Customer Reviews

The Furies (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This film about the feud between a megalomaniac rancher T.C. Jeffords(Walter Huston) and his daughter Vance (Barbara Stanwyck) is an unusual but excellent western. Jeffords and his daughter have a complex relationship with even a hint of the sordid that had to remain unstated in 1950, when this film was made. In middle age T.C. takes a wife, Flo (Judith Anderson). Vance sees Flo as a threat to her relationship with Daddy, and in an angry moment hurls a pair of scissors at Flo's face. In revenge T.C. kills someone who means a great deal to his daughter, the squatter Herrara (Gilbert Roland).

From this moment forward the battle between father and daughter shifts from being one of violence to one of wits. Wendell Corey plays Rip Darrow, Stanwyck's love interest in this film. He quickly finds that as long as Daddy is alive that he will always come in second. Daddy has ownership of all of the emotions Vance has to give - both love and hate.

This film is basically a film noir played out on a Western landscape. It is often "Mourning Becomes Electra" from the father/daughter angle versus mother and son. Directed by Anthony Mann, maker of the thinking person's Westerns, it is a shame that Walter Huston did not live to see the release of this - his final film - in which he gives so great a performance.
The following is the list of special features for this release:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary featuring film historian Jim Kitses (Horizons West)
A rare, 1931 on-camera interview with Walter Huston, made for the movie theater series Intimate Interviews
New video interview with Nina Mann, daughter of director Anthony Mann
Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes photos
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Robin Wood ans a 1957 Cahiers du cinéma interview with Mann, as well as a new printing of Niven Busch's original novel

Director Anthony Mann made the important transition from film noir B movies to westerns in 1950 with three films: Winchester '73, Devil's Doorway, and The Furies. The last film was an ambitious big budget mix of western and women's melodrama with a fascinating dash of psychological subtext. At its heart is a startlingly complex performance from Barbara Stanwyck.

While The Furies has all the iconography of a western, it more resembles a psychological drama and as such, it is quite an achievement that Mann was able to make it within the Hollywood studio system.

There is an audio commentary by film historian Jim Kitses. He talks about how the film evokes a blend of gothic romance, film noir and the western. He makes a convincing case for Anthony Mann as an auteur and how his thematic preoccupations elevate this film above genre conventions. Kitses expertly analyzes the director's style and how it informs the characters and their motivations. This is a solid, informative track.

"Action Speaks Louder Than Words" is an excerpt from a 1967 interview with Mann for British television. He talks about his beginnings in the theatre and how he broke into the film business. Mann also talks about some of the filmmakers that influenced him in this excellent interview.

"Intimate Interviews: Walter Huston" is a rare interview with the veteran actor who comes across as a larger than life figure as was his reputation. It is a playful yet odd interview as he gives little away.

"Nina Mann Interview" features the actress and daughter of Anthony Mann as she talks about her father and his films, in particular, The Furies. She points out that he refused to have stereotypical heroes and villains in his films and this was readily evident in this film.

Also included is a theatrical trailer.

There is a Stills Gallery with a nice collection of behind-the-scenes photographs of the cast and crew at work.

Finally, in a nice touch, Niven Busch's source novel is included which is a wonderful extra the Criterion Collection has done in the past (i.e. The Man Who Fell to Earth - Criterion Collection) and hopefully one that they will continue in the future.

This is a really entertaining film, despite the fact that Leonard Maltin only rates it two and one-half stars. The acting and cinematography are excellent. Maltin finds it talky, but I can't entirely agree. It's actually a paraphrase of the O'Neill drama Mourning Becomes Electra. The supplementary material included is good.

