For some reason this film gets mediocre reviews whenever it is mentioned in some newspaper television sections like The New York Times. I really can't understand why. For while it is not an iconic western, like SHANE or RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, it has some appealing elements.
Marilyn Monroe gets to sing several tunes, including the theme song, accompanying her singing on a guitar. She had a serviceable voice for singing, but her song sung to Tommy Retig is unique - she rarely showed so much of a possible maternal side to her character. Monroe's "Kay Weston" is a dance hall girl who is married (although it turns out it's a common-law marriage at best) to Rory Calhoun ("Harry Weston"), a small time gambler. They are in a mining town, where Robert Mitchum ("Matt Calder") has arrived to pick up his only son Tommy Retig ("Mark Calder"). Even here Monroe has shown a maternal interest in the boy, keeping an eye on him when his father has not shown up (the man who was bringing the boy took off to start prospecting once they reached the town). Mitchum takes his son back to his homestead and starts trying to rebuild the relationship between them. Retig is very willing to get used to this. In the meantime, Calhoun has somehow managed to get the jackpot he always dreamed of - he has won a gold mine claim in a card game with a prospector (Murvyn Vye as "Dave Colby"). For reasons we are left to guess at, he is determined to get his claim filed as soon as possible in the nearest large town, but he can't buy a horse. However he buys (with Monroe's money) a raft, and they proceed to go down the so-called River of No Return.
They are almost drowned, but Mitchum rescues them with a lasso. However, although a reasonable type, he refuses to sell his horse (needed for transportation or planting on the farm) to Calhoun to use to get to the town. Calhoun takes the animal by force, nearly killing Mitchum in the process, and tells Monroe he'll be back to pick her up when the claim is filed. In the course of this incident, Calhoun mentions that he recognizes Mitchum as a man who was sent to prison for murdering another man by shooting him in the back. Retig's growing close relationship with Mitchum is strained by this knowledge, although Mitchum explains he shot the man that way because the man was about to kill a friend of Mitchum's.
The local Indians are not fond of Mitchum's homesteading and seeing he's been disarmed they attack the farm. Mitchum, Retig, and Monroe are forced to go by the raft towards the town that Calhoun is headed for, but by the river (which Mitchum is aware has many dangerous rapids in it). They film proceeds to show how the trip gradually affects the three working together. Will it make Mitchum get over his mistrust of Monroe, who was Calhoun's girlfriend? Will it make Monroe show more of her interest in the welfare of Retig, and reconsider the value of her lover? Will Retig slowly realize how much his father is better than the prison record suggests?
The film works - given the director (Otto Preminger) usually dealt with urban problems (rape/murder trials in ANATOMY OF A MURDER; crime among the social elite in LAURA; high political wheeling and dealing in ADVISE AND CONSENT; drug addiction in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM) it is nice to see how well he handles a simple western story, and how he does make full use of the locale's attractions and dangers. There is only one example of his tendency of pushing the sexual envelope here: at one point Monroe has fallen into some mud, and when helped up by Mitchum the mud is visible on her pant's posterior, suggestive (briefly) of mud wrestling - but it is done very quickly.
The four leads do very well, including Calhoun as a selfish man with a charming facade. Whether he really intended to go off with Monroe at the end is really never settled (she finds him finally), nor whether he beat Vye out of the claim in an honest poker game (Vye certainly does not think it was honest). Calhoun's television career was more successful than his movie career, but here he does maintain our interest to the end. This was probably his best performance in a movie.
No, it is not a western like HIGH NOON for the ages, but it is a respectable piece of work.
Marilyn Monroe gets to sing several tunes, including the theme song, accompanying her singing on a guitar. She had a serviceable voice for singing, but her song sung to Tommy Retig is unique - she rarely showed so much of a possible maternal side to her character. Monroe's "Kay Weston" is a dance hall girl who is married (although it turns out it's a common-law marriage at best) to Rory Calhoun ("Harry Weston"), a small time gambler. They are in a mining town, where Robert Mitchum ("Matt Calder") has arrived to pick up his only son Tommy Retig ("Mark Calder"). Even here Monroe has shown a maternal interest in the boy, keeping an eye on him when his father has not shown up (the man who was bringing the boy took off to start prospecting once they reached the town). Mitchum takes his son back to his homestead and starts trying to rebuild the relationship between them. Retig is very willing to get used to this. In the meantime, Calhoun has somehow managed to get the jackpot he always dreamed of - he has won a gold mine claim in a card game with a prospector (Murvyn Vye as "Dave Colby"). For reasons we are left to guess at, he is determined to get his claim filed as soon as possible in the nearest large town, but he can't buy a horse. However he buys (with Monroe's money) a raft, and they proceed to go down the so-called River of No Return.
They are almost drowned, but Mitchum rescues them with a lasso. However, although a reasonable type, he refuses to sell his horse (needed for transportation or planting on the farm) to Calhoun to use to get to the town. Calhoun takes the animal by force, nearly killing Mitchum in the process, and tells Monroe he'll be back to pick her up when the claim is filed. In the course of this incident, Calhoun mentions that he recognizes Mitchum as a man who was sent to prison for murdering another man by shooting him in the back. Retig's growing close relationship with Mitchum is strained by this knowledge, although Mitchum explains he shot the man that way because the man was about to kill a friend of Mitchum's.
The local Indians are not fond of Mitchum's homesteading and seeing he's been disarmed they attack the farm. Mitchum, Retig, and Monroe are forced to go by the raft towards the town that Calhoun is headed for, but by the river (which Mitchum is aware has many dangerous rapids in it). They film proceeds to show how the trip gradually affects the three working together. Will it make Mitchum get over his mistrust of Monroe, who was Calhoun's girlfriend? Will it make Monroe show more of her interest in the welfare of Retig, and reconsider the value of her lover? Will Retig slowly realize how much his father is better than the prison record suggests?
The film works - given the director (Otto Preminger) usually dealt with urban problems (rape/murder trials in ANATOMY OF A MURDER; crime among the social elite in LAURA; high political wheeling and dealing in ADVISE AND CONSENT; drug addiction in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM) it is nice to see how well he handles a simple western story, and how he does make full use of the locale's attractions and dangers. There is only one example of his tendency of pushing the sexual envelope here: at one point Monroe has fallen into some mud, and when helped up by Mitchum the mud is visible on her pant's posterior, suggestive (briefly) of mud wrestling - but it is done very quickly.
The four leads do very well, including Calhoun as a selfish man with a charming facade. Whether he really intended to go off with Monroe at the end is really never settled (she finds him finally), nor whether he beat Vye out of the claim in an honest poker game (Vye certainly does not think it was honest). Calhoun's television career was more successful than his movie career, but here he does maintain our interest to the end. This was probably his best performance in a movie.
No, it is not a western like HIGH NOON for the ages, but it is a respectable piece of work.