Spikeopath Montana is directed by Ray Enright and adapted to screenplay by James R. Webb, Borden Chase and Charles O'Neal from a story by Ernest Haycox. It stars Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S.Z. Sakall, Douglas Kennedy, James Brown and Ian MacDonald. A Technicolor production with cinematography by Karl Freund and music by David Buttolph.Flynn plays an Australian sheepman who comes to Montana looking for grazing space but finds local ranchers and a wealthy cattle-woman are greatly opposed to his plans.Warning! Sheepherders Passing This Point Will Be Shot On Sight.Just how many films are out there about the Sheep Vs Cattle Wars? What an interesting subject, that cattle ranchers were convinced that sheep were detrimental to the land and therefore a threat to the beef money market. This forms the basis for Montana, a modest budgeted production that never the less has glorious Technicolor to digest and Errol Flynn as a tough handsome dude.Much of the film is given to talking about the sheep and cattle conundrum, with some duplicitous behaviour, ulterior motives and political nest feathering thrown in for good measure. Naturally there's a fiery romance bubbling away between Flynn and Smith, where they even duet on a song, "Reckon I'm In Love", while there's fist-fights, stampedes and some buckaroo to achieve the action quotient on "B" movie par. Some bad rear projection work shows its face from time to time, a shame because there's a lot of nice scenic photography to enjoy. But the best feature away from Flynn being Flynn, is that Technicolor photography, check out Smith's flame red hair and eyes chipped from Kryptonite, a dinner sequence rich in colour composition or just how the costumes burst out of the screen. This is a beautiful movie to look at even if it's routinely scripted from the page. 6.5/10

wolflair-1 Reminds me a little of the Glenn Ford movie, "The Sheepman". Glenn Ford also brought sheep into bovine territory. I always like that movie and then just discovered this one on TCM this morning. Errol Flynn is one of my favorite actors and this little jewel will be added to my collection. The movies a classic B movie. But Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith was able to pull it off. And to the person who called his sheepdog a mutt: that was a blue merle collie and could very well be my dog's great-great parent. Mac looked exactly like that. We lost him last year to cancer. This makes the movie even more cherished to me. I just purchased it on Amazon!

