Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

mark.waltz She is Barbara Stanwyck, the hot-blooded and high maintenance wife of oil rig baron Anthony Quinn, as well as former lover of Gary Cooper, and she is desperate to get rid of a husband she hates and get back a former lover who makes her oil crude. Stanwyck's characters has never been someone you'd see grocery shopping (unless she was plotting a murder with Fred MacMurray) or attending social functions, but here, she is aging but still very much on the prowl. She's definitely a cougar, and while her prey may not be a young buck, she's roaring loudly with desire. Cooper, though, isn't buying her brand of spitfire anymore, and is now ready to settle for the sultriness of Ava Gardner look-alike Ruth Roman who purrs her lines like a kitten compared to Stanwyck's raspy and claw-clad alley cat. Quinn, too, underestimates his wife's hatred, finding out the hard way her real desires.This is the third variation of this story at Warner Brothers-1935's "Bordertown" and 1940's "They Drive By Night", all told extremely similar stories with different professions for the hero and equally wild leading ladies in the Stanwyck role: Bette Davis ("Bordertown") and Ida Lupino ("They Drive By Night") both got to be dames to be reckoned with. Roman takes on the Margaret Lindsay and Ann Sheridan roles with Cooper replacing Paul Muni and George Raft, Quinn taking over for Eugene Palette and Alan Hale.An unusually large over abundance of music dominates this version, including a theme song ("Marina Mine") sung by Frankie Laine, obviously influenced by his hit recording of "Do Not Forsake Me", the theme from Cooper's Oscar Winning success "High Noon" the previous year. Quinn's seemingly macho coward fights cowardice as a result of harassment from Mexican bandits, seen at the start of the film attempting to rob Cooper with stereotypical racist dialog. Ward Bond gives a sympathetic performance as Cooper's mentor. While the romance may focus on Cooper and Roman, it is Stanwyck who dominates the film. She may be melodramatic, but she's somebody you'll never forget.

moonspinner55 Shotgun-toting, dynamite-wielding banditos in South America shake down local oil-drillers for cash; they run strapped American Gary Cooper out of business, forcing him into partnership with an old friend whose oil-site is doing well--but whose steely-eyed wife is a real wild-card. Surprisingly cheapjack production featuring three top stars (Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, and Anthony Quinn), all of whom acquit themselves well with a script which seems half-finished. Ruth Roman is a con-artist who runs into Cooper a few times--and before you know it, she's declaring she loves him. Stanwyck puts forth a lot of heat, and gets us to believe in the tempestuous marriage she shares with Quinn, but there's little motivation for what comes next. The finale, which should have been as emotionally explosive as the effects, plays curiously flat, and there's no reasoning for why the bandits are so extreme in their destruction, nor why they choose the opportunities to strike when they do. From a narrative standpoint, the picture is a mess; however, it is quickly-paced, torrid in spots, and is frequently entertaining in spite of its flaws. **1/2 from ****

barney_holmes From the acting of Anthony Quinn to the exquisitely overblown melodramatic elements, Blowing Wild is a great relatively unknown gem of a modern western.In the current trend of films that must have happy endings and uplifting themes I found it just so refreshing to watch something where it all goes wrong. The heroic sensible character does not win the day, there is no overcoming of difficult circumstances although there is certainly bravery and doggedness.The art of the tragedy bares it's garish colours in Blowing Wild. With so many of today's directors chasing the ghosts of "modern" themes, trying to speak to "modern" audiences, they would do well to study a film such as this, and other's of the older period. They seem to have far more to say to us "moderns" than current offerings that seem to have regressed to some kind of prepubescent state.

jotix100 "Blowing Wild" showed unexpectedly the other day on cable. Seldom seen these days, this film reunited once again Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Alas, they are not as effective in it as they were in either "Ball of Fire", or "Meet John Doe", two of the best comedies of the 40s, bar none. The film was directed by Hugo Fregonese.The setting is an unnamed Latin country, which must have been Mexico. It focuses on the people that wanted to get involved in the oil business because of the wealth it generated. There is a sequence that parallels Henri-Georges Cluzot's "The Wages of Fear" as Jeff Dawson and Dutch Peterson are asked to transport a crate full of dynamite to a nearby oil drilling site. It's a rustic route full of dangers and local bandits. Probably this was purely coincidental since both films came out in the same year in two continents apart.Gary Cooper, who appears as Jeff Dawson, a wildcatter, seems to be acting on auto pilot. He was always a minimalist actor. He was not too expressive a man on the screen. Playing opposite Ms. Stanwyck, whose character showed an explosive nature, he did not show any emotion to speak of. Barbara Stanwyck, in contrast shows a talent for impersonating an ambitious Marina Conway, who had a romance with Dawson in the past. She is now married to a Paco Conway, a man she feels disgust for. She tries to rekindle whatever they shared in the past with bad results.Anthony Quinn makes an impression with his Paco Conway, the man that had the good fortune of striking rich with the oil he found. Mr. Quinn has a great scene at the local watering hole where he dances with a young woman and later pretends to be a matador with another. Ward Bond is also seen in the movie as Dutch Peterson, Dawson's partner. Ruth Roman has an important supporting role and she does well. Ian McDonald, who was in "High Noon" with Mr. Cooper has a small part.It's easy to see why the film has kept its appeal. The copy shown was of superior quality. Sidney Hickox's cinematography was memorable, and the same can be said about Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score. Frankie Laine is heard with the theme song throughout the movie.