Bombshell on the Box – Jane Alert!

THE TALL MEN, Film4, Fri Mar 5, 12.40pm

Jane Russell stars with Clark Gable in this fun, if not formulaic Western directed by Raoul Walsh and filmed in Cinemascope by 20th Century Fox – who were experts at this genre in the 1950s. This 1955 effort is not as good perhaps as better known westerns, like Howard Hawks’s 1948 classic, Red River, with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

But Clark Gable looks pretty good as a cowboy, and he and Cameron Mitchell, as brothers Ben and Clint Allison fight over Jane Russell’s character, Nella Turner, who they rescue from a Sioux attack.

Jane gets to sing a bit in this film as well, which is always fun, and the music is one of the best bits about it – 19-times Oscar nominated Victor Young’s plaintive score is excellent.

Sadly, Young died a year after this film, aged just 56,and was finally awarded an Oscar posthumously for his work on Around the World in 80 days.