Rating: 
Summary: Can A Man Change?
Review: James Stewart, a man with a past that he is trying to put behind him, leads a group of settlers in this highly entertaining Western. He's taking them deep into the country of Oregon where they are going to set up a farming community. Along for the ride is Julia Adams, the daughter of the settler's leader and a girl that Stewart likes. But she only has eyes for Arthur Kennedy, another man with a shady past that Stewart has befriended. I liked this Western a lot. The main character is complicated and a bit mysterious, and Stewart plays him with a lot of intensity and authority. This is one of the films where you see the kind of actor of great depth that Stewart matured into as he grew older, and although I have seen few of his films with director Anthony Mann, I'm going to make a point of it do so now. The rest of the performances are also very effective, although Rock Hudson is given a badly underwritten character that adds little to the film. Mann builds up a lot of tension as the story progresses, and the photography is beautiful. In one sense, the story is a character study about redemption and how a man can change. But it is also a well produced Western, with plenty of action. The combination works unusually well!
Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Best Westerns
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Another of Stewart's fine 1950's Westerns
Review: Man with a past James Stewart leads a settlers' supply train on a trail of danger and greed. Excellent western with plenty of action, beautiful location filming and a good cast. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Who are you running away from?
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT "modified to fit your screen." DVD is OAR
Review: The movie is a solid 50s western--decent entertainment but not high art like, say, High Noon. It's true star is Mt. Hood, Oregon, shown sparkling in every other shot. Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the DVD, this film was NOT "modified to fit your screen." It was shot in 1952, when most films were "full frame," and well before widescreen became standard. In fact the Technicolor process used here never made the transition to widescreen, and that's why the full-frame presentation is correct. (The same is true for Shane, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and the Wizard of Oz.) You'd think the studios would not insert the bogus disclaimer, since it's a dumb mistake that can cost them sales, but this error is actually pretty common on DVD packaging. The DVD transfer is from a clean source that looks and sounds great. Unlike many later color films, the color is vivid and unfaded. Some scenes do show registration problems, but that's hard to avoid with Technicolor materials (fixing it is $$$$$). Summary: a potboiler western with pretty pictures at a budget price.
Rating:
Summary: Another Fine Stewart/Mann Western
Review: The second of the well-known star/director collaborations,and the first in color,"Bend Of The River" maintains the standard of "Winchester 73".A big selling point for Universal was the location shoot in Oregon(they went back for the world premiere),but this being Universal,there are economies---camp sequences are shot on obvious sound stages,including an extended episode in the first reel where Stewart and Arthur Kennedy are tracking Indians through a stream---it's forgivable since this was S.O.P. in most "A" westerns of the period(even "The Searchers" has a number of phony "exteriors").The outdoor stuff is great---it must have bowled them over in 1952 when this sort of thing was less commonplace---only after the introduction of Cinemascope were the majors really forced to get out on location as a matter of policy.Universal liked to give their youngsters a little on-the-job training with high-profile star vehicles,so top-liner Stewart's got Julia Adams,Rock Hudson,and Lori Nelson along for the ride.This was just before Hudson broke into leads---he earns the promotion here as a sensitive pro-gambler---intrestingly the Kennedy character,an unreconstructed 'border raider',tells him he's "too soft"---for reasons more apparant to us today,it's perfect casting for Rock.He's even coy and tentative when Lori Nelson's fairly hurling herself at him.This is the precursor of the character he would play in the Douglas Sirk pictures---gentle,non-threatening---it's no wonder he scored so big with the femme viewers in his day.As for Stewart,his big nuerotic outburst comes late in the game,but as always,it's worth waiting for.Plenty of good character people are there to back him up---something audiences took so much for granted then.There are a few surprises---just when you figure Julia Adams for Stewart's demure love intrest,she beds down with Kennedy,cashing out the chips in his gambling hall---who ever said the 50's were predictable?The boom-town scenes have a terse,nasty edge---always good for repeat viewings as long as you're springing for the video.This one's well worth having---as are all the westerns in the Stewart/Mann group.
