Pony Express

It is an enjoyable western pulled by an excellent cast, full of splendor and efficiency. It reminds me the Warner Brother films, the perfect entertainment, time waster for sunday matinees. But I repeat, the real, actual facts are totally forgotten here. The Buffallo Bill's character was not thirty years old during those events ( Charlton Heston's age ) and Buffalo Bill had not yet met Wild Bill Hickock. But Rhonda Fleming shines enough to help us forgetting those flaws. Written by Charles Marquis Warren.

A spectacular and mighty adventure in the early 1860s when America's destiny rode in the saddle bags of the Pony Express . As the Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages , newspapers , mail, and small packages from St. Joseph, Missouri, across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento, California, by horseback, using a series of relay stations . During its 19 months of operation, it reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about 10 days . When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the American West . Its reliance on the ability and endurance of individual young, hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the Frontier times . Pony Express logo was used by stagecoach and freight company Wells Fargo, which provided secure mail service . Buffalo Bill (Charlton Heston) and Wild Bill Hickock (Forrest Tucker) work to establish the short-lived Pony Express and fight Indians along with stagecoach station owners and California Separatists who seek to destroy it . Meanwhile , they fall in love for two beautiful damsels , Evelyn Hastings (Rhonda Fleming) and Denny Russell (Jan Sterling) , Calamity Jane lookalike role .

This traditional Western of the founding of mail routes westward contains thrills , rousing nice action , shootouts , Sioux Indian attacks and exuberant outdoors . Dealing with the glamorous Pony Express mail route between Saint Joseph , Missouri, and Sacramento , California during ten days , in which brave riders battling hostile Indians , cutthroats attempting on robbing , bad weather , astute bandits and many other things . As Pony Express became from April 3, 1860, to October 1861, the West's most direct means of east–west communication before the telegraph was established and was vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the United States . The main protagonists result to be two Western legends , both of them historical figures , Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock , and it doesn't check every fact . Although , the real Buffalo Bill , William F. Cody, and Wild Bill Hickock claimed to have won their spurs as young Pony Express riders, there is no evidence that they ever worked for the company ; in fact , concerning great adventures , bigger than they were in life , as the real Buffalo Bill was only 14 when the Pony Express was established . The film displays a colorful cinematography by veteran cameraman Ray Rennahan . In addition , thrilling and evocative musical score by Paul Sawtell.

The motion picture produced by Nat Holt was decently directed by Jerry Hopper , but with no enthusiasm . Hopper firstly worked for Paramount , them he crossed to Universal and immediately proved himself on more intimate subjects , particularly those with veins of comedy or sentiment . Hopper directed all kind of genres such as Western : ¨Madron¨, ¨The Bull of the West¨ ; gritty Thriller : ¨Naked alibi¨ , ¨The Atomic City¨ , ¨The square jungle¨ ; Comedy : ¨The private war of Major Benson¨with Charlton Heston ; Adventures : ¨Alaska seas¨ , ¨The Sharkfighters¨ , ¨The secret of Incas¨ and ¨The Missouri traveler¨, it was the best of Hopper's later movies before he became entrenched in television . As Jerry Hooper also filmed a great quantity of TV episodes such as ¨Voyage to the bottom of the sea¨ , ¨The fugitive¨ , ¨Perry Mason¨ , ¨Shenandoah¨ , ¨Adams family¨ , ¨Caravan¨ and ¨Gunsmoke¨.

As the Civil War looms in 1860, Buffalo Bill Cody (Charlton Heston) and Wild Bill Hickok (Forrest Tucker) team-up to help establish the Pony Express from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, enabling mail to get from East to West in 10 days rather than 3 weeks by stagecoach. But they have to deal with Separatists who seek to stop the speedy new service (e.g. Rhonda Fleming & Michael Moore), as well as hostile Indians led by chief Yellow Hand (Pat Hogan).

"Pony Express" (1953) is an entertaining enough Western with gorgeous Technicolor and a quality cast. How can you go wrong with the formidable Charlton Heston and stunning Rhonda Fleming? Winsome Jan Sterling is also on hand as a Calamity Jane-like woman with eyes for Buffalo Bill.

The Pony Express only ran for a year and a half between April, 1860, and November, 1861, wherein it was the most direct means of east-west communication before the transcontinental telegraph was completed by Western Union in late October, 1861, making the Pony Express obsolete. Despite being a financial flop, the Pony Express delivered 35,000 pieces of mail and was vital for linking the new state of California with the rest of the USA.

