Surprisingly incoherent and boring

i must have seen a different film!!

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A bit overdone, but nonetheless very entertaining historical biography of Ranger Robert Rogers, a colonial-born British loyalist who fought the upstate NY-Montreal Indians. The movie is set way before the Revolutionay War. The movie is a rather brutal depiction of the climatic battle with the St. Francis Indian village, where no prisoners were taken. This is Spencer Tracy at the beginning of his stardom, and a young Robert Young as his prissy-cum-fighter first aide. As far as I've researched, the movie was historically correct, although the title, Northwest Passage, has nothing to do with the movie plot itself...it refers to where Roger's Rangers go at the END of the flick.

Roger's Rangers became the inspiration for the formation of the modern Army's Rangers units.Revived in World War II to accomplish missions that no one in their right-mind would even consider, they lead the way in numerous extremely hazardous operations. Probably the most famous was the assault up the sheer cliff faces of Pont du Hoc during the invasion of Festung Europe on June 6th 1944. They took 50% casualties in that operation.This movie, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, depicts the ill-fated operation by the first American Rangers. It demonstrates their ingenuity, determination and fortitude in the face of every possible adversity one can expect in time of war.I went through the Army's Ranger Course in 1980. It was a demanding year of my life and I have to admit, after seeing this movie, quite by accident several years later, I was reminded of everything that the training regime put me through. I was especially impressed with how Roger's men had to suffer from the deprivations of no logistical support to provide subsistence. I swear....it was a sorry water moccasin (snake) that crossed my patrol's path in Florida. You'd hear the word, whispered, "Snake." Followed immediately by the sound of several machetes being pulled from sheaths and a short 'splash'.When we finished the last operation, the night assault on Santa Rosa Island, we were as jubilant as Roger's men were when they were 'relieved' by the British column. And we celebrated, about the same way....FOOOOOoooOD!

Kenneth Roberts was a distinguished novelist who wrote many fine fictional works about colonial and revolutionary America. Probably his biggest seller was Northwest Passage a fictionalization of the exploits of Roger's Rangers during the French and Indian War.His books sold well at the time and we have to remember that in viewing Northwest Passage we are seeing a fictional story rather than the real story of Roger's Rangers. At that we are only seeing part of that book, nothing at all about a search for a land route across North America.The historical significance of the Rangers is that Robert Rogers had an idea that one should be living and thinking like the American Indian in order to fight him. His ideas about specialized units who could meet the enemy on his own terms in colonial America have been followed right down to the Green Berets in Vietnam. His is a distinguished contribution in military history.To do that and lead such a group you have to be one charismatic leader. And in Spencer Tracy, Rogers has the best kind of interpreter.This was Tracy's first color feature for MGM and Louis B. Mayer spared no expense for this film. No back lot backwoods here, the company went on location to the Payette River in Idaho for the outdoor scenes depicting colonial era New York State. No stunt doubles here either, that's Tracy, Walter Brennan, Robert Young and the rest of the company waist deep in those rapids forming that human chain. Some of the stars nearly drowned making this film.One aspect of this film is rarely discussed and that was the politics surrounding the Indians. Please note that while Tracy is burning the Abinagi village, he has some friendly Mohawks with him. When the British and French went to war in this theater of the Seven Years War, the various Indian tribes chose up sides, trying to figure which group of whites would give them the better deal. The Mohawks are part of the Iroquois Confederation and they aligned themselves with Great Britain. Various other tribes allied with with French. Both were supplied with the white man's weapons of war and both fought on each side. And neither got a really great deal in the end.Northwest Passage is definitely not for the politically correct of the day. Tracy is leading a savage reprisal against the Abinagi, he burns the town, kills all the males of fighting age, steals their meager food supplies to feed his men who are hungry themselves. Tracy makes it clear this is reprisal for raids against the British colonists. Prominently displayed for the camera just before the shooting start is that large exhibit of settler's scalps in the village.Of course the real story is the retreat back, fleeing a much larger force of French in the area. The men are starving as they reach the rendezvous point which is an abandoned fort. Tracy races ahead of the men who've been promised a feast when they get there and as he makes it there he realizes the supplies haven't come. He starts to break down, but as he hears his men behind him, he regains control of himself and starts issuing the orders necessary for their survival. It's all done in a few minutes without dialog and its own of Spencer Tracy's greatest film moments.Northwest Passage will not find too much favor with a lot of today's audience. But taken for what it is worth, it is a story about brave men and their struggle for survival in the colonial wilderness.

This adventurous tale spends most of its time showing the hardships endured by the Rangers. Major Rogers and "Harvard" are the main characters, and they have an interesting relationship as comrades - Rogers is teaching Harvard how to be a "real man." It's almost a father/son thing they have going. Anyway, the acting isn't particularly impressive from any of the cast, but it's not terrible either, especially considering the time in which it was made. Speaking of which, the main problem I saw in this film is that it is quite dated in its views of morality and life. It was made during World War II, during a time you went to war and became a man through the test of battle. It shouldn't be surprising then that it glorifies war by subjugating and dehumanizing the enemies - in this case primarily Indians (Native Americans). It is a testament to the attitudes of the time that the Indians are treated mostly like slaves (good Indians) or rabid dogs (bad Indians). They really are less than human. The racism is difficult to ignore, and detracts heavily from the film.Overall, it was a fine movie in its time, but that time has passed, and the movie does not hold up under the scrutiny of modern values.