bendoftheriver

The collaboration between Anthony Mann and James Stewart produced some interesting films and
some great Westerns. I can’t say enough good things about “Winchester ’73” and “The Naked
Spur,” Then there are the other collaborations in the Old West with Mann and Jimmy such as “Bend
of the River.” It’s not a bad film, but there isn’t all that much to it we haven’t seen before.

Stewart plays a guy who used to be gunfighter and bad man, now trying to start a new life for
himself by guiding pioneers into the frontier. He makes the mistake of saving Arthur Kennedy from
a group of men who accuse Kennedy of being a horse thief. When they reach the port at the river,
Stewart goes along upstream with the pioneers and the town quartermaster promises to send
supplies up via steamship soon. When the supplies don’t come and the food begins to run low,
Stewart goes back alone to find out what happened.

He discovers that Kennedy has become a casino man and the town is going to the dogs. They
make away with the supplies and head for the settlement, upriver, but when Kennedy gets a better
offer for the supplies from some miners on the trail, he double-crosses Stewart and leaves him for
dead. Stewart begins following him to regain the supplies and free the settler hostages.

“Bend of the River” is predictable but cool. As with “The Man From Laramie,” it’s Stewart versus
Kennedy in a drawn out duel to the death. Stewart is no slouch here, playing a hardened but
human guy who is like a sleeping lion pushed back into his instincts. When the settlers find out who
he is, they distrust him momentarily until he begins taking names on their behalf like a Western
Rambo, hiding in bushes and pulling dudes into the trees unbeknownst to the rest of the evil posse.

The movie doesn’t falter in its final act, but it takes a little while to get moving. Aside from a very
cool, silent knife hunt in the beginning in which Stewart and Kennedy crawl through the woods
dirking Indians, and it is extremely intense indeed, the rest of the first half is by the numbers and
sometimes boring. It’s the predictability that squashes the first act. Although we know the general
through line of second half also, we aren’t prepared for the exact machinations of the plot that allow
Stewart to wage a personal vendetta on Kennedy and his band.

Mann and Stewart are a great creative team and this film is another solid example of how well they
worked together. Where it stumbles isn’t in the acting or action but the general humdrum story.
The movie also doesn’t hold a candle to some of Mann and Stewart’s other Westerns. Try beating
“Winchester ’73.” You can’t, plain and simple.