Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, US President Thomas Jefferson (Herbert Heyes) enlists Capt. Meriwether Lewis (Fred MacMurray) and Lt. William Clark (Charlton Heston) to lead a surveying expedition of the new territory with hopes of finding a route to the Pacific ocean. Things get off to a rocky start when Clark unknowingly steals Lewis' girlfriend Julia Hancock (Barbara Hale). The expedition later recruits Shoshone woman Sacajawea (Donna Reed) to act as their guide into unknown territory, and wouldn't you know it, Clark starts making time with her, too!

Most Hollywood history lessons play fast and loose with the facts, but this movie earned the distinction of once being named by a group of historians as the most historically inaccurate Hollywood movie ever. I can't vouch for that, but a lot of this is pretty silly and unbelievable. Chief among the movie's problems is the awkward and unnecessary romantic triangle (Heston, Hale & Reed), which would be bad enough as a sub-plot, but which by the end seems to be the prime focus of the film. MacMurray's Lewis takes a back seat to things once the romance between Clark and Sacajawea starts, and he's reduced to supporting status. Reed isn't terrible as Sacajawea, it's just that...well, she's Donna Reed! On the movie's plus side, there is some spectacular scenery and location cinematography. That's what raises it to a 5/10.

And Paramount put THIS on DVD but not the excellent and seldom seen "All the Way Home" from 1963. Go figure.

Let's be clear, if you have an issue with "painted face(s)", you will have issues with the movie. While it's not exactIy black, the fact that the face is painted is quite obvious nonetheless (if that in and of itself is also offending to you), the main actress here (Donna Reed) is being made to look like a native American.

Another thing that I had more issues with, is how native Americans in general are being portrayed ... especially in conjunction with how the "good white folk" are being shown ... a shame, but something that maybe you can put behind and enjoy the adventure ahead. I do believe that one can watch a movie and be entertained without being too judgemental ... you can feel the right way about history and know way more than the movie reveals ... and just see this as a fairy tale ... it does try to end on a better note than what it preaches before ... so there is that.

It seems not to be as easy to write about these things, because nowadays it is a sensitive matter. I have to adress the issues at hand though so any new viewer is aware of what he or she can expect from this. I personally am more into portraying native Americans (or anyone else for that matter) in more nuanced fashion. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy a movie like this - some just take a movie like this with a grain of salt. And the performances are really good, even if the depictions (especially of the native Americans) is very narrow minded.

Movies from that time are being looked at with different eyes nowadays ... and rightfully so. There are other movies that have stereotypes in them and it is good to have some knowledge of the time or at least be aware that many things can trigger someone today - and again not trying to tell you how to feel - neither about the movie itself if you are able to make certain distinctions or not - that will be up to you - nor about what the filmmakers were thinking.