Product Details

• Actors: Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton
• Directors: Jack Conway, King Vidor, W.S. Van Dyke
• Writers: Bruno Frank, Conrad Richter, Elizabeth Hill, Frances Marion, Jack Singer
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: June 22, 1994
• Run Time: 126 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301973240
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,436 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One is compelled to say, in these Politically Correct times, that Northwest Passage takes a distinctly "unenlightened" view of the 18th-century American colonists' Indian neighbors. Then again, everything about the world portrayed in this early-Technicolor production is harsh: the repressive policies of the Crown-backed Boston magistrates, the expectations Maj. Robert Rogers (Spencer Tracy) has for his guerrilla warrior band, the bloodthirsty war-making by the Abenagi Indians (reciprocated in kind by the colonials), the ferocity of flood-swollen wilderness rivers, and the breathtaking, unforgiving vastness of the virgin forest in which, surrounded by beauty, Rogers's Rangers very nearly starve to death. As an action film, Northwest Passage peaks early with a predawn, retaliatory raid on an Indian village--horrific choreography by the master filmmaker who made The Big Parade. But the grim march back from this mission is too harrowing to call anticlimactic. Robert Young and Walter Brennan costar. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top of the line Adventure film, May 23, 2000

By 

William R. Ray (Arden, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Northwest Passage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Northwest Passage still holds up after 60 years. Great outdoor locations and excellent color cinematography make this a most watchable classic. Spencer Tracy is perfect as Robert Rogers, the first American commando during the French and Indian wars. Robert Young is also excellent as Langdon Towne, a Harvard failure talked into joining Roger's Rangers. Add the always entertaining Walter Brennan and you have a very good movie, perfect for almost all ages. This film will keep your attention. I'm surprised that this movie hasn't been mentioned more often as one of the better adventure films ever made. Historically speaking, the film follows the Rangers' raid on St. Frances without adding any undo Hollywood hype. I strongly recommend this film for anybody 8 years old and up.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good view of the French & Indian War, October 21, 2003

By 

Mae Talbott (Hagerstown, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Northwest Passage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Northwest Passage is a very good account of the attack on St. Francis. It is very accurate in many ways and I recommend it highly.
Robert Young plays a fictitious character shot though the mid-section and was still able to walk all the way back to civilization. Beleive-it-or-not, it did happen. I believe the real man's name was Lt.Ogdon. He did survive such a wound in that battle.
Spencer Tracy is excellent as usual and the scenery is beautiful.
Some will say that the film is racist and brutal. It was; but this is an historical film and you must view it, or any historical film or book, with the morals of the time in which it is set. You cannot look at it with present-day morals. If you are unable to do so, then, to be an educated person, you need to read more history and learn what things were like and what people thought about the American Indians, and the French for that matter, in the 1750's and 60's. Thus you will learn how far we have come in the last 200 years in our relations with other peoples. We may not be perfect yet, but we're getting there.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-See for Colonial America Enthusiasts, May 5, 2000

By 

T. Donald Marsh (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Northwest Passage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie, although mistitled, portrays the spirit and adventure our forefathers had to possess to survive living on the fringes of civilization. The entire reason Rogers' Rangers made the trek to the Abenaki village was to destroy it and stop that tribe's raids on their farms and establishments in upper NY state. This occurred during the last of the many bloody French And Indian Wars. Spencer Tracey is at his best in this film, which follow's Kenneth Robert's book almost to the letter.

Now sit back, and enjoy one of the true classics on early Americana.