Bend of the River
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Movie Reviews of Bend of the River
Movie Review: Another Strong Jimmy Stewart Western Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Although Jimmy Stewart is probably not as well known for the Westerns he starred in, but he is excellent in them. Bend of the River is a good example. He is not quite John Wayne, but he holds his own as the leading star in this 1950s Western tale. Rock Hudson is pretty good in this one as well. The plot is pretty simple - several other reviewers provide the details. Personally I found this Western very entertaining with great scenary, plenty of action, and a decent plot. There are some good bar fights, gun battles, and plenty of confrontation.
If you like classic Westerns, then I recommend the Bend in the River. If you think that Jimmy Stewart makes a good cowboy then definitely get this movie. It is as good as The Man from Laramie and Winchester 73.
Movie Review: Class movie all the way
Summary: 4 Stars
With Anthony Mann at the helm and James Stewart heading the cast, you expect real class all the way, and this 1952 western is no let-down.
Irving Glassberg lenses Oregon beautifully, making the stunning landscape one of the main stars, as in all great films of the genre. Hans J Salter provides most of the music, which really comes into its own during the first nighttime sequence.
I could really identify with the themes of betrayal, integrity and virtue, no doubt due to Stewart's brilliant performance, which is both inspiring and heartbreaking at times.
Movie Review: Fine Stewart Western
Summary: 4 Stars
Good story, cast and scenery. Of the five Stewart westerns during his collaboration with director Mann, this is the most straight forward. Stewart's character is a man with a past, but not overwrought. Young Rock Hudson in supporting role was a hoot. Great color, no widescreen and have read varying reports as to whether it was shot in widescreen or not. If it is pan and scan, they did a good job of it. But enjoy it for it's own sake. No extras on DVD, but what you get is an entertaining story and for the price, it seems a reasonable deal to me.Movie Review: A good standard Western with pace and period feeling...
Summary: 3 Stars
"Bend of the River" welcomes the fine blend of a passionate action with intense characterization that had become Mann's masterful specialty...
Stewart (in his second feature with Mann) is seen as a reluctant hero, stumbled, brutalized and confused, chasing a personal mission with severe determination, and giving life to the complex moral and psychological forces that drive Mann's heroes...
Vivid as a laconic quiet man driven by betrayal to violent rage, Stewart is a former raider on the Missouri-Kansas border, who guides a wagon train of settlers to Oregon... There he gets double-crossed by associates who try to turn aside necessary food and supplies to gold-rush activities...
Ingenious and malicious, Arthur Kennedy (very much in his element), is Stewart's former companion-in-crime whom Stewart saves from hanging, and helps him fight the Indians on the way to Oregon...
Adroit, insincere, and dishonest, Kennedy turns on Stewart stealing the settler's supplies for a handsome profit but is later dispatched by an irritated and enraged Stewart...
Kennedy has been preferred in Westerns as the more insidious kind of villain: friendly, smiling, charming and smooth-talking on the surface, weak and corrupt underneath... His specialty is the courteous type who befriends the hero and then turns out to be planning something illegal to his own advantage on the side...
Julie Adams is along the ride as a love interest getting short penitence in all the macho interplay...
Rock Hudson is cast as a soft gambling man from San Francisco, adept at cards as well as women, defender of a fair deal, ready to fight beside his friends...
Filmed against a breathtaking Technicolor panorama, with nice music that highlights the action, "Bend of the River" is a good standard Western with pace and period feeling, rolling along to its predictable happy ending, discarding any unwanted characters...
Movie Review: Mighty Pretty Country
Summary: 3 Stars
This is one of my top 10 westerns of all time. Jimmy Stewart is my favourite actor. One of a number of Anthony Mann films in which Jimmy Stewart was cast as a character with a hidden past. As the film begins, Jimmy Stewart's character is escorting a wagon train. En route he rescues Arthur Kennedy just as some folk are planning to lynch him. In return, Kennedy hooks up with the wagon train. There is a parting of the way, as Kennedy remains behind at the port while Stewart continues on with the settlers to the stretch of country that is to be their new home. When their pre-purchased supplies fail to show, the settlers send Stewart back to investigate. He finds a town tarnished by greed - gold has been found and food prices have soared.
Meeting up with Kennedy, Stewart makes off with the supplies intending to pass it on to the settlers but it is not long before he runs into trouble.
This is the same print that was used for the 90s laserdisc release. The picture quality is generally ok but there are a number of scenes when the print seems to suffer "double vision". The film also begins with the statement that it has been modified to fit the screen suggesting that this is a pan and scan version. With the only extra being a trailer for the film my suggestion would be wait until Universal issue a restored print in the correct aspect ratio.
Film = 5 stars, DVD = 1 star