Interesting the wide range (no pun intended) of reviews here. As for me, I think it's a better-than-average Western (a genre that I rarely watch anymore), though clearly not one of the great Westerns. There are parts of the film, particularly early on, where there is a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor that is enjoyable.The story line is that after the Civil War, a rebel (Gary Cooper) is looking for revenge against a group of carpetbaggers who burned his family to death when they destroyed their Georgia plantation. Cooper meets up with Leif Erickson, an Eastern dandy who has somehow been appointed a federal marshal...even though he can't even shoot a gun. Cooper assumes the role of federal marshal, and Erickson becomes his deputy. Erickson is in love with a Mexican woman beautifully played by a lovely Ruth Roman...who of course then falls for Cooper. Nevertheless, Erickson comes to admire Cooper and gets him a pardon while they work together to bring an end to the carpetbaggers, headed by Raymond Massey. Gary Cooper is at the top of his form here playing the sort of anti-hero. Raymond Massey is nicely evil...as he often was in films. Leif Erickson -- never a favorite of mine -- is very good here, subtly playing a spurned lover who remains a mostly good guy.As I mentioned earlier, this is not one of the great Westerns, but it is darned good.

Gary Cooper masquerades as a lanky, fish-out-of-water, U.S. Marshal dressed in a stove-pipe hat and a fancy frock coat in "Along Came Jones" director Stuart Heisler's tongue-in-cheek western "Dallas" that depicts our protagonist's efforts to track down the filthy, low-down, varmints that torched his Georgia plantation and killed his wife and son. Raymond Massey, Steve Cochran, and Zon Murray are suitably cast as the dastards that destroy our leading man's life and turned him into a hunted man with a price on his head. Warner Brothers released this post-Civil War oater in December 1950 before "High Noon" came out in 1952. Although this Technicolor horse opera lacks the brooding gravity of "High Noon," "Dallas" qualifies as respectable, lightweight, horse opera that offers enough thrills and frills to keep Cooper fans and western fanatics occupied during its brisk 94 minutes. An interracial romance between our former Confederate officer and a beautiful Mexican senorita highlights the narrative about the lawless days that followed the end of the Civil War in Texas."Colorado Territory" scenarist John Twist enlivens this routine shoot'em up with some flavorful dialogue. The scene in the stagecoach when a former unreconstructed Confederate trades places with a woman who champions the cause of the carpetbaggers benefits from the spicy dialogue. Massey makes a good, conniving villain but his plans unravel because he cannot control his trigger-happy siblings. Moreover, Cooper outsmarts him at every turn. Most of what transpires in this western is thoroughly unbelievable. The famous frontier lawman Wild Bill Hickok puts in an appearance during the first quarter-hour. The romance between Gary Cooper and Ruth Roman generates only minimal sparks. The funniest scene occurs before a gunfight when Cooper spooks one of the villains by stepping on a cat's tail. Of course, Heisler doesn't show Cooper squashing the cat's tail. Anyway, the feline cuts loose with an eldritch screech that flushes the villain step out in the open to blast away at our hero. Predictably, Cooper drops the bad guy in his tracks. "King Kong"composer Max Steiner's score incorporates a great deal of traditional Warner Brothers' soundtracks."Dallas" opens with the villainous Marlow family rustling the cattle of Mexican rancher Don Felipe Robles(Antonio Moreno of "Seven Sinners")but Bryant Marlow (Steve Cochran of "White Heat")doesn't understand how stealing Robles' steers will help his older brother, Will Marlow (Raymond Massey of "Desperate Journey"), get the money back that he has loaned Don Felipe. "I don't buy mortgages to get paid back. I buy them to foreclose." Will assures Bryant and Cullen (Zon Murray of "Hurricane Island") that "the black soil of Dallas County" will make them wealthy. Will reminds them that they have to restrain their use of violence so his evil plans can succeed. "There'll be no killing here," Will dictates. "Things won't be like they were in Georgia." Bryant and Cullen out as Don Felipe and his son Luis (Gil Donaldson of "Treasure of the Golden Condor") ride up. Don Felipe openly accuses Will and his family of rustling their cattle. "You're blaming me for all the war-bred scum in Texas?" Will is appalled by Don Felipe's implication. "It isn't my fault that Texas isn't back in the Union." Luis sees through Will's double-talk. Bryant and Cullen rein up nearby and Cullen shoots Luis in the thigh against Will's orders. Don Felipe spews venom. "Brave, strong, . . . just like lizards in dark corners." The Mexican warns Will that his lawless day are numbered because a U.S. Marshal is in route.Boston-bred dude Martin Weatherby (Leif Ericson of "Carbine Williams")is the new marshal. His primary reason for heading to Dallas is to impress his fiancée Tonia Robles. He is hopelessly out of place in the West. He is dressed outrageously like the tin-horn and doesn't even tote a six-gun. The U.S. Marshal's badge that he pins on isn't even a star but a name tag. When he arrives in Springfield, Missouri, Weatherby finds himself caught in the middle of a shoot-out between Blayde Hollister (Gary Cooper of "Sergeant York") and the legendary Wild Bill Hickox (Reed Hadley of "Now, Voyager")that leaves Blayde in the dust. As it turns out, Blayde and Wild Bill staged the duel so Blayde doesn't have to worry about bounty hunters. Blayde accompanies Weatherby to Dallas, but he swaps clothes with him and impersonates him. Blayde is after Will and wants to lull him into a false sense of security. No sooner than he rides into Dallas, Blayde blows holes in Cullen and takes up with Weatherby's girl, Tonia Robles (Ruth Roman of "Champion"), who doesn't quite understand his motives. Meanwhile, a sympathetic Weatherby secures a pardon for Blayde, but jealousy prompts him to withhold it until his conscience bothers him.Predictably, Blayde exacts his revenge on Will Marlow. Martin acquires a pardon but he hesitates to hand it to our hero since he is stealing his girl. Inevitably, Blayde's real identity slips out when a former member of his Georgia regiment hits Dallas. Marlow light out on horseback for Forth Worth and Blayde pursues him. Marlow reaches Forth Worth first and convinces the authorities to incarcerate Blayde. Blayde starts fire to get out of jail and chase Marlow. The John Twist screenplay is about as far-fetched as a western can be. The characters here make well-nigh impossible shots, blasting the six-guns out of the hands of their opponents. Cooper seems to be having fun impersonating a dude and making a fool out of the chief villain. This is the earliest western where the hero uses the outlaw's horse to lead him to the villain's secret hideout. "Dallas" is nowhere as good as either "High Noon" or "Vera Cruz," but it is still an above-average opera with a sense of humor.

