Border River

Director George Sherman's output has not impressed me, but at least in RIVER BORDER he has a strong cast in good form, notably Joel McCrea (who does not play the squeaky clean guy this time), Yvonne de Carlo at her most stunningly beautiful, Pedro Armendariz, Al Bedoya, Ivan Triesault.

Cinematography and editing by Irving Glassberg and Frank Gross, respectively, deserve praise (though the fisticuffs seem a little bit contrived and McCrea allows himself to be punched more than recommended for one's good health).

RIVER BORDER refers to a kind of hole in the wall on the border with Mexico, with renegade General Calleja opposing Juarez and harboring criminals fleeing the law from Mexican and US territory. And into the action rides confederate Major Clete Mattson (McCrea) on the lam, planning to move gold stolen from the Union. He rides his horse as he comes under fire in a river, then retrieves a horse from quick sand in the movie's best sequence, and is savvy enough to deflect Calleja's venomous attacks.

The screenplay by Bill Sackheim has felicitous moments and flaws but generally holds your attention, helped by the fact that the film runs a short 80 minutes. 7/10.

Border River at it's time was one of a dwindling band of westerns where you could have a Confederate hero as the lead. Joel McCrea plays a man who was a major on Robert E. Lee's staff. He's pulled off one very big heist at the Denver Mint and he's got 2 million in gold bullion. But what to do with it? Actually the miracle is how he got it from Colorado to Texas, the stuff is pretty bulky.

McCrea crosses the Rio Grande to a place called Zona Libre where neither the writ of Emperor Maximilian nor that of Benito Juarez runs. Instead the guy in charge is Pedro Armendariz who's a tin-pot tyrant and his right hand man is Alfonso Bedoya who revs up his Gold Hat character from The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. There's also saloon entertainer Yvonne DeCarlo who's the general's personal squeeze, but she takes a fancy to McCrea and later proves invaluable to him.

McCrea's interest is to buy supplies for the Confederate army with the stolen gold. But there's a real lack of trustworthy people around from Armendariz on down. There's a whole lot of intrigue going on in the Zona Libre. There's also the looming shadow of Juarez who'd really like to put Armendariz and remove a real problem from his rear.

Border River is a competently made western with the truest cowboy hero around Joel McCrea in the lead. He and DeCarlo work well together. But the ones to watch are Armendariz and Bedoya trying to outdo each other in evil. Bedoya looks like he's having a great old time out-acting the cast of about ten different films.

As a longtime Joel McCrea fan, I thought I had seen most all, if not all, of his westerns. But I evidently was wrong (for once in my 75 years!!!), as I had never seen this one until it showed up on the Western Channel recently.

As westerns go it was "Ho-um", which was surprising considering the cast: Joel McCrea, Luscious Yvonne De Carlo, and the always hilarious Alfonso Bedoya; who's animated performance steals every scene he is in.

Other reviewers have criticized this film for its sympathetic portrayal of Southern rebels trying to get stolen Yankee gold to the Confederacy, but this is not the first film to do a similar story. Virginia City with Errol Flynn & Randolph Scott, and Great Day in the morning with Robert Stack are two that come to mind. All three of these are fanciful Civil War out west tales about a Confederate scheme at the last minute to smuggle several millions in gold bullion into the South for supplies to keep the war going. And what happens in the end of all of these strains credulity to say the least.

BUT, these are movies, NOT documentaries, and made for entertainment, to sell tickets & popcorn, not to pay homage to the South, and not to be to closely analyzed as there are plenty of ridiculous plot holes and unreal situations.

Since this film was directed by George Sherman I had expected it to have the same quality great action scenes that he had been known for in all his many westerns from the 30's & 40's. Needless to say it fell flat there for the most part.

One area that they tried to be accurate on was the type of handgun every one carried: the Remington 1858 Cap & ball, fairly correct for the period. Except during the final showdown/shootout they more conveniently substituted the Single Action Colt, which was modified to look like the Remington. My guess is that this was more economical as it allowed used of the then popular 5-in-1 blanks used in most Westerns. For the uninitiated, these were blanks that would fit & fire in any revolver of 38-40, 44-40, 45 Colt calibers, and lever actions of 38-40 or 44-40 calibers.

The best part of any western, especially ones shot in color, are the beautiful outdoor location scenes, and here they almost overshadow the weak script.

This could've been a really good western, it's a shame it didn't live up to its potential, but its worth watching if only for the two leads.

terrible screenplay, terrible actors, bad and weak screenplay, ridiculous scenarios and plots. there's nothing worth praising whatsoever. guy was chased by soldiers, was shot crossed the river, then woke up in the hotel, then suddenly wearing all custom made new shirt, jacket and pants and hat showed up in the bar, then again, he kept changing into tailor made dresses after finished one scene. those dresses were ironed and pressed and so fit on his body. all the fights were poorly carried out. the dialog and acting by most supporting actors were just overly exaggerated and pretentious to the extreme. you need to turn of your I.Q. to watch this stupid western movie. the heist of the gold about two million dollars worth was another joke. the scenes by the river with stupid quick sand also was just too stupid to watch. all the fighting scenes just looked stupid and fake. there are so many good western movies from 1940 to 1970, but this one definitely is not one of them.

This isn't a particularly good or bad Western and the only reason I watched it is because Joel McCrea was a pretty good actor. Aside from his excellent as always performance, the film doesn't have a whole lot to distinguish it one way or the other. It's a definite time-passer, though Yvonne de Carlo and Pedro Armendariz do provide some decent supporting chemistry in this film about stolen Union gold during the US and Mexican Civil wars.

Armendariz plays a rogue Mexican general who sets up his own government along the US and Mexican border. Here is where wanted men and those who are seeking to do illegal stuff congregate. McCrea shows to buy arms for the Confederacy from the slick general and most of the movie concerns how McCrea can both keep the gold hidden AND eventually exchange it for weapons without getting killed or robbed. The film is competently made and interesting, but that's all.