Les affameurs

"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...

One pure masterpiece western from the magician, the wizard of western: Anthony Mann. I discovered it in the seventies, when I was a kid and fell in love with it at first sight. The settings are absolutely outstanding, jaw dropping, unique. Mind blowing. Those landscapes literally steal the whole film. I forget the story but only those mountains, rivers, forests.... This movie enchanted my young years. Pure Anthony Mann's piece of work where Borden Chase seemed to be involved too. Action packed, it also offers romance and the usual lines of a western. Among my favourites from Anthony Mann. I prefer it to TIN STAR for instance.

James Stewart plays Glyn McLyntock whose job is to lead the settlers west.Emerson Cole, a man with a shady past, is played by Arthur Kennedy.He's there to help Glyn with the job.The settlers are gonna need some food for the winter and soon the other side of Cole steps out.Anthony Mann worked for the second time with James Stewart in Bend of the River (1952).Jimmy does good work as always.Arthur Kennedy is brilliant in his role.The beautiful and talented Julie Adams plays Laura Baile and she does it great.Lori Nelson is wonderful as Marjie Baile.Rock Hudson is a gambler named Trey Wilson and he's terrific.This movie has got the most wonderful scenery.It's great to watch all those wagons travel there towards a better future.This is a good western from 55 years back.The world has changed in that time- and so have the movies.

The plot may be weak even if the action is only decently played out. But what really makes this film, is the landscape. Breathtaking shots of Mount Hood, some taken from near Timberline lodge, others on the White River on the east flank, fed by the White River Glacier. Those of the stern-wheeler trudging up the Columbia River past what is now Rooster Rock State Park, but in those days was just a sandy spot below Crown Point, perched high on the surrounding cliffs. Occasionally where the action takes place at high altitude on Mount Hood, a panorama so vast as to take in most of Oregon in a single frame. Even if you have lived in the area your whole life, the photography will grab you every time you watch Bend in the River.

In case the title doesn't quite make sense, think of life as the places in time and space where you made a turn, just as you would when traveling down a river and once again there is the bend you just passed, or the one you are about to encounter. The old timers saw life in these terms of metaphors, and they had a saying about "going to see the elephant", alluding to seeing something the likes of which no man could even imagine.

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.