Customer Reviews

The Plainsman [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This epic western condenses "many years into an hourglass". In 1936 when it was made, it used available information & speculation, added a big dose of romance, & created a masterpiece. More recent research has rendered some of the plot devices obsolete, but for the lovers of great film, who cares? The friendship of Hickok & Cody was true enough, & the rest is good fun. Cooper & Arthur are superb, & the supporting cast is terrific. This is a must-see film for anyone.

"The Plainsman" represents the directorial prowess of Cecil B. DeMille at its most inaccurate and un-factual. It sets up parallel plots for no less stellar an entourage than Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln to interact, even though in reality Lincoln was already dead at the time the story takes place. Every once in a while DeMille floats dangerously close toward the truth, but just as easily veers away from it into unabashed spectacle and showmanship. The film is an attempt to buttress Custer's last stand with a heap of fiction that is only loosely based on the lives of people, who were already the product of manufactured stuffs and legends.

TRANSFER: Considering the vintage of the film, this is a moderately appealing transfer, with often clean whites and extremely solid blacks. There's a considerable amount of film grain in some scenes and an absence of it at other moments. All in all, the image quality is therefore somewhat inconsistent, but it is never all bad or all good - just a bit better than middle of the road. Age related artifacts are kept to a minimum and digital anomalies do not distract. The audio is mono but nicely balanced.

EXTRAS: Forget it. It's Universal!

BOTTOM LINE: As pseudo-history painted on celluloid, this western is compelling and fun. Just take its characters and story with a grain of salt - in some cases - a whole box seems more appropriate!

"The Plainsman" represents the directorial prowess of Cecil B. DeMille at its most inaccurate and un-factual. It sets up parallel plots for no less stellar an entourage than Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln to interact, even though in reality Lincoln was already dead at the time the story takes place. Every once in a while DeMille floats dangerously close toward the truth, but just as easily veers away from it into unabashed spectacle and showmanship. The film is an attempt to buttress Custer's last stand with a heap of fiction that is only loosely based on the lives of people, who were already the product of manufactured stuffs and legends.
TRANSFER: Considering the vintage of the film, this is a moderately appealing transfer, with often clean whites and extremely solid blacks. There's a considerable amount of film grain in some scenes and an absence of it at other moments. All in all, the image quality is therefore somewhat inconsistent, but it is never all bad or all good - just a bit better than middle of the road. Age related artifacts are kept to a minimum and digital anomalies do not distract. The audio is mono but nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: Forget it. It's Universal!
BOTTOM LINE: As pseudo-history painted on celluloid, this western is compelling and fun. Just take its characters and story with a grain of salt - in some cases - a whole box seems more appropriate!

THE PLAINSMAN is probably all the things its champions and its detractors say it is. Graham Greene felt it was the best western ever made when he reviewed it in 1936. Others point to the clumsy plotting and awkward pacing. However, there are things in it which are just wonderful! Take the opening sequence, with the illegal gun runners plotting how to get around government laws. It is tightly written, bitterly ironic and flawlessly acted. Indeed, it is as up-to-date as John Le Carre's fine novel about illegal gun runners of today -- THE NIGHT MANAGER. There are beautifully handled set-pieces, especially the shoot-out on a dusty, deserted street, shot in one long take, in which Cooper kills three villains. No MTV-style editing here, no tight close-ups of guns exploding, bodies flying, etc. You aren't asking yourself after the scene is over, how did he kill all those guys? And then there is Cooper's performance -- since he knew from the beginiing that his character was to die at the end, he played throughout as if his Hickok was doomed and well knew it. The weary fatalism in the way he utters his lines, the bleak look in his eyes for most of the film, it is a very, very fine performance. A performance which isn't given its due, perhaps because it is a DeMille film. For all its flaws, this is a movie with a great deal recommending it. Try it.

Although the dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, this is a very entertaining film. The story moves in such a way that there is never a dull moment. Gary Cooper is good with gentle sarcastic wit. If Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane would slow down a little, her character might be more appealing. She seems to rush through her lines. But the story is good, albeit a little unbelievable at times - just too many big-name American historical characters interacting. (Did they really all cross paths like this?) Definitely worth watching. You'll get caught up in the story.

This film was one of Jean Arthur's favorites. Jean enjoyed playing the role of Calamity Jane, although CJ never looked this good! Neither in films nor in real life was Jean Arthur a "girly girl." Jean had to learn to crack a whip for this one and she is great! Cecil B. DeMille spins a pretty hysterical story by implausibly bringing together a host of famous Western characters: a veritable famous old westerner "one-stop-shop." I laughed a lot at the story, and admired Jean's wonderful performance!

