Product Details

• Actors: Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar, Walter Brennan, Ray Teal
• Directors: Raoul Walsh
• Writers: Lewis Meltzer, Walter Doniger
• Producers: Anthony Veiller
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: August 2, 1993
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302816572
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,601 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Raoul Walsh directed one knockout movie after another in the 1940s, then mostly knockoff movies in the '50s. This trim journey Western typifies his '50s high-average. Kirk Douglas plays a U.S. marshal who interrupts rancher Morris Ankrum's lynching of Walter Brennan. Brennan was rustling some of Ankrum's cattle, no question; what's less certain is whether he also shot the rancher's son in the back. Douglas and deputies John Agar and Ray Teal break up the hanging party and prepare to transport Brennan to jail and trial--with Ankrum's hired guns right behind them, a burning desert ahead, and Brennan's feisty daughter Virginia Mayo coming along to distract Douglas. There's one more distraction: the hint that Brennan may also be Douglas's father--which certainly lends a peculiar coloration to the romantic pull between Douglas and Mayo.

Walsh was the oldest of old pros when it came to action pictures, and he and cameraman Sid Hickox give most of Along the Great Divide a fine, spare look. Unfortunately, the production habits of the era mandated that crisp action footage shot on location would periodically crash up against studio "exteriors" (e.g., campfire scenes) of blatant artificiality. In addition, Walsh and Hickox were playing around with optical zooms in this period, and although the ones in White Heat (1949) and Colorado Territory (1949) work beautifully, their counterparts here tend to be badly timed--and mostly just result in the image going suddenly coarse grained and fuzzy. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Great Divide is in the movie's plot., August 3, 2001

By 

Doghouse King "eddie_denman" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Along the Great Divide [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Not bad but not original, this film contains good performances, a great cast and awesome scenery. Directed by action/noir auteur Raoul (Pursued, High Sierra, Backgound to Danger) Walsh, this one is never quite dull, but never quite grabs the viewer by the collar and shakes, either.

The best part about it is the cast: Virginia (White Heat, The Flame and the Arrow) Mayo, one of the original tough yet classy, intoxicatingly beautiful dames of the 40's and 50's; Walter (Rio Bravo, The Westerner, To Have and Have Not, Support Your Local Sheriff) Brennan, perhaps the greatest character actor in Hollywood history; Kirk (Out of the Past, Man Without a Star, The War Wagon, Paths of Glory, Lonely Are The Brave) Douglas, he of the intense eyes, strong jaw and deeply-cleft chin; Cult actor John (Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache, Revenge of the Creature, Brain From Planet Arous) Agar, in a western like he loved, rather than the sci-fi/horror he kept finding himself in; and finally Morris (a jillion 50's genre flicks) Ankrum.

Brennan, whose cattle were being stolen, may have shot the rustler's son. Marshall Douglas saves Brennan from being lynched by the rustlers, in order to take him to trial. Douglas sets out across the desert with his prisoner and his prisoner's daughter, Mayo, in tow. A psychological battle ensues, and they of course, look for any means to escape. Nature's fury is at odds with them in their travels across the desert. They are low on water. They are pursued by the vengeful rustlers. And Douglas knows he can't afford to fall asleep for even a second. Things look bleak for our hero...

The movie is able to overcome some talkiness through some good dialogue and generally tense cleverness, but it descends into anti-climactic courtroom generica, which feels as though it was tacked on from some other movie. Great Divide, indeed.

Solid enough when it sticks to its guns, though, and worth at least one viewing.

See also: The flicks mentioned above; Naked Spur; 3:10 to Yuma; or, for a similarly inappropriate ending (if it helps you understand what I mean here), see Virginia City.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Kirk Douglas Western, February 15, 2005

By 

Terence Allen (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Along the Great Divide [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Kirk Douglas made more thna his share of great Westerns, and Along The Great Divide was one of them.

This was his first Western,and he gets off to a rousing start by portraying a US Marshal who saves cattle rustler Walter Brennan from hanging and has to cross the Mojave with him, his deputies, a feisty woman played by Virginia Mayo, and the lyncher's gunmen in tow. There's lot to enjoy here. Action, surprises, and a little psychodrama thrown in for good measure that does not distract or detract from the story. Along The Great Divide is a great movie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A plain-old good western, September 22, 2002

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Along the Great Divide [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Kirk Douglas stars as a taciturn marshall who must bring a highly lynchable cattle rustler (and accused murderer) to trial, fending off the mob that dogs their trail through the desert, as tensions mount on all sides. A nice western that drags a little, but is basically pretty enjoyable. Virginia Mayo is dishy as the tough, tom-girlish love interest. Raoul Walsh directed, and the B&W cinematography is pretty good.