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In 1946, the drifters Steve Martin (James Stewart) and his partner and friend Johnny Gambi (Dan Duryea) travel to Port Felicity in Lousianna completely broken to meet the investor Kermit MacDonald (Jay C. Flippen). Steve dreams on building an offshore drilling barge to explore oil in the Gulf of Mexico and MacDonald, who is an entrepreneur and also a dreamer, decides to finance them but gives a short schedule to find oil.

They initially hire the fishing vessel of skipper Dominique Rigaud (Antonio Moreno) since the fishermen are having difficulties to catch shrimps. Steve and Johnny try to befriend the locals but when they use dynamite to locate oil, the population turns against them. Meanwhile Johnny dates the younger daughter of Dominique, Francesca (Marcia Henderson), while her older sister Stella Rigaud (Joanne Dru) feels attraction for Steve, but she rejects him since she is a wounded woman with a past. Steve, Johnny and their crew need to face the hostility and sabotage from the locals and also a hurricane while searching for the valuable oil.

"Thunder Bay" is an entertaining romantic adventure that takes place in the period of the beginning of exploration of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and shows the friction between the local fishermen and the oilmen. The plot is corny, with a feel-good conclusion but James Stewart is always an attraction. Further, for those that work in the oil business, it is great to see the early period of offshore exploration of oil. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

From the director/actor team that brought us many of the great westerns of the 1950s, Thunder Bay teams Anthony Mann and James Stewart in what could easily be called a modern western. Stewart plays Steve Martin, an oil driller with a dream. His goal is to build an off-shore drill in the Gulf of Mexico. He receives the financial backing of oil tycoon Kermit MacDonald (Jay C. Flippen) and begins work.

He sets out from a small fishing community that has been on hard times lately. They are leery of Stewart and his partner Johnny Gambi (Dan Duryea) at first, and become more so when the two start blasting in the middle of their shrimp beds. To make matters worse, Johnny falls in love with a local girl who is already engaged to one of the fisherman.

Tension builds as the fishermen continue to have bad luck and the drill progresses. One disgruntled fisherman attempts to blow up the drill platform during the middle of a hurricane. Stewart, who had stayed on the platform to see how it would withstand the storm, catches him just in time to save it. A slippery fight ensues, during which the fisherman and Stewart fight not only each other, but a constant onslaught of water. As in the typical western, the hero (Stewart) wins and the villain dies.

The fight scene is one that dates the film. The special effects seem very archaic in wake of such recent films as Titanic and The Perfect Storm. Other than that, the film presents an interesting story on what, at the time, was a very taboo subject.

Aware of the controversy the film would stir-up, the film was carefully crafted to prove that two industries could exist side by side. As the fishermen resolve to destroy the well, Stewart discovers that his well has uncovered a new bed a shrimp. When the fishermen learn this they decide that the well is indeed an asset to their community and all live happily ever after.

As usual Stewart steals the film. His acting is subtle and believable. The simple story did not push him as an actor, but he is properly harried, tough and laconic. Overall this is an interesting film, enhanced by the beautiful location shots filmed in Technicolor by William Daniels. Truly, an intriguing and different take on the western genre.

Thunder Bay is directed by Anthony Mann and written by Gil Doud and George W. George. It stars James Stewart, Joanne Dru, Dan Duryea, Gilbert Roland and Jay C. Flippen. Music is by Frank Skinner and cinematography by William H. Daniels.

Offshore oil drillers set up base at Port Felicity, Louisiana and find the town's shrimpers are not at all happy about this threat to their livelihood. Conflict and affairs of the heart do follow.

