Copyright 1955 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at Loew's State: 11 October 1955. U.S. release: October 1955. U.K. release: November 1955. Australian release: 15 December 1955. Sydney opening at the Regent. 11,015 feet. 122 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Texas brothers Gable and Mitchell, who had ridden with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War, head North to Montana in search of gold. Desperate for cash, the men waylay Ryan, a wealthy businessman transporting $20,000. The fast-thinking Ryan turns the robbery to his advantage, however, by offering Gable and Mitchell a chance to be his partners in a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. They accept the offer and Gable is made trail boss. As they head back down to Texas, Gable saves the life of Russell, a young settler whose party was attacked by Indians. A blizzard prevents the pair from continuing their journey and they are forced to seek shelter in a deserted shack.
NOTES: Earning close to $5 million in domestic film rentals alone, "The Tall Men" was one of Fox's most popular releases of the year, not alone in North America, but also in Britain and Australia. For Location scenes in the Los Organes Valley, Zacatecas, Mexico. 3,200 head of cattle and 300 horses were rounded up by 75 horsemen for the largest such scene ever to appear in a motion picture to that date.
COMMENT: I was going to write there is nothing more dreary than endless shots of cattle mooching along dusty trails, but I would be wrong (cf. "Red River"). In this film it seems dull and dreary thanks to Walsh's listless direction. Mind you, the plot has all the ingredients for success, it is the handling that is jaded and tired. The players don't help much either. Miss Russell is charmless (though admittedly the characterization handed her by the script is partly to blame), Mr. Mitchell is unattractive even as a villain, and RR just grunts through his part looking suitably steely-eyed. Gable is Gable, but he too can make little headway against a script that makes him hanker ad nauseam for a sod-buster ranch in Dog Prairie Creek (or some such).
With sharper editing and the trimming of such running-far-too-long sequences as Gable jawing with Russell about the joys of Prairie Dog Creek, it would be a passable enough offering for action fans. Certainly it has been produced on a handsome budget. Some of the locations are impressive but the photography does little to enhance them. The camera does devote a lot of time though to flattering Miss Russell's nose.
OTHER VIEWS: The picture, based on a novel by Clay Fisher, chronicles the first great cattle drive from Fort Worth, Texas to Virginia City, Montana in 1867. Since it was impossible to assemble such a large herd of cattle in the United States, Director Raoul Walsh decided to go into the cattle country of Mexico. There he rounded up the largest herd ever to appear in a motion picture. The largest previous herd was one of 1,500 for "Red River".
"The reason we needed so many is, of course, CinemaScope," Director Walsh, explained. "We wanted to fill the screen with cattle in order to give an impression of brute power and, after tests, we decided we couldn't do it with less."
SYNOPSIS: Texas brothers Gable and Mitchell, who had ridden with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War, head North to Montana in search of gold. Desperate for cash, the men waylay Ryan, a wealthy businessman transporting $20,000. The fast-thinking Ryan turns the robbery to his advantage, however, by offering Gable and Mitchell a chance to be his partners in a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. They accept the offer and Gable is made trail boss. As they head back down to Texas, Gable saves the life of Russell, a young settler whose party was attacked by Indians. A blizzard prevents the pair from continuing their journey and they are forced to seek shelter in a deserted shack.
NOTES: Earning close to $5 million in domestic film rentals alone, "The Tall Men" was one of Fox's most popular releases of the year, not alone in North America, but also in Britain and Australia. For Location scenes in the Los Organes Valley, Zacatecas, Mexico. 3,200 head of cattle and 300 horses were rounded up by 75 horsemen for the largest such scene ever to appear in a motion picture to that date.
COMMENT: I was going to write there is nothing more dreary than endless shots of cattle mooching along dusty trails, but I would be wrong (cf. "Red River"). In this film it seems dull and dreary thanks to Walsh's listless direction. Mind you, the plot has all the ingredients for success, it is the handling that is jaded and tired. The players don't help much either. Miss Russell is charmless (though admittedly the characterization handed her by the script is partly to blame), Mr. Mitchell is unattractive even as a villain, and RR just grunts through his part looking suitably steely-eyed. Gable is Gable, but he too can make little headway against a script that makes him hanker ad nauseam for a sod-buster ranch in Dog Prairie Creek (or some such).
With sharper editing and the trimming of such running-far-too-long sequences as Gable jawing with Russell about the joys of Prairie Dog Creek, it would be a passable enough offering for action fans. Certainly it has been produced on a handsome budget. Some of the locations are impressive but the photography does little to enhance them. The camera does devote a lot of time though to flattering Miss Russell's nose.
OTHER VIEWS: The picture, based on a novel by Clay Fisher, chronicles the first great cattle drive from Fort Worth, Texas to Virginia City, Montana in 1867. Since it was impossible to assemble such a large herd of cattle in the United States, Director Raoul Walsh decided to go into the cattle country of Mexico. There he rounded up the largest herd ever to appear in a motion picture. The largest previous herd was one of 1,500 for "Red River".
"The reason we needed so many is, of course, CinemaScope," Director Walsh, explained. "We wanted to fill the screen with cattle in order to give an impression of brute power and, after tests, we decided we couldn't do it with less."