Border River (1954)

So much average

Great Film overall

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

terrible screenplay, terrible actors, bad and weak screenplay, ridiculous scenarios and plots. there's nothing worth praising whatsoever. guy was chased by soldiers, was shot crossed the river, then woke up in the hotel, then suddenly wearing all custom made new shirt, jacket and pants and hat showed up in the bar, then again, he kept changing into tailor made dresses after finished one scene. those dresses were ironed and pressed and so fit on his body. all the fights were poorly carried out. the dialog and acting by most supporting actors were just overly exaggerated and pretentious to the extreme. you need to turn of your I.Q. to watch this stupid western movie. the heist of the gold about two million dollars worth was another joke. the scenes by the river with stupid quick sand also was just too stupid to watch. all the fighting scenes just looked stupid and fake. there are so many good western movies from 1940 to 1970, but this one definitely is not one of them.

In Civil War time, officer of the South Joel McCrea shows up in Zona Libre, a "neutral" territory ruled by a suave-slimy Mexican general, offering gold in exchange for guns and supplies. The general agrees....and not much more happens for the rest of the movie. While the political machinations of the plot give it some interest, there just isn't enough drive in it. McCrea and Yvonne De Carlo (exceptionally beautiful in a succession of dresses that cover nearly all the colors of the rainbow!) have some interesting discussions, but mostly go through the motions; Perdo Armendariz gives the most entertaining performance as the general. On the whole, apart from a scene of McCrea trying to pull his horse out of a quicksand pit, a quite forgettable film. ** out of 4.

This rugged, above-average, American Civil War-era horse opera set on the Mexican border depicts the efforts of a Confederate officer and his men who robbed the Union of $2-million in gold bars and plans to convert the loot into supplies and firearms for the South to prolong the combat. Whether "Big Jake" director George Sherman or his scenarists, William Sackheim of "First Blood" and Louis Stevens of "The Texas Rangers" consciously realized the significance of it, "Border River" qualifies as a politically subservice western because they allow South to triumph in the end. "Virginian" star Joel McCrea toplines as the dedicated Southern officer out of uniform who refuses to let the declining fortunes of the Jefferson Davis regime to dissuade him from his mission. McCrea tangles with a thoroughly treacherous Mexican general who not only bucks the legally constituted authority of both Mexico and the United States but also provides safe haven in his border town for felons. Pedro Armendáriz is well cast as the greedy, amoral general who plays a cat & mouse game with McCrea, while bosomy beauty Yvonne De Carlo comes between them. Alfonso Bedoya plays the general's second-in-command villain and he is remembered in cinema history for his immortal phrase "We don't need no stinking badges" as Gold Tooth in director John Houston's classic "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Sackheim and Stevens slip in a surprise or two and the finale is an action-packed fight in a quicksand pit that, though it remains predictable, generates a modicum of suspense."Border River" opens with the following preamble. "During the war between Maximilian and Juarez in 1865, there was a small territory on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande River known as Zona Libre—'Free Zone.' It was dominated by a man who called himself General Eduardo Calleja and he made it a haven for any man outside the law. This is the story of Zone Libre." The action opens as our hard-riding hero, Clete Mattson (Joel McCrea), splashes across the Rio Grande on horseback with several blue-uniformed U.S. Army riders hard on his heels, slinging lead at him. Watching this life and death drama unfold from the opposite bank are General Eduardo Calleja (Pedro Armendáriz of "3 Godfathers"), his lady friend Carmelita Carjas (Yvonne de Carlo of "McLintock! ") and Calleja subordinate Captain Felipe Vargas (Alfonso Bedoya) and Calleja wagers with Carmelita that the gringo won't survive. Miraculously, Clete manages to survive, but the Union troops demand the Calleja turn him over to them. Captain Vargas runs them off and they take Clete back to Zona Libre and another American expatriate Newlun (Howard Petrie of "The Tin Star") provides a place for our wounded hero in his hotel room until Clete recovers.Although Clete adopts an alias initially when Calleja inquires about his business, our hero isn't fooling anybody in Zona Libre. Calleja and everybody else have heard about the robbery. When he recuperates and finally meets Calleja, the amoral General observes that Clete and his Confederates appropriated a $2-million shipment of gold bullion that belonged to the private Denver, Colorado, firm of Clark Hoover & company. "Gold that belongs or to be exact belonged to the army of the North. Five men, you all disappeared, horses, gold everything, superb military logistics." We learn that Clete served under General Robert E. Lee. Calleja explains that he controls the town of Zona Libre and furnishes sanctuary for outlaws, but for this sanctuary he claims twenty percent of everything. The avaricious Calleja allows Clete to remain in town, but Carmelita warns him that he should watch his back. Indeed, a couple of ruffians try to beat the whereabouts of the gold out of Clete when they get the drop on him one evening. Newlun helps thwart these cattle rustlers and Calleja orders Felipe to run them out of Zona Libre and turn them over to Texas authorities.Meanwhile, Clete doesn't trust anybody, least of all an unscrupulous businessman, Baron Kurt von Hollden (Ivan Triesault of "Von Ryan's Express"), who has a warehouse bursting at the seams with thousands of contraband U.S. Army Henry repeating rifles that Clete wants to buy for the Confederacy. Hollden warns Clete that he will have to fork over the usual twenty percent to Calleja, but Clete doesn't trust the general. Eventually, Clete's accomplices arrive on a raft with the gold and bury it on the Mexico side of the river. Calleja discovers the Hollden is trying to double-cross him after Clete gives the shady entrepreneur with a gold bar. Calleja confiscates the bar and his men kill Hollden. Calleja is infatuated with Carmelita and doesn't like the attention that she pays to Clete. When a drunken Felipe gets the drop on Carmelita, Clete, and his men after they bring the gold over, he gets a knife in the back and they deposit his body in the river. This is the one flaw in the story. The Confederates leave the knife in Felipe's back and this arouses Calleja's suspicions.Sherman alternates between the Universal Studios backlot for all the scenes in Zona Libre and then goes out on location in Colorado River, Moab, Utah, USA for the showdown between Clete and Felipe and later Calleja. Sherman doesn't let the action bog down in this 80-minute Technicolor epic and McCrea makes an appropriately stalwart hero. Eventually, the newly christened Juarez government takes over and they allow Clete to ship his rifles and supplies to the Confederacy. Consequently, "Border River" shows its sympathy to the Confederacy and endorses their rebellious efforts, something that seems extremely subversive considering its politically incorrect attitude for an American movie in the early 1950s when civil rights movement was gaining momentum during the Eisenhower administration. Remember, the Confederates are never shown in uniform, nevertheless it is surprising that Universal Studios would endorse this crime against the Union and not punish McCrea's hero.

This isn't a particularly good or bad Western and the only reason I watched it is because Joel McCrea was a pretty good actor. Aside from his excellent as always performance, the film doesn't have a whole lot to distinguish it one way or the other. It's a definite time-passer, though Yvonne de Carlo and Pedro Armendariz do provide some decent supporting chemistry in this film about stolen Union gold during the US and Mexican Civil wars.Armendariz plays a rogue Mexican general who sets up his own government along the US and Mexican border. Here is where wanted men and those who are seeking to do illegal stuff congregate. McCrea shows to buy arms for the Confederacy from the slick general and most of the movie concerns how McCrea can both keep the gold hidden AND eventually exchange it for weapons without getting killed or robbed. The film is competently made and interesting, but that's all.