One of the eight films that James Stewart and Anthony Mann made together, Thunder Bay was relevant in topicality upon its release, and remains so today. Whilst lacking the psychological smarts that the duo's Western productions had, it's a handsome production with the expected qualities in front of and behind the cameras. There's a lot of talky passages, which given the subject matter pulsing away at the core is understandable, but Mann ensures that action and suspense is never far away. It all builds to a crescendo, with loose ends and quibbles conveniently tied up in a Hollywood bow, but such is the skills of actors and director it rounds out as good and thorough entertainment. 7/10

It's Louisiana 1946. Navy buddies Johnny Gambi (Dan Duryea) and Steve Martin (James Stewart) are a couple of talkers and always with a scheme. They rent a fishing boat but the boat owner's daughter Stella Rigaud (Joanne Dru) immediately distrusts them. It doesn't stop Steve from falling for her. Gambi sets his sights on the younger sister Francesca. The two men are actually wildcatters showing an oil executive their plans to do off-shore drilling. It's a risky new form of drilling. Stella stops her father from helping the oilmen. So they rent from shrimper Teche Bossier (Gilbert Roland) instead but soon it's the shrimpers against the oilmen.

I'm not naturally pro-oil and anti-shrimp. So this comes with some normal resistance. The actual work from the oilmen is interesting. I'm not compelled to root for either side of the dispute. The shrimp is an easy out for the awkward conflict. This movie starts with some innocent fun but it gets a bit darker than I want. I like the start but it all gets a bit muddled especially in the modern sense.

This is the mailing , brawling saga of Steve Martin , the Bayou woman he loved and the billion dollar dream of glory he battled into the biggest bonanza of them all . In 1946, a pair of Louisiana wildcat oil drillers , formed by ex-Navy engineer Steve Martin (James Stewart) along with his pal Johnny (Dan Duryea) come to a Louisiana town with a dream : to construct a drill rig . As they believe there is oil at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of the town of Port Felicity. Having finessed financing from a big oil company (managed by Jay C Flippen) , formerly penniless . Steve and his colleague Johnny are in business...and getting interested in shrimp-boat captain Rigaud's two lovely daughters (Joanne Dru , Marcia Henderson) ; however , the fishermen believe they will interfere with their livehoods and problems crop out . In any way , they decide to built the oil platfom in spite of hazards and opposition from the fishing community growing fast , led by Stella Rigaud. Tensions rise between the groups and violence seems likely ..

Action-filled with timely story ,including hurricane , brawls , a near-lynching and free-for-alls , being based on an ahead-of-its-time script and story from John Michael Hayes , George Slavin and George George . There's much of the spirit of the Western here , though , especially astounding the main and support cast giving over-the-top interpretations . This attractive movie deals with a confrontation between Shrimpers and oilmen clashing when an ambitious wildcatter begins constructing an off-shore oilrig ; however , a lot of risks and strong opposition emerges , including sabotage , betrayal , violent fights ...and a treacherous board of directors . James Stewart took a break from their great series of rugged Westerns along with Anthony Mann such as : Winchester 73 , When the river bends , The naked spur , Far horizons , The man from Laramie , to play this equally exciting and action-packed drama story of two wild-catters drilling for oil . James Stewart delivers a very good acting , as usual , as the engineer who wants to build a safe platform for offshore oil drilling and in the end completes the winning formula by getting covered in oil . Support cast is frankly good , plenty of reliable and rich cast of notorious secondaries such as : Marcia Henderson , Jay C Flippen , Gilbert Roland , Antonio Moreno , Robert Monet and Fortunato Bonanova .

Colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor and wide-screen by William Daniels , Greta Garbo's usual cameraman . Being shot on location in Morgan City and on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico . Stirring and moving musical score by Frank Skinner . This Universal International Picture flick lavishly produced by Aaron Rosenberg was competently directed by Anthony Mann . Mann was an expert on all kinds of genres as Thriller/Film Noir such as: Desperate , T Men , Raw Deal , Border incident ; Wartime as Strategic Air command , Men in war , Heroes of Telemark ; Historical and biographical : Reign of terror , El Cid , The fall of the Roman empire , The Glenn Miller story ; and outstanding in Western genre as Devil's doorway with Robert Taylor , The tin star with Henry Fonda , Man of the West with Gary Cooper , The Furies with Barbara Stanwick , Cimarron with Glenn Ford and The tall target .Being his last one, A Dandy in aspic , played and co-directed by Laurence Harvey . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average . Well worth watching . The picture will appeal to James Stewart fans .

