The Siege at Red River (1954)

Waste of time

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Jim Farady (Van Johnson)and his associate Benjy (Milburn Stone) appear to be hucksters ,travelling the West selling patent medicine (a muscle builder)but in reality they are spies for the Confederacy and are transporting a stolen Gatling Gun to the Confederate lines ,a journey that will take them through Indian Territory ,and the natives are not friendly. They attract the attention of a shrewd Pinkerton man Frank Kelso (Jeff Morrow)and are forced to smuggle the guns out concealed in a hospital wagon driven by the unsuspecting Nora Curtis (Joanne Dru)who is attracted ,somewhat against her will to Farady.they are betrayed by their ostensible escort ,Manning (Richard Boone)who has plans to sell the guns to the Indians for an attack on a nearby fort ,plans Farady sets out to foil.The movie is immaculately shot in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager and Rudolph Mate ensures the action moves along with vigour .The acting is good and the movie never flags ,even finding time for a unique drunk scene -the inebriate in question being Nora .The climax may appear familiar and if so this is unsurprising -the climactic battle is lifted from Buffalo Bill ,the Joel Macrae movie from an earlier decade ,and intercut with close up of the actors in this movieIts a solid action Western and enjoyable for lovers of the genre

I was not really concentrating on this film (on Film4), as I was reading the Sunday newspaper. However, I found my attention being more and more drawn to a plot that seemed to get more believable as it progressed. Characters were developed to the point where strangeness of behaviour became them. The lack of outright violence was a huge plus in such a story, that might easily have descended into a straight-forward gunfight. Period settings overcame obvious rigours of budget to a degree of acceptability. Though all aspects - dialogue, scenery, plot etc. - all fell short at some point, the overall effect was of a well-constructed and written movie into which a great deal of thoughtful direction had been lavished.

I had seen this film some years ago, and the only scenes that I remembered were those when Johnson and Stone sing "Tapioca" as a code song to identify themselves to Southern agents. But I still enjoyed it second time around, and perhaps I should have first read Alice Liddel's intellectual comments written here so that I would have appreciated it better.Boone, playing an out-and-out villain, steals his scenes.I wasn't too sure about the comic interlude halfway through with Dru accidentally getting drunk, though it did teasingly leave us with the question: did Johnson really change her into her night-dress and put her to bed? I incline to nitpicking, and I thought it ham-fisted the way the Union troops charged in to town to arrest the Southern-sympathising storekeeper, only to shoot him dead. It would have been more convincing, but less spectacular, to send three or four men in to the store posing as customers - he could still have been shot in a struggle.I wonder what Southern audiences would have made of Johnson's change of heart at the end (I'm British)? Both sides in the Civil War used Indians, and by its end the fact that women and children - families of Union soldiers - would be killed would be of minor concern to many Confederates.

This western is,in my opinion,very underrated,and gives a nice blend of adventure,thrills,actiion and wry humour with the addition of some very catchy tunes. Van Johnson gives a good performance as one of a pair of undercover Confederate agents,carrying a stolen Gatling Gun through Union territory to aid the cause of the South. They travel as medicine salesmen contacting Confederate agents as they travel and picking up Joanne Dru on the way. The love interest between her and Van Johnson provide some nice humerous touches. Richard Boone steals the film,of course, as a really nasty,bullying,woman hating,unscrupulous,murdering cut-throat,who steals the Gatling gun from Van Johnson and sells it to the Indians and joins them, for money,of course, in attacking the Cavalry Fort. The fights,action scenes and Indian attack are very well-done. At the end Van Johnson gives Boone his come-uppance,the day is saved and Van goes off with Joanne into the sunset, but all in a very satisfying manner. Milburn Stone and Jeff Morrow provide excellent support. The direction,writing and acting are above par from all concerned. It is a western that one can see time and time again and still obtain great enjoyment.