whidbeydanielg Would I rather watch this film (again) or a recent super-hero film?Answer: this one.It is a far-more-than-competent 50s western, with some really great stars and less-known characters (like Oliver Carey, wife of Harry Carey and mother of Harry Carey, Jr.). The music and scenery are great, and beautiful.The story is compelling and solid.(and, frankly, Audie Murphy was great in it. He was a far more accomplished actor than he is usually given credit for. He is easy to watch, comfortable in any role, and gives a very solid performance in any film. Jimmy Stewart could sing, and he could do a decent soft shoe. Do a youtube search and you will find him. Is it OK that I wish he was still alive and making movies? Is it OK that I wish Audie Murphy was still alive and making movies?

coymac53 Over the years there has been much mis-information about this very good Western. Some on the Trivia page. For instance, Night Passage was the 18th biggest hit of 1957 and made a nice profit. Second was that Anthony Mann quit over Audie Murphy being cast as Jimmy Stewart's brother (Murphy was also 5'7", not 5'5" which was his height when he enlisted in WW 2 when he was 17). Actually, Mann and Stewart had an argument that led to them never speaking again. Murphy is perfectly cast as the younger brother "Lee" and he also does some of his best acting. Dan Duryea is always good and the cast is excellent with Brandon de Wilde also doing a nice job as Joey. All in all, the plot, the cast(Jay C. Flippen is always good and it's a pleasure to see Hugh Beaumont in a Western) and especially the beautiful scenery make this a very good Western flick. Western movie fans look at this western and see the movie that Anthony Mann "didn't make". You have no possible way of knowing that Mann would have done a better movie. Forget Anthony Mann. On it's own merits--this is a fine Western. Close to Winchester 73' in script--but in Technicolor with better scenery and without the corny Indian sequence and without the corny Wyatt Earp parts.

ferbs54 Of the seven Western films that James Stewart appeared in during the 1950s, "Night Passage," released in July 1957 and the final one of the septet, is the true anomaly. The first of that bunch, 1950's "Broken Arrow," directed by Delmer Daves, is historically important today in that it was one of the first Hollywood oaters to depict American Indians sympathetically, and was nominated for a number of Academy Awards. Following this film, Stewart and director Anthony Mann collaborated on five Westerns that turned out to be some of the best of that decade: "Winchester '73" (1950), "Bend of the River" (1952), "The Naked Spur" (1953, and an especial favorite of this viewer), "The Far Country" (1955) and "The Man From Laramie" (also 1955). "Night Passage" was intended to be the sixth team-up of Stewart and Mann, but for reasons that I'm still not clear on, Mann backed out at the last minute. (I've read conflicting reports to the effect that the director didn't care for the script, didn't care for screenwriter Borden Chase's right-wing politics, had simultaneous commitments, disapproved of the casting of Audie Murphy and so on, but am still not sure as to the precise cause.) Thus, "Night Passage" is indeed the oddball of the septet: a James Stewart Western from the '50s that was not directed by Anthony Mann, is hardly historic (except for the fact that it was the first film to be shown in the new process known as "Technirama"; similar to CinemaScope, as the opening credits clearly reveal), and garnered no award nominations. A minor Western, surely, and yet, as will be seen, one certainly worthy of a viewer's perusal.In the film, Stewart stars as Grant McLaine (aka Mac), a former troubleshooter for the railroad who had been ignominiously fired five years earlier for letting the notorious outlaw Utica Kid (Murphy, one of the most decorated American soldiers of WW2, here playing against type as a "bad guy") escape in the midst of some cattle rustling. Now reduced to playing the accordion and singing for his chow, Mac is given a second chance by railroad bigwig Ben Kimball (the great character actor Jay C. Flippen) and railroad detective Jeff Kurth (Hugh Beaumont, here just a few months pre-"Beaver"): to carry a $10,000 payroll from Junction City, Colorado to the workers at End of Line, traveling by train and ensuring that the money doesn't wind up in the hands of the Utica Kid and his new partner, the infamous Whitey Harbin (Dan Duryea, who stole practically every movie he ever appeared in). Matters for Mac are made even more complicated when he rescues a boy named Joey (15-year-old Brandon de Wilde, whose character in the classic Western "Shane," released four years earlier, was also, strangely enough, named Joey; they could almost, with a slight exercise of the imagination, by the same boy), who just happens to be running away from the Harbin gang....OK, I'm not gonna lie to you..."Night Passage" is certainly a lesser film than any of the other six previously mentioned. For one thing, it just feels less "tough" than those others, and is lacking the social relevance of the first and the psychological depth and grit of the Mann outings. The Stewart character here is hardly as driven or conflicted as he was in such films as "Winchester '73" and "The Man From Laramie." Still, the picture has much to offer. Stewart and Duryea are as ingratiating as ever, and the presence of a raft of fine character actors (such as Ellen Corby and "Dennis the Menace"'s Herbert Anderson, plus Western stalwarts Jack Elam and Paul Fix) proves most welcome. The film, largely shot around Durango, Colorado, looks just fine, with ample scenic beauty, never more breathtaking than the sequence in which Mac and Joey ride atop the railroad while the forests, mountains and rivers of the Rockies flash by; I could have gazed at this sequence for five times as long, the wilderness vistas are so stunning. Dimitri Tiomkin has provided still another rousing score for this picture, often interpolating two songs that Stewart actually sings and plays himself (!) during the course of the film. And those two songs--the jiglike "You Can't Get Far Without a Railroad" and the sweeping "Follow the River"--turn out to be guaranteed "earworms" that will be bouncing around in your head for days afterward. "Night Passage" (an odd, elusive title, actually) also dishes out an exciting climactic shoot-out between Mac and the Harbin gang, and a surprising revelation concerning Mac and his previous history with the Utica Kid that DID catch this viewer off guard. (Do not watch the film's trailer before watching the film, as this revelation is spoiled not once, but several times!) Inevitably, the work that director James Neilson (who was more known for his work on television) turned in here has been unfavorably compared to that of Anthony Mann's, but the truth is, he does a creditable job, especially with the action sequences (the train robbery, that shoot-out). It is not his fault that the film feels a bit scattered, both in terms of its numerous locations and characters. Still, as I say, it is well worth any viewer's time, especially those, like me, who had read about this Stewart anomaly for years and are eager to see something a bit different. Fans of this great actor back when would have to wait another four years to see Jimmy in another Western--John Ford's 1961 offering "Two Rode Together"--so "Night Passage" had to hold them for a while. But really, where else could they have gone to see Stewart play accordion and sing?

