kennedys character
did you think he was that bad?
shareIt's amazing what greed can do to a person, so yes he was that bad!
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MovieChat Forums > Bend of the River (1952) Discussion > kennedys character
An interesting question because he was once a friend to McClintock, owed him his life and was willing to fight some injuns to protect settlers and then due to greed wa suddenly hostile to everybody and wanted to kill Mcclintock.
Perhaps the turnaround was too severe to be believable and is the weak point of this film in my opinion. Still a fine film and a top 100 western.
There is an attempt by Mann to build up contempt for Kennedy's character by having him slap Jeremy around but he wasn't so ruthless as to kill Mcclintock when he had the chance and even gave him some food to boot.
I guess that is the basic message of all these Stewart-Mann films that nobody is all good or all bad and they have choices to make as they go along.
Right on. I think Kennedy cornered the market on the slow, easy smile to ferocious snarl character, and epitomised the friend-turned-enemy motif....Henry Fonda put up with this with Anthony Quinn in Warlock.
Is it so hard to believe sudden turning of character? What about devoted, loving fathers that kill their children?
I think the character really liked Stewart and respected him; but his greed overode that and he became a cold-blooded killer. Your last sentance sums it up very well.
The Hendricks character was just as big a turnaround. He was so accomodating and friendly to newcomers in part i'm sure for business reasons. But the gold rush turned him into a greedy nut willing to do anything for money and not minding at all if his greed might cause starvation to dozens of familes.
I have watched the film since my post i own it, i'm softening my position on the Kennedy character. He actually did come to where he was more gradually then i forst thought.
It wasn't that strange a turn-around. The Kennedy character was "bad" to begin with, a la the references to the Border Wars and outlawing. Maybe I am mixing up my movie, but didn't Kennedy tell Stewart that they were even (saving each other's lives), so Kennedy felt free to fight Stewart.?
shareWhen McLyntock tells Trey to stop shooting at Hendricks's retreating posse, Trey asks why and Glyn says if you have to ask why.... Meanwhile, Cole continues firing with relish as if oblivious. It was evident from that point on that it would end in tears, and that Stewart would get the girl.
shareDevoted, loving fathers who kill their children are deeply depressed and deluded -- mentally ill, just like mothers who do the same -- so aren't responsible and evil doesn't come into it.
shareHitler suffered from deep depression, insomnia and delusional behavior...most would say he was mentally ill. So by your logic, he wasn't responsible and therefore not evil?
What makes you believe that evil is only a voluntary or conscious act? Almost all evil in the world has been committed by weak, deluded and damaged people who somehow convinced themselves that what they were doing was right or justified.
An evil act is just that, regardless of what motivates it.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
It occurred to me that by the time we meet McClintock, he has already made the transition from border raider to halfway-good guy. He may have been as ruthless as Cole, but we never see him in that incarnation.
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
Very good job by the script and director Mann (and Arthur Kennedy, of course) of keeping you guessing about Cole. I had my suspicions about his character from his introduction, that he wasn't to be trusted, but then he would do something courageous or help out McClintock in such a way that I'd have to say I was wrong about him. This ambiguity goes on for quite a while until we know his true nature, or rather that it darkens for good.
shareIt's nice to see villains with more than one side to their character rather than the one dimensional evil villains so often seen in movies. To me, the best example of this was Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs in "Treasure of Siera Madre." For about half the film, Dobbs is a good guy, even generous with what little he has. But greed for gold turns him into a very mean, dangerous guy.
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