Massacre River

Lts. Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun, real pals, both love the colonel's daughter Kitty. Kitty turns Rory down in favor of Guy. Rory accepts this...

But then the triangle becomes a love quadrilateral when Guy meets and falls for a racy saloon gal, Laura (Carole Mathews), and breaks off his engagement with Kitty. Which causes Kitty's brother to try and kill Guy but he gets killed - from here tragedy strikes.

In the back ground, Chief Yellowstone (Iron Eyes Cody) and Colonel Reid (Art Baker) want peace but the chief has trouble controlling his young hothead braves, who prefer the warpath.

A cavalry western called Massacre River would usually mean plenty of injun clashing with the cavalry, arrows flying and tomahawks crashing, but this western hasn't got much action; it has more drama and romance. It is quite involving and moving nevertheless. The performances are great, especially Carole Matthews as Laura and Guy Madison as the lieutenant whose decision to settle down with Laura sets off a series of tragic events. Usually not keen on tragic love stories, which this is, but the plot of Massacre River gets a grip on you and doesn't let go. The stark atmosphere adds to the story.

After having watched ' Till the End of Time ' ( a masterpiece of film making in my opinion ) I was intrigued by Guy Madison's supposedly ' wooden ' acting, and his visual beauty, to take my chances with ' Massacre River ' and found that he really could act given the chance with complex emotional subject matter. He did so later in the underrated ' Hilda Crane. ' Enough has been said about the subject matter of ' Massacre River ' ( a title unworthy of the content ) except to add that this is a mixed genre film; Film Noir in the West, ambiguous love stories and traditional Western subject matter thrown in. The love stories include a bromance between Rory Calhoun and Guy Madison and Madison's immature passion for two women played by Cathy Downs as the ' good girl ' and the excellent Carole Matthews playing the dubious saloon owner. Thrown into this cauldron of desires is the innocent brother of Cathy Downs with the unfortunate name of Randy played very well by Johnny Sands ( an actor who should have been a star. ) Filmed in black and white, which enhances the Noir feeling, the scenario races along to its ending, and broken hearts are quite literally broken. Made in 1949 it paved the way for the more complex Westerns of the 1950's and should be seen more often than it is. Its low budget adds a grubby feel, appropriate to the content, and despite a certain amount of uncertainty of direction it is rewarding to watch. Plus the factor of it being perfectly cast. I can think of two others who broke the Western mould and they too approached borderline territory; ' Night of the Hunter ' and ' The Fiend Who Walked the West. ' Needless to say they were misunderstood.

Massacre River is a cavalry story, but don't expect John Ford's cavalry here. The story concerns a pair of army lieutenants Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun, both who are courting the commanding officer's daughter Cathy Downs. Her brother Johnny Sands is a shavetail from West Point and he's friends with both.

Downs kinda sorta favors Madison but then saloon girl Carole Mathews arrives in town and she takes over half of the town saloon from Steve Brodie. When Madison starts showing an interest in Mathews all the drama ensues.

A couple of brief skirmishes with some Indians who have not respected treaty boundaries, one of them at the end of the film are the action. Monogram Studios believe it or not splurged on some location money for this film. And then wouldn't go for color. Seems a waste.

And this rather trite soap opera wasn't meant for the wide open spaces. Except at the climax.

A dashing cavalry officer is torn between two women causing ructions for those closest to him.

This is more of dialogue driven rather than action driven western. Unfortunately it's not a particularly interesting story which makes much of the film a bit stale. However the good looking cast, decent acting and some occasional stunning cinematography make it worth at least one viewing.

The ending was a bit strange, almost like it didn't know which way to go, sombre or happy, so it tried a bit of both. Which I kind of liked as it goes.

Overall it's not a bad film just one that's not particularly memorable.

A beautiful little unknown western, made in beautiful settings, natural settings, which brings much charm to it. The story is not that exciting, because a bit too predictable but it deserves to be seen. The ending seems missed for me but that doesn't spoil the whole. I guess that film is among the best that John Rawlins gave us, above the batch of B movies he made in his carrer. He was a good technician, with no ambition, but in the Hollywood industry of this period, only a handful of ruthless sharks could make what they really wished to.