Canyon River (1956) User Reviews

An OK little Western in Color

[InvasionofPALs · 6/10 · 7 August 2004]

This 1956 Western is short and sweet (it's 80 mins). The plot is a little more complicated than many other minor westerns like this. Geo. Montgomery is a rancher who wants to cross-breed some cattle to make them heartier for the frigid Wyoming winters. He goes to Oregon with his ranch foreman (Peter Graves) to bring back some good breeding stock. But on the way to Ore. Graves gets shot up pretty bad by some horse-stealing Indians and is left behind at a lady's residence to recover (played by Marcia Henderson). What Montgomery doesn't know is before he left for Oregon good old P.G. had him set up for slaughter on the way back so he could steal the herd and along with an unscrupulous businessman and his slimy henchman (Walter Sande and Robert J. Wilke) set themselves up in the ranching business. But there are yet more complications to come on the road to ranching happiness . . . but you'll have to see the movie to find out the rest.

UPDATE: This movie was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on 3/23/09, but I've still got my long out-of-print videocassette of CANYON RIVER on the old Allied Artists Video Corporation label.

There are two things that just aren't allowed on cattle drives: women and whiskey.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 8 August 2013]

Canyon River (AKA: Cattle King) is directed by Harmon Jones and written by Daniel B. Ullman. It stars George Montgomery, Marcia Henderson, Peter Graves, Richard Eyer, Walter Sande, Robert J. Wilke and Alan Hale Jr. A CinemaScope/De Luxe Color production, music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Ellsworth Fredricks.

Montgomery plays rancher Steve Patrick, who along with his mischievous foreman Bob Andrews (Graves), embarks on a lucrative cattle drive from East to West along the Oregon Trail. What Steve doesn't know is that there are plans afoot to relieve him of everything.

Standard Oater this one but never boring and as a production it looks very nice indeed. The problem mainly is that it gets caught between two aims, it clearly wants to portray the harshness of a cattle drive and build suspense by way of back stabbing ideals and group dynamic pressures, but it never utilises the plot possibilities.

The set-up is fine, Steve Patrick is a top man, a guy you want on your side, but the only cattle hands he can raise for the job are outlaws and ruffians. Led by George Lynch (Hale Jr.) they are one of the most none threatening bunch of crims to grace a 50s Western! There's some expected problems on the trail, but when the biggest gripe from the tough guys is that they have no meat to eat, you know that peril is in short supply.

With Janet Hale (Henderson) and her young son Chuck (Eyer) joining the trail as cook and aspiring cowboy respectively, there's the inevitable romantic strand slotted into proceedings, complete with absent father yearnings. Again this is pretty much wasted as a chance to put some bite into the tale, this in spite of the rumbling love triangle arc. Action is in short supply, with a little gun play, a fist-fight and some stampede control briefly raising the pulse, while the villains are only peripheral characters (a shame to see Wilke underused).

Yet for all its missed opportunities, the story is a good one. The basis of driving cattle the wrong way as opposed to the norm, and in Winter time as well, is interesting. As is the fact that Steve is cross-breeding the cattle to withstand the Winter months, with the commodity of beef being crucial to the cowboy's livelihood. There's clearly some thought gone into the screenplay, even if the makers forgot to add suspense to the tantalising threads that they dangle throughout. 6/10

Bad guys gone good, and good guys gone bad

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 18 September 2011]

George Montgomery is Steve Patrick, a cattle rancher with a plan to create a new, improved crossbreed that will be hardy enough to withstand the unforgiving Wyoming winters. But first he must drive his herd of cattle to his Wyoming ranch. The problem is that no respectable cattle hand is interested in travelling into the bad weather out of season, so he's forced to hire a band of ne'er-do-wells. What he doesn't realise is that his best friend Bob (Peter Graves) is planning to double-cross him by engineering an ambush at the eponymous Canyon River with the local bad guy when the drive is nearly over. Added into the mix is the comely widow (Marcia Henderson) with a young son whom both Steve and Bob fall for, thus stirring Bob's resentment of his friend even further.

