The Big Country is a 1958 American Western film directed by William Wyler. It stars Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, and Chuck Connors. It was based on the novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton.
Ives won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score by Jerome Moross.
Plot
Wealthy, newly-retired sea captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) travels to the American west to join his fiancée Patricia (Carroll Baker) at the enormous ranch of her father, Major Terrill (Charles Bickford). Terrill is a powerful rancher who is feuding with the equally tough patriarch of a poorer, less refined clan, Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives). Patricia's best friend, schoolteacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), is caught between the two, as she is the owner of the "Big Muddy", a ranch with a vital source of water; Hannassey desperately needs it for his cattle, while Terrill wants it just so he can deny it to his rival.
McKay is a puzzle to Major Terrill, his foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) and even Patricia; he refuses to be provoked into proving his manhood. McKay's father died in a duel, and—as McKay explains to Terrill—no one could remember what the duel was about.
One morning, McKay rides out without telling anyone, goes to the Big Muddy, and persuades Julie to sell him the ranch by promising that both the Terrills and the Hannasseys will always have access to the river. Everyone believes McKay is lost, and a search party spends two days looking for him. When McKay shows up and says he knew where he was all the time, Leech calls him a liar in front of Patricia and the Major, but McKay refuses to be goaded into a fight. In private, Patricia expresses her shame at what she sees as McKay's cowardice. McKay tells her he will be moving into town to give them both time to think things over. Early the next morning, before anybody else is up, McKay settles with Leech. They fight away from the house, without witnesses, to an exhausted draw. Leech gains respect for McKay.
Later, Patricia discovers from Julie that McKay has bought the Big Muddy, and goes into town to try to make up with him. However, when she mentions her father's plans, McKay tells her that he wants no part of the feud and breaks the engagement. Patricia explodes with rage, telling him that he will never be half the man her father is.
Terrill orders Leech and his men to prevent Hannassey's cattle from drinking at the Big Muddy. Hannassey, desperate, kidnaps Julie and offers to buy the Big Muddy in exchange for her freedom. He does not know whether to believe her when she tells him she has already sold it to McKay. Hannassey decides to keep her at the ranch as bait for an ambush. To rescue Julie, Terrill and his men must pass through a narrow canyon, where they can be easily gunned down.
When McKay finds out about Julie, he rides to the Hannassey place by himself. Hannassey's eldest son Buck (Chuck Connors), who wants Julie for himself, tells her to lie to McKay about why she is there or he will shoot him. McKay shows Hannassey the deed to Big Muddy and promises him equal access to the water. When Hannassey says he intends to fight Terrill anyway, McKay confronts him with the truth - that it is all just a personal vendetta between two ruthless, vicious old men. Julie tries to protect him by claiming she is there willingly, but McKay does not believe her. McKay and Buck fight, but Rufus stops it when Buck draws his gun on an unarmed McKay. He then decides they will settle it "gentleman style", with a formal duel. He warns the two men that he will shoot either one if they violate the rules.
After walking off ten paces, both men turn and aim. Buck fires before the signal, grazing McKay's forehead. McKay slowly and deliberately takes aim. Defenseless, Buck drops to the ground in terror. McKay then fires into the dirt. Humiliated, Hannassey spits on his son. As McKay and Julie start to leave, Buck grabs a gun from a ranch hand, forcing Hannassey to kill him.
Meantime, Terrill, Leech and their men ride into the ambush and are pinned down. Acknowledging the truth of McKay's accusation, Hannassey orders his men to hold their fire. He then challenges Terrill to come out and face him man to man. The two men walk to a final showdown and kill each other. McKay and Julie ride out together.
Cast
Reception
Ives won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score by Jerome Moross.
The main theme music was used in 1990 as a recurring chorus loop in the MC Tunes vs 808 State song "The Only Rhyme That Bites", which was a UK Top 10 hit in July that year, and in 2000 as the backing music to the Atomic Kitten song "I Want Your Love."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower liked the movie very much and showed it on four successive evenings in the White House during his second administration.[1]
Comic book
A comic book adaptation of the novel and tie-in to the movie was first released in 1957.
References
- ^ Coyne, Michael (1997). The Crowded Prarie: American National Identity in the Hollywood Western. New York, New York: I. B. Tauris. p. 92. ISBN 978-1860642593.
External links
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Films directed by William Wyler |
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| 1920s |
The Crook Buster (1925) • The Gunless Bad Man (1926) • Ridin' for Love (1926) • The Fire Barrier (1926) • Don't Shoot (1926) • The Pinnacle Rider (1926) • Martin of the Mounted (1926) • Lazy Lightning (1926) • The Stolen Ranch (1926) • The Two Fister (1927) • Kelcy Gets His Man (1927) • Tenderfoot Courage (1927) • The Silent Partner (1927) • Blazing Days (1927) • Shooting Straight (1927) • Galloping Justice (1927) • The Haunted Homestead (1927) • Hard Fists (1927) • The Lone Star (1927) • The Home Trail (1927) • Gun Justice (1927) • The Phantom Outlaw (1927) • The Square Shooter (1927) • The Horse Trader (1927) • Daze of the West (1927) • The Border Cavalier (1927) • Desert Dust (1927) • Thunder Riders (1928) • Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928) • The Shakedown (1929) • The Love Trap (1929)
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