Monthly Manly Movies

Friday night, September 26, kicked off our men’s events for the year. Just as last year, we are having what we like to call Monthly Manly Movies. One Friday a month, a group of 10-12 guys from Northwestern meet at the Robertson Student Center at 6:00, then carpool over to Dr. Tim Tomlinson’s house to enjoy a wonderful home cooked meal by Mrs. Tomlinson. After being thoroughly stuffed, we head down to the basement to watch a movie in which at least one character exudes traits of a biblical man. After the movie, we head back to the kitchen for dessert and discuss how men in the film did or did not act as Christian men ought.

This past Friday, we watched “The River of No Return”. In this classic, Matt Calder just got out of prison for killing a man in self-defense, and after finding his nine-year-old son (Mark) in a “Sodom-like” town, he takes him home to lead a quiet life. On the way, however, a card shark named Weston steals Calder’s horse and gun after beating him up, then essentially leaves him and his son for dead. The love aspect of the movie then unfolds when Weston’s girlfriend, a saloon girl named Kay (who previously befriended Mark at the town), stays with the two men in sympathy. As the plot unfolds, Calder leads Kay and his son down the river of no return without a horse or gun. In the process, he does not sink into self-pity over their circumstances, but rather provides for Kay when the cold river makes her sick. He also protects his son from a mountain lion, and refrains from revealing how much danger the three are actually in. In addition, after they make it safely to their destination, he does not allow Kay to return to her life as a saloon girl, but literally drags her out of that lifestyle. Matt Calder did much to lead, feed, care, and protect Kay and Mark throughout the movie, but still had some moral failings. In fact, our conclusion over dessert was that Mark, the nine-year-old boy, was the one who exuded the most consistent traits of biblical manhood. He was courageous in the midst of trouble. He expressed a real care for Kay despite her immoral lifestyle. He did whatever he could to help his father provide for the three of them. And at the end of the movie, he even had to do the hard task of shooting Weston in defense of his father. Mark was consistent in his values throughout, and taught us all a thing or two about biblical manhood.

All of us who are involved in Monthly Manly Movies appreciate what can be grasped in all of the movies that we watch. Nevertheless, we do not look to role models in movies as a guide for how to be biblical men, but weigh the values and actions of these characters in light of the Word of God. My hope and prayer is that these movies continually point us back to the ultimate man, Jesus Christ, and are used as tools to teach how to provide, protect, and lead others (especially women) as Christ leads His Bride, the Church. I hope this synopsis of Monthly Manly Movie night was helpful, and if any men would like to come next month, shoot me an email!
zbtarter@yahoo.com

Zach