Bend of the River

Jimmy Stewart stars in “Bend of the River” as Glyn McLyntock, a wagon train leader with a mysterious past.

After he successfully leads a group of settlers to their new home in the Oregon Territory, McLyntock goes back to town to find out what happened to their winter supplies. 

What he discovers is that gold has recently been discovered and the town has been hit with gold fever. Now limited supplies are being sold for outrageous prices including the provisions that the settlers have already paid for.

If the settlers don’t get the food and provisions that they have already paid for, they will surely die. Not wanting to let this happen, McLyntock and a group of men steal back the goods and try to make it safely back to the settler’s remote camp.

But the temptation of making money on the supplies makes the journey dangerous for everyone, including McLyntock himself.

• “Bend of the River” is based on the novel, Bend of the Snake, by Bill Gulick.  Bill Gulick is a prolific writer of Western books.  Two of his novels have been turned into movies.  This one, “Bend of the Snake” and “The Hallelujah Trail.” 

• “Bend of the River” was the second collaboration between actor James Stewart and director Anthony Mann.  Jimmy Stewart starred in five Western movies that were directed by Anthony Mann. They were all made between 1950 and 1955. The names of these western movies are:

• Winchester ’73
  
• Bend of the River
  
• The Naked Spur
  
• The Man from Laramie
  
• The Far Country

• “Bend of the River”was filmed in numerous locations in Oregon, including Snake River Country and Mt. Hood. The cast and crew spent several weeks in the Oregon wilderness filming this western and according to biographer Lawrence J. Quirk, Jimmy Stewart thoroughly enjoyed being on location in this area.