Along the Great Divide

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Raoul Walsh directs. Sidney Hickox behind the camera. David Buttolph scores. Thomas Reilly cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 275 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Directed by Raoul Walsh, shot by Sidney Hickox. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by David Buttolph. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Thomas Reilly shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Kirk Douglas and Virginia Mayo and John Agar carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "AN ADVENTURE THAT AVALANCHES FROM THE BULLET-PROOF ROOF OF THE ROCKIES TO THE FIERY DESERT FLOOR!".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0043276 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 49 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 10Classified under 19 themes, including "u.s. marshal", "gun battle", "rustler", "lynching".

The technical file

Cinematography

Sidney Hickox

Original score

David Buttolph

Editing

Thomas Reilly

Makeup / hair

Gordon Bau

Runtime

88 min · 1h 28m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

Along the Great Divide (1951) ↗

Also by

Raoul Walsh

• 
  Hot for Paris

  1929 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Deep Purple

  1920 · ★ 10.0
• 
  From Now On

  1920 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Evangeline

  1919 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Serenade

  1921 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Spaniard

  1925 · ★ 8.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Along the Great Divide - Clip

  Clip · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2015-12-15
  ★ 8/10

  My name's Merrick. I'm United States Marshal here. Along the Great Divide is directed by Raoul Walsh and written by Walter Doniger and Lewis Meltzer. It stars Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar, Walter Brennan, Ray Teal, James Anderson and Morris Ankrum. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by Sidney Hickox. U.S. Marshall Len Merrick (Douglas) and two deputies rescue suspected murderer Tim Keith (Brennan) from a lynch mob led by a local cattle baron who is convinced that Keith killed his son. The lawmen embark on a hazardous journey across the rugged terrains, determined to get Keith to Santa Loma for a fair trial... Kirk Douglas' first Western is something of an undervalued treat. It was a film he didn't enjoy making, where working out in the desert with Raoul Walsh proved something of a cross to bear. Yet the director got a very good turn out of Douglas, allowing the actor to put down a marker in the genre that would serve him well throughout his career. It sits very much in the psychological Western realm, a fact that some critics of the time failed to grasp - since complaints about not being a standard Oater were floated about! It really shouldn't have surprised anyone given that Douglas had already made a handful of superb film noir pictures, he was surely cast for this pic on the strength of his noir characters. There's big father issues abound in the whole film, the various strands keeping the narrative edgy. Merrick is a damaged man, and his companions that make up the group will all test his metal to the max. Not just for father issues, and a lack of water, but also via the presence of Keith's daughter, Ann (Mayo), who mercifully isn't just a token female dressage character (she's feisty with believable emotional outpourings). It's a fraught journey for many reasons and Walsh, notwithstanding cheesing Douglas off, keeps it deftly wound tight. The surroundings offer more troublesome discord to envelope the characters. Shot in gorgeous black and white by Hickox, the Alabama Hills and Mojave Desert locales provide barren landscapes that are juxtaposed with threatening looking rock formations. This often at times feels like an Anthony Mann/James Stewart landscape, which is high praise indeed. While the cast can't be faulted as they bring the drama to life, benefiting from the fine research of writers Doniger and Meltzer. Undeniably the film's major drawback is the lack of whodunit worth. The pic unfortunately plays its hand far too early in this respect, meaning we know who the killer is. This could have lessened the excitement at story end, damagingly so, but we are never sure if we are going to be party to an Ox-Bow Incident or otherwise. This is well worth seeking out for fans of psychological Westerns, the many Oedipal themes and the scorching landscapes ensure it's a tasty little number. 8/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Warner Bros. Pictures

  US

Key crew

• StuntsBob Herron
• Assistant DirectorOren Haglund
• ProducerAnthony Veiller
• EditorThomas Reilly
• Art DirectionEdward Carrere
• Set DecorationG.W. Berntsen
• Makeup ArtistGordon Bau
• SoundLeslie G. Hewitt
• Wardrobe DesignerMarjorie Best
• OrchestratorMaurice De Packh
• StuntsWhitey Hughes
• Stunt DoubleWhitey Hughes

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• u.s. marshal
• gun battle
• rustler
• lynching
• death of son
• fratricide
• cattle baron
• frontier justice
• federal marshal
• patricide
• deputy marshal
• vengeance
• father daughter relationship
• cain & abel
• innocent man
• daughter of cattle rustler
• shoot out
• widower with daughter
• desert survival

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1951-05-16· New York City, New York
• Theatrical1951-06-02NR

Also known as

International titles

• Une Corde pour te pendreFR
• Camino de la horcaES