Saying it all. Nothing like this western before or since, it being the vehicle for two western standbys, Cooper and John Twist, their near apotheosis. Neither were ever better, funnier, or more ...well Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Twist had many many westerns under his belt by this time, his dialog always outrageous, and Cooper more than once played comedy always to the hilt, about as over the top and with as little concern for anything but taking his shy grin to the near unbearable limit, and line after line of Twist gives every lanky bone in him a chance to strut his stuff...that's right boys, he cut the map of Kansas right through the old buffaloes hairrrrrrrr...or thats for you two love doves, the space of a lifetime, not for me, for me time's running out.......or you were the turpentine, but at least tha settles one thing, they were all in it in Georgia, dogs that ain't eat sheep don't run...... and on and on and on with such outrageous stuff. There was never a writer quite like Twist for the western, his name on anything in Hollywood guaranteed the stretching of the western tongue to heights all his own, and by the late forties and early fifties Cooper had carved out his own indelible persona...and this was their ultimate showcase. As for the plot, forget it, it's entirely lunatic, might have been borrowed from one of the Road pictures...but the lingo....ahhh.... just keep going blue-belly or Ill fry you for breakfast.

Gary Cooper and a marshal change identities, since they both agree Cooper would be more efficient facing the outlaws. What is remarkable in this film are the costumes, both the marshal´s and Steve Cochran´s who is the bad guy. Cochran wears his guns backwards, probably to be able to crossdraw. The film starts quite excitingly with a showdown with Wild Bill Hickok. Ruth Roman, looking very pretty is the marshal´s fiancee. There is plenty of action, never a dull moment, but you have to concentrate, because the story is a bit complicated. Good entertainment.