Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  Furious! One great western. Apparently, the road to redemption involves kicking all kinds of ass.

• Stella D

  
  one of the greatest of the stewart/mann westerns. arthur kennedy is really great here as a slippery outlaw with a twinkle in his eye

• Stephen M

  
  The second and most visually breathtaking of the Anthony Mann/James Stewart westerns. In this one, Jimmy plays a former Missouri border raider guiding a wagon train of intrepid farmers up to Oregon, where he hopes to bury his past and start a new life as a rancher. Depicting the… More
  The second and most visually breathtaking of the Anthony Mann/James Stewart westerns. In this one, Jimmy plays a former Missouri border raider guiding a wagon train of intrepid farmers up to Oregon, where he hopes to bury his past and start a new life as a rancher. Depicting the settlers' journey as the kind of long, hard slog usually reserved for a Werner Herzog movie, it is astonishing how much action and adventure Mann manages to cram into these 90 minutes. The core of the movie, however, is the uneasy but mutually respectful friendship between Stewart and Arthur Kennedy, a fellow border raider Jimmy rescues from a lynch mob. The script cleverly uses Kennedy, who is much less eager to reform than Stewart, to illustrate the kind of a man Jimmy must once have been, and the crueller side of his nature he is desperately fighting to suppress. The only real weakness here is Rock Hudson's character, a callow professional gambler standing at a crossroads between a virtuous or a wicked path in life (Stewart's or Kennedy's). I can see why he's in the picture but he's not really given anything to do, and you'll notice that Hudson is always conveniently out of the way whenever Stewart and Kennedy butt heads, presumably to defer his taking of a side for as long as possible.

• Michael G

  
  Another great Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann western. Not their best work together, but definitely not worth passing up. Stewart plays the All-American Nice Guy/Bad Ass trying to get some supplies to settlers. Along the way he fights the elements, greed and those overcome by it. Bend of… More
  Another great Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann western. Not their best work together, but definitely not worth passing up. Stewart plays the All-American Nice Guy/Bad Ass trying to get some supplies to settlers. Along the way he fights the elements, greed and those overcome by it. Bend of the River also showcases Stewart's dark side and the war path he goes on at the end is great stuff. And a great performance by a young Rock Hudson.

• xGary X

  
  Another solid western from James Stewart and Anthony Mann that'll seem more than a little familiar to anyone who has seen Red River, but deals nicely with the usual themes of revenge and redemption.

• Jeffrey M

  
  One of James Stewart's best westerns, and another great teaming between him and director Anthony Mann. It's fast moving, with excellent cinematography, good performances all around, and a solid script. James Stewart was completely believable as the bad ass trying to leave… More
  One of James Stewart's best westerns, and another great teaming between him and director Anthony Mann. It's fast moving, with excellent cinematography, good performances all around, and a solid script. James Stewart was completely believable as the bad ass trying to leave his past, and is matched well against men of similar backgrounds but dubious character. The plot is a simple one, but is kept interesting through twists and double crosses that work because of a script that succeeds in its characterizations. 4/5 Stars

• Matthew Y

  
  Bend of the River is my favorite of the Mann/Stewart collaborations. A great storyline that involves multiple double crosses and betrayals, themes that ponder if a man can change, and heralded performances by the leads. The movie stands tall in the Western genre and James… More
  Bend of the River is my favorite of the Mann/Stewart collaborations. A great storyline that involves multiple double crosses and betrayals, themes that ponder if a man can change, and heralded performances by the leads. The movie stands tall in the Western genre and James Stewart's transformation from heroic antagonist to lurking threat sets the groundwork for other western classics like Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales. Bend of the River is a film that's quality certainly exceeds it's reputation.

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