"The west has been 'won' in western after western, and the genre's reliance on simplistic notions of progress is familiar. But Wesley Ruggles' epic western is unusual in its depiction of a woman as a frontier blazer. Jean Arthur plays the enterprising Phoebe Titus, the first woman settler in Tucson, Arizona. Dreaming of establishing a ranch in the area, she sets out to earn the necessary cash, and in the true American spirit sets herself up in competition with the local freighter supply. When they retaliate by setting Indians against her wagon trains and robbing her earnings, Peter Muncle, played by William Holden, rides to her aid with romance and the Union infantry. Beautifully shot in the Arizona desert, the film's slow-paced construction concentrates on a detailed portrayal of the Tucson settlement and its host of unusual characters rather than on the fast-paced action usually associated with westerns." Kathy Geritz