Thunder Bay is an anomaly, a pedantic film on a subject seldom dealt with in the movies, the conflict between businessmen, whose ambitions will cause great change in the local landscape, and the locals, who want things to remain as they are. In this case it's oil drillers versus shrimp fisherman in the Louisiana of the early 1950's. The conflict at times seems almost Marxian, with James Stewart's hardheaded, no-nonsense outsider going up against ragin' Cajun Gilbert Roland, a far more charming and sympathetic figure. Rather than shy away from class conflict, the movie confronts the issue repeatedly, in a variety of ways, and builds up a good deal of tension along the way, as Stewart's compulsive, oil drilling loner, increasingly isolated, takes on the entire community.

There's a good deal of fifties sociology here, with the modern, inner-directed Stewart against the tradition-centered fishing people. Neither side understands the other, as one can well see how these local folks would view Stewart as an uncaring and forbidding figure, the embodiment of alien, big city values. On the other hand these people are a rough and tumble lot, uneducated, clannish and utterly without curiosity. It's easy to see how an educated man might look down on them. There's a good deal of action along the way, and some fist-fights. At a time when many Americans still thought of themselves in terms of class, and with the Depression fresh in everyone's minds, it was rather bold of director Anthony Mann to take on this subject from a middle of the road, basically Republican (but not right wing) perspective. In this respect the movie, which came out in the first year of the Eisenhower administration, heralded a new era of compromise, with the promise of better things yet to come. As to which side is right, well, you be the judge. I'm still thinking this over.

The first of two fifties adventure films with heroes called Steve Martin (the second was 'Godzilla' with Raymond Burr)! Shot on location in Morgan City, Louisiana in rich Technicolor (all the better to show off local girl Joanne Dru's vibrant and extremely durable lipstick), this was Jimmy Stewart's first non-western with Anthony Mann; and although easily the least known of their eight films together remains fun.

To 21st Century environmental sensibilities, oil prospectors no longer seem the heroic buccaneering figures they were once portrayed as. The film does acknowledge the disruptive impact Stewart and Duryea have on this sleepy little backwater; as much due simply to being men as oilmen...

Stewart and Duryea come to a shrimping town to start drilling for oil and fall out with the locals.

Well enough made, inevitably, by Mann, this remains nevertheless an odd storyline that never quite clicks. Stewart is his usual tough, conflicted and often rather dark character he adopts in Mann's films that seems out of kilter with the best of the cast who seem to be on the verge of making a musical - all a bit wishy washy, with the inevitable romantic elements a misfire.

Worth a look for sure, but not one of Mann's best. Good storm sequence though.

"Thunder Bay," strictly a man's picture, may be considered a Western, with boats and oil substituting for horses and guns, on the Gulf Coast off Louisiana...

Stewart and Mann considered as regular partners begun for what they thought were fresh pastures... Stewart is properly tough, wild and laconic as the enthusiastic engineer convinced that oil reserves might lie beneath the Louisiana waters, and Duryea have come up with a drilling platform that resists the fury of even the worst storms... Away they go to find offshore oil, with the encouragement of Jay. C. Flippen willing to ramp up, pumping money on exploration...

The drilling clashes with the plans of shrimp fishermen who are opposing the test on the fishing grounds... It may have an adverse affect on their marine life...

Duryea adds more complications to the action-drama by falling in love with the girlfriend of one of the fishermen, whose sister, Joanne Dru (echoing the sentiments of Janet Leigh in "The Naked Spur") is putting her eyes on Stewart... But the machinations of the two girls seem worthless material against the struggles between the guys, which are actually the main force of the movie...

After several obstacles, violent storms, romantic distrust, and the retraction of magnate Flippen, who has lost faith in the project, all ends wonderfully when Stewart (hard to believe) discovers not only oil but an abundant source of shrimp...

Subsequently the lovers pair off, and the former enemies become allies as they share their beneficial trades...

Photographed in Technicolor, "Thunder Bay" is a well-produced movie, an entertaining piece of film making...

