Complete credited cast: | |||
James Stewart | ... | Steve | |
Joanne Dru | ... | Stella Rigaud | |
Gilbert Roland | ... | Teche Bossier | |
Dan Duryea | ... | Gambi | |
Jay C. Flippen | ... | Kermit MacDonald | |
Marcia Henderson | ... | Francesca Rigaud | |
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Robert Monet | ... | Phillipe Bayard |
Antonio Moreno | ... | Dominique Rigaud | |
Harry Morgan | ... | Rawlings (as Henry Morgan) | |
Fortunio Bonanova | ... | Sheriff Antoine Chighizola | |
Mario Siletti | ... | Louis Chighizola |
In 1946, ex-Navy engineer Steve Martin comes to a Louisiana town with a dream: to build a safe platform for offshore oil drilling. Having finessed financing from a big oil company, formerly penniless Steve and his partner Johnny are in business...and getting interested in shrimp-boat captain Rigaud's two lovely daughters. But opposition from the fishing community grows fast, led by Stella Rigaud. Other hazards include sabotage, a hurricane...and a treacherous board of directors. Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
The first of two fifties adventure films with heroes called Steve Martin (the second was 'Godzilla' with Raymond Burr)! Shot on location in Morgan City, Louisiana in rich Technicolor (all the better to show off local girl Joanne Dru's vibrant and extremely durable lipstick), this was Jimmy Stewart's first non-western with Anthony Mann; and although easily the least known of their eight films together remains fun.
To 21st Century environmental sensibilities, oil prospectors no longer seem the heroic buccaneering figures they were once portrayed as. The film does acknowledge the disruptive impact Stewart and Duryea have on this sleepy little backwater; as much due simply to being men as oilmen...