Canyon River is one of those modest Western programmers that have no pretensions of artistic merit but which simply strive to tell a straightforward story in as efficient and economical a way possible. The story is fairly unusual for this kind of film. There's not that much gunplay, as the plot focuses more on the simmering tensions that exist between Steve, Bob and Janet and the band of rogues led by cuddly Alan Hale Jr. Chances are you've probably never come across such a lacklustre band of outlaws as this bunch; Montgomery's character only has to give Hale a few smacks across the chops to win his undying loyalty, and the rest of the crew only pay attention to the fetching young widow when she's dishing up chow on the trail. It's this lack of any prominent bad guys – Bob is essentially a good guy gone temporarily astray – that robs what is otherwise a decent little movie of the level of suspense it needs.

Not bad at all!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 11 July 2017]

A Scott R. Dunlap Production. Copyright 1956 by Allied Artists. No New York opening. U.S. release: 5 August 1956. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: 18 May 1957. Australian release through Paramount: 26 February 1959. 7,210 feet. 80 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Steve Patrick and his foreman ride to Oregon to buy a thousand herd of cattle for Steve's ranch in Wyoming. The treacherous foreman plans to murder his boss and rustle the herd on the return journey. However...

NOTES: Locations in the high San Bernardino Mountains, California.

COMMENT: Daniel B. Ullman has used this plot in at least three of his other scripts, including "The Longhorn" (1951). Nonetheless, dressed up in CinemaScope and color, and sharply directed by Harmon Jones, it still does admirable service here. The players are particularly agreeable.

In short, a "B" western that is considerably above the average usually achieved by Allied Artists.

OTHER VIEWS: Allied Artists' sixth CinemaScope feature had well and truly lost out on the CinemaScope boom by the time it was eventually released in my home town for a week's run on a double bill. I enjoyed it. So did the two or three other people at the session I attended.

Harmon Jones — "City of Bad Men", "Day of Fury" — was definitely one of the more stylish directors in the second feature field. He directed only fifteen films — all but one in the 1950s. At least a third of his small output are really unusual movies, whilst certainly at least another third provide equally rewarding, if more conventional, viewing. "Canyon River" belongs to this latter category. - JHR writing as "George Addison".

Driving the Cattle East to Wyoming

[boblipton · 5/10 · 7 October 2017]

I've seen two or three movies about cross-breeding Hereford white-face cattle with Texas Long-horns to get a cow that can live in the high country; THE RARE BREED, starring Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara sticks in my mind because of the leads. CANYON RIVER is a more typical high-class B from Allied Artist, starring George Montgomery, who goes to buy the Herefords, his pal, Peter Graves, who rides along, ready to double-cross him for a stake in his own spread, and Marcia Henderson, who comes along on the cattle drive, because there has to be a love interest in this sort of movie.

It's a pretty good movie with some nice scenery thanks to cinematographer Ellsworth Fredericks and some good acting, particularly by Alan Hale, as leader of the disreputable cowhands whom Montgomery hires because no one else will. Montgomery, as always, is solid, one of those actors who never quite got out of the comfortable and profitable groove of B Western stardom before the genre went away. The result is a pleasant, if unmemorable example of the B western in its sunset phase.

Bad motivation

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 8 March 2013]

Canyon River, a western from Allied Artists and starring George Montgomery tries to pack a little too much plot in the 80 minute film. And one performer was completely miscast in the role of villain.

Peter Graves as Montgomery's foreman on his cattle ranch is fixing to betray Montgomery in his scheme to bring furrier Hertford cattle to Wyoming from Oregon. Texas longhorns haven't enough hair to survive Wyoming winters. But Graves who says he wants to be his own boss is planning a double cross with villains Walter Sande and Robert Wilkie.

Try as I might I could not wrap myself around Peter Graves as a rat. When he did play one in Stalag 17 the idea was during over half the film you don't know he's the barracks informer with his all-American demeanor. Here we know right away and I couldn't buy it.

Later on in the film Graves is shot and Montgomery brings him to the tender care of widow Marcia Henderson and her son Richard Eyer. Graves falls for her, but she's got eyes for George. Now that would have been good plot motivation from the beginning.

I also could not buy the fact that Montgomery went to a saloon in Oregon where the town low lifes imbibe, beat Alan Hale in a fight, and then win the whole crew of miscreants over with promise of employment. That was really too much.

Canyon River which boasted some nice scenic western cinematography on the plus side was not one of George Montgomery's better roles.

