Thunder Bay (1953)

"Thunder Bay," strictly a man's picture, may be considered a Western, with boats and oil substituting for horses and guns, on the Gulf Coast off Louisiana...

Stewart and Mann considered as regular partners begun for what they thought were fresh pastures... Stewart is properly tough, wild and laconic as the enthusiastic engineer convinced that oil reserves might lie beneath the Louisiana waters, and Duryea have come up with a drilling platform that resists the fury of even the worst storms... Away they go to find offshore oil, with the encouragement of Jay. C. Flippen willing to ramp up, pumping money on exploration...

The drilling clashes with the plans of shrimp fishermen who are opposing the test on the fishing grounds... It may have an adverse affect on their marine life...

Duryea adds more complications to the action-drama by falling in love with the girlfriend of one of the fishermen, whose sister, Joanne Dru (echoing the sentiments of Janet Leigh in "The Naked Spur") is putting her eyes on Stewart... But the machinations of the two girls seem worthless material against the struggles between the guys, which are actually the main force of the movie...

After several obstacles, violent storms, romantic distrust, and the retraction of magnate Flippen, who has lost faith in the project, all ends wonderfully when Stewart (hard to believe) discovers not only oil but an abundant source of shrimp...

Subsequently the lovers pair off, and the former enemies become allies as they share their beneficial trades...

Photographed in Technicolor, "Thunder Bay" is a well-produced movie, an entertaining piece of film making...