Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

coymac53 Over the years there has been much mis-information about this very good Western. Some on the Trivia page. For instance, Night Passage was the 18th biggest hit of 1957 and made a nice profit. Second was that Anthony Mann quit over Audie Murphy being cast as Jimmy Stewart's brother (Murphy was also 5'7", not 5'5" which was his height when he enlisted in WW 2 when he was 17). Actually, Mann and Stewart had an argument that led to them never speaking again. Murphy is perfectly cast as the younger brother "Lee" and he also does some of his best acting. Dan Duryea is always good and the cast is excellent with Brandon de Wilde also doing a nice job as Joey. All in all, the plot, the cast(Jay C. Flippen is always good and it's a pleasure to see Hugh Beaumont in a Western) and especially the beautiful scenery make this a very good Western flick. Western movie fans look at this western and see the movie that Anthony Mann "didn't make". You have no possible way of knowing that Mann would have done a better movie. Forget Anthony Mann. On it's own merits--this is a fine Western. Close to Winchester 73' in script--but in Technicolor with better scenery and without the corny Indian sequence and without the corny Wyatt Earp parts.

jazerbini Night Passage is a great western. I think that was actually performed by Mann. It is perhaps the best example of molded form of filmmaking that was the great director Mann. James Nielsen, I doubt not only lent his name to the producers feuding with Mann and had James Stewart as the big star of westerns, so very hard to decide about the movie. The photography is gorgeous. A very good story, making the female characters of the plot have a very special moment in cinema, with two roles extremely well designed and which actresses are perfect in their performances. Brandon De Wilde here can repeat his performance in Shane, another brilliant George Stevens western. The actors are splendid, except that it takes Audie Murphy was not considered suitable actor for the role of Utica Kidd. Dan Duryea who had shone in Winchester 73, shows this film because it was one of the most requested supporting westerns. Particularly consider that Nigh Passage is really a film directed by Mann. Magnificent.

SimonJack "Typical Western" is one of those frequent time-worn labels I think some people use who don't find this particular genre of much interest or entertaining. It's like the "typical war movie," the 'typical musical," the "typical romantic comedy," the "typical mystery." I apologize to people who write such things, because I don't read them. If someone can't describe the qualities – good or bad – of a film, but instead choose to use such catch-all phrases as "typical," well – I typically don't think there's much reason to read their comments further. A couple of reviewers gave that label to "Night Passage," and I tried to think what was so typical about it. How was it like Stagecoach? El Dorado? Once Upon a Time in the West? High Noon? Along Came Jones? MacKenna's Gold? Angel and the Badman? The Searchers? Hombre? Rooster Cogburn? The Big Trail? Major Dundee? One-Eyed Jacks? Broken Arrow? Gunfight at the O.K. Corral? Man of the West? The Man Who Killed Liberty Valance? Open Range? The Cowboys? Fort Apache? The Horse Soldiers? The Magnificent Seven? This is just a sampling of some of the better "typical" Westerns that are all quite different in plot, setting, action, and scenery. So, how is Night Passage typical? Well, it has guns and horses and cowboy hats and boots and a fist fight and women. And, it has an accordion and some singing. Now that's real typical for a Western. And there's a train. Yes, indeed, probably half a dozen to a dozen Westerns have been made that have trains in them – out of 200 or more notable films of the genre. And Western scenery? Absolutely – only this is set in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with trees and mountains and streams, but not lots of sagebrush or buttes of Monument Valley. It does fall short on some "typical" things such as the one or two "standard" Western towns. Mostly this is shot in a train camp, a mining area, and in the great outdoors.Enough of my tongue-in-cheek fun with the typical-ness of Night Passage. This is one very good film with a very interesting plot. But mostly, it has a top notch cast – a big one – of excellent actors who all give very good performances. And the scenery is spectacular. Just a typically very good Western all around. And just different enough to not bore one to death watching it.

Spikeopath As many Western fans know, Night Passage was all set up to be the sixth genre collaboration between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart. After a run of successful and genre defining "adult" Westerns, the prospect of another was mouth watering to the genre faithful. The promise of something good was further boosted by the names of others involved in the project. The screenplay is written by Borden Chase (Red River/Winchester '73), cinematographer was William H. Daniels (The Far Country), the score is from Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon/Giant) and joining Stewart in the cast are Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Jay C. Flippen, Jack Elam & the wee lad from Shane, Brandon De Wilde. That's some serious Western credentials. But sadly Mann was to bail at the last minute, the reason(s) given vary depending on what source you believe.It's thought that Mann was unimpressed with Chase's screenplay, feeling it lacked a cutting edge (as reportedly so did Stewart). The casting of Murphy was also said to be a bone of contention to the talented director, while it has simply been put down to him having other commitments (he had both The Tin Star & Men in War out in 1957). Either way, Mann was out and the film was never going to be better for that situation (sadly Mann & Stewart fell out over it and never worked together again). In came TV director James Neilson and the film was wrapped and released with mixed commercial results. Yet the film still remains today rather divisive amongst the Western faithful, due in the main one feels, to that Mann spectre of potentially a better film hanging over it.Night Passage is a good enough genre offering, but the plot is slight and the story lacks the dark intensity that Mann, one thinks, would have given it. The story follows an overly familiar tale about two brothers (Stewart/Murphy), one bad, one good. A story from which Chase's screenplay holds no surprises, it is in truth pretty underwhelming writing. With the actual core relationship of the brothers lacking any emotional depth. However, there's more than enough visually here to offset the standard plotting and make this a very enjoyable experience. Shot in Technicolor's short-lived "Technirama" process, the widescreen palette pings once the cameras leave the back lot and goes off into the mountains of Colorado. Trains are the order of the day here, as Chase adapts from a story by Norman A. Fox, it's the train that becomes the central character, deliberate or not. As the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway snakes its way thru the gorgeous terrain, it's that image one takes away, not anything that the thinly scripted characters have done. Still, in spite of its literary flaws, Neilson shows himself to be competent with the action set pieces, of which there are quite a few. While Stewart is as reliable as ever, even getting to play an accordion (a hobby of his since childhood) and sing a couple of chirpy tunes. Of the rest, Dianne Foster leaves a good impression as the Utica Kid's (Murphy) girlfriend and Murphy himself does solid work with his cheeky grin, slick hair and black jacketed attire that shows Utica to be something of a suspicious character.Good but not great in writing and thematics, but essential for Western fans with big TV's. 6.5/10