This is a great "noir western" starring Barbara Stanwyck, whose name is synonoymous with Westerns and Noirs. The underlying theme and truths of Father- Daughter love and hate, with the need and love of land and family legacy. Here Stanwyck is Vance Jeffords, the only person who can run and manage the "Furies", thousands of acres of ranch and cattle, besides her father. Torn between love for Rip Darrow, an enemy of her father's, as well as Juanito, a Mexican squatter and one at war with her father.
The pairing of Wendell Corey (Rip) and Stanwyck takes a little getting used to. They were much better matched in the File on Thelma Jordan. Their romance is challenged by her devotion to and later on hate for her father, played by the great Walter Huston in his last movie.
When Stanwyck received the AFI's lifetime achievement award in 1987, John Huston saluted her with the words his father said after the movie rapped.
"I just made a great film with a great and wonderful actress and lady"; referring to Stanwyck.
This movie was not well received when it was first released due to the times (1950) when people were not about to accept a tough and mannish woman (aptly named Vance) having difficult times with her father, as well as two romances; one with a Mexican and she kisses him on the mouth!!
This movie has been re-digitalized and I can say as one who had taped it years ago on AMC, this is a fine and clean print. The original book by Niven Busch is added, Also Criterion always has extra adds on the DVD that are worth seeing. You will not forget this movie anytime soon and know why it is becoming a
cult fav.

In one year, 1950, director Anthony Mann made four films: There was the crisp Farley Granger noir adventure "Side Street" plus three Westerns, including "Devil's Doorway," the rousing classic "Winchester '73" and "The Furies."

That's how you hustle, and for any filmmaker that's a damn good year.

That last title, "The Furies," refers to a sprawling southwestern ranch owned by the proud, controlling blowhard T.C. Jeffords (Walter Huston in his last role, one year after winning an Oscar for "Treasure of the Sierra Madre.").

During the course of the film, the main characters refer to the estate often but it is never called "the ranch," "the property" or even "our land."

It's always called "The Furies," and as if to underscore the self-consciousness of the conceit, most of the people who say it seem to be resisting the urge to lick their lips immediately afterward.

But the film's three principal characters tote their own serious grudges, so while it's a clumsy subtext, the title could also refer to these agents of vengeance. Bastards, the set of them, but in the end sympathetic as well.

Barbara Stanwyck stars as Jeffords' daughter Vance, whose devotion to her father is second only to her fondness for standing in boots and jeans with her gloved fists pressed defiantly into her hips. That stance is basically how she lives and she lives to work the ranch (er ... I mean, The Furies). Surely that's not too much to ask, is it?

My facetiousness aside, this is a wonderful and frequently astonishing film. I kid because the movie is a breathless mix of influences and high emotions -- there's Sophocles here, and a lot of King Lear and sundry other Shakespeare. It's also Wellesian -- the Jeffords could be southwestern cousins to the Ambersons. But there are also hints of "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest," as well as other more serious but still-soapy fare in which doomed offspring stand beneath towering portraits of their parents.

Despite Mann's eventual seminal Westerns, however, "The Furies" seems more like Sam Fuller than, say, "The Naked Spur" or even "Man of the West" -- it has Fuller's grit and shrewdness and his tendency toward the baroque. That is, in part, because producer Hal Wallis didn't want to pay for Technicolor so -- highly unusual for a Western of this time -- he ordered the movie shot in black-and-white.

That decision absolutely sealed the film's greatness because Mann, with cinematographer Victor Milner, created a nightmarishly beautiful landscape as a backdrop. With some exceptions, the exteriors are largely shot day-for-night, even in cases where it's supposed to be daytime -- most of the scenes seem to exist in that alien space where the cattle drive began in "Red River." The sky is almost always stark and bleak and strewn with beautiful clouds and the desert is always somewhat shadowy and peopled with the silhouettes of riders. This lends the melodrama the air of isolation and purgatory; it transforms The Furies everyone wants so badly into a wasteland and makes "The Furies" something of a ghost story that is all the more unsettling because it's so lovely to look at.

"Do you mind if I take the reins? I like to know where I'm going." Vance Jeffords, played by Barbara Stanwyck, not only likes to take the reins, she's also capable of turning most men into counter tenors just by staring at them. And don't mention sewing shears...those are reserved for the eyes of other women.

The Furies is a well-crafted, enjoyably mean-spirited western with an unpleasantly conventional moral ending. What makes it memorable is the first two-thirds, which features an arrogant, man-eating performance by Stanwyck and an equally arrogant, blasting performance by Walter Huston as Vance's father, old T. C. Jeffords. Close behind is the butter-melting (and ultimately touching) performance of Judith Anderson as Flo Burnett, a woman as determined to protect her interests as Vance is.

