A decade after Jane Russell made her film debut in Howard Hughes' "The Outlaw", she's back in a Western as an outlaw herself. The real Belle Starr was a horse thief and all around bad girl, but teaming her up in this picture with the Dalton Gang was a figment of Hollywood's imagination like so many other Western movie treatments. Even the composition of the Dalton Brothers was botched in this one, there was no Ben Dalton, as the brothers who rode together as outlaws were Emmett, Bob and Gratham, Grat for short.This is a curious story, as Belle Starr's allegiance to the Daltons, and particularly Bob (Scott Brady), is tested along the way through misunderstanding and duplicity. As the owner of the Bird Cage Saloon in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Tom Bradfield (George Brent) is enlisted by authorities to set up the Dalton Gang for arrest, but those plans go awry when the Dalton Brothers are beaten to the punch by Belle and the non-family members of the gang. Belle winds up half owner in The Bird Cage, and Bradfield begins courting the outlaw in what seemed like an ill fated romance, but as odd as it seems, Belle winds up siding with the saloon guy.As for Belle Starr's turn as a singer at the Bird Cage, well I don't know, it seemed like she stepped right out of character and frankly, Russell's performance seemed a little embarrassing to me. Don't get me wrong, she looked great in the outfits she wore but her body tempo seemed more suited for the 1950's than the 1880's. She did a much better job in another film that came out the same year, "Son of Paleface" opposite Bob Hope in a comedy Western. She cut quite the impressive sight in her all black outfit, adding significant nuance to the name of the Dirty Shame Saloon.In the final analysis, this picture either on purpose or inadvertently managed to portray the Daltons as the kind of bank robbers they were in real life, because as outlaws, they just weren't very good. They failed in their robbery attempt that closes out this story, which had some of the earmarks of the infamous Coffeyville, Oklahoma raid that ended their careers in 1892, leaving both Grat and Bob Dalton dead. What was kind of cool though was the closing subliminal tribute paid to Jane Russell's character from her very first picture. As the story ends she recreates her classic reclining pose from "The Outlaw" that's familiar to anyone who's seen that film. It's even used as the photo image for that movie right here on IMDb; check it out.

This is one of those movies where the actors all seem to have known it was not gonna turn out well while making it. The downside of an excellent cast of veteran actors is that you have seen them in other movies wherein they have been great, so you tend to compare those performances with the flat performances in "Montana Belle" and find this film doubly disappointing.Much of the action consists of actors riding fast on horses in long scenery shots, but all they are doing is just riding horses, not really doing anything. On the plus side, Jane Russell does some musical numbers displaying real talent and allure, and in these numbers her work is impressive.Overall, as I watched it I was thinking "wake me up when either (1)the actors and director wake up, or (2)when its over". The only reason I can think of to explain the poor results in this movie is that maybe it was extensively and badly re-edited, making it choppy and slightly disjointed at times. The overall structure of bad guys fighting another group of bad guys, and almost everybody is mean, seems to be a structure that leads to a lack of plot tension in this case.So I wouldn't recommend "Montana Belle".

Here's an odd one: sexy Jane Russell as western sharp-shooter Belle Starr, here competing with rivals The Dalton Gang. Movie opens with fruity bravado, but don't expect a camp-fest. Things gets surprisingly serious in the film's second-half, leading to a curiously downbeat conclusion. Very strange, and not particularly successful. Worth a look for the curio value alone. Supporting players George Brent and Forrest Tucker take turns getting out of Jane's way; Russell poses, pouts and scowls as Belle, her high-point coming in a crowded saloon where she warbles "The Gilded Lily".** from ****

Jane Russell plays a (very) fictionalized Belle Starr. (Going off contemporary photographs the real Belle Starr looked closer to Ernest Borgnine), also Jane gets away with being disguised as a man during a holdup!! You can see we are not talking reality here.Originally filmed in color, most prints now available are black and white. Jane does a couple of not bad (and rather racy) musical numbers that are a little out of place and appeared to have filmed at a different time. It seems as though cuts may have been as the plot gets a little muddled sometimes and now and again we get the impression we are entering scenes in progress.After completion this movie was held up for a few years before distribution, which is usually a bad sign. In this case though it seems no worse than many of the second string westerns produced in the forties.Okay with popcorn and if you're in the right mood.