The Plainsman

Starring:Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen Burgess, Porter Hall, Paul Harvey, Victor Varconi, John Miljan, Frank McGlynn Sr., Granville Bates, Frank Albertson, Purnell Pratt, Fred Kohler, Pat Moriarity, Charles Judels, Harry Woods, Anthony Quinn, Francis McDonald, George Ernest
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Just maybe the most shamelessly enjoyable of Cecil B. DeMille's pseudo-historical epics, this rumbustious frontier saga offers a three-for-one Western legends combo--Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane, all cutting up in the 1870s, with George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln thrown in for good measure. (Wait a minute, Lincoln was assassinated in 1865--oh, never mind.) Truth to tell, Buffalo Bill doesn't really pull his weight, since (1) he is hopelessly distracted by virtue of having recently married and (2) he's played by James Ellison, an eternal juvenile normally relegated to second-banana duty in Paramount's Hopalong Cassidy series. However, Gary Cooper's Wild Bill and Jean Arthur's Calamity supply enough star power to light up the Dakotas and parts of Missouri.

Amazon.com

Just maybe the most shamelessly enjoyable of Cecil B. DeMille's pseudo-historical epics, this rumbustious frontier saga offers a three-for-one Western legends combo--Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane, all cutting up in the 1870s, with George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln thrown in for good measure. (Wait a minute, Lincoln was assassinated in 1865--oh, never mind.) Truth to tell, Buffalo Bill doesn't really pull his weight, since (1) he is hopelessly distracted by virtue of having recently married and (2) he's played by James Ellison, an eternal juvenile normally relegated to second-banana duty in Paramount's Hopalong Cassidy series. However, Gary Cooper's Wild Bill and Jean Arthur's Calamity supply enough star power to light up the Dakotas and parts of Missouri.

Customer Reviews:

Obscure battlefield accurately depicted.......2006-06-20

As someone who has actually been to the hard-to-find Beecher's Island battlefield site (in the badlands of NE Colorado), I was pleasantly amazed to note how accurately the terrain is depicted in "The Plainsman." I have been to the sites of other notable Indian fights, including both the Fetterman Massacre and Little Big Horn, and although distinctive in their own ways, they are basically just dusty hills in barren grasslands. Beecher's Island was different. It occured near a rare shady spot along a "river" which now is usually nothing but a dry shallow gulch running through some private grazing land; at the time of Major Forsyth's engagement with the Cheyenne under Roman Nose the Arikara River was a formidable obstacle with a few spits of sandy ground--the "island"-jutting up in the middle. At one end of the gulch/river bed there is a bluff some fifty feet or so high from behind which the Cheyenne formed, launched their charges, and rallied. At the summit of the bluff lies Roman Nose, killed in the battle, his lonely grave marker still (as of the mid-1990s) faithfully tended by unknown locals. The "island" itself looked completely unlike any other battlefield of the Plains Indian Wars, being tiny, made of sand, and strewn with dirftwood, which Forsyth and his little band formed into a sort of breastworks.

Almost all of this terrain is faithfully recreated in "The Plainsman." Obviously DeMille didn't shoot this in the Colorado Badlands; there was a contemporary pencil sketch in Harper's Weekly, and perhaps they based the scene on that. Whatever the reason, I was impressed. Now, if only they had had the Buffalo Soldiers rescue Forsyth's party, as they did in reality (a monument to them is present at the battlefield). . . .

I would be curious to know if anyone else has some insight into this?

The three stars are a compromise: 4 for entertainment value, 2.5 for historical accuracy.

western classic.......2006-03-11

it is a classic western with legendary western
characters such as wild bill hickock, calamity jane,
george custer, and buffalo bill cody. it is also
one of the better films with gary cooper where his
natural charm comes through. it does not disappoint
fans of westerns.

Faux Historical Epic; Nevertheless Engaging Entertainment!.......2005-03-06

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!

FAUX HISTORICAL EPIC - FLASHY BUT INACCURATE.......2004-06-02

"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!

CALAMITY JANE.......2001-11-03

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.

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