Bend of the River

Plot synopsis:
In 1866, remorseful former border raider Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart) is scouting for a wagon train of settlers to Oregon. While he is checking the trail ahead, he rescues Emerson Cole (Arthur Kennedy) from being lynched for stealing a horse. Cole, who says the horse is "not exactly stolen," thinks he's heard of McLyntock, but doesn't pursue the subject. One of the pioneers in the wagon train is the eligible Laurie Baile (Julie Adams). That night, they are attacked by five Shoshone Indians and Laurie is wounded by an arrow. McLyntock and Cole go out to deal with the Shoshones and Cole saves McLyntock's life in the process. McLyntock welcomes Cole, but Jeremy Baile (Jay C. Flippen), the leader of the settlers, does not trust Cole and does not believe that a man can change from bad to good.
When they reach Portland, Oregon, Laurie remains there to recover. Cole also leaves the party saying that he wants to go to California to find gold. The rest, including McLyntock, go on to establish a settlement in the wilderness after making arrangements with a man named Tom Hendricks to send the supplies they need for the winter to be sent on later ("the first week in September"). That night, they have a big party and meet a professional gambler named Trey Wilson (played by Rock Hudson).
With winter fast approaching and the supplies at least six weeks late, they begin to worry when the food supply runs low. McLyntock and Jeremy Baile go back to Portland to investigate. They find that a gold rush has inflated prices enormously. Laurie and Cole are working for Tom Hendricks and have no intention of going to the settlement. McLyntock is not happy to see them together as a couple. Hendricks (Howard Petrie), their greedy supplier, has reneged on their business deal and has decided to sell their supplies at the new higher prices to a mining camp. Cole helps McLyntock round up some bad men to load the food and take it back to the settlement. Laurie joins them. When they are pursued, McLyntock sets up an ambush. Hendricks and some of his gang are killed, and the rest are driven off.
On the way to the settlement, some of the miners show up and offer an exorbitant price for the food. The hired men begin thinking about ways to commandeer the wagon train. Cole cannot resist the temptation of all that money and double-crosses his friend but doesn't kill him. That proves to be a mistake. McLyntock tracks them down and retakes the supplies with the assistance of Jeremy, Laurie, and Trey. Cole brings the miners to help him retake the supplies, but they are miners, not gunfighters and they lose to the more experienced gunhands. In a climactic brawl in the river, McLyntock kills Cole and they watch the current take his body toward the falls. At the end, they finally reach the settlement with the supplies and it's apparent that Laurie and Glyn are now a couple.

Tags: cult, violence

Review:
"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...
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....
Bend of the River is the second Anthony Mann/James Stewart western and the first in technicolor.
Flippen, Harry Morgan, Arthur Kennedy and Rock Hudson all of whom had appeared in Mann films before and/or would again.
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.
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.
Stars a tough , hardened gunslinger guide McLyntock (James Stewart) who leads his wagon train challenging the gold-rich glory that was Oregon full of mountains with snow , scarlet with sin , yellow with the dust that lured him on .
As a self-minded , haunted cowboy (James Stewart) leads his wagons plenty of settlers (Julie Adams , Lori Nelson , J.C.Flippen) and herd to Portland , in hopes of huge profits .
McLyntock and his partners end up having supplies and herd back from the villain baron .One of a series made by star Stewart with director Anthony Mann , it features splendid Western vistas , fierce gun-play and fist-play , ambiguous roles , impressively busy crowd sequences and many other things .
This is another superbly powerful triumph from Anthony Mann who realized various Western masterpieces such as ¨The furies¨ , ¨Devil's doorway¨ , ¨Tin star¨ , ¨Man of the West¨ and several with his habitual star , James Stewart , many of them playing more violent , ruthless and cynical roles than usuals , such as : ¨Winchester 73¨ , ¨Bend the river¨ , ¨The far country¨ , ¨Man from Laramie¨ , ¨Colorado Jim¨ , ¨Thunder Bay¨ , ¨The Glenn Miller story¨.
