Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Set in 1854, two bright West Point lieutenants (Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan) are assigned to the Kansas Territory to guard the Santa Fe Trail. There, they clash with the fanatical abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey). Directed by Michael Curtiz (WHITE CHRISTMAS), this dubious historical epic is highly fictionalized with an unpleasant anti-abolitionist attitude. The escaped slaves in the movie are passive and some even long to return to their former lives. The abolitionists are all portrayed as a nasty bunch. It's also a big bore! Facts are tossed out the window and history rewritten. The film was a huge hit and one can only hope that people took it on face value as entertainment rather than a factually correct historical epic. Many Flynn fans are partial to the movie (heaven knows why) but others are advised to skip it. The large cast includes Olivia De Havilland (this was the seventh of the eight movies she and Flynn did together), Van Heflin, William Lundigan, Ward Bond, Alan Hale and Guinn Williams.