Bend of the River

Bend of the River

Besides being a terrific movie in its own right--and the second entry in a remarkable eight-film series teaming director Anthony Mann and star James Stewart--Bend of the River is also fascinating as a variation on one of the greatest Westerns. With or without anyone else's knowledge, screenwriter Borden Chase reworked scenes, character configurations, and much of the structure of Red River, the screenplay of which he had cowritten (from his own novel) for director Howard Hawks six years earlier. Seeing what Hawks and Mann did with some of the same scenes--a spooky night skirmish with Indians, for instance--makes for a compelling lesson in the transformative power of directorial style. Instead of Texas and the Chisholm Trail, Bend of the River is set in the Oregon river country, with a wagon train substituting for an epic cattle drive. Wagonmaster Stewart, a man with a secret past he's determined to redeem, rescues another, not-so-ex-renegade (Arthur Kennedy) from a lynching. Stewart finds Kennedy a powerful ally in a fight but ultimately has to face him as a mortal enemy--and to revert to his old savage ways in order to save his adopted community. Along the trail, they are variously companioned and/or menaced by the likes of slick gambler Rock Hudson (compare the Cherry Valance part in Red River) and hard cases Harry (then Henry) Morgan, Royal Dano, and Jack Lambert. There's knockout scenery, as usual with Mann, and fight-to-the-death action as bracing as a plunge into an icy river. --Richard T. Jameson

Genre: Action, Adventure, Western
Director(s): Anthony Mann
Stars: James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Julia Adams, Arthur Kennedy
Production: Universal
 
IMDB:
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes:
100%
  Bend of the River Screenplay »
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NR (Not Rated)
Year:
1952
92
1,292 Views

Jeremy Baile:
I don't like that man Cole.

Glyn McLyntock:
Why not?

Jeremy Baile:
I heard Grundy say he was a raider on the Missouri border.

Glyn McLyntock:
Well, lots of people used to raid along the border.

Jeremy Baile:
That kind can't change. When an apple's rotten, there's nothing you can do except throw it away or it will spoil the whole barrel.

Glyn McLyntock:
Well, there's a difference between men and apples.

Tom Hendricks:
I got a job for you... arrow wound.

Cap'n Mello:
Where about?

Glyn McLyntock:
Right up here (points to shoulder). Part of the head is still in it.

Cap'n Mello:
Well, if you can point to it, it ain't serious. Just leave it alone, it will fall out by itself in time.

Emerson Cole:
Never mix marriage with gambling. Percentage is all against it.

Cap'n Mello:
You're a little naked to go calling on Hendricks. You ain't wearin' a gun.

Glyn McLyntock:
I thought we were out of Cheyenne country. What do you make of that?

Emerson Cole:
Shoshoni. Real mean when they want to be. Lately, they want to be.

Shorty:
The law won't let you get away with this.

Glyn McLyntock:
What law?

Glyn McLyntock:
Always point this (the wagon tongue) toward the North Star. Then come morning, we'll know where we're going.

Emerson Cole:
I'll be seeing you, Glyn.

Glyn McLyntock:
You'll be seeing me. You'll be seeing me. Everytime you bed down for the night, you'll look back to the darkness and wonder if I'm there. And some night, I will be. You'll be seeing me!

Jeremy Baile:
Good country, Glyn.

Glyn McLyntock:
Yeah, real good country.

Jeremy Baile:
Let's hope we can keep it this way. Missouri and Kansas was like this when I first saw 'em... good, clean. It was the men who came in to steal and kill that changed things. We mustn't let it happen here.

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