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..
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.
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.
Jimmy Stewart leads a wagon train to the Oregon wilderness and settles down to help build a settlement and after a gold rush, having to battle thieves and a greedy merchant to get a shipment of supplies back before the settlers are snowed in for the winter.Tense, exciting, and extremely violent for a fifties movie, this film really delivers the goods in terms of action and drama.Jimmy Stewart is especially hard boiled in (for him) a darker-than-usual role.Arthur Kennedy and Rock Hudson are excellent as a couple of shifty gunmen who are tentatively on the side of good.
The second of five genre defining Westerns that director Anthony Mann made with James Stewart, Bend Of The River was the first one to be made in colour.
The slick screenplay is written by Borden Chase, adapted from William Gulick's novel "Bend Of The Snake," with support for Stewart coming from Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams, Rock Hudson & Jay C.
Flippen.Stewart plays guide Glyn McLyntock who in 1847 is leading a wagon - train of homesteaders from troubled Missouri to the Oregon Territory.
Unfortunately, after rescuing Emerson Cole (Kennedy) from a lynching, it's an act that once McLyntock and the group get to Portland turns out to have far reaching consequences.In typical Anthony Mann style, McLyntock is a man tested to the maximum as he seeks to throw off his shackles and find a new redemption within a peaceful community.
Flippen is a reassuring presence, overseeing things like a genre uncle, Hudson rocks up for some dandy dude duties who joins in the gun play, and Adams (here billed as Julia Adams) is beautifully vivid under Glassberg's colour lenses.Bend of the River is very much a recommended picture, as in fact are the other four films on the Mann/Stewart CV.
Trail boss Stewart, a former border raider during the Civil War looking to change his life, still uses violence on behalf of the settlers, who seem to enjoy moral superiority over the miners.Thus, I don't consider "Bend of the River" among the best of several director Mann/actor Stewart collaborations of the 1950's.
Not only is Bend Of the River a fine adventure, shot on location (an unusual location for a western: the Columbia River and Mount Hood, Oregon), but it's a nifty psychological western, with fascinating characters whose motives will keep you guessing throughout, and some I-never-saw-that-coming plot twists that really will surprise you.The cast is first-rate.
He plays it just right.Julia Adams and young Rock Hudson - Universal contract stars, at that time - also play characters whose loyalties seem to shift and twist - we're never quite sure of anyone in this film - not even Stewart - and that's one reason it's so gripping and enjoyable.Cast, locations, music, screenplay, and direction are top-notch in this refreshing, exciting "Northern." My favorite of the Stewart-Mann collaborations..
BEND is one of Anthony Mann's truly great westerns, the tale of a notorious shootist-turned wagon train scout leading a bunch of Missouri farmers to the promised land east of Portland, Oregon.
James Stewart,(Glyn McLyntock),"Broken Arrow",'50, was a wagon train guide, and also had a wicked past life he was trying to forget about.
The second of five westerns Anthony Mann did with James Stewart, this one involves a trail boss with a shady past named Glyn McLyntock (Stewart) who takes a wagon train of settlers west from the Missouri to Oregon.
They also leave Laura in Portland to heal up while Cole stays on to seek his fortune at the gambling tables, running into good-natured Trey Wilson (Rock Hudson) in the process.When they go upriver and reach the spot they want to settle down in, the settlers start to clear the land before the winter sets.
It is well-paced, muscular, has Arthur Kennedy acting strongly as a counterbalance to James Stewart, and answers the prime question of whether a man with violent crime in his past can change for the good, and permanently.
In Mann's films, Stewart isn't only driven by some goal, he tends to be obsessed by it, even when the reasons for it aren't clear to his friends.Come to think of it, it's a little hard to imagine how he came by as many friends as a movie like "Bend of the River" gives him.
