Rod Cameron and the then married team of Joanne Dru and John Ireland star in Southwest Passage about an expedition to test the feasibility of using camels in the American Southwest. Purportedly after the experiment was eventually dropped and the camels turned loose on the Arizona desert descendants of them even now can be spotted to this day every now and then.Rod Cameron plays the real life character of western explorer Edward Beale who in his life also had naval service and eventually got to be Ambassador to the Hapsburg Empire. I think his life would make one fascinating movie myself, the real story. But here he's on a surveying party with camels, mules, and horse and the human participants are soldier, muleskinners and a few Arabs. Add to them a fugitive John Ireland posing as a doctor and his girlfriend Joanne Dru as someone they rescue in the desert you've got quite a mix facing the Apaches who eventually turn hostile.Ireland has just robbed a bank and bottom feeding muleskinner John Dehner recognizes him. He also recognizes he's got needs when he sees Joanne Dru. She takes a liking to Cameron. The real Beale was a married man so there's no hint of reciprocation. But Ireland is not a happy camper.There's a nice desert shootout with the Apaches which must have been something in the original 3-D this was shot in. Southwest Passage is a nice action packed most adult western where the camel experiment is just a side note. Nothing whatever to do with the really fascinating career of Edward Fitzgerald Beale.

I was sucked into watching this movie because of the lead actors, John Ireland and Joann Dru. They were husband and wife at the time after they met during the filming of "Red River", five years before this movie. Despite its poor quality, "Southwest Passage" does have some interesting elements.Here's what I liked:Dru and Ireland deliver good performances, given the limited opportunity the script gave them. Dru is much better looking and has more charisma than I remember from "Red River".Stalwart John Dehner makes an interesting appearance as a heavy.Camel/Arab theme is unusual.Interesting location shoots. Unlike what another user review claims, this is in no way Monument Valley.Here's what ruined the movie:Plot wise, it starts out OK, but quickly devolves into an absurd simplistic patch work of illogical characters, conflicts and transitions. They clearly were shooting without a script and made the story up as they went along. There's no point in going into details, since the movie isn't worth watching to begin with.

Actor John Ireland and his wife Joanne Dru star in this originally released 3-D color Western that was filmed in what appears to be John Ford Country (Monument Valley, Moab). Ireland met his future wife on the set of "Red River" and appeared with her again in "All the Kings Men". While this film is not in the same category with those two cinema classics, it does feature Rod Cameron and a healthy menu of great character actors such as Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, John Dehner, Morris Ankrum, etc. The story centers around Ireland, Dru and her brother (Darryl Hickman) robbing a bank. Eventually Ireland and Dru join Rod Cameron as he leads an expedition complete with camels to survey a new route to California. The group encounters a band of outlaws as well as Apaches along the way that keeps the viewers interest. What I found most interesting was the introduction of Middle East values to the wild west. A conflict result when Dehner, a mule skinner, starts a fight with the Arab camel drivers when he tries to force them to eat pork .... a custom opposed by their religion. Dehner grumbles about the camels constantly and cannot accept the fact that they are necessary for the expedition. I thought the script left something to be desired as the dialog was sometimes humorous when it was not meant to be. An example of this is when Dehner complains to "Big Boy" Williams, "What are you trying to do kill my mules? Standing out in this sun is worse than working them to death!" Williams replies, "The camels seem to be enjoying it." Dehner counters, "They ain't got sense to know better. All this map making is a bunch of buffalo chips. Can't he tell that's a mountain without looking through a spy glass?" Big Boy then shakes his head and says, "Man when they gave out brains in Tennessee...you must have been in New Orleans!" The only thing that saves this film from being less than mediocre is the veteran group of actors, the John Ford type of location, numerous action scenes and the beautiful color employed in the filming.

A routine western with a hook-it's based on tests the Army conducted using camels in the Southwest desert. Cameron, Ireland and Dru(Irelands' wife at the time)handle the acting chores competently, and the action runs smoothly.