Wonderful character development!

Dreadfully Boring

An action-packed slog

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

"Bend of the River" is the second of the five Westerns made by James Stewart with director Anthony Mann during the 1950s, and the first they made in colour. Here Stewart's character, Glyn McLyntock, is the scout for a wagon train of settlers heading to Oregon. Along the way the settlers have to contend with all the perils which normally beset wagon- train pioneers in movies, including an attack by hostile Indians. (During this period Hollywood only occasionally acknowledged that there could be any other sort of Indian; Native Americans who were happy to let wagon-trains pass by unmolested clearly did not make good box- office). Most of the film, however, deals not with the journey itself but with what happens after they arrive at their destination. The plot is quite a complex one so I won't set it out in full. Basically, it revolves around a consignment of food which the settlers will need if they are to make it through their first winter. Although the supplies have already been paid for, a gold rush in the region has inflated the cost of food and Tom Hendricks, a corrupt trader in Portland, wants to renege on the deal and re-sell the supplies at a higher price to the gold miners. McLyntock manages to foil this plan, at considerable risk to his life, but on the way back to the settlement he discovers that there are others who covet the supplies. Another important element in the story is the relationship between McLyntock and a man named Emerson Cole whom he saves from being lynched for alleged horse-stealing.The Mann/Stewart Westerns often tried to get away from the traditional "good guys versus bad guys" theme and to introduce a greater emphasis on character development into the genre. They also introduced a new persona for Stewart, who in his films from the thirties and forties usually played straightforward good guys. In his collaborations with Mann his characters were often rougher, edgier, more willing to resort to violence and more ambiguous, although never straightforward bad guys. For most of its length "Bend of the River" seems more like a traditional Western with a traditional morality, a straightforward adventure story with some exciting action sequences such as the Indian attack and the battle with Hendricks and his gang. McLyntock and the settlers are the good guys, while the bad guys are Hendricks and the Indians. The one ambiguous element is supplied by Arthur Kennedy's Cole. Although he seems amiable enough, befriending McLyntock and even saving his life during the Indian attack, there is always something of a roguish air about him and we begin to suspect that those horse-stealing accusations may have had some substance to them. We learn that he was at one time a "border raider"; the exact significance of this phrase is never established, but it appears to mean some sort of outlaw or bandit. Jeremy Baile, the settlers' leader, shares the viewer's distrust of Cole, but McLyntock does not, arguing that a man can change from good to bad. The film only becomes more character-driven in the last few scenes when Cole finally shows himself in his true colours and we discover that McLyntock also has a chequered past of his own. Stewart is not as successful here at suggesting a "man with a past" as he was to be in "The Naked Spur" and we never learn enough about the psychological journey which has led him to try to make amends for his previous misdeeds. Apart from Kennedy, who is good as the mysterious Cole, the rest of the cast do not have a lot to do. Julie Adams as Laura, one of the pioneers, is there to provide a love-interest for McLyntock and a young Rock Hudson is there to provide an ally for McLyntock and a love-interest for Laura's sister Marjie. (Adams, here billed as "Julia", is today best remembered as the glamour girl from "Creature from Black Lagoon"). I could certainly have done without Stepin Fetchit's caricatured performance. There were plenty of black people in the Old West, but you rarely see them in Westerns except in racist stereotypes like this. The film is a decent action Western shot against some spectacular scenery in the Pacific North-West, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the later Mann/Stewart Westerns such as "The Naked Spur" and "The Man from Laramie" or for that matter its predecessor "Winchester '73". Its theme of men being corrupted by greed was dealt with much better in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". 6/10

Being a huge movie buff, I had thought I had seen every western film ever made with the leading actors of the mid-20th century. We purchased a DVD with 4 old westerns starring James Stewart - "Bend of the River" was the first on the disk. I had never heard of it, but the cast included Rock Hudson and Harry Morgan so I thought it would be interesting at least.It started out with action right from the start - which really caught me off-guard. I kept thinking to myself that it must get really slow/boring/stupid or something to merit it's lack of public awareness. Not so - this film kept me completely rapt with all its twists and turns.The writing was incredible - comedy, drama and human angst all combined within a scene and then again, and again throughout the story. You felt you could relate to each character, no matter how minor or repugnant their role.I am also a history buff with respect to ghost towns and the Gold Rush. What I have read about the real prospectors and the greedy businessmen who preyed on their pursuit of riches only enhances the believe- ability of this story.Regardless of the goofs, errors or historical/geographical inaccuracies that have been listed within this site - this movie is a real gem.

