Buffalo Bill (1944)
6/10
Where the Buffalo Roam....
7 April 2012
This bright and cheery western has a great sense of the outdoors, helped by good colour cinematography and locations.

William F Cody "Buffalo Bill" (Joel McCrea) as the legend tells us was an army scout who then later rescues a Senator and his beautiful daughter, who he marries. He also came to be firm friends with Yellow Hand, who later became chief of the Cheyenne. Cody takes the side of the Indians when modern 'civilisation' moves in over the plains where the buffalo grazed, wiping out both the beasts and the habitat. He later took his Spirit of the Wild West worldwide with his Show, for which he gained international notoriety.

McCrea is OK as Cody and as others have said, Anthony Quinn, now, looks faintly ridiculous as Chief Yellow Hand. Then, as a relative unknown, I suppose this gross miscasting wouldn't have mattered as much. However, it is the beautiful Maureen O' Hara as Cody's wife who holds the interest for many, as her loveliness radiates through from the screen.

It's also been said that this William A Wellman directed biopic is fictionalised and cannot be considered accurate. That aside, there's plenty of good fighting action, battles on horseback and plains where real buffalo roam. All in all, a modest little western that's quite watchable, if you take it for what it is.
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