The Tall Men (1955)

Two brothers discharged from the Confederate Army join a businessman for a cattle drive from Texas to Montana where they run into raiding Jayhawkers, angry Sioux, rough terrain and bad weather.

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Sydney Boehm (screenplay), Frank S. Nugent (screenplay) (as Frank Nugent)

Stars:

Clark Gable, Jane Russell, Robert Ryan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Clark Gable	...	Col. Ben Allison
Jane Russell	...	Nella Turner
Robert Ryan	...	Nathan Stark
Cameron Mitchell	...	Clint Allison
Juan García	...	Luis (as Juan Garcia)
Harry Shannon	...	Sam
Emile Meyer	...	Chickasaw Charlie
Steve Darrell	...	Colonel Norris (as Stevan Darrell)

Storyline

Two brothers, Ben and Clint, join a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. While heading for Texas they save Nella from the Indians, and she decides to ride with them. Ben and Nella start to get romantic, but Ben isn't ambitious enough for her, and she soon meets up with the boss of the cattle drive. Will she make the right choice, and, more importantly, will the cattle make it to Montana !

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Plot Keywords:

year 1866 | ex confederate | sioux indian | montana | army | 

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Taglines:

The Tall Men stood tall...fought tall...loved tall...and one man towered above them all!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Average Shot Length = ~11 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~10.1 seconds.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: MONTANA TERRITORY 1866

They came from the South, headed for the goldfields...Ben and Clint Allison, lonely, desperate men. Riding away from a heartbreak memory of Gettysburg. Looking for a new life. A story of tall men - and long shadows.

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Connections

Referenced in Vidal Sassoon: The Movie (2010)

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Soundtracks

Tall Men
Written by Ken Darby
Performed by Jane Russell

User Reviews

484th Review: One of my very favorite Romantic Westerns

Romantic westerns are a subgenre in themselves - they aren't to everyone's taste as the reviews here show - but for me there is so much chemistry and fire between Clark Gable's Texan and Jane Russell's Nella that it's hard not to swept away with it all.

The story is an epic one: a couple of bothers, ex-soldiers, rob an easy pigeon of $20 000, only to be offered instead the chance to earn five times as much by driving cattle the 1500 miles from Texas to Montana. As they head to Texas they rescue Russell. Russell is fun, feisty, and fiery as the woman who wants to dream big and won't settle for Gable with bigger fish available.

I just love this movie - it has all the elements of the Hollywood western and there is a charm and ease to it that make it a great watch. All in all, with Russell's passing there are few of the old Hollywood left but with films like The Tall Men to remind us we can at least have a glimpse of their stature from a time when everyone went to the cinema all the time.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

12 December 1955 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

The Tall Man

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,115,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,714

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1