dougdoepke
Tongue-in-cheek western that's better than it had any right to be. That's mainly because TCF went to the expense of filming in southwestern Colorado, arguably the state's most scenic part. Plus, the lead actors come through in vivid fashion—a charmingly affable Dan Dailey, a spunkily convincing Anne Baxter, and those two grand old grouches Walter Brennan and Will Wright. And shouldn't overlook Chief Yowlachie as the superbly deadpan Indian manikin. Then too, the story's just wacky enough to separate from the oater pack. Seems a new railroad has to get to Tomahawk to qualify for an exclusive contract. Trouble is this would cause the stage line to go belly-up, so guess who's sabotaging the rail line's effort. And that's along with hostile Indians and 40 miles of missing track. Good thing toughie Baxter's along with her gunslinging skills, along with a pack train of sturdy horses.I love dad Wright's effort at explaining the birds and the bees to his flummoxed daughter Baxter. Too often the actress over-emoted in her parts, but not here. She's near perfect as the thoroughly virginal tomboy, that is, until the winning Dailey teaches her how to "buss". I guess my only reservation is with the Indian attack. It's much too conventional for a movie like this, and should have been finessed in slightly humorous fashion. Looks like it might have been included as a concession to audiences expecting something more traditional. Anyway, catch Marilyn Monroe in the fluffy yellow outfit among the four dancers getting a brief musical number. Overall, the elements come together in generally delightful fashion, making the movie something of a minor sleeper, thanks mainly to TCF's handsome budgeting and an outstanding cast.
bkoganbing
Anne Baxter gets to do a Calamity Jane type role in A Ticket To Tomahawk where she is a hard riding fast shooting deputy to her father Will Wright. If Anne sang as well as acted, you'd swear she would have been poaching on territory established by Betty Hutton and later by Doris Day.But the music is left to traveling man Dan Dailey who gets innocently dragooned into an attempted killing of her father. Wright and Baxter dispatch the perpetrators involved easily. Dailey can't ride and shoot as well as Baxter, but he's loaded with charm and in one instance an interesting friend in high places.To complete the terms of a contract a Hooterville Cannonball type train must make a run to the frontier terminus of Tomahawk in Colorado. But their are a couple of miles of track missing for engineer Walter Brennan and fireman Arthur Hunnicutt to surmount. Never mind everybody pitches in and the results are ingenious and pretty funny.Of course the owner of the existing stagecoach line is doing what he can to prevent the railroad from completing its mission. And they've got a spy in the railroad crowd in the person of devilishly charming and deadly Rory Calhoun. He's making some moves on Baxter and arousing the concern and jealousy of many.Along for the trip are the troupe of entertainers that Connie Gilchrist heads. Look sharp and you'll see young Marilyn Monroe as one of the entertainers.A Ticket To Tomahawk is a pleasant and entertaining western with nice musical interludes and dead shot Anne Baxter who learns she can't get a man with a gun.
weezeralfalfa
A feel good, moderately entertaining western farce, along the lines of 'Calamity Jane' and 'Anne Get your Gun', but mostly lacking the musical aspects of these better known films of the same early '50s era. Actually, Anne Baxter(Kit) had played a rather similar tomboy with an itchy trigger finger a couple of years earlier , in the conventional western "Yellow Sky". It does feature the versatile and likable Dan Daily, who did star in quite a few lesser known musical comedy romances, perhaps most notably, several with Betty Grable. Dan plays a small time traveling salesman and con artist who journeys to a small town(Epitah) in western Colorado by train, on its maiden trip, with Walter Brennan as the engineer. Anne stars as the cute seemingly naive Calamity Jane-like granddaughter(Kit Dodge) of the town sheriff, who takes an immediate dislike toward Dan's character. Marilyn Monroe, in one of her early bit parts, is one of the show girls in a traveling troop, that happens to land in Epitah about the same time as Dan.One of those rare westerns actually shot, mostly, in the region it is scripted to be in(in the mountainous region near Durango, making use of the Denver and Rio Grande railway). The main plot involves the mostly botched attempts of the local stage line owner to sabotage the coming train line. The other significant aspect of the plot is the initial blatant hostility of Kit toward Dan's character, which gradually changes to an unlikely infatuation. True, Dan seems rootless and superficial, but he has seen much of the world, in contrast to Kit's lack of experience in the world beyond her little corner of Colorado. Included is a very strange parade-like train trip from Epitah to Tomahawk(both bogus town names for CO) with no rails for the first portion of the trip, the train being pulled by a team of horses, and the showgirls following in a stagecoach! Later, a war party of Arapahoes attack, stirred to action by the stage line owner. The Chinese train passenger plays a surprise role in finally scaring off the war party. Also, it's discovered that the chief used to be in a Wild West show with Dan! Thus, the remaining Arapahoes switch sides and help fight the would-be train saboteurs. There follows a stolen train and fight to reclaim the train. Dan is involved in the heroics, but the fleeing stage line owner appropriately is done in by a tomahawk. Dan and Kit have to decide whether they want to make their whirlwind association permanent. Be prepared for a 'surprise' flip flop. Evidently, Kit made good on her threat to give Dan a permanent limp to discourage his resumption of a wanderlust lifestyle!