As usual with Hollywood (especially back then), history is mixed with fantasy or legend. While Buffalo Bill Cody almost certainly worked as a messenger boy at Leavenworth, Kansas, for the owners of the Pony Express (which is different from being a rider), he was only 14 at the time, not 29, which Heston was during shooting. Cody of course claimed to have served as a rider in his autobiography, but historians haven't been able to find proof of this (keep in mind that Cody's livelihood later in life depended on a constant larger-than-life public relations campaign). Meanwhile Cody did fight & kill Yellow Hair, but that wasn't until 1876, sixteen years after the events in the movie. I guess that's why the writers changed the name to Yellow Hand for the movie.

As for Hickok, he worked for the Pony Express at the age of 23 as a stableman at the Rock Creek station in eastern Nebraska.

Yet the movie drives home the historical reality that working for the Pony Express was a risky business as some 16 employees were killed at relay stations during the Pyramid Lake War of 1860 in Nevada (aka the Paiute War). Meanwhile 8 riders died during the 19 months the Pony Express was in operation: four were slain by hostile Natives; one was hanged for murder after he killed a man while drunk; one died in an unconnected mishap; and two froze to death. To be respected, the movie throws in an honorable cameo of mountain man Jim Bridger (Porter Hall) who discovered the Bridger Pass in south-central Wyoming in 1850, which was used for the Pony Express.

While the story could've been more compelling, "Pony Express" is relatively entertaining, lacks goofiness, and spurs viewers to look up the real history.

The film runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot in Kanab, Utah; Arizona; and Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

GRADE: B-

Directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Charlton Heston, Forrest Tucker and Rhonda Fleming, Pony Express is adapted from a story written by Frank Gruber. It revolves around the birth of the Pony Express and how it linked California to the rest of the United States, thus preventing it from becoming a separate republic. Buffalo Bill Cody (Heston) and Wild Bill Hickok (Tucker) are the principal characters in the formation of the St Joseph-Sacramento speed run that has long since passed into folklore. Very much a fictionalised account of the "Express" and its principals, this tale deals in an attempt to form a separatist movement from the Union and the trials and tribulations that Cody & Hickok go thru in order to successfully launch the "Express". Cue Indian attacks, with the Indians being armed by corrupt business men, and sinister plotting by the seemingly affable Hastings siblings (Michael Moore & Fleming).

A loose remake of the 1924/25 silent film of the same name, Hopper's movie suffers from being overlong and for spending too much time with the Hastings sub-plot. It's only when we get to the last quarter that the film gathers apace, until then we are left with only Heston's gusto and Fleming's sexuality to hold our attention. Director Hopper struggles to craft any energy from the number of dialogue driven set-ups, and even a Mano-Mano fight to the death between Cody and Yellow Hand (Pat Hogan) is undeniably flat. Thank god then for Heston giving it brio. A few years away from career defining roles, he seems to be enjoying himself and puts ebullient life into the film when it starts to sag. Fleming too is a highpoint. When not asked to lead off awful films like Bullwhip, Fleming was a more than capable actress, helped enormously by her sexiness and ability to own her scenes. She raises temperatures here considerably with one particular scene as both Jan Sterling (as Tomboy Denny) and herself each take a bath.

Thankfully the finale doesn't follow suit with what has gone before it, with Hopper gaining a little redemption with this action quarter. The momentum is built up as we approach the first "Express" run, a gunfight is well staged and the shots of the horses bolting along the plains are a joy; in particular one shot as man and beast speed off under a blood red sky (well done cinematographer Ray Rennahan). Then it's the inevitable showdown where Heston flexes his gun toting muscles and a surprise development earns the picture an extra plaudit. So a real mixed bag for sure then. Well worth a watch for Heston purists and Fleming lusters. And indeed for Western fans who are versed in the lower grade genre entries so prominent in the 1950s. But it clearly doesn't fulfil its potential and the snippets of good only further make one feel a touch annoyed once the end credit booms out from the screen. 5.5/10

Rhonda Fleming and Jan Sterling seem an unlikely pair but here they are cast in this mythical Western. I say mythical not as a compliment, but it must have got audiences in to see Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill and Forrest Tucker as Wild Bill Hickok. Both are adequate in the roles but the great ( yes, great and underrated actress ) Jan Sterling does her very best to save this mediocre film. Not as conventionally beautiful as Fleming she takes the actor honours here while Rhonda Fleming lets her. Fleming was utterly wasted in most films, but it is Jan Sterling who overcomes the waste of her talent by sheer force of presence. She has short hair and dresses like a man, and does not succumb to a dress until the approaching end. Surviving in an awful pink dress she looks ridiculous, but like a really committed actor she ignores the change. She could do anything. The cameo role in ' The High and the Mighty ' is an example of standing out above the rest, including Claire Trevor. Watch it and do not care about the plot as it is barely worth describing. But there are lots of Buffalos, lots of ' bad ' Native Americans and of course phallic gunplay between Heston and Tucker. All that was needed in 1953 for the adolescent mind.