Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Star trio keeps this one on track, May 18, 1999
Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and starring the mightily impressive trio of Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark, this epic western should be a lot better than it is. Despite the endless parade of cliches, stereotypes, and the soap opera mentality that permeates the script, those three stars make this an entertaining, if slow, ride. What really calls attention to the film these days is the presence of Sally Field in her film debut. In 1967, the year the film was released, who would have ever thought that Field, then still known primarily as TV's "Gidget," would go on to bag two Oscars, while only one of the superstar trio that heads the cast would take home the gold (and Kirk Douglas's Oscar was an honorary one at that).
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16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing film of great book, November 9, 2002
The film version of A. B. Guthrie, Jr.'s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is scenic but uncompelling. Reading the book, which is the middle volume of the Big Sky Trilogy (between _The Big Sky_ and _Fair Land, Fair Land_), the reader feels that he or she has been along on the first (1843) wagon train on what was to become the Oregon Trail. Watching the 1967 movie, the viewer sees a trio of highly competent male stars who appeared in many westerns--Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark--and the first movie appearance of Sally Field (already hammy). The movie (directed by the undistinguished mostly tv director Andrew McLaglen) shows various difficulties of the trip and some spectacular western scenery, but it's hard to care very much what happens to anyone on the trek.The soap opera aspects, particularly a vengeful harridan widow, Mrs. Mack (Katherine Justice) are played up and the movie's plot is less epic, considerably more melodramatic than the book. I guess that it's redundant to say the book is better, but this is a considerable understatement. The book is moving and engaging. The movie is neither. The cinematography of William H. Clothier is impressive, but the viewer does not know where on the way the travelers are, how far they have gone, how far they have yet to go.... or much care if they get there.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than expected, June 10, 2008
Despite the lukewarm reviews, and maybe because I've never heard of the book it's based on, I thought this movie was a real hoot. Widmark, Mitchum and especially Douglas ham it up pretty good but that just adds to the fun of this sprawling epic about pioneer settlers determined to make it to Oregon. It's fun to see Widmark playing against type as a boozy, happy-go-lucky farmer with a beautiful wife and a serious case of wanderlust and Mitchum hilariously underplays his role as the requisite indian-wannabee trail guide, but this is Kirk's show through and through. He plays the hard edged ruthless tycoon, determined to reach Oregon at all costs so that he can fulfill his dream of empire building and it's always a delight to see him going fullstop, as he does here. Sally Field plays a raunchy southern girl too, a character that seems a bit daring for the times. Not a great western by any means, but a very entertaining flick and a worthy addition to any classic film library.
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