Dodge City

Dodge City. 1939 Warner Bros. Pictures/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Bruce Cabot, Alan Hale, Victor Jory, Ann Sheridan, Frank McHugh
Director: Michael Curtiz
Available from Amazon: Single DVD. Or, as part of the Errol Flynn Signature Collection.

Filmed in glorious Technicolor. This was the first western filmed with that process.

A few years after the railroad's arrival, Dodge City, Kansas is a rowdy cattle town; "the town that knew no ethics but cash and killing". Jeff Surrett (Cabot) and his boys literally get away with murder while they have control over the new outpost (they've even installed one of Surrett's friends as a sheriff).

Wade Hatton (Flynn) leads a large group of settlers from the east. Hatton is also surprised at just how out of control life in Dodge City really is. He is asked by several citizens to take over as sheriff, which he finally agrees to after a young boy is accidentally killed by Surrett and his men. Teaming up with his sidekick Rusty (Hale), Wade gradually cleans up Dodge City, and finds himself having to persuade a mob from lynching one of Surrett's thugs after his arrest.

In the end, Hatton and his new love Abbie (de Havilland) settle down in the newly civilized Dodge City, but when he is asked to become sheriff of Virginia City, Nevada, they quickly join the next wagon train.

This is actually a very influential western movie, influencing dozens of movies in that genre, as well as more importantly, Blazing Saddles. Recommended.