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The Tall Men (1955) More at IMDbPro »
21 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Entertaining Western with shades of "Red River.", 10 October 1999
Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Howard Hawks' monumental "Red River," told the story of the first cattle drive from deep Texas to Abilene, Kansas... Veteran Raoul Walsh superbly handles "The Tall Men" from San Antone, Texas to Mineral City, Montana, with simplicity, confidence and great sense of humor...
Ben Allison (Clark Gable) and his brother Clint (Cameron Mitchell) ride to the gold fields of Montana...
In town, Nathan Stark (Robert Ryan) proposes to Ben the chance to gain big money... He names Ben his trail boss, the one to drive 4,000 heads of cattle l,500 miles from San Antone, Texas to Montana...
On his way to San Antone, Ben rescues Nella Turner (Jane Russell) from Sioux attack, and falls in love with her...
After passing the night together, her ideas of dreaming 'high' struck with his, to settle down one day on a little ranch in his home country along the prairie of Dog Creek...
In San Antone, while preparing for the long journey, Nella transfers her care to Stark, a good connoisseur, a person with a taste, an ambitious rich businessman who has no interest in being a 'small' man...
Antagonism between Stark and the Allison brothers increased during the hazardous journey...
Gable portrays an honest man tied to a small dream who fights and loves everything in sight on both sides of the Rio Grande...
Russell appeared among the audience 'looking surly on a pile of straw' in "The Outlaw." Thirteen years later, she is allowed to enjoy a colorful 'prairie' tub-bath, to be called 'grandma' by the legendary 'King,' to sing: 'I want a tall man...'
Either hero or villain, Ryan manages to come up with excellent performances... He always proved to be a very fine actor... Here he plays the heavy double-crossing cattle baron, the man who admired Ben: 'There goes the man I ever respected. He's what every boy thinks he's going to be when he grows up, and wishes he had been when he's an old man.'
Cameron Mitchell appeared with Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark in "Garden of Evil." He played "The High Chaparral" in TV. He is fine as Gable's unstable, unbalanced brother...
Juan Garcia is excellent and quiet amusing as Luis, Ben's Mexican loyal friend... When Nella asked him why he loves Ben so much, he answered: 'Why man loves his home? Why I love my Mexico? I owe Señor Ben my life, Señorita.'
With great scenery, and filmed in the voluptuous rich landscape of Durango, Colorado, "The Tall Men" is loaded with action in big scale: Confrontation with the jay-hawkers who demand one dollar for every head before crossing the State line; spectacular 'run wild' stampede of the herd through the canyon where brave Sioux were waiting...
7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Gable's Great - Pity About The Movie!, 8 July 2009
Author: jpdoherty from Ireland
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
20 Century Fox's THE TALL MEN (1955) is one of their elaborate Cinemascope/colour westerns the studio was so expert at producing in the fifties. But let's not lose the run of ourselves altogether here for it's not really that good and there are some serious anomalies in the production. Besides a couple of blatant continuity problems, the screenplay by Sidney Boehm and Frank Nugent is unremarkable and quite pedestrian. But most importantly the direction by veteran Raoul Walsh is lame and unexciting. None of Walsh'e fifties movies are much good! This once great director of such forties classics as "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941), "Gentleman Jim" (1942), "White Heat" (1949) and his masterpiece "Objective Burma" (1945) seemed to have lost his creative punch in any of his later films. ( His final movie - a western called "A Distant Trumpet" (1964) was a disaster!) However,THE TALL MEN is saved primarily by the screen presence of its star Clark Gable and also by the sparkling Cinemascope cinematography of Leo Tover plus the remarkable score by the great Victor Young.
From a novel by Clay Fisher THE TALL MEN is the story of two brothers (Gable and Cameron Mitchell), late of the Confederate army, who arrive in Texas intending to make their fortune. They meet and hook up with a somewhat unscrupulous businessman (a surprisingly bland Robert Ryan in a poorly written role) and make a deal with him to drive 5000 head of cattle to Montana. Before the drive they rescue a feisty Jane Russell from the Indians and take her along on the journey resulting, of course, in Gable and Ryan vying for her affections. Along the trail there are some good action scenes when Gable and his Vaqueros take on a gang of Jayhawkers and fend off a well staged Indian attack near the picture's end.(A splendid set piece where the Vaqueros stampede the cattle into the path of the marauding Indians).
