The Big Country (1958)

My purchase of Big Country

The Movie, The Big Country, one of my all time favorites, The price was Great and I received it much sooner than I had expected.
Thanks, Carolyn July 17, 2008

One of the best in the westerm genre.

With as title like this, you would expect a big cast of big actors, and this film delivers. It gets center stage in my DVD cabinet, as one of my favorite westerns, and near the top of my alltime favorite movies. July 13, 2008

A terrific story and a great family film.

This is a terrific movie and is a fabulous family film. Almost all of the left-wing allegory of the Cold War that William Wyler et al intended in the film is lost to history and will only be noticed by those looking for it. The cast is so fabulous that Charlton Heston is a secondary star in this film. He plays Steve Leech, the foreman of the Terrill Ranch and was raised there since a boy by Major Terrill (played by Charles Bickford).

Gregory Peck plays James McKay, a ship's captain who has come to this "Big Country" to marry the Major's daughter, Patricia (pronounced Patreesha by the Major) played by Caroll Baker. McKay immediately finds himself embroiled in the fight between the poorer but more numerous Hannasseys and the Terrills, who consider themselves more deserving and elite. Each side wants another ranch owned by the local school teacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) because it has the only water in the region. Her family has had the ranch since the family was given it by Mexico generations previously. One of the people McKay has trouble with is the foreman Leech because Leech wants Patricia, but can't have her (since he is a hand and not good enough).

McKay is bewildered by the fight and everyone fails to read McKay correctly. They see his being unwilling to fight and escalate trouble as cowardice and his shrewdness in not being duped into riding a horse that would throw him as timidity. McKay goes about doing what he thinks best when he thinks best and this causes him some trouble, but he has a higher goal in mind. Of course things culminate in a large conflict, but not in the way you might predict and even if you do, it is handled very well.

Burl Ives plays Rufus, the head of the Hannassey clam He is so compelling on the screen that he won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1958 for this role. Chuck Connors (only 11 years Ives junior) plays his oldest son, Buck. I will leave the rest of the plot for you to discover.

Enjoy it as a straight story and a Western of a different flavor rather than looking for some silly allegory.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
July 9, 2008

All of the Ingredients for Greatness!

Since the film's plot and cast have been wonderfully discussed here through previous evaluations, I will not belabor the process again.

This wonderful film has all of the ingredients for the perfect movie! In terms of "epic," it would have been cinematic sacrilege to have filmed the tale in anything less then Cinemascope. The actors for all roles were perfectly fitted to what they portrayed, and I have rarely seen, for example, a more deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor than Burl Ives! In fact, there is not a weak link in the entire film, which renders it the western equivalent of "The Sting," as it does indeed reach the level of perfection in every regard.

There have been more "exciting" western films produced over the decades, but "The Big Country" subordinates endless gunfire and bloodshed to a complete study in human behaviors, strengths, weaknesses, and romance. Truly one of the best films ever made! June 4, 2008

Yes, it is a BIG COUNTRY

I have always loved this movie and the quality of this DVD is great. Very enjoyable. May 17, 2008

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