home is where the heart is(Prairie Dog creek)
Robert Ryan's character, Nathan Stark, is based on a real person, Nelson Storey, who struck it rich near the boomtown of Virginia City MT(renamed Mineral City in the film), and, in 1866, used some of this money to drive a herd of Texas Longhorns from Texas to meet the pent up demand for beef by the gold miners of Virginia City. As in the film, he did have trouble from the Jayhawkers when he tried to drive his cattle through KS, he did have a major encounter with the Sioux in Wyoming, and the army did try to stop him from proceeding further on the Bozeman Trail because of Native American hostility. However, instead of selling all his cattle as food for the miners,as in the film, a good many were used to establish the first breeding herd of Longhorns in MT. The other aspects of this film are purely fictitious, if entertaining, and mostly surround the give and take between Jane Russell, Clark Gable and Robert Ryan. Of course, we can rightly assume that, in the end, Russell and Gable will end up together, although it doesn't look very likely for most of the film.
From my perspective, this film incorporates key elements from 3 previous films. As in "Call of the Wild", made 20 years before, Gable and companions rescue a beautiful young woman in dire circumstances in a snowy wilderness(not once, but twice in the present film!) The woman eventually has to choose between Gable and another man. 5 years later, director Raoul Walsh directed the Civil War western "Dark Command". Quantrill's raiders, a quasi-military Confederate guerilla gang, were prominantly featured in that film. In the present film, Ben(Gable) and his brother Clint(Mitchell) have just recently quit Quantrill's raiders or some successor gang when they show up in Mineral City. In both films , the featured lady has to eventually choose between a poor but heroic Texas cowboy or a sophisticated but overly ambitious rival, who throws money and promised status at her. The cowboy doesn't appear to have a ghost of a chance, but.....
Of course, there some similarities with the previous "Red River". Both involve an epic cattle drive north out of Texas. Both involve occasional disputes among the leaders as to how to proceed or handle a dire situation at hand. But, there is no mutiny in "The Tall Men". Rather, the long drive sequence serves to better test the characters of the main protagonists and to give Russell's character more time to decide for sure who she wants to live with(Both Gable and Ryan qualify as "tall" men.) Russell's royal treatment on the trail by wealthy Stark reminds me of the spoiled tycoon in "Call of the Wild". Both merit their private bath tub on the trail!
I thought Russell and Gable were generally excellent, with snappy dialogue and a good amount of sarcastic humor in their give and take. Russell certainly serves to lighten the tedium of the long cattle drive compared to the much more limited female presence in "Red River". She talks of her hard life growing up on a ranch(where?), but she also seems accustomed to fancy clothes and jewelry. What was she doing in the Wyoming winter wilderness, trying to get to CA? Who cares. Ryan, as Stark, was stiff and unemotional, with little sense of humor. I don't know if this is typical Ryan or an intentional characterization to make Gable's character look relatively more appealing to Russell. As was true of most of his films in his last 10 years, Gable's character was certainly meant for someone a good 20 years younger than Gable, who looked all of his 54 years. However, a weathered-looking Gable seemed better than no Gable. The last 10 min. bring a few surprises in sorting out the final relationships between the principles, which have been simmering through most of the film.
All-in-all, I found it an entertaining '50s western epic, shot in vivid CinemaScope. I don't agree with the generally scathing reviews of the times, nor with the common very unfavorable comparisons with "Red River". The trail drive was perhaps a bit long, but a lot shorter than the real 1500 mile drive! Yes, Ben was lucky in his occasional risky bravado episodes, but that's what you expect of Gable. The relationship between Stark and Ben and brother Clint was certainly unusual. I didn't get around to discussing Ben's troubled, more trigger happy brother. Remember that, as former members of Quantrill's raiders, Ben and Clint were used to robbing, burning and killing. The James-Younger gang would emerge as the final incarnation of Quantrill's raiders.

5 Stars and 3 Stars
10 stars for the scenery and photography. 3 stars for the story.
4 stars for the acting. Can't rate the DVD's quality - cuz I have not tried one. And a good old film of its era - I appreciate it for its' vintage style. But the scenery of this movie is awesome. And for that, (for me), gives me quite a bit to appreciate.

Gable Rules Once Again with his Charm and Masculinity
THE TALL MEN is a very entertaining Western primarily set on a cattle drive with Clark Gable and Cameron Mitchell signing on with boss Robert Ryan. They must contend not only with the natural elements and marauding Indians but also with their conflicting unbridled emotions for Jane Russell. Director Raoul Walsh this time out seems to display a keen sense of droll humor taking advantage of his three male stars vying for the attention of Russell. Clark Gable as usual turns in a fine performance with his carefree charm and looks and predictably steals this film once again from an accomplished veteran cast.

Great Clark Gable Western
Gable only made a handful of Westerns, but this ranks as his best period Western film. He plays a former Confederate who leads a cattle drive with brother Cameron Mitchell. Gable And Mitchell have formed an uneasy partenrship with Robert Ryan (who they tried to rob at the beginning of the film). Ryan is also romancing Jane Russell, whose a former flame of Gable's. She joins them on the cattle drive, much to the dismay of Gable, who doesn't want a woman along because it's dangerous, but who's also still brokenhearted over his and Russell's parting.

This is a very nice western with great scenery, good performances, and a simply smoldering performance by Russell in one of the alltime sexiest women's roles in a Western. Catch it when you can.

Tall Tale
To my mind, this is a woefully under-rated picture; one of my favorite Westerns of all time. It was produced by Howard Hawks' brother William and so unfavorably compared to the former's "Red River", but "The Tall Men" stands up fine on its own. Clark Gable was in a class by himself as an actor, completely inimitable, and he's great here as the trail boss working for a man he once robbed, who has returned the favor by robbing Gable of Jane Russell. The Mexican vacquero gets his historical due at last in this film, as Gable is using an Hispanic team of wranglers to drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. There's a great confrontation with a band of jayhawkers that also has a genuine historical flavor about it. Robert Ryan and Cameron Mitchell give some marvelous support work here, too. And again, sterling direction by Raoul Walsh, Hollywood's most under-appreciated helmsman.