JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

bkoganbing Border River at it's time was one of a dwindling band of westerns where you could have a Confederate hero as the lead. Joel McCrea plays a man who was a major on Robert E. Lee's staff. He's pulled off one very big heist at the Denver Mint and he's got 2 million in gold bullion. But what to do with it? Actually the miracle is how he got it from Colorado to Texas, the stuff is pretty bulky.McCrea crosses the Rio Grande to a place called Zona Libre where neither the writ of Emperor Maximilian nor that of Benito Juarez runs. Instead the guy in charge is Pedro Armendariz who's a tin-pot tyrant and his right hand man is Alfonso Bedoya who revs up his Gold Hat character from The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. There's also saloon entertainer Yvonne DeCarlo who's the general's personal squeeze, but she takes a fancy to McCrea and later proves invaluable to him.McCrea's interest is to buy supplies for the Confederate army with the stolen gold. But there's a real lack of trustworthy people around from Armendariz on down. There's a whole lot of intrigue going on in the Zona Libre. There's also the looming shadow of Juarez who'd really like to put Armendariz and remove a real problem from his rear.Border River is a competently made western with the truest cowboy hero around Joel McCrea in the lead. He and DeCarlo work well together. But the ones to watch are Armendariz and Bedoya trying to outdo each other in evil. Bedoya looks like he's having a great old time out-acting the cast of about ten different films.

rightwingisevil terrible screenplay, terrible actors, bad and weak screenplay, ridiculous scenarios and plots. there's nothing worth praising whatsoever. guy was chased by soldiers, was shot crossed the river, then woke up in the hotel, then suddenly wearing all custom made new shirt, jacket and pants and hat showed up in the bar, then again, he kept changing into tailor made dresses after finished one scene. those dresses were ironed and pressed and so fit on his body. all the fights were poorly carried out. the dialog and acting by most supporting actors were just overly exaggerated and pretentious to the extreme. you need to turn of your I.Q. to watch this stupid western movie. the heist of the gold about two million dollars worth was another joke. the scenes by the river with stupid quick sand also was just too stupid to watch. all the fighting scenes just looked stupid and fake. there are so many good western movies from 1940 to 1970, but this one definitely is not one of them.

gridoon2018 In Civil War time, officer of the South Joel McCrea shows up in Zona Libre, a "neutral" territory ruled by a suave-slimy Mexican general, offering gold in exchange for guns and supplies. The general agrees....and not much more happens for the rest of the movie. While the political machinations of the plot give it some interest, there just isn't enough drive in it. McCrea and Yvonne De Carlo (exceptionally beautiful in a succession of dresses that cover nearly all the colors of the rainbow!) have some interesting discussions, but mostly go through the motions; Perdo Armendariz gives the most entertaining performance as the general. On the whole, apart from a scene of McCrea trying to pull his horse out of a quicksand pit, a quite forgettable film. ** out of 4.

cwood5 this was yet another solid performance by joel mccrea. yvonne de carlo also adds strength to this feature. the film portrays a turbulent time in our history and the the film portrays just how dedicated some membersof the confederacy were in prolonging the war.