Rating:
Summary: Another Fine Stewart/Mann Western
Review: The second of the well-known star/director collaborations,and the first in color,"Bend Of The River" maintains the standard of "Winchester 73".A big selling point for Universal was the location shoot in Oregon(they went back for the world premiere),but this being Universal,there are economies---camp sequences are shot on obvious sound stages,including an extended episode in the first reel where Stewart and Arthur Kennedy are tracking Indians through a stream---it's forgivable since this was S.O.P. in most "A" westerns of the period(even "The Searchers" has a number of phony "exteriors").The outdoor stuff is great---it must have bowled them over in 1952 when this sort of thing was less commonplace---only after the introduction of Cinemascope were the majors really forced to get out on location as a matter of policy.Universal liked to give their youngsters a little on-the-job training with high-profile star vehicles,so top-liner Stewart's got Julia Adams,Rock Hudson,and Lori Nelson along for the ride.This was just before Hudson broke into leads---he earns the promotion here as a sensitive pro-gambler---intrestingly the Kennedy character,an unreconstructed 'border raider',tells him he's "too soft"---for reasons more apparant to us today,it's perfect casting for Rock.He's even coy and tentative when Lori Nelson's fairly hurling herself at him.This is the precursor of the character he would play in the Douglas Sirk pictures---gentle,non-threatening---it's no wonder he scored so big with the femme viewers in his day.As for Stewart,his big nuerotic outburst comes late in the game,but as always,it's worth waiting for.Plenty of good character people are there to back him up---something audiences took so much for granted then.There are a few surprises---just when you figure Julia Adams for Stewart's demure love intrest,she beds down with Kennedy,cashing out the chips in his gambling hall---who ever said the 50's were predictable?The boom-town scenes have a terse,nasty edge---always good for repeat viewings as long as you're springing for the video.This one's well worth having---as are all the westerns in the Stewart/Mann group.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Poor DVD!!
Review: This is a great film but not a great dvd. I had a password issue at the start (which was fixed by just pressing stop on the player) and then the image quality ranged from really good to really poor throughout the film. For the price I paid I can't really complain but I will. As far as the image ratio goes, according to IMDB it was orginally shot in a 1.37:1 so at this format of 1.33:1 not alot is lost. Stewart didn't film a "widescreen" western until "The Man From Laramie" in 1957 if I am correct.
Rating:
Summary: Mighty Pretty Country
Review: This is one of my top 10 westerns of all time. Jimmy Stewart is my favourite actor. One of a number of Anthony Mann films in which Jimmy Stewart was cast as a character with a hidden past. As the film begins, Jimmy Stewart's character is escorting a wagon train. En route he rescues Arthur Kennedy just as some folk are planning to lynch him. In return, Kennedy hooks up with the wagon train. There is a parting of the way, as Kennedy remains behind at the port while Stewart continues on with the settlers to the stretch of country that is to be their new home. When their pre-purchased supplies fail to show, the settlers send Stewart back to investigate. He finds a town tarnished by greed - gold has been found and food prices have soared. Meeting up with Kennedy, Stewart makes off with the supplies intending to pass it on to the settlers but it is not long before he runs into trouble. This is the same print that was used for the 90s laserdisc release. The picture quality is generally ok but there are a number of scenes when the print seems to suffer "double vision". The film also begins with the statement that it has been modified to fit the screen suggesting that this is a pan and scan version. With the only extra being a trailer for the film my suggestion would be wait until Universal issue a restored print in the correct aspect ratio. Film = 5 stars, DVD = 1 star
Rating:
Summary: Pioneers struggle to survive in the great Northwest
Review: This western is a film of great visual beauty that has a great cast headed by James Stewart whose task is to guide a wagon train of pioneers through the Northwest Territory to their new settlement in Oregon. Stewart's Glyn McLyntock has a troubled past but also a conscience and a sense of fair play and justice that saves a gunslinger from a hanging. The ungrateful Emerson Cole repays McLyntock with treachery and gun-play and gets involved in swindling the settlers out of their needed winter supplies that have been seized by an unscrupulous owner of a steamboat and saloon. The rugged terrain of the Oregon countryside and dangerous river rapids lend realism to this story, and there is an interesting sub-plot that has McLyntock and Cole fighting Shoshone warriors at night. Julia Adams is pleasing to the eye as a pioneer girl and old hand Jay C. Flippen is a straight shooter who knows a bad apple when he sees one. The rough and tumble action has shoot-outs between the settlers and gold-crazed miners and hired double-crossers who aim to steal the supplies and sell them at a profit. Rock Hudson is a gambler who's handy with a six-gun.
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