River of No Return

Relatively watchable but immensely flawed western. The enmity between Preminger and Monroe on this picture is legendary, and it shows as she seems uncomfortable though she is quite good. The cuts between the real river scenes and green screen stuff are jarring. It's also very dated in many ways, not the least of which is our hero Mitchum's quite unambiguous attempted rape of Monroe along with some very dated encounters with the natives. The kid is a bit annoying. It just doesn't quite work.

A pretty simplistic man-against-the-elements (and others) flick that loses quite a bit of steam due to the lack of chemistry between the two leads. The CinemaScope is gorgeous but it really shows up as fake the studio shots. Never expected to see Robert Mitchum in a musical. Although there are worse Westerns out there, this one doesn't have any memorable scenes to push it out of mediocrity.

I get what they're doing but having MM sing like 8 different times just took me out of it.

Bro, the wideshots! Tru freaking cinema right there

Marilyn is spectacular here playing a collected mature woman as opposed to the comedic adult kid one easily gets used to seeing in some of her other famous flicks. Robert Mitchum is as solid as one gets and the film certainly brings a fair amount of suspense and entertainment, albeit some of the effects are a bit dated. The burlesque scenes are marvelous.

Otto's style touch in detail.

Viewed October 7, 2016. Its opening scenes are full of carefully choreographed wide shots, where every inch of the frame is used to convey a piece of information - people coming, people going, singing and dancing and crying. However, Preminger never strikes up any real chemistry between the two greatest stars of the Hollywood era, and his touch feels too distant to affect any real pathos into the father-son dynamic that makes up most of the film. It all ends up being very silly.

Entertaining although predictable, some scenes seem very dated, as do the 'green screen' effects.

The poster is an attempted rape....Eisenhower's 50's, man.

Though slow at times, the actors actually act. ACTING!

Monroe's burlesque get-up in the opening ten minutes is worth the price of admission alone, but other than that there isn't much to see here. Mitchum's character is oddly unlikeable. I think we're supposed to be rooting for him, but what is up with the scene where he molests Marilyn in the woods? Not cool.

There's a great scene where Mitchum massages Monroe's legs to cure her of a nasty chill. Monroe is great, looking alternately warmed, relieved, aroused, yet surprised and touched that Mitchum is not taking advantage, that he is just trying to help. And I like the way she takes her red shoes everywhere yet throws them away at the end. Otherwise, this isn't much: macho Mitchum, scary rapids, baddies, Indian and cougars in the woods, and MM losing small pieces of her clothes from time to time.

watched: 2012, 2022

weak drama! strong Marilyn!