The Tall Men (1955)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Sydney Boehm (screenplay) and
Frank S. Nugent (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 October 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

As Big and Spectacular and Exciting As The Mighty West Itself!

Plot:

Two brothers, Ben and Clint, join a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. While heading for Texas they save Nella from the Indians...

Plot Keywords:

Cattle | Gold | Army | Beautiful Woman | Fort

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Colonel Ben Allison
Jane Russell	...	Nella Turner
Robert Ryan	...	Nathan Stark
Cameron Mitchell	...	Clint Allison
Juan García	...	Luis, Allison's Head Vaccaro (as Juan Garcia)
Harry Shannon	...	Sam, Cattleman robbed by Jayhawkers
Emile Meyer	...	Chickasaw Charlie
Steve Darrell	...	Colonel Norris, U.S. Cavalry (as Stevan Darrell)
Will Wright	...	Gus - the Bartender at Black Nugget Saloon
Robert Adler	...	Wrangler
J. Lewis Smith	...	Cowboy
Russell Simpson	...	Emigrant
Mae Marsh	...	Emigrant
Gertrude Graner	...	Emigrant
Tom Wilson	...	Miner

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording) (35 mm magnetic prints) | Mono (Western Electric Recording) (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #17476) | West Germany:12 (nf) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Clark Gable had to stand on a box to look taller than his 6'4" co-star Robert Ryan in one scene.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ben and Clint first enter the saloon and the livery stable in Mineral city, Clint's two-gun rig is hidden by his coat. When Clint follows Stark into the livery stable, his guns are strapped on the outside and over his coat, yet when they ride out of town, his guns are back under the coat.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[pointing to a lynched man dangling from a tree limb]
Colonel Ben Allison: Looks like we're close to civilization.

Soundtrack:

Cancion Mixteca

Gable is the tallest of them all.

It seems to me that with few exceptions, the best western films were made in the 1950s. The Tall Men is one of the best.

What makes it work so well is what made any Clark Gable movie work; Clark Gable. He had an on screen presence that has been rivaled by few, if any, leading men before or since. As Robert Ryan's character, Nathan Stark, says of gable's character Ben Allison, "he's what every boy wants to be when he grows up, and what every man wishes he had been when he's old." This is a line clearly meant to describe Gable himself.

The film's plot is predictable but it works. Ben Allison and his brother Clint are down on their luck after serving in the Civil War "in a left handed sort of way" as rebels with Quantrill's Raiders. They decide to hold up a cattle baron (Stark) for some fast cash. But in a twist, they agree to return his money and sign on with him for a dangerous cattle drive north for the promise of greater earnings. Along the way Jayne Russell shows up to be the love interest.

Cameron Mitchell is excellent in a role he seems to have perfected, that of a drunken gunslinger who gets his due before the film ends. Juan Garcia is superb as the leader of a Mexican crew of caballeros that once served with Colonel Allison and have remained loyal to him over the years. You can see his total loyalty to "Colonel Allison" in everything he says and does.

All in all, a top notch film.