Review of Across the Wide Missouri (1951) by Rick R — 07 Dec 2010

Across the Wide Missouri (1951).

This is a great movie, directed by Wild Bill Wellman and shows off the wild west in all it's Technicolor beauty. The film is filled with rugged mountain men doing wild and crazy antics; lots of fighting and brawling.

Flint Mitchell (Clark Gable) is a trapper, and when he finds out that an indian girl, Kamiah (María Elena Marqués) is a kidnapped daughter of a Nez Perce chief, Looking Glass (J Carrol Naish), one of the western tribes, he does some horse trading to have her as his wife. A French trapper, Pierre (Adolphe Menjou) follows along as translator and showing him how to properly court a girl.

Kamiah leads Flint and his friends through the Rocky Mountains to what looks like Montana, Idaho and Oregon, where the beaver is in abundance. She meets back up with her father and things are looking pretty good. Flint slowly develops a deep love for Kamiah and they slowly learn to appreciate each other's language and culture. Not long after that, she gives him a son.

Flint's men are able to trap to their heart's content until they meet one of the young Black Foot indians, who doesn't want the white man encroaching on their land. Ironshirt (Ricardo Montalban) really has a thing for getting Flint's scalp.

The movie is nicely narrated by Flints son (Howard Keel) who has grown to manhood. He explains the ways of both whites and indians throughout the movie.