20 Century Fox's THE TALL MEN (1955) is one of their elaborate Cinemascope/colour westerns they were 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 very interesting! 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) appeared to have lost his creative punch in any of his later films. ( His final movie - a western called "A Distant Trumpet" (1964) was an unmitigated 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 inimitable Clark Gable strutting his stuff like never before.
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 inimitable Clark Gable strutting his stuff like never before.