River of No Return is a 1954 film that focuses on Matt Calder (played by Robert Mitchum),who recently has been released from prison and is looking to reconnect with his young son Mark, and a singer named Kay (played by Marilyn Monroe). Now, you may be saying to yourself "I usually don't think of Marilyn Monroe
when I think of Westerns". Yeah me neither, but she's actually not half
bad in the film.
So here's the story. Kay and her fiance, Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun), are headed to Council City to file the deed on a gold mine that
he won in a card game. So, they head down the river toward Council City river on a log raft, but they eventually encounter some rough rapids right
near Matt's cabin. Harry doesn't think he can make the rest of the trip by raft, so he offers to buy
Matt's rifle and horse. Matt refuses so Harry just knocks him out and steals the horse and rifle. However, Kay decides to stay behind with Matt and Mark, so Harry can get to Council City quicker.
Soon after Harry leaves, some Indians attack the farm and the three have no other choice then to hope on the raft to escape. The next big chunk of the movie involves traveling down a river and Matt and Kay
arguing. Matt questions why Kay would
choose to marry a jerk like Harry. Kay reminds Matt that
Harry never killed a man and went to prison like he did... But along the
way, they deal with whatever problems come along,
(including a cougar attack) and they end up resolving there differences.
Eventually, they all
arrive in Council City. Matt intends to confront Harry but instead gets shot at, and in a fairly predictable twist, Mark ends up shooting Harry to save his Dad. Shortly after, Kay, Matt, and Mark ride off together and the movie ends.
Overall, I definitely wouldn't call this one of the all-time great westerns, but it's a decent movie and worth checking out.
I give it a 2.5 out of 5.
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