Jimmy Stewart flees a checkered past by coming to Oregon, but Arthur Kennedy, a similarly spotted individual, sees right through him.
Bend Of The River shares with Canyon Passage the rare distinction of showing placid Portland’s craven past. In both films Portland is a dangerous place where men leave behind their consciences in pursuit of instant wealth. See this film if you ever wondered if the rosy accounts of everyone pulling together to build a New Eden were a bit incomplete. This is a movie about deciding who will eat, and who makes the decision of who will eat.
Anthony Mann’s hellish vision of the West invigorated an aging genre. Jimmy Stewart made six Westerns with Mann, but this is the only one they made in Oregon.
Read Ivan G. Shreve’s wonderful appreciation here.
I claim Bend Of The River as an Oregon film on the basis of the subject – early Oregon- and the location shooting. This film features both Rock Hudson and Mt. Hood as supporting players.
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