best movie i've ever seen.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I hadn't heard of this film until I saw it listed in the TV guide and as it was only an hour and a half long I thought I'd check it out. I'm pleased that I did as it is quite different to most westerns I'd seen. Set when much of what is now the United States was still controlled by the native population and any European heading into there territory had to make friends quickly or risk being killed. The story follows group of trappers led by Flint Mitchell who head into Blackfoot territory to hunt beavers and elk; in order to be welcome Mitchell buys and marries the Blackfoot chief's granddaughter who had been kidnapped by a Nez Perce chief and adopted as his daughter. His new wife Kamiah leads them into Blackfoot territory via a route that avoids the aggressive warrior Iron Shirt. Once there they set about trapping and hunting, they also make friends with the Blackfoot chief Bear Ghost. There are still dangers though and Iron Shirt's band poses a danger. When one of the trappers is killed his brother takes revenge by killing Grey Wolf, this leaves Iron Shirt as the new chief and the trappers are in real danger; a danger that many of them will not survive.At first I though this might be a comedy as the opening scenes contained such sights as a brawl involving all of the trappers and an Indian chief who was wearing a suit of armour and Mitchell's new wife throwing pots and pans at him when he enters her tepee in a drunken state! As the film progresses things get more serious though as the trappers get in real danger and several are killed frequently without warning. One of the deaths, I won't spoil it by saying whose, was one of the most surprising I've seen in any film. The acting was pretty solid; Clark Gable was good in the lead role as was María Elena Marqués as his wife Kamiah. Surprisingly much of the dialogue wasn't in English; some was in French and much was in the Indian's language, this wasn't subtitled which puts the viewer in the same position of not understanding that Mitchell was in; of course he had a native speaker in his group who could translate for him (and the audience). While I don't think this is a must see film I'd certainly recommend checking it out if you are a western fan and it is on television.

One of the most frustrating things in cinema is that of the interfering studio. Too many films, since cinema became the medium so massively loved by so many, have fallen victim to this most poisonous fly in the cinematic ointment. One such film to suffer greatly is the William A. Welman directed Western, Across The Wide Missouri. All the elements were in place, a fine story written by Talbot Jennings & Frank Cavett, which is worked from Bernard DeVoto's historical study of the American fur trade in the 1830s. Wellman (The Call Of The Wild/Beau Geste/Battleground) at the helm, Hollywood's golden boy Clark Gable in the lead, and a sumptuous location shoot around the San Juan Mountains to be photographed by William Mellor. With all the talk coming out of MGM that they wanted to make an "epic" picture, hopes were high for the early 1950s to have a Western classic on its hands. Enter studio boss Dore Schary who promptly cut the piece to ribbons. So much so that the film, where once it was epic, is now a choppy and episodic 78 minute experience. With a narration by Howard Keel tacked on by Schary just so we can try to make sense of what is (has) gone on. Wellman was rightly miffed and tried to get his name taken off the credits.Amazingly, what remains is still a recommended piece of film for the discerning Western fan. The locations are just breath taking, expertly shot in Technicolor by Mellor, at times rugged and biting, at others simply looking like God's garden. This part of the world is the perfect back drop for the story as the white man's greed brings them into conflict with the Native Americans. The film also boasts an array of interesting characters, we got the Scots and the French represented alongside the usual suspects, while the tracking and fighting sequences are expertly filmed by the astute Wellman. It was a tough shoot all told as well. Ricardo Montalban {Blackfoot Indian Ironshirt} was involved in a horse riding accident, the consequence of which would severely affect him later in his life, while stunt man Fred Kennedy suffered a broken neck when his intentional fall from a horse did not go as planned. The horses too you can see really earned their oats, trekking up hill across sharp jagged rocks and ploughing through snow drifts, magnificent beasts they be. Joining Gable and Montalban in the cast are John Hodiak, James Whitmore, María Elena Marqués, Adolphe Menjou and Alan Napier. David Raskin provides a suitably at one with the atmosphere score. With Gable on form mixing with the high points that Schary left alone, Across The Wide Missouri is more than just a time filler. But the problems do exist and it's impossible not to be affected by the annoyance that comes with the old "what might have been" that gnaws away at the viewer at every other turn. 6/10

Across the Wide Missouri (1951) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Clark Gable plays a beaver hunter who heads to the Rocky Mountains but encounters Indians as he explores the new territory. There's some nice things in this film but in the end it comes as a major disappointed especially about Gable and Wellman did so much better with The Call of the Wild in 1935. When this was shown on TCM, William Wellman, Jr. talked about all the problems with MGM during post production. Apparently this was originally meant to be an epic picture but the studio started cutting it to pieces and they eventually cut so much that they had to hire Howard Keel to do narration to bring any sense to the film. Watching the 78-minute movies it's easy to tell that there's all sorts of stuff missing and there are even some very strange edits, which make it clear that we were originally meant to see more. As for the final version, it's really not too bad but it's not too good either. Gable is pretty good in his role but Ricardo Montalban steals the film. J. Carroll Naish has a nice role as well. The Technicolor really brings out the great locations but in the end one can't get over the edited product. The "shock" at the end of the picture is also ruined due to the narration, which kills the suspense of how the film plays out.

The movie begins with much voice-over, a bad sign. Then it just slides downhill with silly and intelligence-insulting scenes involving trappers and Indians. But, it reaches new and impressive lows when all the merry mountain men square dance with each other in a high alpine meadow. Meanwhile, the happy-go-lucky Indians sit around watching them. It's a better scene than the dancing cowboys in "Blazing Saddles". There is a minor flaw in this comparison; "Across the Wide Missouri" is not a comedy.