Bend of the River

Bend of the River (1952) is a fairly middling effort by Anthony Mann standards, which means it's still a pretty solid Western. His second collaboration with James Stewart, it gets few points for originality but succeeds on its own terms as a fine adventure tale.

Gunslinger Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart) is escorting an Oregon-bound wagon train when he comes across Emerson Cole (Arthur Kennedy) being lynched by a band of vigilantes. Glyn saves Cole and the two strike up a friendship, though they part ways when they arrive in Portland. Glyn returns to Portland after his pioneers fail to receive a shipment of food, finding that Cole is set up as a gambler, with pretty farmer's daughter Laura (Julia Adams) as his girl. Glyn, Cole and friendly cardsharp Trey (Rock Hudson) forcibly commendeer the supplies, but run into trouble from a crooked businessman's (Howard Petrie) gang of thugs and Glyn's own mutinous followers - including Cole.

Bend of the River was penned by Borden Chase, who also wrote Howard Hawks's Red River (1948), and it shares many similarities with the Hawks film. Some are generalities to be expected in a wagon train film; other scenes are lifted almost intact (the Indian fight early on, the mutiny). A Fordian element about building a new town in the wilderness is also integrated into the film. The most original element is the McLyntock-Cole dynamic, two "men with a past" who prove poles apart morally. The downside to this, however, is some corny moralizing about "bad apples" and changing a man's nature that Mann expresses only in the most obvious terms.

Despite this, Mann keeps things interesting with well-drawn lead characters, plenty of plot twists and a lot of action, and in fairness the film hangs together much better than Red River, with a climax that's actually cathartic. If the movie is closer to the all-action Winchester '73 than Mann's more sharply-drawn later films, this isn't a bad thing. His later (and superior) The Far Country (1954) would revisit some of the plot elements here, but this is a good trial run, and a fine movie in its own right.

As expected in a Mann film, the scenery is the high-point: Oregon's Mount Hood provides a gorgeous backdrop to most of the action, and Irving Glassberg's colorful cinematography makes the film a visual treat. The movie has some splendid action scenes, particularly the running gun battle through the saloons and streets of Portland, and the final fight between Glyn and Cole.

James Stewart is dependably James Stewart, with the usual Mann-infused edge of neuroses and violence. Arthur Kennedy gets the meatiest role: depth-wise, Emerson Cole isn't a patch on The Man From Laramie's Vic, but Kennedy excells at making Cole likeable yet subtly devious. Julia Adams and Rock Hudson, however, are shafted with worthless parts, and Jay C. Flippen is burdened with one too many speeches about bad apples. There's also a small role for Stepin' Fetchit, who's okay but seems out of place, and Mann regulars Harry Morgan and Royal Dano put in appearances.

Bend of the River is far from Mann's best work, and aside from The Naked Spur probably his weakest collaboration with Stewart. That said, it's still a solid Western with a lot to commend it.