When you look into the face of Raymond Massey's riveting John Brown, you are looking into the face of Osama bin Laden; when you watch his band of murderous abolitionists, you are watching bin Laden's al Qaeda. Look at a photo of bin Laden while you watch Massey here - the resemblance is spooky!
The righteous indignation of other reviewers at the "pro-slavery" bias of the movie misses the point. "Santa Fe Trail" is about fanaticism, not slavery. It's easy to preach to the choir, to put the fanatic on the "wrong" side. It's far more useful to put the fanatic on the side of right, as is done in "Santa Fe Trail". The evil depicted here is not the easy evil of slavery, but the more problematic evil of fanaticism.
The user score for this movie is due to the Political Correctness Brigade, who can't get past their sanctimony, to pay attention to the story and think rather than react. And by the way, Ronald Reagan (and I'm a Democrat) was a fine actor and did a good job in "Santa Fe Trail," as did the rest of the cast.
The most dangerous - and obnoxious - people are those convinced of their own virtue, be they Northern abolitionists, Southern racists, Muslim militants...or adolescents masquerading as movie critics.
The righteous indignation of other reviewers at the "pro-slavery" bias of the movie misses the point. "Santa Fe Trail" is about fanaticism, not slavery. It's easy to preach to the choir, to put the fanatic on the "wrong" side. It's far more useful to put the fanatic on the side of right, as is done in "Santa Fe Trail". The evil depicted here is not the easy evil of slavery, but the more problematic evil of fanaticism.
The user score for this movie is due to the Political Correctness Brigade, who can't get past their sanctimony, to pay attention to the story and think rather than react. And by the way, Ronald Reagan (and I'm a Democrat) was a fine actor and did a good job in "Santa Fe Trail," as did the rest of the cast.
The most dangerous - and obnoxious - people are those convinced of their own virtue, be they Northern abolitionists, Southern racists, Muslim militants...or adolescents masquerading as movie critics.