Steineded How sad is this?

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

DKosty123 Jimmy Stewart proves in this film he can bring something to even an average script by playing his role powerfully. This battle between shrimp fishermen and oilmen does not work with Stewart. This one is prime Stewart.He has solid directing and Joane Dru plus Harry Morgan head a solid support cast. Still, while the script is a bit weak, Stewart takes this movie and makes it better than it should have been. I can't see another actor in the role of the oilman bringing this one in. The was one of the earlier films where oilmen and the environment are addressed. While it is a little weak on the conflict, the actual facts on this issue are still not addressed properly now.Men and technology have to co-exist. One side or the other is not right as we can not afford to get out of the middle on these types of issues. While the environment is the most important issue, going to either extreme will kill people. It does not matter if the polluter kills people or the environmentalist does, murder is murder.When Stewart draws a line in the sand, as he does here, he brings something special to the table. That something special is what we need more of. It takes the good drama of a film like this to bring that out.

sfergus483 The posted comment about wanting to see the "widescreen" version needs to be addressed.As the listing for the film indicates, Thunder Bay was filmed with a standard Academy ratio of 1.37x1. That was the way it was meant to be shown. Universal then chopped off the top and bottom of the image - totally destroying the spatial integrity of the image - to claim that it was a "widescreen" film.It must have looked awful. Count yourself lucky you don't get to see it.(This horrible trick was also tried for the mid 1960s reissue for Gone With the Wind, where it was blown up to 70mm and released in a 2.35x1 ratio, which was just awful.)

Michael O'Keefe Anthony Mann directs this drama based on a story by George W. George. An all-star cast keeps this film moving. Steve Martin(James Stewart)and his buddy Johnny Gambi(Dan Duryea)are wildcatters that have intentions of building an off-shore storm-proof oil rig off the shores of Port Felicity, Louisiana. There is strong resistance from the shrimpers led by Gilbert Roland. The shrimpers fear that the oil drilling will interfere with their livelihood. Joanne Dru and Marcia Henderson are headstrong beauties that provide love interest. Photography is crisp and vivid. Supporting cast includes: Jay C. Lippen, Robert Monet and Harry(Henry)Morgan. This adventure/drama was filmed in and near Morgan City, Louisiana.

Robert J. Maxwell Watching this thing again after so many years I was impressed by those of its qualities which never seemed to have survived the 1950s. A loud brassy theme assaults us, announcing that this is an important (not to say major) motion picture. Huge credits in relentlessly white letters with serrated edges, alphabetical lightning bolts, splash across the screen. And the credits are all over with in a minute or two.What follows is the story of -- nope, not Thunder Bay, Michigan, where James Stewart was to shoot a later film, but a small town in Louisiana. Stewart and Duryea manage to finagle some financing in an attempt to realize Stewart's dream of building the first offshore oil rig. It has to be a dream, an obsession, like Tucker and his car, because the alternative isn't very flattering to Stewart. "Why are you doing this?" asks Joanne Dru, "Will it make you rich?" Stewart: "Not especially." We can permit ourselves a bit of a chuckle at this point, I think. The oil industry is fulfilling its dream and all that. But Stewart tries to explain to Dru why he is so driven. Really he does! And it comes out something like, "Mebbe you don't know how oil is made. You see, there were these dinosaurs...." And he winds up telling her that he's trying to capture a little bit of time, of prehistory, and that money couldn't mean less to him. "What's money, after all? Just a piece of paper crawling with germs." No -- wait. That's a different movie. At any rate, you get the idea.The whole movie is equally simple minded and equally enjoyable in its politically incorrect recklessness. The Cajun fishermen of the village (all of whom are of Hispanic origin, but what the hell) are hostile to Stewart, Dan Duryea, and the other oil men. There are two Romeo-and-Juliet sorts of romances. Dynamite explosions. A fist fight to the death on a swaying oil rig in the middle of a hurricane.A lot of people find Stewart unfailingly engaging and I agree that he's a fine actor. Dan Duryea is his libidinous sidekick and supplies most of the wisecracks. He's not an actor with any range. (Imagine him as a respectable shrink.) And he looks slimy, like an evil Bob Fosse, and his voice is piping and always vaguely sinister, but I always enjoy him anyway. Gilbert Roland plays Gilbert Roland, the hairy chested man of action and gallantry who laughs off danger. At one point in the movie he tries to project major guilt and break into a sob, which is a mistake. The rest of the cast provides us with a lot of familiar faces.It seems that Anthony Mann never directed Jimmy Stewart without turning him into a neurotic, and his obsession here alienates everyone around him. But, not to worry. It all ends happily. The men get their oil, the villagers get their golden shrimp, and Stewart and Duryea get their girls. This is the 1950s. It ought to be in a time capsule.