Bend Of The River

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Anthony Mann
Starring:	James Stewart, Rock Hudson
Release date:	06 May, 2003
List price:	~~$14.98~~
Our price:	$14.22 that is 5% off!

Bend Of The River

Average rating: Stars

Who are you running away from?

Man-with-a-past Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart) guides a wagon train of settlers to new land in Oregon. They first battle man and mountains to reach the land and later looming starvation when their vital first year supplies are delayed and hijacked by men maddened with gold fever. All the while McLyntock is haunted by his secret past: Can a bad man change? Perhaps more importantly, will others let you change?
Jimmy Stewart and Anthony Mann collaborated on some of the best westerns ever. In them they usually explored the inner demons the main character was wrestling with. Beyond vague references to McLyntock's past (He's THE Glyn McLyntock of the Missouri border wars, one character tells us, explaining it all) and hints that he was once the odd-man out during a lynching party, we're spared the gruesome details. McLyntock's past is left unexplored, the point being that he has the capacity to be very bad, and is trying his best to start anew. I can't think of any other actor, then or now, capable of convincingly playing a basically decent character who, when pressed, allows the devils to erupt.
The same can, and can't, be said for Arthur Kennedy's Emerson Cole, another gun sharp who, like McLyntock, has a capacity for goodness but seems a little weaker when confronted with temptation. McLyntock and Cole are from the Kansas and Missouri area, "good, clean country" moral center and settler leader Jeremy Baile (Jay C. Flippen) says, "'til man came in to steal and kill. Can't let it happen here." Of course Baile doesn't know anything about McLyntock's past and trusts him completely, a trust McLyntock values enough to make him that much more concerned about keeping his secrets secret.
A strong cast and story makes BEND OF THE RIVER one of the best movies of the 1950s. As usual in a Mann western, the story is played out against a glorious, Technicolor background. In this case Mount Hood, Sandy River, and Timberline, all in Oregon. The story is credible and, as usual, Stewart is excellent as the outlaw trying to reform. Strongly recommended.

Bend Of The River - James Stewart, Rock Hudson

No complaints from me!

It seems that many are complaining about the DVD version. I saw the VHF, and concentrated on the story rather than screen flaws, and so like other Stewart films, I was delighted and entertained.

This is a 1950s movie, when Stewart was in his hay day, and the story (screenwriter Borden Chase wrote the screenplay from his own novel) was a superlative story of the Oregon country, including scenery around Mt. Hood and the Columbia River.

This is one of the series of eight films directed by Anthony Mann and starring the late Brig. General James Stewart, USAF, in his youth.

Rock Hudson played a youthful gambler from California, and Arthur Kennedy a former Kansas border raider and the leading bad guy, after acting as a Stewart supporter. Stewart was also a former border raider from Missouri who was trying to forget his past. Supporting players included a youthful Harry Morgan and some other rowdies I didn't immediately recognize.

This is one of the old-time "straight" Westerns that I grew up loving, with plenty of gun play, with good and bad guys easily recognized (but not necessarily by their hat color).

If you are a fan of those old-time Westerns, you'll probably love this one, which was filmed in Technicolor.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handuns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

James Stewart, Rock Hudson - Bend Of The River

One Of The Best Westerns

Jimmy Stewart is a great actor.This is a great western with plenty of action.i like westerns of the 1950,s and 1960.s