Tierra y Esperanza

The second of five westerns Anthony Mann did with James Stewart, this one involves a trail boss with a shady past named Glyn McLyntock (Stewart) who takes a wagon train of settlers west from the Missouri to Oregon. Along the way, he saves a man named Emerson Cole (Arthur Kennedy) who's about to be hanged by some trappers for stealing a horse. He pulls a rifle on them and tells them to clear out. Cole feels indebted (for now) and hooks up with McLyntock and the wagon train.

Then they run into some Indians and Laura Baile (Julie Adams), the daughter of the trail master (played ably enough by Jay C. Flippen) gets wounded by an arrow. They finally reach Portland and purchase supplies there that will later be sent to them upriver. They also leave Laura in Portland to heal up while Cole stays on to seek his fortune at the gambling tables, running into good-natured Trey Wilson (Rock Hudson) in the process.

When they go upriver and reach the spot they want to settle down in, the settlers start to clear the land before the winter sets. In the meantime the supplies they paid for down in Portland haven't come yet, so they send McLyntock down to see what's happened and to get word from Laura Baile with whom they haven't heard from in months.

It turns out that the seller of the supplies, Tom Hendricks (Howard Petrie) has ripped them off and reneged on the deal. McLyntock, Cole (who goes along for the ride) and Trey Wilson shoot it out with Hendricks' men, and head upriver in the steamboat with the supplies (and Laura Baile) while Hendricks' men are right behind. McLyntock wants the boat to stop downstream in order to throw Hendricks off their trail for a little while, but Hendricks picks up on it and is still doggedly determined to get those supplies back. They ambush Hendricks and his men, killing most of them including Hendricks himself.

There's more double cross and backstabbing going on as we already suspect that Emerson Cole is the low down dirty snake that he really is, and is only concerned about his own greed. Cole knows full well he can get more money for those supplies at the mining camp, so he and his crew overpower McLyntock and take the supplies, leaving McLyntock behind to fend for himself.

But McLyntock trails not far behind on foot and then rides a stray horse that was secretly left behind by Laura so he can catch up. There's the inevitable showdown in the rapids when McLyntock and Cole get into a fistfight and Cole is swept away by the rapids and drowns.

This is an above-average western that has some of the elements we'd later see in THE NAKED SPUR (1953) and THE FAR COUNTRY (1954), both of which I prefer over this one. I guess this is mostly due to the fact that Robert Ryan and John McIntyre make better over-the-top villains than Arthur Kennedy does.

7 out of 10

"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 after "Winchester '73") 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...

Across mountains, two cowboy-drifters with suspicious pasts try to get provisions to settlers in 19th century Oregon.

Despite the talent involved, the western's far from a classic. It's got plenty of action and loads of great scenery. But it's also got enough plot for five westerns. It's like the screenplay didn't want to exclude anything in the novel. So if you can follow the various threads and intrigues between the army of characters, there's a place for you at MIT. Then too, the editing doesn't help. Too often, developments are cut off before they can clarify (follow Trey's changes, if you can). The result is a series of clouded events, anchored only by McLyntock's moral steadfastness.

Of course, Stewart's grouchy good guy and Kennedy's slippery smile do a lot to compensate, and I can see why director Mann used them again and again. But speaking of noir-meister Mann, the shootouts here are poorly staged, a surprise for such an accomplished filmmaker. Catch how the bad guys ride in again and again, only to be mowed down by Stewart and crew. Yet no riderless horses leave, and surprisingly, about the same number of men ride away from the attack as rode in. I guess I expect better attention to important detail from such an expensive production.

I'm not trying to discredit the entire movie, only point out those facets I believe prevent it from reaching the caliber of other Stewart-Mann westerns. Certainly, a tighter script and better editing would have made a notable difference. Otherwise, it's got great scenery and good acting.

Now that this is out on DVD, I hope to be able to view this on a better format: widescreen and a clearer prettier transfer. As with many westerns, there is a lot to like visually. That includes Julia Adams, who plays one of the leads: "Laura Baile." Adams was a decent actress and had a very pretty face. I wonder why she never made it as a "star?"

Overall, this classic-era western has a pretty good story, a good cast led by James Stewart, and enough action to keep ones interest for the hour-and-a-half. I enjoyed most of the characters. Arthur Kennedy, Jay C. Flippen, Rock Hudson, Lori Nelson, Stephin Fetchit and Henry Morgan all comprise a well-known cast.

My only complaint was the "Rambo mentality," with two scenes in which good-guy Stewart should have been easily shot, but wasn't. In summary, pretty good storytelling and one to have in your collection if you are a fan of westerns, especially when Anthony Mann is the director. He and Stewart teamed up on several very good westerns in their day, and this is one of them.

Bend of the River is the second Anthony Mann/James Stewart western and the first in technicolor. The technicolor is used to best advantage here with some great footage of the Columbia River and surrounding vicinity. And Mann used in support of Stewart, Jay C. Flippen, Harry Morgan, Arthur Kennedy and Rock Hudson all of whom had appeared in Mann films before and/or would again. Anthony Mann is never given credit for the stock company he had. Like John Ford, Mann liked using the same players in his films.

Jimmy Stewart is guiding a group of settlers west and along the way saves Arthur Kennedy from a lynching. Turns out they're both former border raiders from the Missouri/Kansas area, but Stewart's decided to go honest.

When they arrive in Portland, the settlers are warmly greeted and a deal is made by settler leader Jay C. Flippen for needed supplies for his people during the winter.

When Stewart and Flippen return for the supplies, there's been a gold strike and the town is mad with gold fever. They have to take what was due them and then have to fight to get the supplies back to the settlers. Seems some prospectors want them also.

The point is that there are no options for Stewart and Flippen. These supplies have to get to their colony or they will freeze and starve during the winter. They have to fight prospectors, townspeople and treachery in their own group to get the goods where they are needed.

There's no law here to help them. It's broken down totally along with all kinds of behavioral virtues when gold fever has struck. One of the best performances in the film comes from Howard Petrie town merchant who can't do enough for the settlers on their first arrival. When we see him next when Stewart and Flippen come for their goods, it's like we're seeing a totally different human being. Petrie has practically morphed into Fred C. Dobbs.

I don't think Jimmy Stewart has ever been more ruthless on the screen than he is here. His characters in Anthony Mann films are always purpose driven whether it's revenge like in Winchester 73, an outlaw bounty so he can start a new life in The Naked Spur, or even an idea he has like offshore oil drilling in Thunder Bay.

But in Bend of the River it's a matter of survival and to prove to himself that he can and has changed his character for the better. It's as much an internal struggle for Stewart as it is with the forces allied against him.

It's another ten star winner for the Stewart/Mann team.