What starts off as a cute conman buddy movie turns into an unexpected dual romance as the pals find girls in a small fishing town, and a locals-against-outsiders fight. James Stewart and Dan Duryea, frequent costars, have great chemistry together as friends who are down on their luck. With failures on their resume and nothing but slick tongues, they con their way into a car ride into town, renting a boat for the day, and hosting a business meeting with an important investor - all without paying. Joanne Dru is skeptical, Gilbert Roland is jealous, Marcia Henderson is interested, and Jay C. Flippen believes in their vision: underwater off-shore drilling.

If you like the actual story of the drilling and the local fisherman trying to sabotage their plans, you'll really enjoy Thunder Bay. I was more interested in the love stories, and I was still happy. Dan Duryea usually plays slimy villains, so I can only imagine what a treat it was for him to be the funny comic sidekick with an eye for the ladies. I've never seen him get to smooch someone after exclaiming, "Oh darling!" It's just adorable. If this is the first movie you see of his, you probably won't be able to imagine him playing a bad guy in his other movies.

THUNDER BAY is another collaboration between director Anthony Mann and star James Stewart, riding high on the success of their western collaborations such as WINCHESTER '73. This one's a less successful story about Stwart's oil man who is convinced that he's on the verge of discovering a rich bed of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and the conflict that arises when he interrupts the livelihoods of the local shrimping fishermen.

The story isn't so bad, it's just that the execution feels dated and a bit melodramatic. For one of the first times I can remember I didn't like Stewart's character; I like the actor well enough, but his character seemed single-minded and oblivious to the feelings of others here. The pacing is slow with the story bogged down by the standard romantic sub-plots and the like, and it only really picks up with an admittedly impressive climax. THUNDER BAY is a piece of drama that's only so-so to my mind.

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.)

Anthony Mann/James Stewart collaboration does not work as well here, in contrast to the successful westerns ("Bend of the River" - 1952, etc.). It's about a conflict between shrimp fisherman and oil drillers, with usual bad guy Dan Duryea playing a good guy role (he's better bad, a brilliant actor), as Stewart's business partner. Somehow blue-eyed WASP beauties Joanne Dru and Marcia Henderson are the daughters of latino Antonio Moreno. For shrimp harvesters, the women are surprisingly glamorous, well-groomed, and unfazed. Dru's character does sulk quite a bit, still dazzlingly beautiful, but not the best role for her, while Henderson is chipper, petite, and fun. Gilbert Roland is hammy and forgettable. Some of the color photography is pretty good, but it's a dull, contrived misfire. (Note to prior reviewer: the film was produced in aspect ratio 1:37 to 1 in 1953, on the cusp of widescreen, and formatted in the Academy Ratio, yet released "wide", by inadequate cropping,).

Apparently the public was mainly unaware of Cajuns and their culture, which would have been the largest population group of shrimp fishermen in Louisiana at the time. The portrayal of the 'hurricane' would have given them the impression of, at best, a big squall. What was a real hoot, was Stewart tossing sticks of dynamite at the crowd while he 'talked sense' to them. ("Alright now, just settle down"). If this movie is shown on a show where there is a 'host' or 'moderator' who comes on before and after the film, it would be informative to mention the 'microenvironment' created by the oil rigs; not so much with shrimping, but with sport fishing, which is a major economic force in the Gulf. The metal structure of the rig platforms becomes an 'artificial reef', which first becomes populated by barnacles and other stationary marine life; then becomes a focal point of fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, and various other species. The area around the rig becomes a jackpot for fisherman.

... with manly men and the women who love them, from Universal and director Anthony Mann. James Stewart stars as Steve Martin (???), a broke oil wildcatter who arrives in the Louisiana fishing village of Port Felicity. He and his best bud Gambi (Dan Duryea) want to build the first off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and they convince rich company man Jay C. Flippin to finance it. They run into trouble with the local fishermen, led by a swaggering Gilbert Roland, who resent the damage the oilmen are doing to the already fragile shrimp beds. Fisherman's daughter Joanne Dru also dislikes the outsiders, due to her bad experience spending "3 years in Chicago". But Steve Martin won't let some dumb yokels stop him from getting the oil, of which "there's enough to lubricate the universe!".