This was Gable's first real "John Wayne" type western (There are even shades of Howard Hawks "Red River" and interestingly Hawks' younger brother William is producer on THE TALL MEN). Gable had dabbled in the genre before in movies like "Boom Town" (1940), "Across The Wide Missouri" (1951) and the excellent "Lone Star" (1952) but in THE TALL MEN and with dazzling panache he is the real deal herding cattle across the prairie. He had never before done this kind of movie and it suited him extremely well. It's a great pity he never did more of this type of western! (A later one - directed by Walsh again - the abysmal "The King & Four Queens" (1957) is best left in the obscurity it deserves). The supporting cast are uniformly OK with the only real drawback being Jane Russell! An actress I always found most irritating who - with her smart mouth and that snarl-like facial expression - never impressed me as the choice female in any movie. To me she was so unappealing and could emit about as much sex appeal as a Humpback Whale! So how Gable came to choose her as his leading lady is one of the great mysteries of life I guess! She just doesn't compliment him in the slightest! Someone like Susan Hayward or his old MGM co-star Ava Gardner would have been much more suitable!
One of the most tangible aspects of the film is Victor Young's extraordinary music! The great composer of such hit tunes from his film scores as "My Foolish Heart", "Love Letters", "Stella By Starlight" ("The Uninvited") and "When I Fall In Love" (from "One Minute To Zero") was no stranger when it came to writing for the great outdoors of the American west. Among his music for westerns are such classics as "Wells Fargo" (1937), "Northwest Mounted Police" (1940),"Rio Grande" (1950), "Johnny Guitar" (1954) and most memorably "Shane" (1953). For THE TALL MEN he composed one of his finest themes for a western! First heard over the credits it is used later in the picture to point up the vast spectacle of 5000 cattle lumbering across the plains. With its appealing key changes and rich engaging orchestration this long loping piece is not only melodic but is wonderfully appropriate! The year after THE TALL MEN Victor Young passed away! He was only 56 years old! That same year he was posthumously awarded an Oscar for his magnificent score for "Around The World In 80 Days". During his career he was nominated 19 times. When he died he had just begun working on his score for a now forgotten film called "China Gate" and had only written the Main Title music. His friend Max Steiner stepped in and finished the score without pay. The music credit on "China Gate" reads "Music by Victor Young - Extended by his old friend Max Steiner".
If you can overlook some of the glaring faults in THE TALL MEN like the slim screenplay, the uneven direction, some iffy performances, a couple of continuity problems and the presence of Miss Russell there is some enjoyment to be had from the movie thanks to the stunning widescreen cinematography, Young's awesome score and of course the engaging Gable strutting his stuff like never before.
11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
"My Dreams Are Little, just a small spread in Prarie Dog Creek", 22 January 2006
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Clark Gable and Cameron Mitchell are the brothers Allison, a pair of weary Confederate veterans in the Yankee country of Montana territory. Like Rooster Cogburn who robbed a Yankee paymaster for a fresh grubstake, the brothers decide to steal from Robert Ryan who's carrying a money belt with a lot of currency.
Ryan however takes them on as partners in a scheme he has to drive Texas cattle to Montana and start the cattle business there in the north country. On the way back the trio meet up with Jane Russell and a party of settlers. Later on Gable rescues her from the Sioux.
Gable and Russell get that chemistry going. But Gable just wants to settle down in his home town of Prarie Dog Creek, Texas. Russell is looking to escape from places like that. So her sights are turned on would be empire builder Ryan.
The guys and Jane have quite a few adventures on the drive back to Texas. It's been done before, in Red River, in Randolph Scott's film The Texans.
The Tall Men is a good action western. It doesn't have the grand sweep or the visual poetry that either of the other two films have. But it's a worthy addition to the works of director Raoul Walsh and the main players.
11 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Gable is the tallest of them all., 27 November 2003
Author: eaglejet98
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.
11 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
I want a tall man,not a small man..., 19 April 2003
Author: dbdumonteil
...that's enough for me.That's what Jane Russel sings ,and this ditty comes back as a leitmotiv ,along with another one,a rather saucy song about her peaches ,and the tree the man who wants them has to climb up to.Russell has a big dream,and Gable a small one,there's the rub;wealthy Ryan can provide Russell with the luxury and easy life she longs for :in a long conversation with Gable,Russel tells him about her childhood,and her mother who died in the harness ,and however "daddy used to love her as much as it could be".The movie is nothing but an initiatory journey for Russel,who plays the only character whose psychology will mutate along the way.
