The River’s Edge
Year: 1957
Runtime: 87 mins
Language: English
Director: Allan Dwan
In a relentless struggle of kill or be killed, a murderous thief on the run with stolen loot compels a humble rancher to guide him across the desert toward Mexico. The rancher’s wife, who is the thief’s former girlfriend, joins them, raising the stakes as loyalties are tested.
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The River’s Edge (1957) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained
Read the complete plot breakdown of The River’s Edge (1957), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Ben Cameron [Anthony Quinn] is a struggling New Mexico rancher who is devoted to his wife Meg Cameron [Debra Paget]. They married while she was on parole for a ten-year prison sentence, and Meg has never quite adjusted to ranch life. She still loves her former partner in crime, Nardo Denning [Ray Milland], who abandoned her after her arrest.
After an argument with Ben, Meg prepares to leave him. Denning arrives and wants Ben to help him cross the border to Mexico, but Ben refuses. The two leave for town with Meg, while Ben stays behind and discovers a photograph that confirms Denning and Meg were lovers in the past.
Denning apologizes for deserting Meg and reveals that he has $1 million in cash from a recent job. As they drive, a police officer stops them and looks into the trunk. Denning backs over the officer several times. Meg, terrified, runs from the car, and Denning drives toward her before crashing into a boulder. He tells Meg he backed over the officer by accident.
Ben returns to the ranch and finds Denning and Meg there. He presses Meg to go to the police, but she refuses because she would be violating her parole. Denning eventually agrees to give Ben $10,000 to escort him and Meg across the border.
After Denning kills a friend of Ben’s, Meg realizes that he is a cold-blooded killer. During a tense escape attempt, she cuts her arm on a barbed wire fence and tells Ben that she no longer loves Denning.
Meg collapses from the infected injury, and the two take shelter in a cave. Ben starts a fire using the $10,000 to boil water for her arm and reassures her that he would wait forever if she returned to jail. The next morning, a confrontation between Denning and Ben leaves Ben pinned under a boulder, and Denning is given a choice of routes—toward an airport or toward a village that might send help for them.
That night, Denning is knocked into a gorge while trying to stop a truck. Ben and Meg recover the money and Denning’s broken body, discovering that he was attempting to seek help. They bury him and return home to face the consequences of the past few days.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:01
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