(Just kind of joking there.) The photography is good, the scenery monumental, raw, majestic, colossal, stupendous, effulgent, phallic -- and phat.It's an enjoyable movie, especially if you're interested in the Westerns of the 1950s, a good example of the joint work of Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart..
There Is a Difference Between Apples and Men. While guiding a caravan from Missouri to Portland, in the Oregon territory, the former gunman and thief Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart) saves Emerson Cole (Arthur Cole) from hanging.
'Bend the River' is another excellent western directed by Anthony Mann and having James Stewart as the lead actor.
A couple of days ago I saw 'Winchester 73' and a couple of months ago I saw 'The Man from Laramie', all of them excellent movies directed by Anthony Mann and having James Stewart leading the cast.
The usual beautiful camera work from Anthony Mann and the art department's triumphs are the film's highlights; another is the acting by brilliant Arthur Kennedy, pretty Julie Adams, Frank Ferguson, Royal Dano, Harry Morgan, Jack Lambert, young Rock Hudson, Stpan Fetchit, Chubby Johnson, Lori Nelson and Howard Petrie (as a man who allows the lust for wealth to corrupt his soul).
Anthony Mann is a master of blending the story with the scenery and here the beautiful Oregon landscape with the snowy peaks and the trees, also the paddle wheeler going up the river, the city of Portland, all play a key part.
This film, together with "Winchester 73", "The Man from Laramie", "The Far Country" and "The Naked Spur" are the result of one of the most successful partnerships between director-actor in the history of western movies..
RELEASED IN 1952 and directed by Anthony Mann, "Bend of the River" stars James Stewart as wagon master, Glyn McLyntock, who leads pioneers to a remote settlement near Mount Hood, Oregon.
When a profit-minded Portland boss confiscates the settlers' winter supplies due to a gold rush, McLyntock teams-up with a good-natured-but-dubious gunman (Arthur Kennedy) and a gentleman gambler (Rock Hudson) to get the supplies to them.
Harry Morgan & Royal Dano are on hand as ne'er-do-wells while Julie Adams, Lori Nelson and Frances Bavier appear in feminine roles.This was the second of five Westerns Mann did with Stewart.
Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy play Glyn McLyntock and Emerson Cole, two friends with mysterious(and questionable) pasts who agree to guide a group of homesteaders from Missouri into Oregon.
Enraged by the betrayal, he vows to kill his former friend, and help the homesteaders.Underrated western is beautifully filmed in color on location, with a compelling story, excellent direction by Anthony Mann, and fine performances, especially Stewart.Makes a fine double feature with "Winchester '73"..
B-western from Universal, adapted from William Gulick's novel "Bend of the Snake", features James Stewart as a leader of Settlers traveling through Oregon in the 1840s, dealing with Indian attacks and a lovestruck female.
The cast (including a young, green Rock Hudson as a gunslinging gambler, Arthur Kennedy, Julia Adams and Frances Bavier) is solid, though the movie is far from exciting.
Stars: James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams ( Creature from the Black Lagoon).What a great western !
.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.Jimmy Stewart always was very particular about any picture that he appeared in and I can see why he liked this film.
It's an enjoyable movie, especially if you're interested in the Westerns of the 1950s, a good example of the joint work of Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart..
Glyn (James Stewart), an ex Missouri Raider joins up with some settlers led by Jay C Flippen trying to start a new life in Oregon.
If you're a fan of Mann, Stewart, Hudson, Kennedy or Western's, this is for you.
Yet the movie has the gold camp closer than the wagon settlement.Fourth — The Stewart and Kennedy characters had been raiders on the Missouri-Kansas border.
Maybe the only western which teaches lessons in economics.The gold fever is rampant in Portland town and if you want food for the settlers in the mountains (and winter is around the corner)you have to be prepared to pay for it!This is another excellent adult western by one of the masters of the genre who gave classics such,as "Winchester 73" "Devil's doorway" "the naked spur" or (my favorite) "the man from Laramie" .Stewart is some kind of Mosis leading his people to the promised land;he is also Loth,saving some of the Just (Troy and Laura) from the impending fire in Portland town ,place of sin ,another Sodom.
