The Plainsman

A little too self-consciously epic (it begins with Mrs Lincoln reminding the President that they'll be late for the theatre) and much too reliant on back-projection, but still an enjoyably spectacular Western which rambles through the familiar parade of gun-runners, Indian uprisings and figures from history (ruthlessly telescoped to get them all in, including a nobly heroic Custer). Cooper's fine, sombre portrayal of Wild Bill Hickok (lumbered with a skittishly romantic Calamity Jane, but nevertheless allowed to meet his death at the hands of Jack McCall) seems to come from another, altogether less trivial movie.