Dallas (film)

1950 film by Stuart Heisler

December 30, 1950 (1950-12-30)

Running time

94 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$1,390,000^[1]Box office$4,490,000^[1]
$2.2 million (US rentals)^[2]

Dallas is a 1950 American Western Technicolor film directed by Stuart Heisler, and starring Gary Cooper, Ruth Roman, Barbara Payton, and Raymond Massey. The film is set in the title city during the Reconstruction Era of the United States.

Plot

Blayde "Reb" Hollister is a former Confederate out to revenge himself on a group of carpetbaggers who murdered his family and destroyed their home in Georgia. With the help of his friend Wild Bill Hickok, Hollister's death is faked and he accompanies and swaps identities with Federal Marshal Martin Weatherby. Martin is an inexperienced dude from the Eastern United States, who is using the position of Marshal to impress his fiancée Tonia. Her Mexican family is being terrorized by the same gang that murdered Reb's family and terrorized Georgia. Hollister, posing as the dude Martin, protects both men and lets them get closer to the carpetbaggers.

Cast

Gary Cooper as Blayde Hollister
Ruth Roman as Tonia Robles
Steve Cochran as Bryant Marlow
Raymond Massey as Will Marlow
Barbara Payton as Flo
Leif Erickson as U.S. Marshal Martin Weatherby
Antonio Moreno as Don Felipe Robles
Jerome Cowan as Matt Coulter
Reed Hadley as Wild Bill Hickok
Al Ferguson as Citizen (uncredited)
Philo McCullough as Townsman (uncredited)
Jack Mower as Citizen (uncredited)

Reception

According to Warner Bros' accounts, the film earned $2,765,000 domestically and $1,725,000 foreign.^[1] The film received positive reviews from critics.

Novelization

Approximately concurrent with the release of the film and probably (in the tradition of the era) a month or two in advance, Gold Medal Books issued a novelization of the screenplay. Its prolific author, writing under his own name, Will F. Jenkins, would become and remain better known by his alternate by-line, Murray Leinster, under which he is considered one of the essential pioneers of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Warner Bros. financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p. 31 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952