Night Passage
Reviews
John Chard
Funny Man. As many Western fans know, Night Passage was all set up to be the sixth genre collaboration between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart. After a run of successful and genre defining "adult" Westerns, the prospect of another was mouth watering to the genre faithful. The promise of something good was further boosted by the names of others involved in the project. The screenplay is written by Borden Chase (Red River/Winchester '73), cinematographer was William H. Daniels (The Far Country), the score is from Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon/Giant) and joining Stewart in the cast are Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Jay C. Flippen, Jack Elam & the wee lad from Shane, Brandon De Wilde. That's some serious Western credentials. But sadly Mann was to bail at the last minute, the reason(s) given vary depending on what source you believe. It's thought that Mann was unimpressed with Chase's screenplay, feeling it lacked a cutting edge (as reportedly so did Stewart). The casting of Murphy was also said to be a bone of contention to the talented director, while it has simply been put down to him having other commitments (he had both The Tin Star & Men in War out in 1957). Either way, Mann was out and the film was never going to be better for that situation (sadly Mann & Stewart fell out over it and never worked together again). In came TV director James Neilson and the film was wrapped and released with mixed commercial results. Yet the film still remains today rather divisive amongst the Western faithful, due in the main one feels, to that Mann spectre of potentially a better film hanging over it. Night Passage is a good enough genre offering, but the plot is slight and the story lacks the dark intensity that Mann, one thinks, would have given it. The story follows an overly familiar tale about two brothers (Stewart/Murphy), one bad, one good. A story from which Chase's screenplay holds no surprises, it is in truth pretty underwhelming writing. With the actual core relationship of the brothers lacking any emotional depth. However, there's more than enough visually here to offset the standard plotting and make this a very enjoyable experience. Shot in Technicolor's short-lived "Technirama" process, the widescreen palette pings once the cameras leave the back lot and goes off into the mountains of Colorado. Trains are the order of the day here, as Chase adapts from a story by Norman A. Fox, it's the train that becomes the central character, deliberate or not. As the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway snakes its way thru the gorgeous terrain, it's that image one takes away, not anything that the thinly scripted characters have done. Still, in spite of its literary flaws, Neilson shows himself to be competent with the action set pieces, of which there are quite a few. While Stewart is as reliable as ever, even getting to play an accordion (a hobby of his since childhood) and sing a couple of chirpy tunes. Of the rest, Dianne Foster leaves a good impression as the Utica Kid's (Murphy) girlfriend and Murphy himself does solid work with his cheeky grin, slick hair and black jacketed attire that shows Utica to be something of a suspicious character. Good but not great in writing and thematics, but essential for Western fans with big TV's. 6.5/10
Movie Recommendation
The Far Country1954-02-12During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Candian town.More...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn1960-07-21From chicken thief to cabin boy, riverboat pilot to circus performer, Huck Finn outsmarts everyone on his way down the muddy Mississippi.More...
The Blue Knight1973-11-11Bumper Morgan is a veteran Los Angeles Police Department street cop. He is due to retire after 20 years on the job, but is not letting up on the criminal element on his beat.More...
The Night Before1988-04-15A popular beauty surprisingly asks a nerd to take her to the prom. He wakes up hours later in a sleazy alley. She's missing but he remembers nothing about it.More...
Headhunters2011-08-26An accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.More...
On Body and Soul2017-03-02Two introverted people find out by pure chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous, a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their dream.More...
American Beauty1999-09-15Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.More...
Psycho II1983-06-03Norman Bates is declared sane and released from the facility in which he was being held, despite the complaints of Lila Loomis, sister of his most famous victim. Is he really cured, or will he kill again?More...
The Dark Knight Rises2012-07-17Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent's crimes to protect the late attorney's reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years later, Batman encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle and the villainous Bane, a new terrorist leader who overwhelms Gotham's finest. The Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.More...
White Girl2016-09-02Summer, New York City. A college girl falls hard for a guy she just met. After a night of partying goes wrong, she goes to wild extremes to get him back.More...