Despite having some impressive technical aspects for the time of it's release, 'Bend of The River' don't has that much of a coherent and catchy story. Still, it's pretty enjoyable, i've never seen a western with James Stewart before. I guess that he is a fine actor.The editing is a problem in this film: there is just too many things going on each minute, making the events very hard to follow. Some of the important dialogs are quickly cut, while pointless ones are given very carefully attention, such as the ones about how to take care of a shirt and stuff of that genre, while the essential dialog showing Cole being convinced by the 'bandits' just runs for about ten seconds or so. I mean, come on. The bit that is coherent still a bit enjoyable, but the ending is disappointing, it is not as powerful as i was expecting, and like many westerns in that time, too cheesy for his own sake.The cinematography is very good, and there is some 'perspective' games that i personally found interesting. Despite knowing that the scenarios were all painted, about 80% of them convinced me of the opposite, being one of the exceptions the obviously 'mountain' in the background of the settlement, which was blatantly fake.But what i really liked about this film and i honestly think that it was the best thing by far about it was the soundtrack. It's terrific, one of the best that i've heard in an American western so far.It is worth a watch. 6.0/10

Very entertaining and colorful combination of character study, complicated plot, gun play, wagon train realism, beautiful eligible young women, and fantastic on site scenery in the Mt. Hood and nearby Columbia River region, all in crisp Technicolor. Whereas John Ford liked to site his westerns in the dry Southwest, Anthony Mann preferred the verdant Pacific Northwest, also evidenced in "The Far Country" and "The Last Frontier", for example.On the down side, there are some problems with historical, physical and psychological realism. I am confused just when this story supposedly takes place. According to Wikipedia, it occurs in 1847. But, several features of the screen play say that can't be, and nothing in the film indicates the year. Jimmy Stewart's and Arthur Kennedy's lead characters are both former participants in the Missouri-Kansas border wars, which didn't begin until after Kansas was made a territory in 1854, continuing through the Civil War. Then, there is the matter of the gold rush. We might be generous in assuming that the screenwriter was thinking of the 1862 strike in the Blue Mtns.,relocated to the Mt. Hood area. Riverine steamboats first began to ply the lower Columbia in 1850, although none were named "River Queen", as was a famous East Coast(not Mississippi) steamer. As depicted, the Shoshone(or Snake) tribe did have many skirmishes with settlers and the US army in the 1850-60s. However, it took 6 months to complete the Oregon Trail. Thus, a spring arrival, as stated, isn't feasible, horses(as shown) rarely pulled the wagons, and the Little Bighorn(as Kennedy questions) was irrelevant.The later Mann-Stewart film "The Far Country" exhibits many similarities to this film. Both involve Stewart as a traveling loner, with a price on his head for murder. Both were mainly shot in the Cascades or Canadian Rockies, and both involve a gold rush as central to the story. In both films, there is fighting over the ownership of food desired by the miners. Stewart mostly has a partner, who eventually is killed. There are two central young women in both. Stewart nicknames the younger of the two 'funnyface' to denote that he thinks them too immature as a romantic interest for him...There are some important differences. In the later film, Stewart's character is the quintessential anti-hero: not interested in getting involved in other people's problems. In this film, he is repeatedly a hero, risking his life to help others. Also, his traveling buddy(Kennedy) in most of this film, whom he saves from a lynching, without knowing the details, eventually becomes his arch enemy, whom he must kill to fulfill his mission of delivering essential supplies to the settlers whom he guided to Oregon. Kennedy's character(Emerson Cole), as well as Tom Hendricks, the steamboat owner who promised to deliver supplies to the wagon train settlement, then reneged when he could sell them at a much higher profit to miners, represent men whose sense of duty is overcome by greed, in contrast to Stewart's character. The point is that Jeremy Baile's(Jay Flippen) expressed distrust of men with a violent period in their past(Stewart's and Kennedy's characters), who seem reformed, is sometimes justified and sometimes not. The latter may revert to their former selves, given sufficient reason and opportunity. In Kennedy's case, it was the mutiny of the gang of helpers in getting supplies to the settlement, and Stewart's refusal to join him and them in redirecting these supplies to the miners that instigated his changed attitude. Kennedy argued that the settlers(and the justice system) would hold their past against them forever, once they were found out. Stewart admitted this was a possibility, but chose to take the chance that his repeated heroism on behalf of the settlers would absolve any doubts about his changed character.Chubby Johnson. as always cheery Cap'n Mello, provides unrealistically accommodating willingness to help Stewart and the settlers in their violent clash with his boss, Hendricks, over their due supplies. African American Stepin Fetchit displays his stock 'coon' character as Mello's seemingly retarded first mate.Stewart seems an unrealistic superman in his chase of the mutineers, just after having been thoroughly beaten up and left without a horse or firearm. Rock Hudson's enigmatic role as a professional gambler dandy, turned member of the settler's 'gang' is interesting. Why? He figures he owes Cole something for saving his life in a gambling dispute. Later, he seems to side with Cole during the mutiny(probably to save his skin!), then switches back to being Stewart's aid when the latter unexpectedly shows up. His consistent flippant attitude toward the obvious overtures of luscious Lori Nelson presumably reflects a message of desired independence, and we are left wondering if they become a couple. Mann usually left the romantic aspects minimally covered and mostly implied. Stewart refused to be cast with Rock again, after he got a bigger applause than Stewart at the premier.