Canyon River (film)


Canyon River is a 1956 Allied Artists American Western film in CinemaScope and Color by De Luxe directed by Harmon Jones. It stars George Montgomery as the head of a cattle drive.
It is a remake of the 1951 film The Longhorn.

Plot summary

A cattleman goes south to pick up breeding stock that he can cross-breed to withstand his Wyoming ranch's winter's, but his foreman is in cahoots with a crooked businessman from the ranch's hometown in Wyoming. They plan to buy up ranchland in that area, do away with the cattleman and steal his herd he's driving in from Oregon or elsewhere. Near the end of the movie and before they reach a planned 'stampede to steal the cattle', Montgomery likes Graves and offers him a share of his 6,000 acre ranch and also some cattle. Graves decides this would be a great deal and tries to call off the 'crooked deal' he made with the crooked investor and his hired guns, but the cattle do stampede anyway and Graves is critically injured trying to stop them. In the end Montgomery maintains his cattle and ranch ownership. So the 'good guy' wins. On the trail drive, there had been a shortage of 'meat' to feed the crew, because the boss Montgomery wouldn't kill a beef from his herd. The crew was about to mutiny, until a 'deer' was killed and steaks were served. This main plot coincides with a romance between Montgomery and a widow, who Graves is also in love with.

Cast