Admirable film.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Molly Woods makes her way to Medicine Bow to become the new schoolmarm, after meeting two cowboys (and great friends) called Steve and The Virginian it becomes evident that both men are quite smitten with Molly. After a series of events surrounding Molly, Steve takes up with the no good Trampas and his group of rustlers, thus bringing the honest Virginian into conflict with his friend and the quick on the draw Trampas.This story courtesy of writer Owen Wister has been done a number of times, adapted into film form in 1921, 1923 and of course here in this version, it was also made into a television series in 1962. Having not seen any of the other versions I have no frame of reference, but I would wager my last pound sterling that this is not the best adaptation because it fails to live up to its early promise. Joel McCrea takes up lead duties as The Virginian and as decent as an actor as he was in such films like Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story and the majestic Ride The High Country, here he looks bored and struggling to feed off what little energy is in the picture. Sonny Tufts as Steve is badly cast, while Barbara Britton as Molly may well make me wish that all my lady teachers at school had looked like her (if they had of been I would have gone more often!), but she comes across as a fish out of water.The one bright spot is Brian Donlevy as the baddie Trampas, resplendent in black (of course), he does a nice line in convincing as a bad guy of worth (something he was excellent at in his career), but even he is not given enough screen time to not only flesh the part out, but to also probably bring out the best of McCrea. The shoot out at the finale is weak and it really cements the deal that this was a badly wasted chance to make a Western of some worth. Maybe it's just one of those pieces of literature that can't fully translate to the screen? Maybe the simply plotted story just isn't up to much anyway? Either way this is a misfire and not one to revisit outside of the always watchable Donlevy. 4/10

Owen Wister, himself, is fascinating to me. The movie version of his book doesn't include the rather excellent banter between the schoolmarm and the hero, nor does it include the evidence of growth and maturity in the early antics of the hero and his friend, Lin. What great fun they had before falling for the schoolmarm. You have to read to get that.Molly appears a bit ditsy in the '46 version and a bit underdeveloped in the book. Thank goodness for the remake with Bill Pullman and Diane Lane. Molly seems to have more depth with Lane playing the role.The '46 version is great, the '99 version is great, but I hope you get to see both to fill in the gaps each seems to have.Its a great plot, fabulous development of romance, and the ending is intense (more so in the '99 version though).

The Virginian is a western is a western that hovers to produce huffs and puffs in its onset, exuding no ideas but gradually developing one as the movie goes on. Joel Mccrea a top leading man from the thirties in dramas, comedies, romances and of course to many, he is Sullivan of "Sullivan's travels" is good in the lead. He has that Matthew Mcconaughey thing, not great movie star glimmer but mid-range star wattage. The story of rustling is pervaded by a story of judging and punishing an old friend giving it some depth. The writing team of Goodrich and Hackett, one of the best screenplay writers ever, deliver great dialogue that director Stuart Gilmore fails to improve on visually and the last eight minutes of this movie is the whole plot and movie of High Noon. Seriously!

This is Western pulp, full of the usual cliches. There is one interesting situation between The Virginian and his friend Tom that I won't reveal, but the ball is dropped, and in such a way that the viewer is left unconvinced. It was the only thing about this movie that would have set it apart from hundreds of other Westerns, and they blew it. What a disappointment.