Watch Rocky Mountain For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent but underrated film

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Rocky Mountain is directed by William Keighley and written by Winston Miller and Alan Le May. It stars Errol Flynn, Patrice Wymore, Scott Forbes, Guinn Williams, Dick Jones, Howard Petrie and Slim Pickens. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Ted McCord.Tell you what's funny, I was all set to write the prologue to this film as an opener to the review. Taken from a marker that sits at the foot of the actual Rocky Mountain (AKA: Ghost Mountain), it tells us of the noble fact that forms the basis of the story - whist also telling us of the outcome! Couple this with a narration device by our Errol, then you have two rather annoying things that stop this from being high echelon Western film making. As it is, it's a great film regardless.Plot has Flynn leading a small group of Confederates into California to hopefully curry favour from Cole Smith (Petrie). Smith has a considerable army of outlaws that the Southern Confederates could use in the hope of staving off defeat to the Union forces. Fate, circumstance and matters of honour are set to play their hands. It was to be Errol Flynn's last Western venture, the last of his work in a genre he was not particularly fond of. How strange to find then that it's actually his best Western film performance. Paired with a director clearly able to tap into something more than being a flirtatious good looking hero, Flynn gives Captain Lafe Barstow a dignified elegance, becoming a leader of men of some considerable substance - and crucially he has screenwriters and producers willing to give us a sombre story.Filmed out in New Mexico, the surrounds magnificent, it's brilliant how Keighley and McCord cloak the story in a claustrophobic aura. There's a sense of strife as a constant, even as heroic posturing asks us to thump the chest and shout rah rah rah. Flynn's men are a great bunch, lovable tough boy rogues each with their own fallible core, while the mystery element of Cole Smith's involvement in proceedings, and that of the looming Indian War, keeps the narrative interesting.Wymore would soon become the next in line of Flynn's wives, but there's no hint of it here, the production team writing the characters apart in strong and believable fashion. Wymore's performance is merely ok, but it's not a token job and with so much machismo about it speaks volumes that Wymore and her character are welcome and crucial to the story's soul. Comic relief is kept to an absolute minimum, rightly so, the only jovial sightings here are that when the canine of the piece is in flight, where Steiner steps away from moody Civil War flavours for a bit of jolification.It is however with the ending where the film could have died on its own sword or thrive, having asked us to invest greatly in Barstow's own - Magnificent Seven - Wild Bunch - The Professionals etc, we need to care about the outcome, to feel it. And we do. The action excites, the stunts and speedy set plays hold court, then the heroism and chest pushed out bravery of it all pays us off - capped off by a character order that tingles the senses as Steiner gives us a "Dixie" lament.This may not have the bluster of Flynn's other more well known Westerns, and certainly it's not one to be picking up if one is after a mood lifter. It is however a must for those who believe those critics who even today still write of him being a plastic actor, because given the right director, the right material on the page, then Flynn had substance in his locker. It's also one for Western fans to seek out who want more than just your hooray glossy frontage. 8/10

This is Errol Flynn's last western, and although it lacks the complex plot, scope and Technicolor of some of his other westerns, it's probably his best performance. This is because he's a bit older and less the sexy romantic lead here--and his performance is more subdued and believable. Now this is NOT to say it's his most enjoyable western--VIRGINIA CITY and DODGE CITY both were more fun although Flynn never did seem particularly well suited to these roles--particularly because of his Australian accent and his decidedly non-Western image.The film is highly reminiscent of several other westerns of the day. In a very familiar plot, Flynn is in charge of a mission for the Confederate army--and it takes him undercover into the American West. Randolph Scott made a couple films like this and when I saw the film unfold, it was like a case of déjà vu. However, while filled with familiar plot elements, it all seemed to work pretty well--as Flynn underplayed his role as the leader of this expedition.Although the group's plan is to stir up trouble and create an army of Confederate bandits to harass the settlers, they stumble into an Indian uprising. Because they choose to help a wagon coming under attack, they themselves become the quarry. Instead of meeting up with rebels, they spend most of the film stuck...waiting for the inevitable Indian attack that will finish them. Surprisingly, this movie ended on a rather downbeat and more realistic manner than the typical Warner Brothers western. In particular, Flynn is NOT so indestructible and anyone looking for him to get the girl or have a happy ending is in for a big surprise! While I liked this downbeat ending since it was rather novel, some will undoubtedly dislike it. I admire it for trying to be a bit different.Overall, it's not a great film but still highly enjoyable and well made. For fans of westerns, Flynn or Warner Brothers programmers, this is well worth seeing and sadly it seems to rarely come on television. I saw it on DVD and perhaps you should, too.

I saw this film for the first time more than fifty years ago. In Brazil it was known as "Olhando a morte de frente" which the best translation I can come up with is "Looking straight ahead at Death". Even though I was a child I enjoyed it greatly and could not stop talking about it after. Seeing it again yesterday I realized how good this film is nowadays, of all Flynn' s westerns it is the one that less aged. The quality that only a big studio like Warner could provide makes most of the modern westerns pale in comparison. Great cinematography in black and white, great music by Max Steiner, great performance of Flynn, excellent actors like Slim Pickens. It is surprising why this film was never released before, and why it did not get the positive critical approval it deserved.

I have to agree with mvescovi in an earlier review. One aspect of "Rocky Mountain" which is seldom mentioned is the remarkable horsemanship of the actors involved. For the most part these guys were real cowboys. Among them - Dickie Jones, a trick rider almost from the time he could walk; an amazing athlete. Slim Pickens - a rodeo performer in his youth and a rodeo clown. (Today those clowns prefer to be called "bull fighters" since they risk their lives daily to protect both amateur and pro bull riders). Sheb Wooley - a rodeo rider as a teen; one of the best in his home state of Oklahoma. He gets to show a bit of his expertise in the opening moments of "High Noon" in his role as Ben Miller. As another reviewer mentioned, this was the first feature film for both Pickens and Wooley.And let's not leave out Errol Flynn. That fellow could certainly ride with the best, as evidenced in this film and many others, and who looked better on a horse than Flynn? My fondest memories of this film as a child were those which included the dog and Dickie Jones' character, Buck Wheat. I always was a sucker for horses and dogs.All the characters were well-defined. You knew these men, their good points and their bad and you formed an opinion about each. You cared about what happened to them. How often can you say that about characters in one of today's movies? The photography was striking and I found the characters' tattered clothing remarkably realistic for a change - more authentic than many films. These men were, after all, weary travelers, soldiers on the losing side of a civil war - their country (the CSA) existing on what little remained to them.As to the romance part - to me there really wasn't one! Flynn's character is respectful and admiring of the lady and although there is certainly chemistry between them, there is no silly romance to mar the storyline or make it seem insipid. Flynn met his future wife, Patrice Wymore, on this set. They married after the film.Finally, the story itself is not overly sentimental. The soldiers ultimately behave as soldiers, doing their duty, going to their end bravely and with honor despite any previous differences. The ending shot, with the Union cavalryman riding to the top of the butte to install the Confederate Flag, was moving and again, the honorable thing to do. A brave man is a brave man no matter which side he fights upon.This is a fine film, a fine western and a fitting end to Flynn's career in oaters. What must we fans do to get "Rocky Mountain" out on video and DVD? It is an honor long overdue.