I still have the copy my parents gave me of Cecil B. DeMille's autobiography and he does go into some detail about the research done for his films. I'm wondering if Paramount decided to save money on the research for this one.

The action of this film takes place from the end of the Civil War until Wild Bill Hickok is shot dead in Deadwood which was 1876. Now that's eleven years that if you took this film literally is compressed to about three months. I found that a wee bit too much to swallow.

But DeMille knew how to fill the screen with some slam bang entertainment. The battle with the Cheyenne Indians is exciting, almost an early version of 3-D. I'm suspecting a lot is lost by only seeing it on television.

Gary Cooper is at his laconic yup and nope best, Jean Arthur is a fine Calamity Jane. The rest of the cast does well also. One tragic note is that Helen Burgess who plays the bride of Buffalo Bill died shortly after completing this film at the age of 19. I think a wonderful career was cut short.

Good entertainment, but any resemblance to western history is purely coincidental.

The Civil War has ended and Lincoln needs jobs for the returning masses. Then he's assassinated. This is the story of Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper),Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur),and Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison). They are in the Wild West trying to pacify the rebelling Red Indians along side General George Armstrong Custer.

This is all very old fashion with some old fashion action. The history is questionable at best. This is a Cecil B. DeMille film and it has the grandness. Gary Cooper is being Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur is sassy as heck. It's a rip roaring good ole times.

Cecil B. DeMille was an odd director. Although he was quite skilled (especially in making spectacles),it seemed as if he always was filming second-rate scripts. Now I know that this will ruffle a few feathers, as conventional wisdom has it that he was a great director. Well, great director or not (and I say NOT),his films generally have some of the worst dialog and anachronistic plots of any A-list director in Hollywood of his era. In other words, while he was clearly able to get great actors and amazing sets and scenes, it was all, to me, fluff due to insipid writing.

Here in the case of "The Plainsman", DeMille had Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur at his disposal--two of the biggest stars of the era. And, 2000 American-Indians were on hand for the fight scene. But, the plot is one cliché after another--with historical figures tossed into the mix right and left--even though many of the events in the film never occurred or occurred very differently. As usual, to DeMille, none of this mattered--what mattered was that his film was exciting and BIG!! Early in the film, I got bored. After all, first Wild Bill Hickock just happened to meet his old friends Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane--and then shortly after the two met General Custer!! It was as if the writers did all their research by glancing, briefly, at a history book and taking all the highlighted names and tossing them together! As a history teacher, I was (as usual) appalled...but not at all surprised.

If you take common sense and toss it out the window (along with history),then the film is very watchable and fun...and brainless. Too many times the film played fast and loose with the truth--just like in DeMille's "Cleopatra", "The Ten Commandments", "Sign of the Cross" and many other pictures. But because Cooper and Arthur were such good actors, they at least made watching this mess pleasant.