North to Alaska

As John Wayne aged he turned towards a more boisterous style of Western that combined outdoor action with character comedy. North to Alaska (1960) is one of the more rowdy examples, with a colorful barroom brawl in the first few minutes and a big, muddy free-for-all in the town's main street at the end. In between is a buddy movie with Wayne and Stewart Granger as Sam McCord and George Pratt, partners in an Alaskan gold claim, as well as a tangled romance that begins when Sam heads to Seattle to retrieve George's fiancée and—finding her already married—recruits Angel (Capucine), a substitute beauty with a French accent, from a brothel. Of course, Sam and Angel end up falling in love themselves, with George stepping in to help as a grinning Cupid. Also on hand are Ernie Kovacs as con-man gambler Frankie Canon, and pop star Fabian as George's kid brother, Billy. Old pro Henry Hathaway directs with his usual brawny professionalism, treating fistfights and shootouts and bordellos as nothing more than good, clean, masculine fun on the untamed frontier. Remastered for its Blu-ray debut, extras include newsreel footage of the film's premiere. While hardly a masterpiece, this is a lively and entertaining adventure. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)