One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Absolutely Fantastic

Raoul Walsh does make a very solid Western here with a great cast. Kirk Douglas is very solid in one of his earlier roles. Walter Brennan is always good in a western and this one is no exception as his experience shows. One surprise is Walter is not as thin in this movie as he seems to be in other films. Virginia Mayo is excellent as Brennan's daughter. The plot has to do with a Marshall (Douglas) trying to bring in a father (Brennan) and his Daughter (Mayo) fighting him all the way. Dad is charged with murder. I really envy Douglas getting to ride in several scenes on a horse with Mayo nearly on his lap. That had to take some acting to keep his hands off her (I'd have been finding reasons to touch myself). There is plenty of action and a trial at the end. There is a little singing which is worked into the plot seamlessly though an aggravation to the Marshall (Douglas). I saw this on TCM for the first time and I appreciate them running a lot of Walsh's films on television as I think some of his lesser known ones like this movie deserve more recognition.There are a scene or two which take advantage of Mayo's great figure and her thighs. Even in black and white these scenes are a sinful pleasure.

I happened across this film whilst idly channel flipping. Although the film contains its fair share of Western clichés, it's quite a decent adventure, and Kirk Douglas turns in one of his reliable portrayals of iron-jawed integrity. The film opens with an attempted lynching, foiled by Douglas' US Marshal, and is notable for its cheering emphasis on the rule of law in the wildest of settings (compare the opening sequence of HBO's "Deadwood", pilot episode). This renders the film worthy of mention alongside rather better movies such as the original 3.10 to Yuma, and a number of John Ford Westerns. The tension between the rugged (and armed) self reliance of the frontier, and the development of civil society in (then) uncivil regions adds an interesting element to the familiar ingredients of an arduous journey, gun-play, and a predictable love story. Worth a look.

A "6" from me means not a good movie. It takes a better than average Western to interest me, and I thought this would be one. But, it wasn't. Instead it was full of clichés (from mirages in the desert, to waterholes that were alkali, to sandstorms...to you name it...well, at least there weren't any rattlesnakes).And the acting wasn't much to brag about, either. Kirk Douglas plays the US Marshall determined to take rustler (?), murderer (?) Walter Brennan to trail, rather than allow him to be lynched by the father of the man he may have killed. Pretty traditional story. Even more traditional is the silly sort-of-romance between Douglas and Brennan's daughter (Virginia Mayo).There is one thing that sets this film apart -- a true gem of a role for Walter Brennan...and because his role is key to the plot, he gets lots of screen time here. His acting here is as prominent...perhaps more so...as in "Rio Bravo".So, watch this film for Walter Brennan's acting. Otherwise, watch it once...but don't purchase it for your DVD shelf!

The heavy-handed script of ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE puts every possible obstacle in the way of a saintly sheriff (KIRK DOUGLAS) intent on bringing a suspected murderer to justice and away from the men who want to lynch him for killing a rancher's son.The plot gets off to a good start with a lynching interrupted by good guy Douglas, who saves the neck of WALTER BRENNAN from the hangman's noose. But the plot gets a bit too thick by the time we encounter Brennan's fiery daughter (VIRGINIA MAYO) and the bad men who want to stop Douglas and his party from reaching a town where a jury can decide Brennan's fate.Despite the gorgeous outoor scenery filmed in crisp B&W, there's a low-budget look to the night scenes filmed on indoor stage bound sets. Director Raoul Walsh keeps things moving, but the plot is so full of tiresome obstacles and shifting loyalties that the thirsty desert scenes seem to drag as the film nears its conclusion once the party has reached civilization.JOHN AGAR is decent enough as Douglas' ill-fated sidekick but it's JAMES ANDERSON as the no good son (brother of the man Brennan is supposed to have killed), who manages to steal scenes with his shifty manner as the villain of the piece. Too bad his career was cut short by his premature death at 48.VIRGINIA MAYO is improbably cast and her romance with Douglas is strictly full of clichés as they fight incessantly over his intent on bringing her father to justice. The story is pretty routine and even though the running time is brief, the film runs out of steam before the party reaches its destination in a nearby village so that the finale seems anticlimactic.It remains an average western despite the good cast.