Montana Belle is a 1952 western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 film directed by Allan Dwan

Allan Dwan

Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...

 and starring Jane Russell

Jane Russell

Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....

. The story is a fictionalised biography of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 outlaw Belle Starr

Belle Starr

Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr , better known as Belle Starr, was a notorious American outlaw.-Early life:...

.

Plot

Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 outlaw Belle Starr meets the Dalton gang

Dalton Gang

The Dalton Gang, also known as The Dalton Brothers, was a family of both lawmen and outlaws in the American Old West during 1890-1892. They specialized in bank and train robberies. They were related to the Younger brothers, who rode with Jesse James, though they acted later and independently of...

 when rescued from lynching by Bob Dalton, who falls for her. So do gang member Mac and wealthy saloon owner Tom Bradfield, who's enlisted in a bankers' scheme to trap the Daltons. Dissension among the gang and Bradfield's ambivalence complicate the plot, as Belle demonstrates her prowess with shootin' irons, horses, and as a saloon entertainer.

Production

Shot between late October and late November 1948, this film was intended to be issued by Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....

. In April 1949, Howard Welsch, who had produced the movie for his company, Fidelity Pictures, sold the negative to RKO for $875,000, about $225,000 above the picture's cost. Finally, this Western obtained a Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 debut at the Broadway Palace Theatre on November 7, 1952.

Cast

• Jane Russell
  Jane Russell
  Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
  
   - Belle Starr
• George Brent
  George Brent
  George Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, the son of a British Army officer.During the Irish...
  
   - Tom Bradfield
• Scott Brady
  Scott Brady
  Scott Brady was an American film and television actor.Born as Gerard Kenneth Tierney, he was the younger brother of fellow actor Lawrence Tierney. Brady served in the Navy during World War II, where he was a boxing champ...
  
   - Bob Dalton
• Forrest Tucker
  Forrest Tucker
  Forrest Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood 190 cm tall and weighed 93 kg , appeared in nearly 100 action films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:Forrest Meredith Tucker was born in Plainfield, Indiana, a son of...
  
   - Mac
• Andy Devine
  Andy Devine
  Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...
  
   - Pete Bivins
• Jack Lambert
  Jack Lambert (actor)
  Jack Lambert was an American character actor born in Yonkers, New York specializing in playing movie tough guys and heavies. Best known for playing the psychotic cat-loving, iron-hooked Steve "the Claw" Michael in Dick Tracy's Dilemma.Following a stint on Broadway, Lambert moved to Hollywood and...
  
   - Ringo
• John Litel
  John Litel
  John Litel was an American film actor. During World War I, Litel enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery....
  
   - Matt Towner
• Ray Teal
  Ray Teal
  Ray Teal was an actor who appeared in more than 250 movies and some 90 television programs in his 37-year career. His longest running role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee on NBC's most successful western, Bonanza...
  
   - Emmett Dalton
• Rory Mallinson - Grat Dalton
• Roy Barcroft
  Roy Barcroft
  Roy Barcroft was an American character actor famous for playing villains in B-Westerns and other genres. Noted film critic Leonard Maltin acclaimed Barcroft as "Republic Pictures' number one bad guy".-Early life:...
  
   - Jim Clark
• Ned Davenport - Bank clerk
• Dick Elliott - Jeptha Rideout
• Gene Roth
  Gene Roth
  Gene Roth was an American film actor. Born in Redfield, South Dakota, Roth was born Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth...
  
   - Marshall Ripple
• Stanley Andrews
  Stanley Andrews
  Stanley Andrews was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program Little Orphan Annie and later as "The Old Ranger", the host of Death Valley Days.-Early life:...
  
  - Marshall Combs