Dakota Incident

"Dakota Incident" is a film made with TruColor film stock. Surprisingly, unlike the first generation of TruColor stock, it really does have true color, as it uses three colors to create the whole spectrum of colors. The original was a two-color process....one that made a kind of color palate...one that is much more orange-green than true color. Sadly, despite this, the print on YouTube is also very fuzzy....and you can't truly enjoy the film stock.

The story spends much of its time in a small town. John (Dale Robertson) arrives there, angry, because his two partners shot him and left him for dead....and now he wants revenge. But John isn't quite as bloodthirsty as you'd expect and after shooting only one of them in self-defense, he and a group of folks board the stage coach for Laramie.

On the way, their stage coach is attacked by some of the natives. This really challenges the beliefs of one of the members of the group, the Senator (Ward Bond), who is for trying to make peace with the Indians. And, the rest of the film consists of the small group slowly getting picked off as they're out of water and trapped in a ravine.

This is a very tense film...and well made. I was also surprised because it seemed to have a message that Indians are horrible murderers...though by the end, that is fortunately not the case. Well made, well acted and well worth seeing.

Dakota Incident is a curiosity for several reasons. It will be obvious from the start that it was made long before anyone ever thought of political correctness. Although, the Ward Bond character softens the edge with "maybe we can communicate with them, after all they're humans, too" type of dialogue. His part stands side-by-side with the preacher attemtping to communicate with the Martians in War of the Worlds. In fact, it's uncanny. The title is curious too. Use of the word "Incident" contributes an importance and sophistication to the film that probably didn't hurt boxoffice. The contrived assortment of characters and Linda Darnell's fancy dress and hat are wonderful dated touches that make Dakota Incident a cool western artifact from the mid-fifties.

A cracking start to this 1956 western which unfortunately tends to slow up towards the end. I loved watching Dale Robertson as Jim Hardie in Well Fargo on TV with his quick draw left handed gun belt, when I was a kid. I notice one reviewer here says 'No Major Stars' which made me smile a bit, as I imagine the author is from a more recent generation of film and TV fans. Linda Darnell was certainly a major star in the 1940's in films like My Darling Clementine and both Dale Robertson and Ward Bond were major TV western stars in the 1950's/60's in Wells Fargo as mentioned and Wagon Train, in fact their stars grew after this film Dakota Incident was made in 1956. Sadly Linda Darnell died in a house fire in 1965 at the young age of 41. As I said earlier, the film opens with a terrific scene involving three outlaws who fall out which climaxes in a street gunfight, obviously with that famous left handed gun being the winner. All this in the first half hour, after which the story involves a coach being pulled into town with all the occupants dead due to an Indian attack. Several residents want a ride on the coach to Laramie and insist on going so our hero, Robertson takes on the task. There follows more Indian attacks and double crossing until just a handful of characters are left alive, and regrettably the picture ends with a rather predictable toned down ending which is rather disappointing for a film that started out so promising. If only the second half had lived up to the first I would have recommended it more highly.

Dakota Incident is a minor western with a pretty decent cast. A stagecoach of very different people is attacked by Indians and have to band together to survive.

The set up is pretty slow as it introduces the main characters but there are some decent scenes before the main event begins, certainly enough to keep you watching. If I'm being honest I found the lead Dale Robertson to be a bit annoying but the supporting cast especially John Lund and Ward Bond are pretty good. The real star though is the beautiful Linda Darnell who is great as the strong but alluring Amy Clarke.

On the downside at times it's a bit too talky for it's own good which does slow the pace too much at times. There is no effort to portray the Indians as anything other than the generic bad guys apart from the character of Senator Blakely who sees them as more than that.

This is a western that ticks most of the boxes tumbleweed, saloons, card games, gunfights, howling coyotes, Indians, stagecoaches, good looking young woman. The lot. So for all it's faults this is still an enjoyable western if by no means a classic.

As an American actor/ screenwriter who loves Westerns, I find "The Dakota Incident" a hidden classic, with it's deft dialogue and uniquely clever romance between the lovely, talented Linda Darnell and the surprisingly skillful Dale Robertson. The scene where they are trapped in the dry wash in the desert and playfully fence with each other, is priceless. When Darnell says, "You throw all the rules right out the window, don't you?" And Robertson replies, "That's just the way you like it, barroom style", is one of the best moments in Western films. A very, underrated Western.... Beau Dare.