zardoz-13 This lackluster Errol Flynn oater qualifies as one of his minor efforts. Clocking in at a sheer 73 minutes, "Montana" doesn't waste its time getting down to basics, but the narrative has its lapses. One character shows up and then is gone without an explanation. The performances are good and the Warner Brothers production values are bed-rock. Seasoned western writers such as James R. Webb and Borden Chase penned the screenplay, but they deliver little in the way of memorable dialogue and there are absolutely no surprises in this formulaic horse opera. Some of the situations, like our hero being duped into riding an unbreakable bronco, are old hat.Basically, Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn of "The Sea Hawk") plunges his flock of sheep into cattle country in 1879 and the cowboys refuse to tolerate these sheep-nanigans. No sooner has Lane and his flock entered cattle country than the cowboys descend on them at night with their guns blazing death. An unarmed, young Mexican shepherd becomes the first casualty with a bullet in the back. The following day Lane and company encounter Papa Otto Schultz (S.Z. Sakall of "Casablanca") who drives his peddler's wagon into their camp. Lane and Papa Otto become partners almost instantly and the two ride into Fort Humboldt to peddle his wares. Initially, Lane receives a chilly reception in the Little Big Horn Saloon where Slim Reeves (Ian MacDonald of "High Noon") goads him into a showdown after he labels Lane a sheep-man. Although he knows that it isn't any of his business, a bearded, leathery-looking Tecumseh Burke (Paul E. Burns of "Son of Paleface") pokes his nose into the confrontation. The older gunman offers Lane the use of his hardware since our hero doesn't pack a pistol. Tecumseh warns Lane that the trigger is tied back and he will have to fan the weapon. Slim shoves the holstered revolver and gun belt at Lane. Everybody clears out of the way so the two can shoot it out. Tecumseh starts the countdown to three, but the bushwhacking skunk that Slim is tries to shuck his six-shooter on two. Lane blows the revolver neatly out of his adversary's fist as easily as he might blow out a candle. The ruffian apologizes because he insists no sheepman could possibly wield a shooting iron with such dexterity."Montana" features a romance between the principal players. Predictably, it doesn't take our hero long to meet, greet, and get sweet with cattle queen Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith of "San Antonio"), even though she is engaged to marry rancher Rod Ackroyd. Lane has Maria eating out of his hand after he wagers that he can ride a bronco that nobody else has managed to stay aboard for a full minute. Sneaky Reeves whittles away at the cinch and Lane barely missing staying in the leather long enough. Apparently, the colossal loss of money that Papa sacrificed not only drove him out of his partnership with Lane but also out of the movie. Papa vanishes and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, Maria decides to lease Lane some land to run his steers on since he didn't tame the bronco. At this point, things take a turn for the worse for our protagonist. Inexplicably, Lane's sheep dog Jeanne prances into town that same day that Lane steps outside the bank with Maria with the lease for the land. Reeves and his cohorts expose Lane as a sheepman when the mutt goes to him. Naturally, Maria is furious, but what she doesn't know is that her fiancée has been two-timing her with the lawman's girlfriend. Indeed, the lawman, Sheriff Jake Overby (Lane Chandler of "Samson and Delilah") doesn't know that he, too, is being two-timed.Meantime, the ornery cattlemen cannot shed their deep-seated prejudice toward the mutton-minded Lane. Lane argues that sheep and cattle can get along together. He has seen it in Mexico, but the cattlemen don't believe him. Gunslinging cattleman Rod Ackroyd (Douglas Kennedy of "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold") leads the charge against Lane and his sheep and bites the dust. The showdown in front street at the end of the action looks like a mild imitation of "Red River" with our colorful heroine shooting the man that she loves. Flynn was looking a mite long in the tooth when he made this oater and the alcohol had robbed him of his spontaneity but not his charm. He looks a little more heavyset than usual. Smith doesn't look like she has changed since their last collaboration on "San Antonio" except that her outfits aren't as flamboyant. Mind you, she is a bit more hard-hearted and tough as a cattle queen who lost her father and brother in the war against the sheep herders."Montana" doesn't rank in the same league with Flynn's more prestigious westerns like "Dodge City," "Virginia City," and "They Died With Their Boots On." In fact, "Montana" rates as one of his least appealing westerns. At least the Technicolor makes this modest western look good. Strangely, the peddler that Sakall plays vanishes inexplicably from the action. If you want to see a genuinely entertaining cattle versus sheep western, watch director George Marshall's comedy western "The Sheepman" (1958) with Glenn Ford.

bkoganbing Montana with a running time of only 77 minutes has to be some kind of record for Errol Flynn while he was Warner Brothers for shortest feature film. Some of the B westerns with Dick Foran back from the Thirties had longer running times than Montana.My suspicion is that Montana is nothing more than a pumped up B film, it certainly does not have as expensive a look to it as say The Adventures of Don Juan which Flynn did the year before. The plot is a simple one and it's the only time that Errol Flynn actually played someone of his nationality which was Australian. Flynn for reasons left unexplained by the film has decided to leave Australia and homestead new country for sheep raising in the Big Sky country of Montana territory.Naturally this upsets the local cattle ranchers and two of the biggest in the area are Alexis Smith and Douglas Kennedy who are about to make a personal and business merger. But once Flynn gets into the picture he certainly makes Alexis see the error of her ways about him and about sheep in that order.As a film, Montana relies heavily on the considerable charm of Errol Flynn to bring it off. Bring it off he does, but Montana certainly will not rank high in the best of Errol Flynn list anyone compiles.But someone out there was really impressed with the film. Back in the day when I lived in Brooklyn there was a judge who must have loved this film as a lad. He thought Errol's character name of Morgan Lane had character so he changed his own name to Morgan Lane from some Jewish sounding ethnic name. Of course that was before he became a lawyer and eventually a judge.The second thing Montana is known for is a nice little cowboy duet that Errol and Alexis sing called Reckon I'm In Love. It's nice little ditty and one of only a few times Mr. Flynn got to sing in films. I recall he sang in Thank Your Lucky Stars and in Let's Make Up and that's about it in the vocalizing department. You might watch Montana for entertainment, but who knows if it will actually move you to change your name.