Old T. C. owns The Furies, a vast spread in New Mexico he put together by sweat, cheating, hard work and ruthlessness. His son is a nonentity we quickly forget. His daughter, Vance, loves and wants The Furies as much as she loves...and apparently wants...her old man. There is a not-so-subtle undercurrent of mutual need between the two that adds a nice touch of interest to their full-out greetings and good-byes to each other. "I like being T. C.'s daughter," Vance says, and even when they're at each other's throats we know the attraction is mutual. But Vance Jeffords is not about to come in second to anyone, not to a gambler who she may or may not love, not to a childhood friend she shares a gnaw of bread with whenever they meet. Not to her brother. And not to her father when it looks as if his attention, and the control of The Furies, may be transferred to the gracious widow, Flo Burnett. How this all plays out has, for some critics, overtones of King Lear. Not quite, in my view. The movie is a tangy, well-salted, par-boiled western with great performances by Stanwyck, Huston and Anderson. It may be over-wrought melodrama, but it's entertaining as all get out. That's probably what those flea-scratching groundlings standing in the Globe Theater really thought of King Lear. It also is beautifully framed and photographed, and moves along as quickly as the men and horses Vance applies the whip to. There's a poignant hanging photographed against the dawn sky and a moment of startling violence. If you're interested in finance, there are several lessons about the dangers of issuing your own IOUs as currency (which T. C. has a habit of doing when cash runs short) and the technique of financial leverage (which Vance masters with a cool smile.) Unfortunately, The Furies also has a conventional ending, which is a disappointing development for an unconventional western.

The Furies often is over-wrought, but that's what makes grand melodrama grand. The time flies by while these self-centered people have dangerous fun tearing at each other.

Anthony Mann cut his teeth in movies directing some of the best "film noir" the genre had to offer.
Movies like T-MEN, RAW DEAL, SIDE STREET and DESPERATE showed his strengths in composition, cinematography and gritty realism in his storytelling (if at times a little uneven). However...Mann really hit his stride when he began directing the "western". Here Mann is in his element.

1950 was the year that made Anthony Mann a directing icon. Filmed before 1950's WINCHESTER 73, yet released after is THE FURIES (1950) This is a deliciously demented mixture of film noir and classic western elements.

Walter Huston plays T.C Jeffords, the widowed, ruthless, cold blooded, yet charismatic cattle baron. Barbara Stanwyck plays Hustons spoiled, headstrong tomboy daughter Vance Jeffords. While he has a son (played by John Bromfield) Huston has chosen Stanwyck to be the eventual ruler of his empire once he has retired. However...after being away on a long trip, Huston returns with a new love interest, the more "society friendly" Flo (played with great complexity by Judith Anderson)

Flo and Vance butt heads and when it is clear that she is jockeying for control of the ranch and trying to edge out Vance, Stanwyck reacts with a disturbing act of violence that has horrific results. Stanwyck flees the ranch and takes refuge with her long time friend played by Gilbert Roland. Roland is a squatter on Hustons land and in retaliation, Huston reacts with an act of violence of his own to spite Stanwyck.

In the aftermath, Stanwyck spits out the most memorable line of the movie at Huston

"now I hate you in a way I didn't believe a human could hate. Take a good long look at me T.C. You won't see me again until the day I take your world away from you!"

And thus begins an epic clash between father and daughter.

As with all of the Mann westerns, the terrain figures prominently in THE FURIES just as much as in Winchester 73, The Man From Laramie and Man Of The West. Unlike Ford, who emphasized and incorporated the beautiful vistas and sweeping grandeur of the southwest, Mann goes for something different. Mann sets his stage in desolate, remote, dangerously rocky hills. He goes for an almost claustrophobic feel. Bullets richochet off boulders, horse and riders struggle on unsure, gravely ground and rocks and boulders tumble dangerously down hillsides.
In a Mann western, the terrain is just as dangerous and deadly an opponent as any black hat wearing villain.

