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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780782011081
Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 078201108X
Label: Republic Pictures
Manufacturer: Republic Pictures
Number Of Items: 3
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Publisher: Republic Pictures
Release Date: November 23, 1999
Running Time: 284 minutes
Sales Rank: 143593
Studio: Republic Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: September 15, 1949
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Here's something you don't see every day. Then again, would you want to? Several years before the 1950s' Davy Crockett craze, John Wayne donned a coonskin cap to play a militiaman in early-19th-century Alabama. He and his fellow Kentuckians are just passing through--'marching 600 miles,' as they merrily sing (and sing, and sing), because riverboat magnate John Howard has refused to haul them. Howard and all-purpose scoundrel Grant Withers are scheming to dispossess a community of French émigrés--veterans of Napoleon's Grand Army who've come seeking life, liberty, etc. in the New World. Howard's also out to marry Vera Ralston, the French general's daughter. Naturally, Wayne's just the lad to gum up both plans.
Wayne himself produced The Fighting Kentuckian, but far from repeating the success of his maiden effort, Angel and the Badman, this is one of the feeblest films in his long career. Writer-director George Waggner never gets a handle on what a pre-Western should look and move like. Consequently, the cast does a lot of standing around looking silly in period costume, waiting--mostly in vain--for the script to establish their connection to one another and something resembling a plot. There is a glossier look to the proceedings than most Republic pictures achieved, thanks to Lee Garmes's pearly cinematography, but this is scant consolation. So is the almost creepy presence of Oliver Hardy, sans Laurel, doing Ollie-shtick as Wayne's jolly sidekick. No, he doesn't say, 'This is another fine mess you've got me into!' But he should. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Classic drama of heroes and scoundrels
Set in an America between The Revolution and The Civil War, the Fighting Kentuckian tells a story most likely unknown to most Europeans - the colonization of Alabama by French immigrants, many having served as generals and other officers in Napoleon's armies up to the defeat at Waterloo in 1815. John Wayne represents the foot soldier in The Militia as it slogs its way between insurgencies and "in-fighting". Taking to a French general's daughter at the outset of the film, Wayne's character questions ... Read More
Rating:  - A Romantic "Eastern", not Western
John Wayne is well known for his westerns. The setting of this 1949 flick is Alabama, involving men who came from Kentucky. So this is technically an "eastern". The scenes are apt for the early 1800's: Soldiers are still using flintlocks, Alabama is about to be admitted to the Union as a state, and there is a large group of French citizens exiled after Napoleon's ignominious defeats.
John Breen (John Wayne) falls in love with a French woman. Trouble is, she is already earmarked for an arranged ... Read More
Rating: - Mainly Nostalgia
I give this movie 3 stars mainly out of nostalgia. I doubt that contemporary veiwers will get much out of this unless they are cinamatography buffs that enjoy films from this era.
Rating: - The Fighting Kentuckian
This is not one of the Duke's best films but it is entertaining, which, I presume should be a measuring stick for anything titled "entertainment". This isn't a western but should be listed as a pre-western (does this make it an "eastern"?), along with the likes of "Drums Along the Mohawk" or "Unconquered". The casting of Oliver Hardy in one sense is a stretch but it's also brilliant. Vera Ralston is badly miscast. It's this casting of Ralston that led to some compromising of other roles. Her accent is NOT French ... Read More
Rating: - Great Movie, Poor Quality
This is most likely the best all-around John Wayne movie for any fan of classic movies. While it has that western style that John Wayne is known for, it also is the funniest John Wayne movie I have ever seen as Oliver Hardy is hysterical. The movie is a classic and I am surprised that this is the only copy available on DVD, other than the Two-Movie disc on Amazon. The quality is poor however, as this DVD is not digitally remastered as most Classics have been. Its better than the VHS version but shows the wear ... Read More
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