RyothChatty ridiculous rating

GazerRise Fantastic!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Boba_Fett1138 This movie is definitely a good watch but it's also definitely not a movie that is without its disappointments. You can't really blame anyone involved with this movie for that, since this movie was a troubled production from pretty much the start on already, which is also the reason why the initially planned sequel never got made.It's a movie with an adventurous story but yet at the same time there is also very little interesting, action- and entertaining-wise happening. It's mostly being a traveling movie, in which there is lots of talking but just too little action and else to enjoy and to consider this an entertaining movie to watch. They should had really attempted to spice up things a bit more, by perhaps putting in stronger characters and tell the story from some more different perspectives. That way the story would at least had been more lively and interesting to watch. The movie now mostly feels like a very long sit, even though the movie is just over 2 hours long.But all these complaints don't mean that it's an horrible movie, by any means. It's still a good movie for what is is and you also have to keep in mind that this was an early '40's movie. Movies back in those days just weren't as fast paced and action packed as movies now days. They also certainly don't feature so much corny dialog as this movie does. It was quite laughable at times really and it made me cringe more than once.It's great that this movie got shot in full color. They make the wooded environments more vivid and also help the story to get more alive and involving to follow. Also definitely great to see Spencer Tracy in color, at a still relatively young age. Most big Hollywood leads from the good old days, like for instance Humphrey Bogart, never looked too well in color but Spencer Tracy is definitely an exception to this.Under the circumstances, it's not really a movie that did an awful lot wrong but it also at the same time didn't do much original or specular with its story either. This movie is definitely a good watch but it's just not a movie that I want to watch again, any time soon.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

chuck-reilly The 1940 film "Northwest Passage" (sub-titled "Book One: Rogers' Rangers") is a major work and was a resounding success in its day. The story, taken from the historical novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts, concerns the real-life exploits of British Major Robert Rogers, the original founder of what would become the U.S. Army Rangers. Although the title alludes to a far off expedition, this film concentrates on Rogers leading his men against the Abenaki Indians and their French masters during the early years of the French and Indian War (1750s). Spencer Tracy portrays Rogers as near super-human, driving his men to expectations and accomplishments far beyond the norm. Along for the ride are two new recruits, Robert Young as Langdon Towne and a very youthful Walter Brennan as Hunk Marriner. There's no Political Correctness to be found in this movie. The Indians are evil savages who have killed defenseless settlers and Rogers and his men are out for revenge. They massacre nearly an entire Abenaki village on the Canadian border and then make a run for it through the treacherous wilderness with the enemy hot on their tail. Not all of the Rangers make it back to safety and the film does its utmost to convey the dangers they encounter and the miserable and horrific end to many of the men. One group of Rangers who stray from the rest are ambushed and butchered by the French and Indians who literally "play ball with their heads." Iconic film director King Vidor does tremendous work here with his cinematographer and the talented cast. "Northwest Passage" was filmed in Technicolor and the location shots (mostly in Idaho) are considered some of the greatest of this era. Spencer Tracy, as usual, carries much of the load but he's helped immensely by Robert Young and his sidekick Walter Brennan. Those two gentlemen are a fine contrast to Tracy's rough-hewed Rogers and they give the film some much-needed balance. In one scene, Young is severely wounded but Tracy inspires him to regain his feet after chiding him about the girl he left behind (Ruth Hussey). There are also some grim reminders of the brutality of war sprinkled throughout this film. One Ranger goes stark raving mad, cutting off the head of an Indian and carrying it around like a hidden souvenir. He later gets hungry and begins to nibble away on it, handing out tidbits to his unsuspecting fellow soldiers. It's those kinds of scenes that give this film its well-deserved reputation for realism and kept it relevant for modern audiences. Unfortunately, "Book Two" which would have dealt with Rogers' ill-fated mission to discover the Northwest Passage and his subsequent fall from grace, was never filmed. The real Major Rogers died in the Fleet Prison for debtors in London at the age of 64.

padraig-10 Fine actors in the service of a sad movie. Frontier warfare as imagined by an 8-year-old. Where to start? Colonial troops who carefully refrain from butchering women and children? A colonial America that had no Africans, even in Indian settlements where many lived as free men? Swamps that run for 150 miles along Lake Champlain? Hundreds of natives who run for it whenever confronted by ten Englishmen? Spencer Tracy's girdle?There is one small, mitigating incident that keeps this from being "1 Star" flick: the young, English woman who despises her rescuer. It never occurs to Rogers that this woman might actually prefer to live in a society that grants women real political and personal power.War has become much more real since "Northwest Passage", both on the screen and off. The movies have grown up and I'm glad they did.

keesha45 I saw this during the Spencer Tracy tribute on Aug. 18 on Turner Classic Movies. Ironically, that date is the birthdate of Meriwether Lewis (1774.) Much of the action in this film mirrors the toils and turmoils of the Lewis and Clark Expedition which occurred less than 50 years from the time of this story. When you see the men malnourished, facing difficult portages, battling mosquitoes and having to wade through cold water for long stretches, fearing Indian attacks constantly, you have some ideas of the challenges facing the Corps of Discovery. Their co-leader, Lewis (Actually, he officially outranked Clark during their trip, because Clark's orders promoting him to captain equal to Lewis didn't arrive before their departure) had a career that had much in common with Maj. Rogers. Like Rogers, he was a brilliant leader and his men followed him loyally to the end. Both men toiled along with the men and consulted their junior officers and men before making difficult life-or-death decisions. Both were hailed as great heroes by the public and government they represented after their marvelous feats of derring-do, but both came to bad ends. Rogers sided with the British during the Revolutionary War and his Rangers eventually became a Canadian outfit and he never was able to achieve his mission of finding the Northwest Passage, although as Tracy says in the film, he may have had little faith in there actually being such a water route. Lewis also never saw his extensive journals of his expedition come to be published, dying mysteriously in a Tennessee travelers' inn a few years after arriving home from that epic trip, which was charged with also trying to find the elusive Passage. Langdon's summary quote about Rogers could also apply to Lewis, as American adventurers since then carry his spirit of discovery with them, even into outer space. This film has always been one of my favorites. As a lover of westerns, I can enjoy many of the familiar elements: an arduous journey over breathtakingly beautiful but perilous land and water, battles with Indians, men and women of unflinching courage. I'm lucky enough to live in a part of the northwestern U.S. where some of the film footage was shot, which was only a little more than a hundred miles from the same part of Idaho which had proved so difficult to the Lewis and Clark expedition. In fact, this film and COME AND GET IT (1936), also featuring Walter Brennan in his first Oscar-winning role, were the first two films made in this part of the Northwest (specifically, northern Idaho) to achieve Academy Award nominations and NORTHWEST PASSAGE had some great photography which was so honored. If you've never traveled to the Northwest, I urge you to do so. And I urge you to see NORTHWEST PASSAGE. In either case, you'll enjoy the trip. Dale Roloff