It is strange talking about an 80 year old film as a missed opportunity but When The Daltons Rode certainly was. First off they cast Randolph Scott as Tod Jackson and put him in a suit with no gun. Basically why bother casting him? Next as his love interest Julie King, they cast Kay Francis.. I am someone who does not like her ( she might be my least favorite actress ever), Basically I could only tolerate her in one movie: Raffles ( and that is more for Ronald Colman). Almost any actress would be better then her. I will say the action and humor worked very well especially Broderick Crawford as Bob Dalton, and the supporting cast ( Edgar Buchanan and Mary Gordon in particular) were good. If Universal would have not bothered to cast Scott and Francis, I would have the movie 8 or 9 stars ( out of 10), but wasting Scott and having Francis in the movie requires a major deduction ( especially Francis's casting). I give it 5/10 stars. Which is still my highest grade for a Francis film ( Raffles excluded of course).
Review of When the Daltons Rode
