August 23, 1940
When the Daltons Rode
By BOSLEY CROWTHER
Published: August 23, 1940
Of one thing you may be sure: Universal will never make a sequel to "When the Daltons Rode." No, sir, friends, you'll never see a "Return of Bob Dalton," for coincidence, or "The Daltons Ride Again"—not within the realm of reason, anyhow. For the climax of this titanic Western, which blasted its way into Loew's State and eleven other theatres in the metropolitan area yesterday, results in such wholesale tribal slaughter, such a complete patrilineal blackout of the clan, that "When the Daltons Rode" is decisively the last of the Daltons. We have long wanted to see one of these shootin' pictures in which the final scene is a smoking ruin with everybody dead. This one comes mighty close to being it. At the fade-out there are only a few pious and inconsequential folk, like Randolph Scott and Kay Francis, standing around. The Dalton gang is no more.
But, boy, while those buckos are living, they certinly do put on a show! Like the James brothers before them—or, at least, like the Twentieth Century-Fox Jameses—they start out a law-abiding family of Kansas farmers, back about 1891. But when the inevitable railroad "land grabbers" try to move in on them, when one of the boys accidentally kills a villain and it looks like the end of a rope for him, th??? brothers automatically constitute themselves a fraternity of fighting fiends, go marauding around the country robbing banks and sticking up trains and eventually go down in a furious battle with their backs against the walls of Coffeyville, Kan.
We wouldn't like to suggest that this is the true saga of the famous Dalton gang. Neither would we highly recommend the romantic by-play of Miss Francis nor the ineffectual intervention of Mr. Scott in the plot. But we will say that Brian Donlevy, Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine and others of the gang make some fine desperados; the picture itself is straight, fast Western fare, and for folks who like plenty of shootin', here is your gunpowder.
At Loew's State
WHEN THE DALTONS RODE; original screen play by Harold Shumate; based on the story. "When the Daltons Rode." by Emmett Dalton and Jack Jungmeyer Sr., directed by George Marshall for Universal Pictures. At Loew's State.
Tod Jackson . . . . . Randolph Scott
Julie King . . . . . Kay Francis
Grat Dalton . . . . . Brian Donlevy
Caleb Winters . . . . . George Bancroft
Bob Dalton . . . . . Broderick Crawford
Ben Dalton . . . . . Stuart Erwin
Ozark . . . . . Andy Devine
Emmett Dalton . . . . . Frank Albertson
Ma Dalton . . . . . Mary Gordon
Rigby . . . . . Harry Stephens
Sheriff . . . . . Edgar Deering
Wilson . . . . . Quen Ramsey
Nancy . . . . . Dorothy Grainger
Photographer . . . . . Bob McKenzie
Hannah . . . . . Fay McKenzie
Suzy . . . . . June Wilkins
Judge Swain . . . . . Walter Soderling
This film is noted for its outstanding stunt work, some of the best ever done in a Western. In one tricky stunt, men on horseback jump from a moving train and then ride off down a sandy incline. Another has the men take over a fast moving stage by jumping onto it from their pursuing horses.
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