Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

mark.waltz While this allegedly featured some real Blackfoot Native Americans in extra roles, very few of them are noticeable on screen, making this colorful western shot on its real settings a major let-down. Beautifully photographed but filled with Native American stereotypes and one dimensional supporting characters, this is only noteworthy for the strong performance of Barbara Stanwyck as Sierra Nevada Jones, the daughter of a Texas rancher who has brought her up to Montana to create a new cattle ranch on the open plains. They have only just started to set up when the Blackfoot Indians attack, leaving papa dead and Stanwyck at the mercy of the chief's kind-hearted, university educated son (a very non-native Lance Fuller). He's rivals with brother Anthony Caruso, the stereotypical white man hating native who is in cahoots with sinister rancher Gene Evans to keep infiltrators like Stanwyck off of the land he wants for himself.While the film is certainly watchable, the elements of how the natives are treated here is beyond reproach and the presence of that emotionally absent actor turned politician Ronald Reagen adds more laughability to it as a secret agent working to expose Evans. Yvette Duguay plays a native maiden jealous of Stanwyck's friendship with Fuller who betrays him to his brother. A retread of already stereotypical types roles played by Myrna Loy in the late 1920's and early 30's and Rita Moreno earlier in the 1950's, the fate of this character is obvious from the moment she is introduced.If it wasn't for Stanwyck and the beautiful color location photography, I would rank this as a total bore not worth wasting time on. But with her incredible feisty performance and ability to do her own stunts, Stanwyck makes every mediocre action film she ever made worth seeing. Just forget about the presence of a future Republican president (then supposedly democrat) and focus on the toughest legendary movie star ever to ride over the range.

discount1957 Perhaps the most uncomplicated of America's classic directors, Dwan made a series of films in the fifties for producer Bogeaus that allowed him a degree of flexibility he'd been unused to since the silent days. Cattle Queen of Montana, the tale of Stanwyck's struggles to hold on to the property of her murdered father, is beautifully lit by cinematographer Alton, the great unsung Hollywood cameraman. It evokes a world of easeful innocence far removed from the cynicism and violence that was the norm in the Western of the fifties. Reagan is the mysterious gunman who comes to Stanwyck's rescue. Stanwyck, who did all her own stunts, so impressed the Blackfeet Indians hired as extras that they made her a blood sister, and gave her the Indian name of Princess Many Victories.Phil Hardy

garyldibert Title: Cattle Queen of Montana opened in theaters on November 18, 1954 and it was 88 minutes long. Cattle Queen of Montana is an American Western film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Jack Elam, Chubby Johnson, and Morris Ankrum, and Allan Dwan directed the movie.Summary: Filmed on location at Montana's Glacier National Park, Cattle Queen of Montana makes excellent use of the diverse talents of Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. Stanwyck is cast as Sierra Nevada Jones... read more, who hopes to stake her claim in the cattle business despite opposition from hostile land barons. Government agent Farrell helps her along, even though he's officially on hand to find out who's been inciting the local Indian tribes into attacking the whites. Lance Fuller delivers a well-balanced performance as Colorados, a college-educated Indian chief who hopes to bring peace to the land. Long a fixture of TV's Late Shows, Cattle Queen of Montana was briefly reissued theatrically when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi My thoughts: Based on the scenery and the cattle I give this movie 7 weasel stars.

NewEnglandPat Barbara Stanwyck stars as hard-riding redhead who is out to reclaim land and cattle stolen from her by an unscrupulous rancher in cahoots with hostile Indians. Many of the standard western movie clichés make up the story so there isn't anything new here. Ronald Reagan appears as an undercover government agent investigating unlawful distribution of rifles to the Indians and has trouble keeping Stanwyck out of harm's way. Lance Fuller is a college-educated Indian who wants his people to walk in the ways of the white man. Anthony Caruso, who was great at portraying villains, is on target as a bad Indian who's in cahoots with Gene Evans who conspires to drive Jones off her rightful claim to the valley. The picture also has a wealth of great character actors such as Myron Healy, Jack Elam, Morris Ankrum, Chubby Johnson and Rod Redwing. The film has fine technicolor lensing and an okay music score.