At times this seems sponsored by Exxon-Mobil or some other oil company, with the pro-oil exploration rhetoric laid on thick, usually by Stewart during lengthy, righteous speeches. Duryea tries to liven things up as his devil-may-care friend, but he often seems to be trying too hard. Both Dru and Marcia Henderson, as poor fisherman's daughters, always appear in thick garish make-up, standard for the 1950's working woman who spends all day trawling for shrimp. Roland seems about as Cajun as he does Swedish, and his outfit is almost as silly as the women's makeup. Flippin is good as the helpful financier and former wildcatter. This was the last of the Mann-Stewart collaborations that I hadn't seen, and now I know why it's seldom shown.

As for presentation, the color is starting to bleed and smear, and although it was filmed in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio, it was released in widescreen and Universal ended up cropping part of the image. Thus there is one scene in which there is a fuse burning down toward some dynamite, and it is not visible in the cropped image. At any rate, this one is overdue for a restoration.

Antony Mann and Jimmy Stewart's fourth collaboration, Thunder Bay, is based on an original story by John Michael Hayes , who just a few years later will go on to write the screenplays for Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. Mann shot the film in the 1.37:1 ratio, but Universal International re-framed it and then promoted it as its first widescreen feature at Loew's State Theatre in New York City, as well as other sites. Its initial presentation also marked U-I's first use of directional stereophonic sound, although few theaters in the country had such equipment at the time.

Of course the movie's big selling point is that it is a James Stewart movie and you get a sense that he enjoyed playing this part of a developer with a go getting attitude. He brings a lot of life to the character . But Stewart is not the only star name who delivers a good performance with Joanne Dru, Gilbert Roland and Dan Duryea amongst many others who deliver entertaining performances in what are little more than stereotypical characters. Stewart is great as the determined engineer, but he is not the undisputed star of the film. There are a lot of secondary characters played by terrific actors that make viewing the film a real treat.

Dan Duryea's character is interesting as usual.

As so often I've seen him play a villain or a troubled hero, and it was nice here to see him playing someone who's kind of loud (which was probably what bothered me last time) but turns out to be a decent guy.

It was also more meaningful to watch this film in light of Duryea's other work with Stewart, playing a villain in WINCHESTER '73 (1950)

Thunder Bay (1953) was the first Hollywood movie to focus on the subject of offshore oil drilling. This may not sound like the most thrilling fact, but in 1953 offshore drilling was very topical indeed, with congressional hearings and controversies surrounding it. The movie is a brawny, testosterone-charged action flick, with James Stewart and Dan Duryea as oil riggers convinced there is black gold at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Thunder Bay was described by many at the time (including Stewart) as a modern western with boats and oil standing in for horses and guns. This picture may be a minor credit for both Stewart and director Anthony Mann, but even a minor film from these artists is well worth watching. 7.5/10

this is not one of James Stewart's best known movies, and has been pretty much neglected or issued in the past with very little attention to quality. I'm pleased that this Blu-Ray issue from Kino Lorber has rectified that.

This was decent entertainment but nothing special, which it could have been with the likes of James Stewart, Joanne Dru, Dan Duryea and Gilbert Roland, and directed by Anthony Mann. This is supposed to be very good widescreen viewing but, unfortunately, I haven't viewed it on that format. We are all stuck with a formatted-to-TV tape until a DVD is released on this film. What's the holdup?

Duryea and Stewart played their normal interesting roles. This is mainly storytelling, even though it's listed as an "action movie." Nobody gets killed, and there is very little violence and, of course, no profanity. It's simply a story of some people who are the first to successfully drill oil offshore and the resistance they get from the local fishermen.

Dru mostly frowns through the picture, so she's not that likable as the female romantic lead. Stewart's squeaky voice doesn't across that well here, either. He sounded better on most of his other films.

It's an okay movie but certainly not one I would watch frequently, but I would like to see this in its intended widescreen version.