Czech skating star and was brought to the US to be the next Sonja Henie. Ralston and director Joseph Kane were also having an affair while she was dating Yates. She made a total of 27 films from 1941 to 1958. Wayne said - "As a human being she was OK, but she was no actress."

Bear in mind, by 1945 Wayne was accustomed to notable co-stars, like Donna Reed, Susan Hayward, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Jean Arthur, and Paulette Goddard.

At Wayne's insistence, Yates hired Wayne's old pals Ward Bond, Paul Fix, and Grant Withers.

Ward Bond (1903-60) plays a villain. He was a football player at USC with his life time friend, John Wayne, and together they appeared in nearly a dozen films including "They Were Expendable" (1945), "Fort Apache" (1948), "3 Godfathers" (1948), "The Searchers" (1956), "Wings of Eagles" (1957), and "Rio Bravo" (1959). Without Wayne, Bond was also a staple in Ford's stock company and appeared in "Young Mr. Lincoln" (1939), "Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)", "My Darling Clementine" (1946), and "The Grapes of Wrath (1940) among the 25 films they made together. He's probably best remembered for his role as Major Seth Adams on the TV series "Wagon Train" (1957 - 1961), based on the 1950 film "Wagon Master" in which he appeared. Bond was in more Top 100 AFI films (7) than any other actor, and appeared in 11 films that were nominated as Best Picture.

Grant Withers (1905-59) plays a thug. He is the heavy you love to hate. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1925 to 1958. He was in many John Wayne and John Ford movies, and the Duke was his best man when he married in 1953. I remember him best as Ike Clanton in "My Darling Clementine" (1946).

Paul Fix (1901-83) has a small role as another of Bond's henchmen. Fix was originally Wayne's acting coach and eventually appeared in 26 films with him including "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "The Fighting Kentuckian" (1949), "Big Jim McLain" (1952), "Hondo" (1953)" and El Dorado" (1967). Fix played in more than 200 films, many of them westerns, starting in the silent film era. He gave us such memorable roles as old man Maxwell in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973), and Joan Crawford's confidant Eddie in "Johnny Guitar" (1954). He's best remembered for his role as the Marshall in Sam Peckinpah's TV series "The Rifleman" (1958-65).

Also in the cast are Walter Brennan, Big Jim Mazurki, Robert Barrat, and Nick Stewart.

This is probably Walter Brennan's worst film. Walter Brennan (1894-1974) won 3 Oscars for Best Supporting Actor ("Come and Get it" in 1936, "Kentucky" in 1938, and "The Westerner" in 1941) and was nominated for his work in "Sergeant York" (1941). We know him best for his Emmy nominated role in the TV series "The Real McCoys", and his film comedies ("The Over the Hill Gang") or as the grumpy side kick Stumpy in "Rio Bravo", but he was equally capable of playing the villain, as he showed in "The Westerner" (1940), "My Darling Clementine" (1946), and again In "How the West Was Won" (1962). Brennan and Wayne teamed up in 8 films including "Red River" (1948), "Three Godfathers" (1948) and the most memorable being "Rio Bravo" (1959).

Big Jim Mazurki (1907-90) plays Bond's enforcer. At 6'5" he was an imposing figure in more than 100 films from 1934 to 1990. He played Indians, Arabs, and Italians. In the 1950s he transitioned to TV

Robert Barrat (1889-1970) plays a land owner. He appeared in more than 100 films. He did 7 films with Jimmy Cagney (e.g., "The Mayor of Hell") and appeared in such classics as "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937), "Captain Blood" (1935), "Union Pacific" (1939), and "They Were Expendable" (1945). He's best remembered for his role as Chingachgook in "Last of the Mohicans" (1939).

Nick Stewart (1910-2000) plays Brennan's shipmate. We know Stewart best as Lightnin' from the great Amos and Andy TV series. He started in films in 1932 and transitioned to TV in the 50s.

Production values are terrible. Most of the film is shot in a studio. Backdrops are obvious and the use of models makes the early British films look like Star Wars.

Joseph Kane (1894-1975) is the director. Kane directed Wayne in "Lawless Nineties" (1936) and "Flame of the Barbary Coast" (1944) but his real experience came from Gene Autry and Roy Rogers films and he really didn't understand how to use Wayne.

In 1945 the top grossing films were "Mom and Dad", "The Bells of St. Mary's", "Leave Her to Heaven", "Spellbound", and "Anchors Aweigh." The big Oscar and Golden Globe winner was "The Lost Weekend" (Picture, Director, Actor). Notable films released that year included Joan Crawford's Oscar winning "Mildred Pierce" and film noir classic "Scarlett Street".

On any terms this is a poor film. Given the year it was made and the quality of the cast, there is no excuse for such a poor film.