Santa Fe Trail

History and Hollywood have always made strange bedfellows. And there's no better example of that than Santa Fe Trail (1940) from director Michael Curtiz. Historical accuracy is never allowed to interfere with setting up a great action sequence.

Errol Flynn is Jeb Stuart. Ronald Reagan's George Armstrong Custer (a part Flynn would play in They Died With Their Boots On). Raymond Massey makes a flamboyant John Brown. And rounding out the cast are Oliveia de Haviland, Alan Hale, Van Heflin and Ward Bond. With a talent roster that includes cinematographer Sol Polito (Sergeant York) and composer Max Steiner (Gone With The Wind), Santa Fe Trail is lousy history, but great Hollywood.