Customer Rating:  
Summary: Lyrical and elegaic Western
Comment: It is impossible to watch this at time breathtakingly beautiful movie without sadness not least because what survives is a mere fraction of the movie made by the great William Wellman -the studio interfered in the picture excising great swathes of the footage Wellman shot and adding a ponderous voice over narration declaimed in sonourous mannner by Howard Keel which adds nothing to the picture whatsoever .
It is a movie about the destruction of a way of life -that of the mountain men .The source material is a novel by Bernard de Soto which is based on the life of one such man , Flint Mitchell ,who controlled the trade with the Blackfoot Indians in the Rockies during the 1820,s .In many ways he was the very incarnation of the pioneer spirit , a trader and adventurer married to a Native American ,and the movie shows how this idyllic lifestyle is blown away by the inexorable rise of white society on the frontier as it gradually "civilises " previously virgin lands .The society is one where whites and Indians co-exist and intermarry as a matter of course and even this comparative racial harmomy is destroyed by "society"and the violence it brings in its wake Achingly lovely location photography make the movie a visual poem to the American landscape and it dwarves most of the players but Gable gives one of his strongest performances This is a fascinating movie but I suspect if Wellman had been alllowed to pursue his original vision we would be talking about an acclaimed masterpiece rather than the rump left by an nervous studio
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wellman complicates civic history lesson.
Comment: 'Missouri' feels more like a civic lecture than a film; it tries the impossible task of celebrating the American frontier spirit with a newly tolerant approach to Native Americans, who are kindly allowed do more than whoop menacingly. Well some are; this Western is only liberal to those Natives who agree to the white subjugation of their land - those who refuse are murderous, anti-family transgressors.That's what the script says, and the cheerful narration and dazzlingly bright colours seem to confirm it. Us old Western hands know Wild Bill Wellman, though, director of bleak critiques like 'The Ox-Bow Incident'. The chilling climax, therefore, refuses to simplify the tensions between community, family, and the violence needed to protect them, and can be now seen as foreshadowing the complexities of 'The Searchers'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Frontier Adventure film
Comment: Clark Gable is excellent as a mountain man who leads a company of mountain men and trappers into the Blackfoot Indian Nation to trap beaver. It has humor, drama, action, and suspense. The "Run For Your Life" scene where Gable is given a choice by the Indians to either run or be killed is classic. Ricardo Montalban is also in fine form as the Blackfoot Indian War Chief who hates the intrusion into his country by Gable and his company. A must see for Clark Gable fans. Also, if you liked the movie, "The Big Sky" with Kirk Douglas, you'll love this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Family Film
Comment: My Great Grandfather was in this movie as a French Trapper. It was great to see a man, whom I never met, on the big screen. It would be a great movie for the entire family. It has some excellent scenery shots and a great performance by Clark Gable. It combines history, comedy, and drama all wrapped into one film.
|