The film also has a memorable performance by Wendell Corey as a gambling house owner whose father was cheated out of his land by Huston, and who may or may not be an ally of Stanwyck. Also of note is Thomas Gomez as Hustons gleefully evil henchman "El Tigre".

It's logical that THE FURIES and Winchester 73 would incorporate a lot of noir style in them as that was Mann's forte prior. But THE FURIES mixes the two genres to the best effect I think. It has possibly some of the best cinematography I've ever seen in a B&W western, Red River and Winchester 73 being the possible exceptions.

Again, like most Mann westerns, there is a "King Lear" style father figure in Huston. Stanwyck has a wonderful and demented strength and stands toe to toe with the imposing, wiley Huston all the way through. Corey is smartly understated next to these two titans. An excellent film, a great western and on my own personal top 20 greatest movies list.
I suggest getting the Criterion dvd of the movie. It has a great commentary that analyzes practically every frame of the film, an entertaining, fact filled booklet with interesting analysis of the film as well as an unpublished interview with Mann. There is a 1930s era interview with Huston at his home. The set also comes with a new printing of the Niven Busch novel on which the film is based. It is shown in its original aspect ratio.

Mann has always seemed to me to be the bridge between Fords more traditional vision of the west and the bleak, amoral, bloody violence of Peckinpaw. There would be no Peckinpaw without Mann, but there would be no classic Mann westerns without Ford. While The Furies is not as entertaining as the collaborations between Mann and Stewart, it is one heck of a ride and definately worth buying just to see the excellent treatment that Criterion gives this, until now, rarely seen little gem.

This is just one more reason why my favorite star of all time is Barbara Stanwyck. There was no role she couldn't play and didn't try. How she never won an oscar is a mystery to me. She could play the meanest woman and still make you love her. There was just something about her. The Furies is just one example of this. Walter Houston is equally cast as her hard headed father. All the supporting cast is top notch. Do yourself a favor and buy this movie. It's a great western and the battle between the two stars for control is great drama

This film is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

The Furies, directed by Anthony Mann and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wakter Huston, is one of the best films I have seen for a while.

It is about a greedy widower and his daughter who live on a ranch called "The Furies" in New Mexico in the 19th century. The daughter is in love with a squatter on the ranch and when the father kills him, she exacts revenge.

I really liked the film and thought it was very well made.

It includes some fine special features including the complete novel the film is based on. Also included is a theatrical trailer, audio commentary by historian Jim Kitses, a 1967 interview with Anthony Mann, a 1931 interview with Walter Huston, a new interview with Anthony Mann's daughter, Nina Mann, and a slide show of behind the scenes photos.

This is an excellent film and I highly recommend it.

Anthony Mann's marvelous noir Western gets the usual deluxe Criterion treatment here, with a flawless transfer, excellent commentary from Mann scholar Jim Kitses, and the icing on this package's cake, a reprint of the hard-to-find Niven Busch novel that serves as the film's basis. Like Busch's other Freud-on-the-range epic, DUEL IN THE SUN, THE FURIES hardly lacks traditional action set pieces, but places its emphasis on the tortured pscyhes and twisted relationships of its main characters. Stanwyck's perhaps a bit long in the tooth for the story's Electra figure, but her performance is full-blooded and richly enjoyable. She's a fine match for Walter Huston's inspired scenery chewing as patriarch T.C. Jeffords. Wendell Corey, the lacklustre romantic lead, was in the middle of proving to producer Hal Wallis why he'd never be a major star; he's solid and intelligent, but his meant-to-sizzle pairing with Stanwyck suggests a Greenwich accountant trying to explain a particularly thorny tax problem to an uncomprehending client. Not to worry, though. Barbara's scenes with childhood pal Gilbert Roland and (yes!) father Huston have enough erotic subtext for ten films. Throw in Mann's usual great eye for spatial relationships (the compositions on display here could tell the picture's story without words), crisp dialogue in Charles Schnee's sharp screenplay, fine supporting performances from Judith Anderson, Thomas Gomez, and Blanche Yurka (who seems to be sporting Katina Paxinou's old hair), and you've got a classic film ripe for rediscovery. Grab this one.