Virginia City (1940)

People are voting emotionally.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Directed by Michael Curtiz and written by Robert Buckner, this Warner Bros. drama features the unusual casting of Humphrey Bogart as a bandito named John Murrell, who unintentionally heals the conflict between Errol Flynn's Union Captain Kerry Bradford and Randolph Scott's Confederate Captain Vance Irby, after their Civil War moves west to Nevada's wild (and movie titled) outpost.Miriam Hopkins plays the conflicted Julia Hayne. As a saloon singer in the Northern leaning town, Julia conceals the fact that she's the daughter of a deceased Confederate colonel. Indeed, she's just proposed a plan to have Irby transport $5 million in gold from Confederate sympathizers, aka "Copperheads", in Nevada City to Jefferson Davis (Charles Middleton) and the nearly bankrupt Confederacy in the east.But after 21 days of riding back west in a stagecoach with Bradford, a Union spy who suspects that such a plan is in the works, and innocently falling in love with him, she has second thoughts. Still, she helps Irby capture Bradford, who's forced to ride on the very wagon train of gold he and his (comic relief) sidekicks (Alan Hale, of course, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) were trying to stop.Murrell and his murdering gang of bandits intercept the convoy forcing North and South to join forces before the (cliché) cavalry shows up to save the day.Frank McHugh appears as another passenger on the westbound coach; John Litel, Douglas Dumbrille, Moroni Olsen, Dickie Jones, Russell Simpson, and Victor Kilian (as the unmistakable voice of Abraham Lincoln, no less) also appear among the credited cast while Ward Bond and Charles Halton are among the dozens of uncredited actors in the cast.

After escaping from a Confederate prison, Union officer Errol Flynn is sent to Virginia City, Nevada, on a mission to prevent a gold shipment from making its way to the Rebels. But in charge of the gold shipment is Confederate officer Randolph Scott, the same man who was in charge of the prison Flynn escaped from. Complicating matters further is Scott's sister and Rebel spy Miriam Hopkins. She meets Flynn and, well, you know. Also muddying the waters is Mexican bandit Humphrey Bogart (!!!), who Scott enlists to help get the gold past Flynn without ever thinking what would happen when you wave a shipment of gold in front of an outlaw.Decent western with a Civil War backdrop directed by Michael Curtiz. It has a little bit of everything but not enough of anything of merit. It's a long movie for its time; an early example of Hollywood's wrong-headed "longer is better" approach to filmmaking that we still deal with today (it's even worse today). Flynn goes through the motions with his usual roguish charm. Miriam Hopkins has poor chemistry with him and honestly drags the movie down. But I'm not a fan of hers in general. Scott does fine in a sympathetic quasi-villain role. One of the more interesting things about the movie is its reluctance to paint either the North or South in a completely bad light, just some 75 years removed from the Civil War. The funniest part of the movie, and probably what gets it any attention today, is the miscasting of Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican, complete with a laughable accent that comes & goes and a Cesar Romero mustache. Hilarious stuff. Curiously Bogart's character shares a name with real-life bandit John Murrell, who died two decades before this movie takes place and, to my knowledge, was as white as Cool Whip.It's not a bad movie by any means. No picture can be bad with this director and these stars, as well as a supporting cast that includes Alan Ladd, Frank McHugh, John Litel, Douglas Dumbrille, Charles Middleton, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams. There are some nice actions scenes and some good dramatic ones. The ending is also a pip. It's just a bit overlong and feels like it was made just to mimic the success of previous Curtiz/Flynn classic Dodge City. But it's definitely worth a look for fans of the stars or director.

When I was a child back in the 1950s, Westerns were the big thing. But, like the rest of America, as I grew older I gave up watching Westerns...except for once in a while when a Western came along with big stars, high production values, and a story that was a little different. This film has all those qualities.Let's begin with the cast. Errol Flynn was in his prime years when he made this film, and it's obvious why he was such a tremendous star. Miriam Hopkins, who is either really good or really lousy in each of her films, is very good here as a Southern belle working to save the Confederacy (type casting? She was a native of Savannah, Georgia). Randolph Scott is excellent as the Confederate who is attempting to ship gold back to Richmond to save the Confederacy. Humphrey Bogart, unfortunately, is terribly miscast as a stagecoach robber who gets mixed up in the Confederates versus Yankees, but this was just one year before he hit it big with films such as "The Maltese Falcon". Frank McHugh is here, although one wonders why...but at least he is not as annoying as he sometimes was. Alan Hale is great as Flynn's sidekick...perhaps only second (next to Gabby Hayes) as sidekicks go. Even the minor players do well here.Then there's the history of what is really a mix of a Civil War story and a Western. The early part of the film at the prison in Richmond is fairly accurate, although Richmond doesn't have moss hanging from the trees, and the river that flows through the city doesn't look like that at all. But much of the info about he prison is pretty close to real history.Production values here are very high. The scenes in red rock country -- what a shame they weren't filmed in color! And then there's the plot, which is on the unique side! Randolph Scott and his cohorts trying to bring western gold to the Confederacy in Richmond, versus Errol Flynn and his cohorts trying to stop them. And in the middle, a woman (naturally)...Miriam Hopkins. Hopkins proves she couldn't sing, but she had pretty nice legs...way up there! And, interestingly, the rebels are portrayed fairly -- as people who are simply on the other side of the tragedy of the Civil War.This is a rip-snortin' Western well worth watching and having on your DVD shelf...particularly because of Errol Flynn in his prime.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The only regret that I have is that I had never saw it up until 2 years ago. The movie does not take sides and gives you a neutral, fly on the wall view of a story unfolding. Randolph Scott plays a Southern officer who is sent to Virginia City, NV to obtain gold so that the South can finance the Civil War. They need to do this simply because this late in the war and with the South losing, the Confederacy no longer has financial credit with foreign powers. Errol Flynn is a Northern officer sent to stop Scott from completing his mission. There is a back story concerning these two men which adds to the tension. I left out much of the details because I do not want to ruin it for anyone who checks it out. This movie proves that who is the "bad guy" depends on which side you are on as both the main characters and those associated with them are simply doing what they feel is right. Great action, great building of the characters and you wind up not sure who to root for. Two great main actors, great supporting cast and even Bogart is here, showing that westerns should have been added to his studio lineup more often, minus the whole half-Mexican bandito thing. This movie should be given a chance and is just as good today as it was in 1940.