classicsoncall With "Night Passage", you get Jimmy Stewart uncharacteristically playing an accordion and singing a few songs, and Audie Murphy in another one of his baby face villain roles. You also have Dan Duryea in a co-starring effort, but you have to wonder if he might have been hard of hearing during filming. He shouts every single one of his lines except one, as I was so curious about his over the top manner that I started to keep track. It actually distracted me at times because I kept wondering why he was yelling all the time.I also had to wonder why Jimmy Stewart appeared to be out of breath after his first encounter with villain Concho (Robert J. Wilke) while saving young Joey (Brandon De Wilde) from a thrashing. At fifty one, perhaps he wasn't in as good shape as he should have been to be riding horses and chasing down bad guys.As for the story, it's fairly formulaic with Stewart and Murphy as brothers on opposite sides of the law, a theme done countless times in Westerns. There's not much new to add here either, and as I've noted earlier, Murphy doesn't have the face to be taken seriously as a villain, the same being true for his portrayal as gunman Gant in the 1959 film "No Name On The Bullet". Try picturing Roy Rogers as a bad guy. See, it just doesn't work.It was cool to see veteran Jack Elam as part of the Whitey Harbin gang, and whenever I see Hugh Beaumont in a non-Ward Cleaver role I have to wonder what the 'Beav' is up to. Not a bad film, with some great Colorado scenery on display, but truthfully, the most emotion this got out of me was seeing Grant McLaine's (Stewart) accordion go up in flames. That was hard for this Polish boy.Say, here's something to wonder about. As Miss Charlotte (Dianne Foster) pines for The Utica Kid (Murphy) throughout the film, and she finally gets to hear that he wants to marry her, why isn't she all torn up with the way the gun battle plays out? And brother Grant just moves right in?Ready for another good brother/bad brother match up with a railroad theme? Try 1949's "The Last Bandit" with Wild Bill Elliott and Forrest Tucker. No accordions in that one though, you'll have to hum.