"Dakota Incident" with a tip of the hat to "Stagecoach" (1939) is about a group of diverse people travelling across Indian territory to the town of Laramie, all for their own reasons.
Bank robbers John Banner (Dale Robertson), his brother Frank (Skip Homier) and Rick Largo (John Doucette) are on the lam from the law. Largo and Frank decide to double cross John. Largo bushwhacks John leaving him for dead. John is forced to walk 40 miles to town. There he confronts Frank and invites him to a showdown. John, sympathetic to his brother, lets him leave town when he beats him in a duel. Largo emerges and challenges John who guns him down.
The stagecoach arrives late riddled with Cheyenne arrows both in the coach and it's passengers. A group of six passengers insist on boarding the coach, despite the danger, to travel to Laramie. The travellers include John Banner, John Hamilton (John Lund) who has been falsely accused of the bank robbery committed by the Banner gang, Saloon entertainer Amy Clarke (Linda Darnell), a blustery long winded Senator Blakely (Ward Bond), Amy's accompanist "Minstrel" (Regis Toomey) and a meek and mils Mark Chester (Whit Bissell) who believes he is taking gold ore samples for assay.
As the coach crosses the prairie, it is being stalked by a Cheyenne war party. Along the way, they discover the body of Frank Banner with an arrow in his back.
The coach loses a wheel and crashes. The occupants climb out and hide in a gully nearby without any water. The Cheyenne begin to attack pinning the trapped group below. Chester is killed by an arrow and it is revealed that he was carrying fools gold rather than the real gold he thought he had.
Banner and Hamilton try to steal the Cheyenne horses but Hamilton is wounded and the horses escape. Senator Blakely believes in bringing white man and Indian together. He also has eyes for Amy to whom he professes his love. Minstrel becomes disorientated and thinks he sees water. He blindly leaves the gully to scoop up a mandolin of water only to be shot down by the Cheyenne.
Senator Blakely, answering the challenge by Amy to put his money where his mouth is, leaves the gully and cries out to the Indians for peace and understanding only to receive an arrow for his trouble. That leaves only Banner, Hamilton and Amy. Then the Cheyenne chief (Charles Horvath) attacks and ........................................................................
A competent Republic western with a stellar cast. Darnell, looking as beautiful as ever, hardly smudges her makeup during the ordeal, Robertson is the standard no nonsense hero of the piece, Lund is sympathetic as the wounded Hamilton trying to find justice in a hopeless case. However it's Ward Bond and Regis Toomey who steal the acting honors this time around. Their two sojourns out of the gully are the best parts of the film. Homier and Doucette disappear far too early.
Robertson winds up with Darnell as his, you guessed it, hully gully baby.
Bank robbers John Banner (Dale Robertson), his brother Frank (Skip Homier) and Rick Largo (John Doucette) are on the lam from the law. Largo and Frank decide to double cross John. Largo bushwhacks John leaving him for dead. John is forced to walk 40 miles to town. There he confronts Frank and invites him to a showdown. John, sympathetic to his brother, lets him leave town when he beats him in a duel. Largo emerges and challenges John who guns him down.
The stagecoach arrives late riddled with Cheyenne arrows both in the coach and it's passengers. A group of six passengers insist on boarding the coach, despite the danger, to travel to Laramie. The travellers include John Banner, John Hamilton (John Lund) who has been falsely accused of the bank robbery committed by the Banner gang, Saloon entertainer Amy Clarke (Linda Darnell), a blustery long winded Senator Blakely (Ward Bond), Amy's accompanist "Minstrel" (Regis Toomey) and a meek and mils Mark Chester (Whit Bissell) who believes he is taking gold ore samples for assay.
As the coach crosses the prairie, it is being stalked by a Cheyenne war party. Along the way, they discover the body of Frank Banner with an arrow in his back.
The coach loses a wheel and crashes. The occupants climb out and hide in a gully nearby without any water. The Cheyenne begin to attack pinning the trapped group below. Chester is killed by an arrow and it is revealed that he was carrying fools gold rather than the real gold he thought he had.
Banner and Hamilton try to steal the Cheyenne horses but Hamilton is wounded and the horses escape. Senator Blakely believes in bringing white man and Indian together. He also has eyes for Amy to whom he professes his love. Minstrel becomes disorientated and thinks he sees water. He blindly leaves the gully to scoop up a mandolin of water only to be shot down by the Cheyenne.
Senator Blakely, answering the challenge by Amy to put his money where his mouth is, leaves the gully and cries out to the Indians for peace and understanding only to receive an arrow for his trouble. That leaves only Banner, Hamilton and Amy. Then the Cheyenne chief (Charles Horvath) attacks and ........................................................................
A competent Republic western with a stellar cast. Darnell, looking as beautiful as ever, hardly smudges her makeup during the ordeal, Robertson is the standard no nonsense hero of the piece, Lund is sympathetic as the wounded Hamilton trying to find justice in a hopeless case. However it's Ward Bond and Regis Toomey who steal the acting honors this time around. Their two sojourns out of the gully are the best parts of the film. Homier and Doucette disappear far too early.
Robertson winds up with Darnell as his, you guessed it, hully gully baby.