Great Basic Western

[TheFearmakers · 9/10 · 30 January 2018]

George Montgomery is just too damn perfect. So much so, he even has two first names, and both are... so damn perfect: As Steve Patrick, a rancher who's bred a new hybrid of cattle, needing to get through the harsh Wyoming winter to sell them on time for the best price (for to then buy a bigger, more lucrative ranch), he has one gigantic flaw, and it's not his taste in women...

Although he shouldn't get credit for quickly landing the lovely Marcia Henderson, as a widow named Janet, since she, along for the ride (with her young son) as a chuck wagon cook for the small group of cowpunchers, practically throws herself upon our almost-flawless leading man...

His Achilles Heel isn't noticeable, to him, yet we know all about it - last minute twist be damned. Good friend and cattle drive partner to-be, Bob, played by the as-usual gravely serious Peter Graves, is all set-up for the double-cross - from the beginning, he has it planned that a rich baron and his cutthroat hired guns hijack Steve's cattle at the title location of CANYON RIVER, making for one hell of a potential 11th hour climax...

The opposite of a spoiler is saying, basically - nothing really happens... Which is still a spoiler. That is, except a rowdy gunfight by campfire firelight involving Montgomery's own hired bunch of marauders, led by a boisterous Alan Hale, whose fist-flying introductory saloon bout with Montgomery is one of the best scenes. Sadly, the battle of roughnecks vs roughnecks doesn't really provide the closure deserved or anticipated, and the quiet, brooding menace of Peter Graves becomes sterile and basically forgotten - that's not counting the jealous stares at the budding romance between his boss and the lady who had nursed him to health after he was shot in the beginning: If it weren't for Montgomery going for help, Graves's Bob would have been a goner, for sure.

So if anything, the sympathetic villain suffers so much guilt for backstabbing such a terrific fellow, it hinders his villainy from igniting in this uncomplicated and semi-entertaining B-Western programmer that does show some beautiful countryside along the way. (cultfilmfreaks.com)

Standard Issue Cattle Opera with a Stalwart Montgomery

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 22 June 2015]

The average Allied Artists' widescreen western "Canyon River" beat Andrew V. McLaglen's "The Rare Breed" to the punch with its saga about Herefords being introduced in the old West. George Montgomery plays heroic rancher Steve Patrick who is fed up with low cattle prices and decides to experiment with breeding cattle that can survive brutal winters. Steve believes he can cross-breed longhorns with Herefords. Everybody else believes Steve is not only crazy for proposing such a harebrained scheme, but also for driving cattle out-of-season to Wyoming. Opposing Montgomery in his invigorating enterprise is his treacherous foreman Bob Andrews (Peter Graves of "Stalag 17")who yearns for a ranch of his own over which he can preside. Remember, Graves specialized in villains back in the 1950s before he took over leadership of the Impossible Mission Force. Andrews cuts a dastardly deal with chief villain Maddox. One big difference here is our hero hires a group of notorious gunslingers, led by Lynch (Alan Hale, Jr. of "Gilligan's Island"), to drive his herd. Initially, Lynch refuses to ride with Steve until our protagonist defeats him fair and square in a barroom brawl. The second is just as offbeat. A good-looking but widowed mother, Janet (Marcia Henderson), who only wants the best for her young son Chuck (Richard Eyer), persuades Steve to sign her on as the cook. Initially, Steve is doubtful because he claims there are two things you never bring on a cattle drive: liquor and women. Nevertheless, Janet wins him over. Eventually, despite losing several head of Hereford, Steve refuses to slaughter his own cattle to feed his cowhands. Trouble brews until the resourceful Patrick brings a deer carcass into camp, and everybody cheers up. Naturally, veteran heavy Robert Wilke plays a pugnacious pistolero and paunchy Walter Sande is equally culpable as his boss. Jack Lambert starts out as a good guy riding herd for Steve until his alcoholism gains the upper hand and his own former friends, among them Lynch (Alan Hale, Jr.) and Jenkins (perennial western character actor William Fawcett who co-starred with Graves in "Fury") drive him off. The outdoor scenery is breathtaking, but there are few surprises in this sturdy cattle opera.

Good standard stuff

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 17 July 2022]

Harmon Jones was not a great director by an efficient one, providing solid material. This one is certainly not his best, because without any major surprises and too many things already seen one billion times before. It is fast paced, taut, shot in beautiful settings. Peter Graves and George Montgomery characters don't bring much but that remains entertaining for an excellent B western.