Two tough Kentucky mountaineers join a trading expedition from St. Louis up the Missouri River to trade whisky for furs with the Blackfoot Indians. They soon discover that there is much more than the elements to contend with.
Direction
Hawks' staging of river chaos — physical, practical, unromantic.
Cinematography
Russell Harlan's grainy monochrome rivers feel genuinely treacherous.
Acting
Arthur Hunnicutt's Zeb steals every scene with comic frontier exhaustion.
Director
Howard Hawks
Kirk Douglas
Jim Deakins
Dewey Martin
Boone Caudill
Elizabeth Threatt
Teal Eye
Arthur Hunnicutt
Zeb Calloway
Buddy Baer
Romaine
Steven Geray
"Frenchy" Jourdonnais
Henri Letondal
La Badie
Hank Worden
Poordevil
Jim Davis
Streak
Frank De Kova
Moleface (uncredited)
John George
Passerby (uncredited)
Fred Graham
Sam Eggelston (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Elizabeth Threatt was a model with no acting experience; Hawks spotted her in a Life magazine spread.
Hawks allegedly disowned the final cut after studio-mandated reshoots softened the ending's brutality.
US
