Clark Gable plays "Flint Mitchell", a fur trapper living out west on the edge of Blackfoot territory. After discovering that an Indian maiden named "Kamiah" (played Marie Elena Marques) is the granddaughter of Blackfoot chief "Bear Ghost" (Jack Holt), he decides to acquire her in a trade from the Nez Pierce chief, "Looking Glass" (J. Carrol Naish) who stole her from the Blackfoot and raised her as his own daughter. The only way this will happen though is if Flint Mitchell decides to marry her. So, since Blackfoot territory has an abundance of beaver, he decides to take her as his wife. Love between them eventually develops. Even so, the relationship between the white fur trappers and the Blackfoot remains somewhat hostile. As a result, a group of fur trappers decide to take a secret route into Blackfoot territory and set up a fort. Bear Ghost is delighted to see his granddaughter but another Blackfoot warrior named "Ironshirt" (Ricardo Montalban) has no intention of making peace. Trouble results and both sides suffer tragedy. Anyway, filmed in color in 1951, this picture does a decent job of capturing the cold (but beautiful) wilderness the fur trappers had to endure. And while the language barrier between Flint Mitchell and Kamiah was annoying at times, I suppose it added to the realism. Most of the acting was adequate but I thought Clark Gable stood out with an excellent performance. In short, this was a pretty good movie which was probably well-received in its time.

I've seen this several times and warm to it the more often I see it. The nostalgic narration is not too obtrusive and works well to knit everything together.Gable growls his way through a usual tough guy that melts gradually through the film, a fine vigorous performance as pioneer man, even singing and dancing (of sorts!). Montalban has an interesting role (virtually without dialogue) at the beginning of his career. Whitmore has a small part and looks every part the mountain man. Menjou is a revelation if you saw him in Paths of Glory, as a fine second fiddle who you would want as your friend. Hodiak is good as an impassive, proud and upright Indian. Napier (West's Batman's butler) as an aristocratic survivor of Waterloo! And Maria Marques a comely and well acted female lead.The music is sweeping and fits fine, the photography absolutely superb, the Technicolour very very very beautiful, the native Americans portrayed as human beings with a history. Some nice comedy moments at the marriage. A romance virtually a silent movie with man and wife not speaking each others languages. The savagery and danger of early life not skimped. The final showdown is thrilling and realistic.Old Hollywood showmanship but the ending brings a lump to my throat as the son describes his father's life and the wisdom he passed on.

One of the most frustrating things in cinema is that of the interfering studio. Too many films, since cinema became the medium so massively loved by so many, have fallen victim to this most poisonous fly in the cinematic ointment. One such film to suffer greatly is the William A. Welman directed Western, Across The Wide Missouri. All the elements were in place, a fine story written by Talbot Jennings & Frank Cavett, which is worked from Bernard DeVoto's historical study of the American fur trade in the 1830s. Wellman (The Call Of The Wild/Beau Geste/Battleground) at the helm, Hollywood's golden boy Clark Gable in the lead, and a sumptuous location shoot around the San Juan Mountains to be photographed by William Mellor. With all the talk coming out of MGM that they wanted to make an "epic" picture, hopes were high for the early 1950s to have a Western classic on its hands. Enter studio boss Dore Schary who promptly cut the piece to ribbons. So much so that the film, where once it was epic, is now a choppy and episodic 78 minute experience. With a narration by Howard Keel tacked on by Schary just so we can try to make sense of what is (has) gone on. Wellman was rightly miffed and tried to get his name taken off the credits.Amazingly, what remains is still a recommended piece of film for the discerning Western fan. The locations are just breath taking, expertly shot in Technicolor by Mellor, at times rugged and biting, at others simply looking like God's garden. This part of the world is the perfect back drop for the story as the white man's greed brings them into conflict with the Native Americans. The film also boasts an array of interesting characters, we got the Scots and the French represented alongside the usual suspects, while the tracking and fighting sequences are expertly filmed by the astute Wellman. It was a tough shoot all told as well. Ricardo Montalban {Blackfoot Indian Ironshirt} was involved in a horse riding accident, the consequence of which would severely affect him later in his life, while stunt man Fred Kennedy suffered a broken neck when his intentional fall from a horse did not go as planned. The horses too you can see really earned their oats, trekking up hill across sharp jagged rocks and ploughing through snow drifts, magnificent beasts they be. Joining Gable and Montalban in the cast are John Hodiak, James Whitmore, María Elena Marqués, Adolphe Menjou and Alan Napier. David Raskin provides a suitably at one with the atmosphere score. With Gable on form mixing with the high points that Schary left alone, Across The Wide Missouri is more than just a time filler. But the problems do exist and it's impossible not to be affected by the annoyance that comes with the old "what might have been" that gnaws away at the viewer at every other turn. 6/10

"Across the Wide Missouri":1951: The setting for 'Across the Wide Missouri' is the state of Montana, however the majority of the film was shot in the San Juan Mountains, and north of Durango, Colorado. The movie included Clark Gable in it's cast of characters, as well as Ricardo Montalban and Maria Elena Marques. In the movie, stunt man Fred Kennedy suffered a broken neck when his intentional fall from a horse did not go as smoothly as he had intended. The whole incident was caught on film and used in the movie. Thanks to http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/filmguyernie/page8.phtml