Thunder Bay

The first of two fifties adventure films with heroes called Steve Martin (the second was 'Godzilla' with Raymond Burr)! Shot on location in Morgan City, Louisiana in rich Technicolor (all the better to show off local girl Joanne Dru's vibrant and extremely durable lipstick), this was Jimmy Stewart's first non-western with Anthony Mann; and although easily the least known of their eight films together remains fun.

To 21st Century environmental sensibilities, oil prospectors no longer seem the heroic buccaneering figures they were once portrayed as. The film does acknowledge the disruptive impact Stewart and Duryea have on this sleepy little backwater; as much due simply to being men as oilmen...

"Thunder Bay," strictly a man's picture, may be considered a Western, with boats and oil substituting for horses and guns, on the Gulf Coast off Louisiana...

Stewart and Mann considered as regular partners begun for what they thought were fresh pastures... Stewart is properly tough, wild and laconic as the enthusiastic engineer convinced that oil reserves might lie beneath the Louisiana waters, and Duryea have come up with a drilling platform that resists the fury of even the worst storms... Away they go to find offshore oil, with the encouragement of Jay. C. Flippen willing to ramp up, pumping money on exploration...

The drilling clashes with the plans of shrimp fishermen who are opposing the test on the fishing grounds... It may have an adverse affect on their marine life...

Duryea adds more complications to the action-drama by falling in love with the girlfriend of one of the fishermen, whose sister, Joanne Dru (echoing the sentiments of Janet Leigh in "The Naked Spur") is putting her eyes on Stewart... But the machinations of the two girls seem worthless material against the struggles between the guys, which are actually the main force of the movie...

After several obstacles, violent storms, romantic distrust, and the retraction of magnate Flippen, who has lost faith in the project, all ends wonderfully when Stewart (hard to believe) discovers not only oil but an abundant source of shrimp...

Subsequently the lovers pair off, and the former enemies become allies as they share their beneficial trades...

Photographed in Technicolor, "Thunder Bay" is a well-produced movie, an entertaining piece of film making...

In 1946, the drifters Steve Martin (James Stewart) and his partner and friend Johnny Gambi (Dan Duryea) travel to Port Felicity in Lousianna completely broken to meet the investor Kermit MacDonald (Jay C. Flippen). Steve dreams on building an offshore drilling barge to explore oil in the Gulf of Mexico and MacDonald, who is an entrepreneur and also a dreamer, decides to finance them but gives a short schedule to find oil.

They initially hire the fishing vessel of skipper Dominique Rigaud (Antonio Moreno) since the fishermen are having difficulties to catch shrimps. Steve and Johnny try to befriend the locals but when they use dynamite to locate oil, the population turns against them. Meanwhile Johnny dates the younger daughter of Dominique, Francesca (Marcia Henderson), while her older sister Stella Rigaud (Joanne Dru) feels attraction for Steve, but she rejects him since she is a wounded woman with a past. Steve, Johnny and their crew need to face the hostility and sabotage from the locals and also a hurricane while searching for the valuable oil.

"Thunder Bay" is an entertaining romantic adventure that takes place in the period of the beginning of exploration of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and shows the friction between the local fishermen and the oilmen. The plot is corny, with a feel-good conclusion but James Stewart is always an attraction. Further, for those that work in the oil business, it is great to see the early period of offshore exploration of oil. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

From the director/actor team that brought us many of the great westerns of the 1950s, Thunder Bay teams Anthony Mann and James Stewart in what could easily be called a modern western. Stewart plays Steve Martin, an oil driller with a dream. His goal is to build an off-shore drill in the Gulf of Mexico. He receives the financial backing of oil tycoon Kermit MacDonald (Jay C. Flippen) and begins work.

He sets out from a small fishing community that has been on hard times lately. They are leery of Stewart and his partner Johnny Gambi (Dan Duryea) at first, and become more so when the two start blasting in the middle of their shrimp beds. To make matters worse, Johnny falls in love with a local girl who is already engaged to one of the fisherman.

Tension builds as the fishermen continue to have bad luck and the drill progresses. One disgruntled fisherman attempts to blow up the drill platform during the middle of a hurricane. Stewart, who had stayed on the platform to see how it would withstand the storm, catches him just in time to save it. A slippery fight ensues, during which the fisherman and Stewart fight not only each other, but a constant onslaught of water. As in the typical western, the hero (Stewart) wins and the villain dies.

The fight scene is one that dates the film. The special effects seem very archaic in wake of such recent films as Titanic and The Perfect Storm. Other than that, the film presents an interesting story on what, at the time, was a very taboo subject.

Aware of the controversy the film would stir-up, the film was carefully crafted to prove that two industries could exist side by side. As the fishermen resolve to destroy the well, Stewart discovers that his well has uncovered a new bed a shrimp. When the fishermen learn this they decide that the well is indeed an asset to their community and all live happily ever after.

As usual Stewart steals the film. His acting is subtle and believable. The simple story did not push him as an actor, but he is properly harried, tough and laconic. Overall this is an interesting film, enhanced by the beautiful location shots filmed in Technicolor by William Daniels. Truly, an intriguing and different take on the western genre.

The posted comment about wanting to see the "widescreen" version needs to be addressed.

As the listing for the film indicates, Thunder Bay was filmed with a standard Academy ratio of 1.37x1. That was the way it was meant to be shown. Universal then chopped off the top and bottom of the image - totally destroying the spatial integrity of the image - to claim that it was a "widescreen" film.

It must have looked awful. Count yourself lucky you don't get to see it.

(This horrible trick was also tried for the mid 1960s reissue for Gone With the Wind, where it was blown up to 70mm and released in a 2.35x1 ratio, which was just awful.)