{"id":4176,"date":"2024-09-24T02:25:46","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T02:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4176"},"modified":"2024-10-12T20:53:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T20:53:38","slug":"the-big-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/24\/the-big-country\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Big Country <\/strong>(1958)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Drama-Western\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 167 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA rating (violence, mild language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: William Wyler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett and Robert Wilder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerome Moross\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Franz F. Planer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 1958 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Gregory Peck, Jean Simons, Caroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Alfonso Bedoya, Chuck Connors, Chuck Hayward, Buff Brady, Jim Burke.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0There was a time when Hollywood made big movies that didn\u2019t involve tons of CGI and noise. There was a time when a big movie meant a sweeping drama on an epic scale. There was a time when such movies involved well-defined characters as opposed to one-dimensional character types. A lot of us film buffs look back on that time wishing modern filmmakers would take note of the work and craftsmanship that went into making movies. Directors like William Wyler possessed the know-how to do it up big without sacrificing character or plot development.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The year before he swept the Academy Awards with his Biblical epic Ben-Hur, he directed the western-drama The Big Country<\/strong>. It\u2019s big alright. In fact, it\u2019s all-caps BIG! It isn\u2019t your typical oater with some gunslinger strolling into town and shooting it out with bad guys. Wyler has loftier intentions as evidenced by the emphasis on drama over action. Gregory Peck (Duel in the Sun) stars as James McKay, a retired sea captain who comes west to marry his fianc\u00e9e Pat (Baker, Baby Doll), the selfish and spoiled daughter of wealthy ranch owner \u201cThe Major\u201d (Bickford, The Song of Bernadette).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Shortly after his arrival, he has an altercation with Buck Hannassey (Connors, The Rifleman) and his gang. Buck\u2019s father Rufus (Ives, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) is the Major\u2019s chief rival and archenemy. The two families are engaged in long-running feud over the land rights to the area\u2019s sole source of water, a river located on \u201cThe Big Muddy\u201d, on property owned by schoolteacher and part-time rancher Julie Maragon (Simmons, Guys and Dolls) who takes a neutral stance on the feud by allowing both families to water their cattle on her land.<\/p>\n

\u00a0McKay refuses to fight back when Buck and his men harass and terrorize the couple, a move that Pat doesn\u2019t understand. He also turns down a challenge from ranch foreman Steve Leech (Heston, The Ten Commandments) to ride \u201cOld Thunder\u201d, the wildest horse in their stable. Steve dislikes McKay from the start. He constantly tries to goad him into a fight, but McKay refuses to take the bait eventually leading to Pat thinking he\u2019s a coward and breaking off the engagement. What she doesn\u2019t know is that McKay secretly bought The Big Muddy from Julie as a wedding present for her. After the break-up, he decides to stick around and try his hand at ranching. Although he agrees to let both families use the river, it doesn\u2019t settle the feud between the two families. If anything, it makes it worse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Big Country<\/strong> is one of the most compelling movies I’ve seen in a while. As a western, it\u2019s closer in spirit to Duel in the Sun than anything with John Wayne. As a teen, I never thought I\u2019d become a fan of old-style westerns from the 40s and 50s. I was always more of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western kind of guy. That changed after I saw The Searchers for the first time circa 1998. Now I think they\u2019re great. The Big Country<\/strong> is absolutely incredible. The story just pulls you right in from the word go. The Technicolor cinematography by Franz F. Planer is breathtaking even though I\u2019m sure something is lost watching it on a TV screen. The wide Texas vistas are absolutely meant to be seen in 70mm.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The actors all turn in great performances from the always reliable Peck to man’s man Heston. Their contentious relationship culminates in a protracted fist fight at dawn. Baker is terrific as the spoiled rich girl who looks down her nose at anybody who isn’t a member of her social class. She\u2019s a woman of contradictions. She angrily rebuffs Steve’s advances because he isn\u2019t a gentleman, yet loses respect for McKay because he behaves like one in not defending his honor with violence. Simmons delivers a solid performance as Julie, a fiercely independent sort who won\u2019t be told what to do. You know pretty much from the start she\u2019s a better match for McKay than Pat. This is the first time I\u2019ve seen Ives play a bad guy. I’m used to the kindly old man that narrated the 1964 Christmas classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Danger. He\u2019s great in the role; it earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. On the other hand, Connors is completely believable as the despicable creep (and innate coward) who tries to force a courtship with Julie only to be sent packing by the no-BS teacher\/rancher when he comes calling.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As excellent as The Big Country<\/strong> is, it tends to be heavy-handed with its unsubtle message of non-violence. We\u2019re shown more than once that violence doesn\u2019t really solve anything. Aside from that little misstep, it\u2019s an outstanding film. It has drama, romance and action. The finale consists of a gunfight in a canyon, a duel and a final showdown between the two patriarchs. Although it seems to contradict the movie\u2019s message, it actually reinforces it. The characters and their conflicts are fully developed. There\u2019s a lot of conflict. One that I haven\u2019t mentioned is the one between Rufus and Buck. He doesn\u2019t think very highly of his son and reminds him of this at every turn. The way it\u2019s finally resolved is truly something albeit not unexpected.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At nearly three hours (167 minutes to be exact), The Big Country<\/strong> is long but doesn\u2019t feel like it. It\u2019s consistently interesting. It\u2019s the result of good storytelling by Wyler and writers James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett and Robert Wilder who based their script on the serialized magazine novel \u201cAmbush at Blanco Canyon\u201d by Donald Hamilton. I\u2019ve seen it twice and will probably watch it again at some point. It\u2019s one of those films that remind me why I love the medium so much. If only Hollywood still made movies this thoroughly satisfying.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Big Country (1958)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Drama-Western\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 167 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA rating (violence, mild language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: William Wyler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett and Robert Wilder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerome Moross\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Franz F. Planer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 1958 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Gregory Peck, Jean Simons, Caroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Alfonso Bedoya, Chuck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-these-are-some-classic-flicks","category-westerns"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/The-Big-Country-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5377,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions\/5377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}