Save your money for something good and enjoyable

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a Republic Pictures production, filmed in Trucolor, mainly in various parts of AZ and UT, with mostly dry rocky backgrounds, supposedly on the Santa Fe trail, which crossed the plains of Kansas, to NM. It concerns a wagon train scout(John Payne as Kirby) and his partner Sam(Slim Pickens), who are responsible for protecting two wagon trains, which are in grave danger of being attacked by Kiowa, lead by Chief Satank(Sitting Bear)(George Keymas). Incidentally, Satank was a famous historical Kiowa chief, famed as a fierce warrior in battles with various surrounding tribes early in his career, later switching mostly to fighting white settlers, wagon trains, and even army posts. before being arrested for murder.Aside from interactions between the wagon trains and Kiowa , the plot emphasizes a developing love triangle between Kirby, a woman called Aurelie(Faith Domergue) and the organizer of the wagon train(Rod Cameron, as Jess Griswold). Initially, Aurelie was opposed to choosing the duo as their scouts, because the last wagon they scouted for was ambushed and annihilated by Kiowa, while Kirby was negotiating with Santank elsewhere. However, when Kirby saved her from sever burns when her skirt caught fire, by smothering it, she changed her attitude toward him, and they began a romantic relationship. However, Griswold, who also had a romantic interest in her, threw cold water on their relationship by telling Kirby that she was a Kiowa half breed. Kirby had previously said that he hated all Indians, and especially half breeds. Thus, Kirby was cool toward Aurelie for a while. But, especially after her mother saved his life in a knife fight with Satank, he warmed up again. He came to understand that not all Kiowa were murdering madmen. Meanwhile, Griswold had asked Aurelie to be his wife. She gave him a non-committal answer each time. Not apparent why. Kirby and Griswold have a physical fight over Aurelie, rolling down a steep slope, until Griswold drops off a short ledge, breaking his leg. This would prove fatal, as the Kiowa warriors swarmed over him after Kirby and Aurelia rode off, as he requested. Aside from the climactic battle between the Kiowa and wagoneers, perhaps the most exciting episode is the stampeding horses the Kiowa drove toward the wagon train, in a draw. Kirby directs the wagons and pack animals to get out of the way of the probable path of the horses, so that only minor damaged resulted.Available in color at YouTube.

Some rather questionable character motivations make this particular Republic western something of a mixed bag for me. John Payne's dislike of Indians and his distrust of mixed blood people make it a rough road in courting Faith Domergue who is half Indian. Santa Fe Passage casts John Payne as a frontier scout who lost his last wagon train going to Santa Fe because of some bad judgment he made about the Kiowas and their chief. Now he and sidekick Slim Pickens can't get a job in their profession and have a lot of people ready to shoot them on sight. That is until Domergue and her partner Rod Cameron hire them over the objections of Leo Gordon their trail boss. They're taking a shipment of rifles to Mexico for sale and of course that perks up interest among the Kiowas.There was a little too much doublecrossing and all the males of the cast Payne, Cameron, and Gordon are thinking with their male members and truly beyond reason. Even Slim Pickens gives Domergue more than a second glance. The plot made little sense to me, but the action was pretty good.

A strikingly photographed but also strikingly ordinary western. Payne leads a cattle drive through 'Injun' territory. Do you reckon they're going to let him through peacefully? It's admittedly never short on action, but such trifle now seems more than a bit outré considering the contemporarily modish spate of 'be nice to Indians' Westerns. Fair to say though, that even though 'Broken Arrow' had set such a trend 5 year back, traditional Western audiences regarded the concept with less-than macromolecular significance. With Faith Domergue being typically insipid (This Island Earth was still one year off), but looking as if she thinks she deserves to be paid like Barbara Stanwyck.

Why Payne is in any western is the question. Rod Cameron is clearly suited to perform both roles at the same time. The guy that played the indian chief Satang was also totally unbelieveable. I like my westerns with less wimps. This reminds me of several other that were miscast because the producer wanted to star in a western. Willie Nelson comes to mind.