I'm sure that in 1953, Anthony Mann's Thunder Bay must have seemed like a great idea for a film. However, the story of two oilmen who fight off the ignorance and malice of local shrimpers to put in place an offshore drilling platform off the coast of Louisiana doesn't quite seem so adventurous and glorious anymore. Maybe it was the 4.9 million barrels of crude oil dumped into the gulf last year due to corrupt business practices by greedy oilmen. I'm just saying that such a gung-ho film over drilling for oil in Louisiana can't help but be subjected to ire and cynicism by today's society. But ignoring its uncomfortable subtext, how does the film itself stand up? Well, the main problem is that drilling for oil has never been a very exciting thing to watch. Sure, it was captivating in There Will Be Blood, but that was largely due to the characters who were overseeing the drilling. While he puts in a great performance as one of the oilmen, Jimmy Stewart is no Daniel Plainview. There is some interesting back-and-forth between the oilmen and the townsfolk, but after the first thirty minutes it is largely ignored until the very end. Thunder Bay isn't a flawed film. It just isn't a very captivating one. And, through no fault of its own, it can't escape the modern day context that it finds itself invoking.
6/10
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