This is a classic western,which recalls "red river" , a bit overlong because an action-packed story this is definitely not.The cinematography is splendid ,and enhances marvelous landscapes with a good use of scope ,but the movie lacks madness of earlier Walsh works such as "Colorado territory" or "pursued" or even later extravaganzas such as "band of angels".
4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Starts well but quickly runs out of steam, 15 September 2008
Author: TrevorAclea from London, England
The Tall Men has a great opening half hour, but once the snow clears it's pedestrian and overlong all the way despite the combined star power of Clark Gable, Robert Ryan and Jane Russell. The DeLuxe colour is problematic throughout - the early scenes and studio footage look wonderful, but out in the wide-open country it tends to make everything on the trail look bleached out and lifeless, the early CinemaScope lenses probably exacerbating the limitations of the system. Still, there's some great dialogue and Ryan gets to deliver the definitive description of his co-star - "There goes the only man I ever respected. He's what every boy thinks he's going to be when he grows up and wishes he had been when he's an old man."
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Clark Gable points 'em north, 20 March 2003
Author: cowboy7642 from Alexandria, VA
Clark Gable is the trail boss who ramrods a cattle drive from Texas to Montana in this colorful, sprawling western that has plenty of action. Jane Russell supplies the romance, such as it is, between Gable and co-star Robert Ryan, who'll stop at nothing to owning all of Montana because he dreams big dreams. Naturally, Gable's Ben Allison comes to the rescue of Nella Turner a time or two during the film but her head is turned by Nathan Stark's promise of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Beautiful Mexican scenery is the backdrop for this story as the herd makes its way north to Indian country. A lengthy battle takes place between the cattlemen and the Indians that is expertly done but Allison's cunning saves the day, and the beef, for Mineral City. The cast, CinemaScope lensing and Victor Young's plaintive music score are all very good.
7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Two guys from the past making the most of a new technology, 8 September 2004
Author: tmwest from S. Paulo, Brazil
To really enjoy 'The Tall Men', it has to be seen on a wide screen version. I saw it the first time in 1955 in cinemascope and can remember that the most enjoyable quality of this film is the cinematography and also the beautiful music. I bought a video converted for normal TV and it is sad to see that a good part of what goes on in the screen is just missing. The cattle drive, the scenery and the music makes 'The Tall Men' superior to 'Red River' whenever these scenes show up. Of course comparing them both as complete films 'Tall Men' does not come close to 'Red River' , which is much better. The titles that show up at the beginning are exactly like those of silent movies, perhaps Raoul Walsh was nostalgic of the old days. This was among the ten last films of of a great number that he directed in his career. It was also one of Gable's last. It is good to see those two old guys from the past meeting a new technology (cinemascope and stereo sound) and making the most of it. Jane Russel a bit too fat for modern day standards, gives one of her best performances. When 'The Tall Men' will come up on DVD on wide screen I will be among the first to buy it.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Jane's lookin' for a REAL tall man (and plenty of rainbows!), 4 April 2007
Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca
Salty, surly star-driven western about a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, with would-be rancher Clark Gable vying with banker Robert Ryan for the hand of wisecrackin' Jane Russell. Good-looking, exceptional entertainment from director Raoul Walsh. Screenwriters Frank Nugent and Sidney Boehm adapted their script from a novel (credited either to Heck Allen or to Clay Fisher), smoothly intermingling jovial exchanges between the characters, Indian clashes, Mexican stand-offs, and Russell singin' in the wash-tub. Enjoyable of its type, nicely photographed by Leo Tover, with Gable giving a solid star-performance. **1/2 from ****
5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
My favorite movie, 31 January 2004
Author: ruthana from austin
I saw it the first time over forty years ago, and it is still one of my favorite movies. I have ridden horses in the mountains of Arizona. It simple stark and sears to the bone. A man is simple, he doesn't need a lot of lip. He just does. Gable and Russell, still put a smile on my heart a grin in my spirit, watching them verbally swat at each other. Unlike today the money didn't win, easy didn't come first. It was simple and clean.
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