Can We Talk 2

Dark Command, the movie

         This 1941 film was very interesting. It stars John Wayne, as the good guy, still slim and handsome. Walter Pidgeon was the notoriously bad Kansas raider, Will Cantrell. Clair Trevor is the love interest. Her younger brother is the very slim, long-haired Roy Rogers, a true southern gentleman in a rich Kansas family. Gabby Hayes is also in the film.

         It was different seeing Roy be a second banana, a cowboy wannabe, and a little wimpy. It was rather dark and sinister, not your customary Wayne type movie of later years. It was full of political commentary, not all correct, of course. It did point out varying points of view. While touching on some real historical issues, you can't rely on this story for any degree of accuracy. It is fiction with an agenda.

         Anyone who enjoys film history, or seeing film stars in their younger glory days, will enjoy seeing this. I was really surprised to see Roy acting outside his wholesome, tough guy hero role. I'd give the actors and the director 5 stars. Writing. . . well, I would have liked a little more truth in the story. Someone claimed it was a revisionist western restyled for Wayne. It was barely a western, other than being in Kansas. It didn't seem to be revisionist, but it didn't have any John Wayne bravado either.