Les affameurs

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.

"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...

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.

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.

Being a huge movie buff, I had thought I had seen every western film ever made with the leading actors of the mid-20th century. We purchased a DVD with 4 old westerns starring James Stewart - "Bend of the River" was the first on the disk. I had never heard of it, but the cast included Rock Hudson and Harry Morgan so I thought it would be interesting at least.

It started out with action right from the start - which really caught me off-guard. I kept thinking to myself that it must get really slow/boring/stupid or something to merit it's lack of public awareness. Not so - this film kept me completely rapt with all its twists and turns.

The writing was incredible - comedy, drama and human angst all combined within a scene and then again, and again throughout the story. You felt you could relate to each character, no matter how minor or repugnant their role.

I am also a history buff with respect to ghost towns and the Gold Rush. What I have read about the real prospectors and the greedy businessmen who preyed on their pursuit of riches only enhances the believe- ability of this story.

Regardless of the goofs, errors or historical/geographical inaccuracies that have been listed within this site - this movie is a real gem.