Customer Reviews

Many Rivers to Cross

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A mixture of comedy and western action set in Kentucky during the l8th century. Bushrod Gentry, played by Robert Taylor, is excellent in fighting any opponent be it Indians or other foe. But when Eleanor Powell comes along with marriage on her mind, she breaks down all his defenses. Although he does put up a mighty fight. Hilarious and very entertaining.

MGM presents "MANY RIVERS TO CROSS" (23 February 1955) (95 mins/Color) (Dolby digitally remastered) -- Our story line and plot, Bushrod Gentry (Robert Taylor) is the freelance fur trapper who is passing through --- On his way he is rescued by Mary Stuart Cherne (Eleanor Parker) --- Following this, the battle of the sexes begins --- It is frontier wits versus feminine charm, and guile --- Victor McLaughlin is himself (but that's just fine by me), James Arness plays a mountain man and a young Alan Hale Jr. (before Gilligan's Island) combine with the perennially juvenile antics of Russ Tamblyn to provide and hour and a half plus of escapist entertainment and downright good old fashioned laughter --- The final scene of Parker moaning over Taylor to attract the Indians to the scene and kill them, very funny and neatly done, easily worth the price of the ticket, or what must have been for those that saw it in the theater.

Under the production staff of:
Roy Rowland - Director
Jack Cummings - Producer
Harry Brown - Screenwriter
Steve Frazee - Screen Story
Guy Troper - Screenwriter
John F. Seitz - Cinematographer
Cyril Mockridge - Composer (Music Score) / Musical Direction/Supervision
Ben Lewis - Editor
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director
Hans Peters - Art Director
Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Robert Taylor
Date of Birth: 5 August 1911 - Filley, Nebraska,
Date of Death: 8 June 1969 - Santa Monica, California

2. Eleanor Parker
Date of Birth: 26 June 1922 - Cedarville, Ohio
Date of Death: Still Living

the cast includes:
Robert Taylor ... Bushrod Gentry
Eleanor Parker ... Mary Stuart Cherne
Victor McLaglen ... Mr. Cadmus Cherne
Jeff Richards ... Fremont Cherne
Russ Tamblyn ... Shields Cherne
James Arness ... Esau Hamilton
Alan Hale Jr. ... Luke Radford
John Hudson ... Hugh Cherne
Rhys Williams ... Lige Blake
Josephine Hutchinson ... Mrs. Cherne
Sig Ruman ... Spectacle Man
Rosemary DeCamp ... Lucy Hamilton
Russell Johnson ... Banks Cherne
Ralph Moody ... Sandak, Mary's Indian Companion
Abel Fernandez ... Slangoh
Morris Ankrum ... Mr. Emmett - Surly Innkeeper & J.P
Al Ferguson ... Bit Role
Darryl Hickman ... Miles Henderson
Hank Patterson ... Second Innkeeper

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- If you're into the memories of B-Westerns with high drama, this is the one you've been anxiously waiting for --- please stand up and take a bow Western Classics --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 95 mins on DVD ~ Warner Home Video ~ (8/26/2008)

Really enjoyed this movie. Good plot development and acting. Had some serious moments too. It all works well together. The fight with Indian in the cave is hilarious slapstick.

Wonderful family movie, even my teen and early twenty year old grandchildren enjoyed it - I saw it in the theater as a child many years ago and I have been looking for the DVD for several years. Thanks so much for stocking it.

I waited a long time for this movie to come out in DVD. It was so worth the wait. Wonderfully written and acted. I loved the way Eleanor Parker says, "Bushrod". Robert Taylor is a good choice to play love 'em and leave 'em trapper "Bushrod Gentry" who tries to keep from getting "trapped" himself by a female who could have been Sarah Palin's great,great, great, great grandma. Even the minor characters are fun and important to the story. I watched this movie with my two grown daughters who had never heard of this movie. They laughed all the way through it. It is a timeless, well-done film that the whole family can watch. Let me put it this way, if you liked "The Quiet Man" you'll like "Many Rivers To Cross".

