Southwest Passage (1954)

The greatest movie ever!

Lack of good storyline.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Rod Cameron and the then married team of Joanne Dru and John Ireland star in Southwest Passage about an expedition to test the feasibility of using camels in the American Southwest. Purportedly after the experiment was eventually dropped and the camels turned loose on the Arizona desert descendants of them even now can be spotted to this day every now and then.Rod Cameron plays the real life character of western explorer Edward Beale who in his life also had naval service and eventually got to be Ambassador to the Hapsburg Empire. I think his life would make one fascinating movie myself, the real story. But here he's on a surveying party with camels, mules, and horse and the human participants are soldier, muleskinners and a few Arabs. Add to them a fugitive John Ireland posing as a doctor and his girlfriend Joanne Dru as someone they rescue in the desert you've got quite a mix facing the Apaches who eventually turn hostile.Ireland has just robbed a bank and bottom feeding muleskinner John Dehner recognizes him. He also recognizes he's got needs when he sees Joanne Dru. She takes a liking to Cameron. The real Beale was a married man so there's no hint of reciprocation. But Ireland is not a happy camper.There's a nice desert shootout with the Apaches which must have been something in the original 3-D this was shot in. Southwest Passage is a nice action packed most adult western where the camel experiment is just a side note. Nothing whatever to do with the really fascinating career of Edward Fitzgerald Beale.

The "Southwest Passage" of the title is an government sponsored expedition across a desert in hopes of finding a shorter route to California. The trek led by Ed Beale (Rod Cameron)is also testing the feasibility of using camels as they had proved capable of traveling for long periods with little or no water in their home lands.The story opens with bank robbers Clint McDonald (John Ireland), Lilly (Joanne Dru) and her brother Jeb (Daryl Hickman) being pursued by sheriff Kenneth MacDonald and his posse. When Jeb is wounded Lilly brings a tipsy Doc Stanton (Morris Ankrum) to tend his wounds. Clint learns that the Doc is scheduled to join Beale's expedition. He decides to impersonate him and joins up with the expedition with Lilly joining him later.This picture was filmed at the end of the 50s 3D craze so most of the film is designed to show off the usual 3D "comin' at ya" effects such as rifles pointed at the screen, a bull whip cracking in your face, a pitch fork, an Indian attack etc. etc.As for the story which makes minimal use of the camels, the deception of Clint posing as a doctor takes up most of the plot. Mule skinner Matt Carroll (John Dehner) learns of the deception and blackmails Clint. Meanwhile, Clint is forced into using his "skills", as we knew he would be on the trail guide, grizzled side kick, comic relief Tall Tale (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams).Although Cameron is top billed, the story centers on the Ireland and Dru characters. Coincidently, they were married at the time. Cameron appeared in a similar role the following year in Republic's "Santa Fe Passage".Given the nature of Ireland's character, I found that the "happy" ending of the story to be a little too Hollywood. But nonetheless the overall film makes for an entertaining 75 minutes.

Good outdoor western with an unusual plot and a generally unpredictable storyline. Surveyor Beale (Cameron) is leading a mapping caravan through an Apache-ridden desert. Along the way he picks up two fugitive bank robbers (Ireland & Dru), one of whom poses as a doctor. Meanwhile finding water is a real problem, even for the camel pack-animals and their Arab drivers. So how will all this sort out, especially since both guys are stuck on the same girl.I'm thirsty just looking at the barren Kanab, Utah locations. They sure look like a long way from nowhere. It's a good strong cast, particularly Ireland as a good-bad guy and Dru who really looks like she can ride and shoot. Okay, maybe budget-minded Edward Small Co. couldn't get the Duke for the big guy role, but Cameron still manages to persuade.Some good touches add color. It's really strange seeing the Moslem Arabs doing their bowing to Mecca in the middle of a western. But there they are. The camels too, are a good imaginative addition. But note the brief scene with the wrecked wagon that Beale orders chopped up for firewood. I wouldn't be surprised it was wrecked during filming and was cleverly inserted into the narrative. Whatever, it adds a realistic touch.My only complaint is an ending that appears pretty contrived, unlike what went before. Oh well, it's Hollywood, after all, a place where no one really dies. Still, it's a pretty darn good little western.

Average western originally made in 3D where Rod Cameron is leading a caravan that among horses and mules,also uses camels. They are joined by outlaw John Ireland who poses as a doctor and his girlfriend, Joanne Dru. Dru and Ireland are the real stars of the film, their relationship gets into a crisis because of Dru's admiration of Cameron. Ireland convinces them that he is a doctor up to the point where he has to amputate a man's arm. They are followed by Native Americans that at the beginning believe the camels are gods, and don't attack. The story, by Harry Essex, who wrote such good screenplays as "The Lonely Man" and "The Sons off Katie Elder" deserved a better treatment.