GamerTab That was an excellent one.

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1955 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at Loew's State: 11 October 1955. U.S. release: October 1955. U.K. release: November 1955. Australian release: 15 December 1955. Sydney opening at the Regent. 11,015 feet. 122 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Texas brothers Gable and Mitchell, who had ridden with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War, head North to Montana in search of gold. Desperate for cash, the men waylay Ryan, a wealthy businessman transporting $20,000. The fast-thinking Ryan turns the robbery to his advantage, however, by offering Gable and Mitchell a chance to be his partners in a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. They accept the offer and Gable is made trail boss. As they head back down to Texas, Gable saves the life of Russell, a young settler whose party was attacked by Indians. A blizzard prevents the pair from continuing their journey and they are forced to seek shelter in a deserted shack. NOTES: Earning close to $5 million in domestic film rentals alone, "The Tall Men" was one of Fox's most popular releases of the year, not alone in North America, but also in Britain and Australia. For Location scenes in the Los Organes Valley, Zacatecas, Mexico. 3,200 head of cattle and 300 horses were rounded up by 75 horsemen for the largest such scene ever to appear in a motion picture to that date.COMMENT: I was going to write there is nothing more dreary than endless shots of cattle mooching along dusty trails, but I would be wrong (cf. "Red River"). In this film it seems dull and dreary thanks to Walsh's listless direction. Mind you, the plot has all the ingredients for success, it is the handling that is jaded and tired. The players don't help much either. Miss Russell is charmless (though admittedly the characterization handed her by the script is partly to blame), Mr. Mitchell is unattractive even as a villain, and RR just grunts through his part looking suitably steely-eyed. Gable is Gable, but he too can make little headway against a script that makes him hanker ad nauseam for a sod-buster ranch in Dog Prairie Creek (or some such).With sharper editing and the trimming of such running-far-too-long sequences as Gable jawing with Russell about the joys of Prairie Dog Creek, it would be a passable enough offering for action fans. Certainly it has been produced on a handsome budget. Some of the locations are impressive but the photography does little to enhance them. The camera does devote a lot of time though to flattering Miss Russell's nose.OTHER VIEWS: The picture, based on a novel by Clay Fisher, chronicles the first great cattle drive from Fort Worth, Texas to Virginia City, Montana in 1867. Since it was impossible to assemble such a large herd of cattle in the United States, Director Raoul Walsh decided to go into the cattle country of Mexico. There he rounded up the largest herd ever to appear in a motion picture. The largest previous herd was one of 1,500 for "Red River"."The reason we needed so many is, of course, CinemaScope," Director Walsh, explained. "We wanted to fill the screen with cattle in order to give an impression of brute power and, after tests, we decided we couldn't do it with less."

Freedom060286 I enjoy watching these colour 1950s westerns, more so now that they have been remastered in 1080p HD. This one is based on a novel by Heck Allen (as Clay Fisher).The cast performed very well, with Clark Gable and Cameron Mitchell as ex-confederate brothers seeking a better life after the Civil War, and Robert Ryan as a practical, intelligent businessman with big dreams. Jane Russell doesn't seem like an especially good actress, but she was okay for her role. The cinematography is beautiful to behold - director Raoul Walsh chose some ideal locations. The cost of making the movie was $3,115,000, a substantial amount for the time, and it made a profit with box office revenue of $6 million.

moonspinner55 Salty, surly star-driven western about a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, with would-be rancher Clark Gable vying with banker Robert Ryan for the hand of wisecrackin' Jane Russell. Good-looking, exceptional entertainment from director Raoul Walsh. Screenwriters Frank Nugent and Sidney Boehm adapted their script from a novel (credited either to Heck Allen or to Clay Fisher), smoothly intermingling jovial exchanges between the characters, Indian clashes, Mexican stand-offs, and Russell singin' in the wash-tub. Enjoyable of its type, nicely photographed by Leo Tover, with Gable giving a solid star-performance. **1/2 from ****

classicsoncall Set in the Montana Territory of 1866, brothers Ben (Clark Gable) and Clint (Cameron Mitchell) Allison find themselves talked into a cattle drive from Texas back to Boomtown, after robbing high roller Nathan Stark (Robert Ryan) in his own saloon. Ryan's character is the taller of the two main stars, but it's not enough to win the heart of Nella Turner (Jane Russell), after she see saws her way between the two through much of the story. Russell of course steals any scene in which she's featured, and with the help of a provocative wardrobe, one is constantly reminded of her best assets.Constantly on the lookout for tidbits from an earlier era, I was as shocked as the Allison Brothers when the stable guy wanted to charge them sixteen dollars for two horses overnight. I don't think I've seen another Western where the charge was more than two bucks. What made that especially onerous was when Nella was quoted a dollar fifty a night, nine dollars for the week at a ritzy hotel in San Antone. Kind of makes you wonder what the horses got that humans didn't! Amid the tension of the romantic triangle, I got a kick out of the comic relief elements in the story, all wonderfully understated, and usually involving Russell's character. The best included the cutting of the girdle scene, her drenching river crossing, and brother Clint's frog in the bucket. Curiously, even though they were brothers, I found it intriguing how Clint sounded more and more Mexican as the story progressed.I can empathize with other reviewers on this board who felt the film was a bit on the long side. Considering that the cattle drive was fifteen hundred miles, that would have taken at least two months in real time, and probably longer. This was the only time I ever saw in a movie where they had to hoist the wagons down over rock cliffs, something I would never have considered. So what do you leave out, the Jayhawkers or Red Cloud?By the time the story's over, Nella's big dreams and Ben's small ones find a way to converge in the most minor of twist endings. It was interesting too how the words to Nella's 'Tall Man' song always seemed to fit the occasion; I wonder if she had one for Prairie Dog Creek?