The Tall Men (1955)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

They don't make like this any more with real live actors, scenery, and animals... The energy is so much better that all digital movies these days. CGG is over done these days and it gives a movie no life energy... The Tall Men with take you back into the good old days for a great adventure and drama. Gable was a good compliment to Jane and all the play of action and drama was well balanced and it played... So many fine actors to bring the wild west to us forever! I like the Indian actors as well, such authentic looking Indians and no over done special effects here as well. The photography was masterfully done in this movie with great attention to composition and color.Take the ride!

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.

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?

Great 1955 Western with plenty of horses and cattle traveling across great Western scenery and veteran super stars. Clark Cable,(Col.Ben Allison),"Band of Angels", is bound and determined to travel his cattle through Indian Country and a strong minded woman Jane Russell,(Nella Turner),"The Born Losers", who takes baths in her tub and taunts the men who look in her direction or even swimming in a brook. Robert Ryan, (Nathan Stark),"The Iceman Cometh" plays a tricky character that Col. Ben has to watch carefully and they get themselves into some difficult situations. Great film to enjoy from the 1950's with plenty of action, comedy, drama and romance. Jane Russell gives great female charm in almost every scene. Enjoy