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| CANYON RIVER Year: 1956 Rating: ***1/2 |
George Montgomery's character
has two first names, and both are so damn perfect: As Steve Patrick,
a creative rancher breeding a new hybrid
of beef cattle, about to travel through the
harsh and sometimes deadly Wyoming winter to sell on time for the
best price, he has one gigantic flaw, and
it's not his taste in women...
Although he shouldn't get credit for landing Marcia Henderson, as a pretty widow, Janet, since she — along
for the ride (with her young son) as a chuck wagon cook for the small
group of cowpunchers — practically throws herself upon our
almost-flawless leading man: And his Achilles Heel isn't noticeable, to him,
yet we know all about it...
 |
| Peter Graves and George Montgomery in CANYON RIVER |
Friend
and employee, Bob, played by the gravely serious Peter Graves, is all
set-up for the double-cross — in fact, even before getting jealous about
the girl choosing his
boss, he has it planned that a rich land baron and his cutthroat
hired guns hijack Steve's cattle at the title location of CANYON RIVER,
making for one hell of a potential climax...
Except for a
rowdy gunfight by campfire firelight with Montgomery's hired marauders,
led by a boisterous Alan Hale Jr., whose fist-flying
introductory saloon bout with Montgomery is one of the best scenes, not
much comes of the ultimate build-up: This shoddy day-for-night roughnecks vs
roughnecks battle doesn't provide the closure deserved such anticipation, and the
brooding menace of traitor Peter Graves becomes sterile and basically
forgotten...
 |
| Peter Graves and Marcia Henderson in CANYON RIVER |
Poor Bob is painfully envious from the budding romance between
Montgomery
and Henderson, who had nursed him to health
after he was shot after having been saved by the very man he's turning
against: If anything, our sympathetic
villain suffers so much guilt for backstabbing such a terrific fellow,
it hinders his villainy from igniting this fairly uncomplicated and
basic B-Western programmer...
Showcasing a lovely
Cinemascope landscape
along with the pulpy, simple tale wherein the most fulfilling moments
occur in random conversations (like Hale telling Graves how lucky he
is... if he'd just shape up), in-between what's supposed to move the
plot forward. In other words, the characters far exceed their situation:
their motivations are one another. And isn't that how it should be?
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| George Montgomery in CANYON RIVER |
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| George Montgomery and Alan Hale Jr. in CANYON RIVER |
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| Alan Hale Jr. in CANYON RIVER |
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| George Montgomery and Alan Hale Jr. in CANYON RIVER |
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| Melinda Henderson in CANYON RIVER |
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| Melinda Henderson in CANYON RIVER with George Montgomery |
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| Robert Wilke and Peter Graves in CANYON RIVER with Walter Sande |
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| Jack Lambert with Alan Hale Jr. and George Montgomery in CANYON RIVER |
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| Alan Hale Jr. in CANYON RIVER |
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| Melinda Henderson in CANYON RIVER with George Montgomery |
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| Melinda Henderson in CANYON RIVER with Peter Graves |
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| Melinda Henderson in CANYON RIVER |
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| Warner's CANYON RIVER with George Montgomery |
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| Alan Hale Jr. fighting and losing to George Montgomery in Canyon River |
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| George Montgomery in Warner Bros Canyon River |
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| George Montgomery in Warner Bros Canyon River |
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| George Montgomery and Halen Hale Jr. in CANYON RIVER |
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| Robert Wilke and Peter Graves in CANYON RIVER with Walter Sande |
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| George Montgomery in Warner Brothers' CANYON RIVER |
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| George Montgomery in Warner Brothers' b-Western CANYON RIVER |
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| Robert L. Wilke in Warner Brothers' b-Western CANYON RIVER |
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| Robert Wilke fighting and losing to George Montgomery in Canyon River |
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| Jack Lambert and Marcia Henderson in CANYON RIVER |
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Opening credit for CANYON PASSAGE
|
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