Thanks for the thoughtful response. Let's see...

Russ Tamblyn-Champion gymnast

Tommy Rall-Ballet/Tap/Acrobatic dancer who later became an operatic tenor

Jacques D'Amboise-New York City Ballet dancer, choreographer, educator

Marc Platt-Ballet dancer and muscial theater performer

Matt Maddox-Jazz and ballet dancer

Jeff Richards-Former minor league shorstop? Seems to be there just for looks. Note that he sits out the harder dance numbers.

Howard Keel-He and Harve Presnell, impressive specimens of tall/rugged musical baritone-beef, staples of 40s-60s "Western" musical theater (neither in a Rogers & Hammerstein, that I can remember)

It would seem that Stanley Donen/Michael Kidd weren't taking any chances with the dancing/athletic ability of this cast. Once again, the "naughty" of the boys has to be sold to set up the usual tale of musical redemption.

The "Red Queen Hypothesis" states that women have always been a party to the "contests" of men, which they obliquely use as a type of female choice. In watching old Westerns, 40's & 50's film, I've noted that film women weren't exactly pussycats either (Stanwyck, Davis, Crawford, Bacall, J Russell) while the men were often gallant (Westerns) or comedically fawning/inept (B Hope, D Kaye, L&H etc). In the real West, I suppose women were tough by necessity, and capable men a commodity (singing, dancing, Keel-like looks a bonus).

When I first saw the movie, I thought it kind of average, until the barn dance sequence...and then, Wow! (I've watched many times since). Misogyny or not, could an 1850s woman resist?

A question (maybe a subject for another article?) Many modern feminists also dislike the "Annie Get Your Gun" show/film (another Keel performance), which seems an honest context-of-the-times attempt at female empowerment, but perhaps shows Annie submitting to men too much despite her talent (instead of the modern filmic devices of bedding men/kicking them in the nuts, "wasting" the bad ones with automatic weapons?)