When John Devlin elopes with the daughter of a wealthy railroad tycoon, he expects to head to California and safety. His headstrong bride has other plans ... to buy land and hold the railroad to ransom. But a bar owner plans an unfriendly welcome.
John Wayne always get criticism of not being a great actor or being versatile, which is wrong as he starred in a wide gamut of different genres - be it war, westerns, seafaring, biopic, adventure etc - and Dakota is a light western with some humour, but it still has some dramatic moments as well as some fights and shootouts, though more towards the end. It's well-mounted, well-plotted with a certain energy, some of that comes from the chemistry between Wayne and Vera Ralston- the latter has good comic timing and is cute and endearing. I don't understand why she's seen as a bad actress - I have seen much worse. Ok she's not Barbara Stanwyck, but at least she doesn't look like she's reading from a cue card. She does play her part well.
John Wayne always get criticism of not being a great actor or being versatile, which is wrong as he starred in a wide gamut of different genres - be it war, westerns, seafaring, biopic, adventure etc - and Dakota is a light western with some humour, but it still has some dramatic moments as well as some fights and shootouts, though more towards the end. It's well-mounted, well-plotted with a certain energy, some of that comes from the chemistry between Wayne and Vera Ralston- the latter has good comic timing and is cute and endearing. I don't understand why she's seen as a bad actress - I have seen much worse. Ok she's not Barbara Stanwyck, but at least she doesn't look like she's reading from a cue card. She does play her part well.