Canyon River

Canyon River, a western from Allied Artists and starring George Montgomery tries to pack a little too much plot in the 80 minute film. And one performer was completely miscast in the role of villain.

Peter Graves as Montgomery's foreman on his cattle ranch is fixing to betray Montgomery in his scheme to bring furrier Hertford cattle to Wyoming from Oregon. Texas longhorns haven't enough hair to survive Wyoming winters. But Graves who says he wants to be his own boss is planning a double cross with villains Walter Sande and Robert Wilkie.

Try as I might I could not wrap myself around Peter Graves as a rat. When he did play one in Stalag 17 the idea was during over half the film you don't know he's the barracks informer with his all-American demeanor. Here we know right away and I couldn't buy it.

Later on in the film Graves is shot and Montgomery brings him to the tender care of widow Marcia Henderson and her son Richard Eyer. Graves falls for her, but she's got eyes for George. Now that would have been good plot motivation from the beginning.

I also could not buy the fact that Montgomery went to a saloon in Oregon where the town low lifes imbibe, beat Alan Hale in a fight, and then win the whole crew of miscreants over with promise of employment. That was really too much.

Canyon River which boasted some nice scenic western cinematography on the plus side was not one of George Montgomery's better roles.

George Montgomery is Steve Patrick, a cattle rancher with a plan to create a new, improved crossbreed that will be hardy enough to withstand the unforgiving Wyoming winters. But first he must drive his herd of cattle to his Wyoming ranch. The problem is that no respectable cattle hand is interested in travelling into the bad weather out of season, so he's forced to hire a band of ne'er-do-wells. What he doesn't realise is that his best friend Bob (Peter Graves) is planning to double-cross him by engineering an ambush at the eponymous Canyon River with the local bad guy when the drive is nearly over. Added into the mix is the comely widow (Marcia Henderson) with a young son whom both Steve and Bob fall for, thus stirring Bob's resentment of his friend even further.

Canyon River is one of those modest Western programmers that have no pretensions of artistic merit but which simply strive to tell a straightforward story in as efficient and economical a way possible. The story is fairly unusual for this kind of film. There's not that much gunplay, as the plot focuses more on the simmering tensions that exist between Steve, Bob and Janet and the band of rogues led by cuddly Alan Hale Jr. Chances are you've probably never come across such a lacklustre band of outlaws as this bunch; Montgomery's character only has to give Hale a few smacks across the chops to win his undying loyalty, and the rest of the crew only pay attention to the fetching young widow when she's dishing up chow on the trail. It's this lack of any prominent bad guys – Bob is essentially a good guy gone temporarily astray – that robs what is otherwise a decent little movie of the level of suspense it needs.

I've seen two or three movies about cross-breeding Hereford white-face cattle with Texas Long-horns to get a cow that can live in the high country; THE RARE BREED, starring Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara sticks in my mind because of the leads. CANYON RIVER is a more typical high-class B from Allied Artist, starring George Montgomery, who goes to buy the Herefords, his pal, Peter Graves, who rides along, ready to double-cross him for a stake in his own spread, and Marcia Henderson, who comes along on the cattle drive, because there has to be a love interest in this sort of movie.

It's a pretty good movie with some nice scenery thanks to cinematographer Ellsworth Fredericks and some good acting, particularly by Alan Hale, as leader of the disreputable cowhands whom Montgomery hires because no one else will. Montgomery, as always, is solid, one of those actors who never quite got out of the comfortable and profitable groove of B Western stardom before the genre went away. The result is a pleasant, if unmemorable example of the B western in its sunset phase.

Harmon Jones was not a great director by an efficient one, providing solid material. This one is certainly not his best, because without any major surprises and too many things already seen one billion times before. It is fast paced, taut, shot in beautiful settings. Peter Graves and George Montgomery characters don't bring much but that remains entertaining for an excellent B western.

This 1956 Western is short and sweet (it's 80 mins). The plot is a little more complicated than many other minor westerns like this. Geo. Montgomery is a rancher who wants to cross-breed some cattle to make them heartier for the frigid Wyoming winters. He goes to Oregon with his ranch foreman (Peter Graves) to bring back some good breeding stock. But on the way to Ore. Graves gets shot up pretty bad by some horse-stealing Indians and is left behind at a lady's residence to recover (played by Marcia Henderson). What Montgomery doesn't know is before he left for Oregon good old P.G. had him set up for slaughter on the way back so he could steal the herd and along with an unscrupulous businessman and his slimy henchman (Walter Sande and Robert J. Wilke) set themselves up in the ranching business. But there are yet more complications to come on the road to ranching happiness . . . but you'll have to see the movie to find out the rest.

UPDATE: This movie was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on 3/23/09, but I've still got my long out-of-print videocassette of CANYON RIVER on the old Allied Artists Video Corporation label.