Thunder Bay
Director– Anthony Mann
Starring – James Stewart, Joanne Dru, Gilbert Roland, Dan Duryea
Country of Origin- U.S.
Distributor - Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 08/06/2019
One would think a film directed by Anthony Mann and stars legendary actors James Stewart and Dan Duryea should be an instant classic but on occasion there is the film that misses the mark. Anthony Mann’s Thunder Bay, one of the earliest films that had to do with the fishing and shrimping industry, was a film that didn’t quite reach the levels of greatness that previous collaborations between Mann and Stewart had. But despite that, the film is still solid entertainment.
In Thunder Bay, Steve Martin (James Stewart) and Johnny Gambi (Dan Duryea) come to Port Felicity in Louisiana with a goal to become rich. They are oil riggers, convinced that there is enough oil at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, to make them and the town billionaires. The two have so much enthusiasm for the drilling project, that they’re surprisingly able to get the financial backing of tycoon Kermit MacDonough (Jay C. Flippen). They build a rig in the Gulf, which disrupts the fishing and shrimping industry. Things get a bit tense when opposition from the fishing community grows fast, led by Stella Rigaud (Joanne Dru). While the fight is on between the fisherman and oilman, Stella’s younger sister Francesca (Marcia Henderson) gets the attention of Gambi, who gets smitten with her. The issue with the romance is Francesca has been destined and prepped for marriage with childhood friend Philippe Bayard (Robert Monet). Despite the drilling project not going as planned and the money invested now spent and the drillers being overworked, Martin is still determined to keep going no matter the cost.
Thunder Bay is not what I’d call a major classic from director Anthony Mann. It’s decent, harmless 90 minutes but far from epic. The acting from the leads (Stewart and Duryea) is superb as is the rest of the cast. James Stewart was the master of playing an ambitious character and plays it perfectly here. Duryea and the other cast members also hand in solid performances, but the film lacks the power that other Mann directed films have. Harry Morgan of MASH fame has a small role, and was often cast with James Stewart. The cinematography by William H. Daniels is brilliant, capturing some exquisite Louisiana scenery
Kino Lorber debuts Thunder Bay on Blu ray. An interesting fact is that the film was filmed in 1:37:1 full frame aspect ratio while it was released in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen. That being said the widescreen image quality of Thunder Bay is above average. The colors are rich and bold with strong contrast, and looking polished. Film grain is present throughout. The indoor and outdoor scenery is also highly detailed. Flesh tones look natural, more so after the first thirty minutes.
English DTS-HD master audio 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 3.0 are the two audio tracks Kino offers for this release and both of them sounded similar, hardly noticing any major differences. Dialog, action scenes and the superb musical score by Frank Skinner come in clearly without any issues detected. There are optional English subtitles for this release as well.
Kino has given a few extras to this release as they include another new audio commentary - this one by Toby Roan. His commentary is highly informative, where he talks about the making of the film in great detail, as well as some information about director Mann and his cast of actors for the film. Another commentary not to be missed!
Trailers for Thunder Bay, Made for Each Other, Broken Arrow, No Highway in the Sky, Bend of the River, and Man of the West are also part of the package.
Thunder Bay should appeal to fans of Anthony Mann, James Stewart and even Dan Duryea. I really wanted to like this film more and maybe with a few more spins, I just might. The release by Kino Lorber, due to the image quality and the commentary make this a recommended release!
