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Very disappointing...

So much average

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I love this movie. Contemporary reviews were luke-warm at best, but it has everything I like about the classic big-scale western. First of all, it's most lavishly produced- which no-one can deny, despite the use of a few stock shots under the opening narration. Secondly, it stars Errol Flynn at his cavalier best. Few other heroes can stand up to the villain with quite the tongue-in-cheek bravado, the calculated insouciance, the devil-may-care yet firmly right-thinking charm that Flynn always seems to project with such consummate ease and artistry. Thirdly, our boy is almost evenly matched by a first-rate pair of truly hard-hearted villains: Victor Francen, all purring viciousness; and Paul Kelly, the master of cowardly opportunism. Fourthly - and it's downright boorish of me to place her so far down the pecking order - is the radiant Alexis Smith, whose sweeping presence, gorgeous costumes and sparkling performance will keep even the most misogynist western fan happy. We could go on from here to list the virtues of all the support cast, but space prevents all but three. It would be churlish indeed to pass over the delightful Florence Bates. S.Z. Sakall is equally winning in a more dramatic role than usual. Last but by no means least, Tom Tyler. Tom always seemed a bit uncomfortable as Captain Marvel. It's great to see him back on firmer ground as the snarlingest, meanest-faced bushwacker this side of the Rio Grande.Another thing I really like about San Antonio is the way it's directed. One of the big differences between English and American films is that the vast majority of English directors are competent but frightfully dull, whereas their Hollywood colleagues tend to be much more daring and adventurous. San Antonio is an excellent example of the Hollywood willingness to push the medium to its limits. What does it matter if some of the angles don't match when the film is directed with such gusto and vitality? The director never loses an opportunity to take full advantage of the film's lavish budget. The camera glides through jostling crowds, pulls back from the stage of the cavernously ornate Bella Union, and frames some eye-catching vistas of both real locations and Hollywood sets. (Raoul Walsh is reported to have made a "substantial contribution" to the film, but which scenes are his are impossible to identify). The script has been widely condemned as routine and derivative. Both these observations are misleading. True, the basic bedrock plot is predictable, but most moviegoers - including me - would be very upset if the hero didn't thwart the villains and get the girl. Aside from this important premise, however, there are plenty of unexpected twists and turns. What's more, the script takes in some really interesting characters, not the least of which are Alexis Smith's unusually spirited heroine and Victor Francen's memorably double-dealing bad guy. Furthermore, the no-expense-spared budget has allowed the screenwriters plenty of scope for enough extravagantly staged action and breathtaking stunts to enliven at least three or four normal-sized movies. Technical credits are superb. Max Steiner's rousing score, Bert Glennon's atmospheric photography and Milo Anderson's gorgeous costumes deserve special applause. Ted Smith and Jack McConaghy were nominated for an Academy Award in the Color Art direction category (losing to Frenchman's Creek), while "Some Sunday Morning" was nominated for Best Song (losing to "It Might As Well Be Spring" from State Fair). OTHER VIEWS: Fascinating! What happened was that both Flynn and Smith took ill in the middle of shooting. And when she recovered, Smith was not available for San Antonio anyway, but was required back on the set of The Horn Blows At Midnight. As a result, the direction of San Antonio is to say the least peculiar. The movie is a patchwork quilt of the great and the mediocre, the inventively expedient and the downright banal. Producer Buckner doubtless took a hand in trying to doctor the script around his ailing stars.

Gunfighter Clay Hardin (Errol Flynn) returns to San Antonio after recuperating from wounds in Mexico. He's determined to bring evil cattle rustler Roy Stuart (Paul Kelly) to justice. Stuart, in turn, is determined to see Clay dead. To complicate matters there's a pretty singer (Alexis Smith) Clay has fallen for who goes to work at Stuart's saloon. Good chemistry between Flynn and Smith. John Litel is great as Flynn's sidekick; an atypical role for him. Paul Kelly plays the villain well. Robert Shayne, S.Z. Sakall, Robert Barrat, and Victor Francen are among the other quality actors in the cast. Enjoyable, if not overly original, Technicolor western. Sequence in the ruins of the Alamo is a highlight.

Sure, "Dodge City" had only come out six years earlier (i.e., 1939). But, "San Antonio" was definitely _not_ a remake! For one thing, there's no pair of comedy relief sidekicks following Flynn around. Just one, in the form of S.Z. Sakal as Sasha "Bozie" Bozic. And, he's actually Alexis Smith's comedy relief sidekick!Plus, "San Antonio" is a little less grim than "Dodge City." No crusading newspaper men getting shot in the back, or children dying in their mother's arms after being dragged to death by panic-stricken horses. Instead, we merely have one murder; the tragic gunning down of Charlie Bell (played by John Litel) by Roy Stewart's French partner, LaGuerre. Which brings up a third major difference between this epic and "Dodge City." The visible-right-from-the-start tension between LaGuerre and Stewart.Where Dodge City, Kansas, was solely under the control of Bruce Cabot (as Surrett), here we have two men engaged in their own private competition to end their grudgingly equal partnership as controllers of "old San Antone." A plot device I'd previously only seen used in gangster-movies! Last, but not least? Alexis Smith's beautiful singing and acting.Add them all together, and you have nothing less than a perfect ten of a horse opera.

I saw this film again after many years, and realise more than ever that the chemistry of Flynn/de Havilland is sadly missing,; while Alexis Smith does a reasonable enough job, she seems cold and almost an unwilling participant in this run of the mill Western. The "baddies" were well played by Paul Kelly and Victor Francen, while Cuddles Sakall takes over as Warner's light relief from the old stagers Frank McHugh and Alan Hale who both seemed to be standard casting in Flynn films. The story has been done before, and since, but was enjoyable enough, but I felt the photography was too dark in many scenes (and it was not the print). It was good to see Florence Bates again, and the finale was pretty good, but it is way short of the fun and excitement of "Dodge City"