Watch Santa Fe Passage For Free

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Although this is director William Witney's best film, it seems to have been overlooked by most critics, including Paul Simpson who doesn't even mention Witney at all in his "Rough Guide to Westerns" (2006). Witney was the guy who turned Roy Rogers from a singing clothes horse into a tough hell-fighting hero. This film, however, stars John Payne, then at the height of his box office appeal, thanks to vigorous promoting by Howard Hughes at RKO. Yet somehow the Payne name didn't work its usual magic. In fact, the movie suffered a bad break right from the beginning. Although it was made on an "A" budget, it wasn't even released in New York. Consequently, no reviews from the country's most prestigious critics. Even a thumbs down collection of reviews from New York is better than no reviews at all. Anyway, although there are a few obvious studio scenes, this little gem was photographed for the most part on actual locations in Utah. Director Witney and his photographer make such atmospheric use of desert browns and reds sharply outlined against powerful blue skylines, the film is always a wonder to look at. It's chock full of action and great stunts (never mind that some of the stunt players are a little too obvious at times), but nevertheless directed with a bit of style as well as pace and vigor. The interesting support cast lines up Rod Cameron – playing the heavy for once – and Leo Gordon giving his usual vigorous study in villainy. No expense was spared on full throttle running inserts for the action spots. At 90 minutes, the movie is maybe a bit talky, and the plot is pretty predictable. But all the same, it's entertaining, exciting, and great to look at. Based on an Esquire magazine story.

John Payne plays Kirby Randolph, a disgraced Indian scout who along with his trusty side-kick Sam Beekman (Slim Pickens) finally gets hired by Aurelie St. Clair (Faith Domergue) & Jess Griswold (Rod Cameron) to escort a wagon load of guns through Indian territory. With the past hanging over him like a bad smell and the Indians on their trail, the last thing Kirby needs is Aurelie catching his eye. Especially since she's Griswold's girl. This is sure to be one perilous and life changing journey.There's a lot of common words been used in reviews for this William Witney directed film. Routine, different, exciting, boring & unusual, all of which proves just how divisive cinema can be. Adapted by Lillie Hayward from an Esquire Magazine story written by Heck Allen, Santa Fe Passage is out of Republic Pictures and is shot in the Trucolor process on location at St. George, Utah {Bud Thackery photographs}. Personally speaking I found the film something of a chore to get thru, which in a Western that has a high action quota is some what surprising to me. A lot of it can be put down to the wooden acting from the principals and the rather bland screenplay.Payne never convinced in Western's, and here he is showed up by the reliable Pickens. In fact ex-convict Leo Gordon who is also in the piece would probably have been a better choice for the lead role of Kirby! Domergue is a picture of doe eyed sexuality, her engaging features benefiting from one of Republic's better color prints, but she struggles with the meandering script and looks bored in love scenes with old stiff Payne. Worst of the bunch tho is Irene Tedrow as squaw Ptewaquin, if you manage not to laugh then you deserve a medal.The failings in the cast are a shame because Witney manfully does a good job with the action. A horse stampede and two Indian attacks are real entertaining highlights fit to be in some other higher budgeted Western. But then the focus has to revert back to uninteresting characters being given uninteresting portrayals. It's clear what the makers were trying to do. The old Anti-Western/Anti-Racist core to be mixed with action and a potential complex love triangle, looks good on paper. But when you come out of the film only remembering Domergue's green eyes and an unintentional comedy squaw character, well you got problems. A creaky 4/10 from me.

Perhaps most interesting about this memorable B+ western is that it's the only Republic color western that doesn't look like a Republic color western - meaning that their usual color film stock, which makes everything appear to be a bizarre blend of soft blues and hot pinks, is not what we see. Rather, this looks (and feels) like one of oaters that Columbia Studios churned out at that time, particularly in terms of the color stock that was employed, and the only dead give away that this is indeed from Republic is the presence of Rod Cameron, one of their stock company members, as the second male lead who veers back and forth between being an okay fellow and a total villain, adding a patina of interest to the characterization. The plot itself is quite fascinating: John Payne plays a frontier scout who, along with his gruff sidekick (Slim Pickens), was disgraced when he tried to trick some Indians into letting his wagon train through hostile territory and inadvertently got the pioneers massacred. No one will hire him until he gets a job with a 'questionable' train run by Cameron and a gorgeous woman (Faith Domergue). Cameron wants to marry her, and doesn't care one whit that she's a halfbreed. But Payne, who has developed a fierce and vicious prejudice against all Indians owing to the despoiling of his reputation, fumes at her racial background - even as he too falls in love with her, creating an intriguing romantic triangle. Ultra PC types might mistake this for a racist western, though in truth its anti-western, as the hero arcs away from his own absurd prejudices and comes to accept her as a person. Slim Pickens is, as always, a joy to watch, particularly when high atop his bucking mule that would also be used in Walt Disney's THE SAGA OF ANDY BURNETT two years later. Terrific skirmishes with the Indian warriors, all of them well staged by William Witney, an old hand at above average B westerns.

A scout with a questionable reputation guides a wagon train through hostile Indian country in an okay but predictable western. John Payne and Rod Cameron are the top cast names and their main interest here is a half-breed girl as the train makes its way to Santa Fe. Good support is given by Slim Pickens, Anthony Caruso and Leo Gordon, old hands in the western genre, and Faith Domergue does what she can with a one-dimensional role. The action is decent and a wild horse stampede adds excitement to the film but otherwise there's nothing about the movie that separates it from dozens of others of its type. The picture has beautiful camera work and displays pretty Utah landscapes to good advantage. The film was based on a novel by Clay Fisher who had some of his other works made into excellent westerns.