This film is not so well known, but good entertainment. It mixes romance, the country life during the pioneer times and Indians provide the adventure.

This movie is so funny. The setting is in the days of hunting and traping, with the wild frontier, where indians roamed. It has a romance plot in it which creates the humor.

Bushrod Gentry's (Robert Taylor) journey to the Northwest territory is continually stalled by lovestruck young ladies who take an instant shy to him. So far he's been able to escape all their advances, but when pistol-packin' tomboy Mary Stuart Cherne (Eleanor Parker) saves him from a Shawnee attack, it just might end in a genuine shot-gun wedding!

MANY RIVERS TO CROSS (1955) is a lighthearted western comedy romp, which allowed the versatile Eleanor Parker to show yet another side of her amazing acting range. She is very much one of the leading actors of her generation, yet criminally underrated because, as opposed to other stars of the period, she wanted to be an actress, instead of merely a personality--a big difference! During her career, Parker built up an impressive gallery of characters, and earned Academy Award nominations for her work in "Caged!", "Detective Story" and "Interrupted Melody". Most people sadly only know Parker from her role as the Baroness in "The Sound of Music"; and while that's also one of her finer portrayals--and probably her most accessible movie--I'd urge people who haven't already to start their own journey of discovery in the films of Eleanor Parker.

Warner's DVD print for MANY RIVERS TO CROSS comes from the original Eastman Color filmstocks, and whilst the image is a little faded and fuzzy in spots (most Eastman and Ansco Color-processed titles sadly haven't aged as gracefully as Technicolor ones), it's still very watchable. The only extra is the trailer. Recommended.

This title is also available as part of Warner's Western Classics boxset collection, which also boasts another Eleanor Parker gem ("Escape from Fort Bravo"), in addition to "The Law and Jake Wade", "Saddle the Wind", "The Stalking Moon", and the 1960 remake of "Cimarron".

I grew up on this utterly delightful film, so being objective is difficult, but suffice to say "Many Rivers to Cross" is an old-school ice-cream sundae of a film well worth a long-overdue DVD release.

Robert Taylor is Bushrod (or "Bushrrrod!" as our heroine calls him) a trapper who never lets his romances tie him down. The marvelous Eleanor Parker (stealing the show) is Mary, who decides she is going to marry Bushrod, and come hell or high water SHE IS GOING TO MARRY HIM. Determined isn't the word for her. The film follows them through Indian battles and shooting contests and wild frontier life as Mary shows Bushrod who the trapper really is.

Sweet, great fun that deserves five stars if you happened to see it as a kid, or if you are a kid, or if you're showing it to kids. Three cheers for the DVD release!

GRADE: A

I bought this film based on the 5 star reviews, and the fact that it just has not been scheduled for showing on any classic film channel that I could find. Although I am usually a huge Eleanor Parker fan (The Woman in White, etc) this film is just not superior in any way. The cast is actually amazing, with Victor McLaglen, Rhys Williams, Sig Ruman, Josephine Hutchison, Russ Tamblyn and the uber handsome Robert Taylor, but the comedy is played much too broadly, the accents are not good, and the jokes are not very funny. The director is to blame for the problems in my opinion. It is obvious that he encouraged his cast to adopt faux hillbilly accents which are uneven in delivery. The plot is not well executed either, and the pacing is choppy. Eleanor Parker states she has a plan to capture reluctant trapper Robert Taylor who clearly knows how to avoid being trapped himself. Her plans are not charming, coherent, or endearing, and she only attracts him when he works to save a toddler from the croup. Huh? As a curiosity, lots of '60s televison stars also wind up in the cast: James Arness (Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke), Alan Hale Jr(the skipper from Gilligan's Island), and Russell Johnson (the Professor from Gilligan's Island). Everyone has a bad day, and this was it for the cast and crew of this film. While I would recommend viewing it if it was on television just so one could see for oneself, I don't recommend buying it. I doubt I would ever watch it again.