On September 17, 1868, while fording the south fork of the Republican River in what is now Colorado, General "Sandy" Forsyth was ambushed by 600 Cheyennes and Arapahoes. Outnumbered ten to one, Forsyth and his troops took refuge on a brushy island in the middle of the river and for nine days stood off one of the fierest charges in the history of Indian wars. The ten years which followed this gallant episode saw the final defeat of the Indians on the Northern half of the Great Plains. Some 300 battles were fought, chiefly against the Sioux and Cheyennes. In 1876, the two nations rallied to wipe out General Custer's regiment on the Little Big Horn. By 1880, Indians were no longer a power on the plains. Cecil B. DeMille, the producer of super-colassal spectacles of the thirties and forties goes the American West for THE PLAINSMAN. The film opens with a prologue shot of President Lincoln and his Cabinet, from then on compresses many actual events in the history of the Great Plains. Its hero and heroine are two of the most famous characters of the West "Wild" Bill Hickok and "Calamity Jane" ably portrayed by Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur (whose Calamity is decidedly more glamourous - with rouge and mascara applied - than was the real Martha Jane Canary!) In one segment, the Cheyennes ambush Buffalo Bill for twelve minutes ; it was considered quite an exciting climax to 1937 audiences.

The film begins by showing horse-drawn wagons (they generally used oxen). This story "compresses many years, many lives, and widely separated events into one narrative". This is Hollywood History, drama not education. Lincoln talks of disbanded soldiers who are without work. [A reference to the 1930s.] The solution is to colonize the grasslands of the West using soldiers and rifles. "We can sell rifles to the Indians and they can pay in fur." [Is there a flaw in this plan?] There is shocking news! There is a comic scene in St. Louis. The speeches tell about the customer's expectations. A gift of a big knife to a small boy. Bill Hickok plays cards, and loses until he wins. Mr. Lattimer collects his shipment from the steamboat.

A stagecoach takes Bill Cody and wife from Leavenworth to Hays City. [Are two horses enough for that coach?] A lone rider warns of danger. Hickok offers help to General Custer in the Indian Wars. Bill Cody will guide the relief troop to Fort Piney. Duty calls. "Don't cry, honey." The dreaded redskins arrive for more drama. Bill Hickok deals for Calamity Jane. "Don't give up your guns!" Hickok has a plan. Yellowhand appreciates the latest technology. He has a complaint against broken promises. [So do the paleface voters.] What about bullets? Can they make Hickok squeal? Extreme interrogation techniques are to try to get information on the relief troops. The troops are then caught in the open! Calamity Jane will ride for help.

Hickok rides to the trapped troop. Days pass. Massed fire halts an attack. A trumpet sounds, the reinforcement arrive. Who will rescue Calamity Jane? Who sold rifles to the Indians? Will Hickok get revenge? There is a shoot-out with some soldiers. Calamity Jane brings a warning. Custer wants Bill Cody. Hickok and Cody meet for lunch. A stray Indian brings news of Custer's Last Stand. Hickok leaves for Deadwood, Cody will warn Generals Merritt and Crook. Is Hickok feeling alright? [Maybe he had the blues?] Hickok meets Lattimer. "Can't you see?" Shots are fired. They have a card game to pass the time until the Fifth Cavalry arrives. Hickok sits for his last hand. "We won't forget what Bill Hickok has done."

Those who read history books will laugh at this drama because of its distorted history. Wild Bill Hickok was a Pony Express rider, Jayhawker, Civil War scout and soldier, then a lawman on the Frontier. He once shot some rowdy soldiers but faced no charges. A "calamity" was the term for a personal illness. Bill Cody also has a real history; the most important was his show business "Wild West". Many Americans gained their knowledge from dime novels that used imagination instead of facts. The importance of this film is the propaganda history of that short era from the Civil War to the late 1870s. Easterners wrote about the "Wild West" as if it was propaganda to keep people from migrating to lands where they would have more liberty and less crime than in the settled cities of the East. The important history of the late 19th century was the rise of big corporations that attacked small businesses and farmers who settled and tamed the West.

. . . But Mr. DeMille knew plenty about biology. Though terribly historically inaccurate, this is a lovable and entertaining movie. It tells the story of Wild Bill Hickok (about fighting Indians with guns--"Keep the barrels hot, this next one's mine!"), Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane Canary, and the taming of the West. The sparks really fly between Wild Bill (Gary Cooper) and Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur)--such on-screen chemistry. You don't really want to pay much attention to the story line or plot because you are so hypnotized by Jean's wisecracks directed at Bill and her hard to disguise tomboyishy love for him--very funny and you wish you could be there in person so you could see ol' Coop turn red in the face at her attempts to get his attention. Aw shucks, ma'am.

Great action. A reflection of its times. A must for die hard Cooper fans. Historical flaws are over shadowed by casting and acting.