Mann sets the quietness and the pastoral life in the new town the settlers are building against the guilty pleasures of the town and the gold digger's greed which lead to death and violence.Pre-Sirk Rock Hudson has a supporting part but he is no match for Stewart and Kennedy.It would take Douglas Sirk before he showed his real talent..
Bend of the River (1952)A Technicolor Anthony Mann Western starring Jimmy Stewart.
Lucky for him (early in the plot) he saves Arthur Kennedy playing another man with a mysterious past, and the two team up.There is a lot of nice filming here, not widescreen so it's tightly composed, including some rather nice day-for-night stuff that is convincing and has great restrained color.
But focus on the unique qualities, the big plot twist half way in, the use of some African-American bit actors (who are given painfully stereotypical roles), and the grinding moral certitude that makes the main character, McLyntock, one reason Jimmy Stewart is admired for the movie.
"Bend of the River" is not a great Western, but it is a good, solid one, with an involving story (Borden Chase scripted, from the novel by William Gulick), lots and lots of beautiful scenery, a first rate cast, and some rousing action.Jimmy Stewart is as straightforward and sincere as he's ever been, playing the role of Glyn McLyntock, a former outlaw who is currently working as a guide, helping some families travel cross country to form their own settlement.
The film opens with the hero, played by James Stewart, and his roguish friend played by Arthur Kennedy defending the settlers from a group of Indians.
This movie truly does have it all: James Stewart as Glyn McLintock, a former Missouri-Kansas border raider who has started a new life, J.C. Flippen as Jeremy Baile, an "old dreamer", Julie Adams as Laura Baile, Flippen's daughter, who Stewart likes, Arthur Kennedy as Emerson Cole, who also likes Adams, and Rock Hudson as a fancy card player.
Stewart is the loner with a shady past, who, in every colloboration with Anthony Mann in the western genre, played a very similar role.
The second western collaboration between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart, "Bend of the River" qualifies as a sprawling oater about a reformed Missouri border hellion who leads a pioneer wagon train west into the mountains when they plan to establish a new settlement.
Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart of "Winchester '73") scouts ahead of the wagon train and stumbles onto a lynching party with Emerson Cole (Arthur Kennedy of "Desperate Journey") about to be hanged for horse thievery.
This is a hugely enjoyable western directed by Anthony Mann, with excellent performances from all concerned, although Stewart and Kennedy excel.
Produced by Aaron Rosenberg and directed by Anthony Mann, "Bend of the River" is an excellent James Stewart Western.
"Bend of the River" boasts a first-rate cast, which includes Arthur Kennedy, Julia Adams, Rock Hudson, Jay C.
(Don't read any further until after you see "Bend of the River.") The main thrust of this well-crafted screenplay by Borden Chase involves a former Missouri/Kansas border raider named Glyn McLyntock (Stewart), who has now taken the straight & narrow path and proves to be an excellent guide for a wagon train of settlers led by the kindly Jeremy Baile (Flippen).
Basically Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart) is trying to hide a past, and with former partner Emerson Cole (Arthur Kennedy), they lead a wagon-train load of people and supplies from Missouri to Oregon.
"Bend of the River" is the second of the five Westerns made by James Stewart with director Anthony Mann during the 1950s, and the first they made in colour.
Here Stewart's character, Glyn McLyntock, is the scout for a wagon train of settlers heading to Oregon.
Another important element in the story is the relationship between McLyntock and a man named Emerson Cole whom he saves from being lynched for alleged horse-stealing.The Mann/Stewart Westerns often tried to get away from the traditional "good guys versus bad guys" theme and to introduce a greater emphasis on character development into the genre.