George Montgomery

Rod Cameron

Marie Windsor

John Emery

Wallace Ford

Jack Lambert

Larry Johns

Marion Martin

James Flavin

Walter Sande

Lillian Bronson

Kenneth MacDonald

Clancy Cooper

Bill Perrott

Alberto Morin

J. Farrell MacDonald

Victor Adamson

Tex Cooper

John Dako

Anita Ellis

Daniel Estrada

Joel Friedkin

Nacho Galindo

Sol Gorss

Tom Greenway

Herman Hack

Alvin Hammer

Lesley Selander

Maurice Geraghty

Frank Gruber

Bryan 'Slim' Hightower

Kansas Moehring

Francis D. Lyon

Frank T. Dyke

Gordon Wiles

Boris Leven

Robert Priestley

Clarence Eurist

Howard Wilson

Leo J. McMahon

Lee Greenway

Al Westen

Carmen Dirigo

Francis J. Scheid

Wilton R. Holm

Herbert Taylor

Jules V. Levy

Clifford D. Shank

George Breslaw

Bob Morgan

Norma Koch

Paul Marquardt

Edward L. Alperson

Jerome Schnur

Dimitri Tiomkin

Ernest Smith

Jack Greenhalgh

Western

Dakota Lil

Edward L. Alperson Productions

20th Century Fox

United States of America

Honour among thieves - Huh? 

Dakota Lil is directed by Lesley Salander and written by Maurice Geraghty and Frank Gruber. It stars George Montgomery, Rod Cameron, Marie Windsor and Wallace Ford. Music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography by Jack Greenhalgh. 

Tom Horn (Montgomery) is a Secret Service agent hunting a counterfeit ring. Getting tight with dance hall gal Lil (Windsor), Horn quickly finds himself in the hornets nest. 

It's titled after Windsor's character but ultimately it's about Tom Horn during his early years as a good guy before he became a hired gunman. Unfortunately not even the presence of Montgomery and Cameron, two reliable Western performers, can save this lifeless affair. The acting is sub-standard, especially the quite woeful Windsor who seems simply to be a dressage character only. Some of the undercover machinations hold interest, while there are fist-fights and shoot-outs to while away the running time, but even with the latter it's all distinctly routine fodder. 

Originally filmed in Cinecolor, some sources show a black and white version, which is the one I saw. It's hard to tell if watching it in colour would improve things as per the scenery et al, such is the flatness of the screenplay, direction and acting performances. 4/10

CinemaSerf

This is quite an enjoyable western crime drama - not least because the leading character is the rather feisty "Dakota Lil" (Marie Windsor). Ostensibly a travelling entertainer - with just the one song, from what I saw - she is also a cunning counterfeiter and is being sought by the authorities. Meantime George Montgomery ("Tom") is on the trail of some train robbers who have pinches $100,000 worth of unsigned bonds, and soon the fate of the two are inextricably linked! Rod Cameron (whom i think looked a lot like Randolph Scott here) turns up in a really nasty guise, playing just about everyone against each other and proving he could deal brutally with those who got in his way, and we have an appearance from the legendary "Hole in the Wall" gang to keep it moving along well, too. It's maybe just a little too long, there isn't enough action to sustain it - indeed the first fifteen minutes could have been condensed easily, but it's still a decent watch with a little more substantial characterisation and a modicum of on screen chemistry between "Lil" and "Tom"

English