Allegheny Uprising

The idea of placing John Wayne in the Colonies during the final years of the French-Indian War (called the "Seven Years' War" in Europe) was an inspired idea. Few films have focused on this era and it was nice to see something different. The problem was that although it was a change of locale, the film itself seemed all too much like a typical cowboy and Indian film. So much of the dialog was actually identical to stuff you'd see in films set a hundred years later--only the tribes' names were changed. As a result, the film just tended to blend into the huge pile of John Wayne westerns--and not with the great ones like the Cavalry Trilogy or THE SEARCHERS but instead the mediocre ones made in the 30s and early 40s. Claire Trevor as Wayne's main squeeze was in some ways very good (it was nice to see a less passive style of woman) but in other ways she was a 1930s gal transported to 1758! Women in that era simply did NOT run around in men's clothes, out-shoot men and insist on being treated like "one of the guys". Since I am a history teacher, I found the film frustrating and completely anachronistic. For a much better film made around the same time about Colonial America, try watching the usually overlooked HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA--a Cary Grant film better in just about every way.