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life1983-03-31Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise.More...
Halloween2018-10-18Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.More...
Il Divo2008-05-28Italy, early '90s. Calm, clever and inscrutable, politician Giulio Andreotti has been synonymous with power for decades. He has survived everything: electoral battles, terrorist massacres, loss of friends, slanderous accusations; but now certain repentant mobsters implicate him in the crimes of Cosa Nostra.More...
Cyberbully2011-11-10A woman tries to help her teenage daughter when she becomes the victim of online bullying.More...
Knife in the Water1962-03-09On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.More...
Awakenings1990-12-04Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.More...
Monkey Business1952-09-03Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler. When trying one of his own samples, washed down with water from the cooler, Fulton begins to act just like a twenty-year-old and believes his potion is working. Soon his wife and boss are also behaving like children.More...
The Burning Plain2008-11-07A trailer is burning in the middle of a plain. The bodies of two adulterous lovers are found. Scenes from both families, before and after the dramatic events, suggest an unusual connection between them. But what is their secret?More...
Blue Ruin2014-04-25When the quiet life of a beach bum is upended by dreadful news, he sets off for his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. However, he proves an inept assassin and finds himself in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.More...
Head Over Heels 32019-04-11Alice Segretto is more agitated than ever. The success of her chain of stores Sexy Delícia takes the businesswoman on a tour around the world. Working endlessly, Alice realizes that she has not been able to keep up with her family, which has also grown. Conflict sets in: how to reconcile this insane life with her family? Impetuously, Alice makes a curious decision, deciding to retire and hand over the business to her mother. But when a competitor comes up with a plan to steal the scene, Alice's life is once again flipped legs in the air.More...
Similar Movies
Kansas Pacific
1953-02-22Just before the Civil War (but after the South has seceded), Southern saboteurs try to prevent railroad construction from crossing Kansas to the frontier; army captain Nelson is sent out to oppose them. As the tracks push westward, Nelson must contend with increasingly violent sabotage, while trying to romance the foreman's pretty daughter Barbara.Mackenna's Gold
1969-03-18A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.Charro!
1969-03-13Vince Hackett's gang steals a prized victory canon from Mexico and blames the deed on ex-member Jess Wade, who wants to go straight.Rio Bravo
1959-03-08A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.River of No Return
1954-04-30An itinerant farmer and his young son help a heart-of-gold saloon singer search for her estranged husband.Once Upon a Time in t...
1968-12-21As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.Duck, You Sucker
1971-10-29At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. When it turns out that the government has been using the bank as a hiding place for illegally detained political prisoners -- who are freed by the blast -- Miranda becomes a revolutionary hero against his will.A Fistful of Dollars
1964-09-12The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.For a Few Dollars Mor...
1965-12-18Two bounty hunters both pursue the brutal and sadistic bandit, El Indio, who has a large bounty on his head.The Magnificent Seven...
1960-10-12An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.Blazing Saddles
1974-02-07A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.How the West Was Won
1962-11-02The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one pioneer family.High Plains Drifter
1973-04-19A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.The Great Train Robbe...
1903-12-07After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.Support Your Local Sh...
1969-03-26In the old west, a man becomes a Sheriff just for the pay, figuring he can decamp if things get tough.The Searchers
1956-05-16As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.Calamity Jane
1953-11-04Sharpshooter Calamity Jane takes it upon herself to recruit a famous actress and bring her back to the local saloon, but jealousy soon gets in the way.Oklahoma!
1955-10-10In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with a violent ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.7 Faces of Dr. Lao
1964-03-18An old Chinese man rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts.Two Mules for Sister ...
1970-03-02When a wandering mercenary named Hogan rescues a nun called Sister Sara from the unwanted attentions of a band of rogues on the Mexican plains, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. Their chance encounter results in the blowing up of a train and a French garrison, as well as igniting a spark between them that survives a shocking discovery.