Barbara Stanwyck is the Cattle Queen of the title, Sierra Nevada Jones who fights for her land against a rival land owner who has the local Indians on the payroll. Stanwyck befriends Chief Colorados who helps in her fight, together with a very weak Ronald Reagan who is so cardboard he could blow over in a breeze. Stanwyck is tough, determined and tenacious. She knows what she wants and she gets it. The only pity is that because of Hollywood's conventional Western formula, the narrative won't allow Stanwyck to be active without having her feminised place reasserted at the end of the film.
Review of Cattle Queen of Montana
Cattle Queen of Montana
(1954)
Feisty Barbara Stanwyck wins her land, befriends the Indians (and gains a husband)
7 October 2001
Warning: Spoilers