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The Big Country
Gregory Peck
(Actor),
Jean Simmons
(Actor),
William Wyler
(Director)
&
0
more Rated: Format: DVD
Unrated
IMDb7.9/10.0
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| Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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June 5, 2018 "Please retry" | Special Edition | 2 | $14.99 | $22.00 |
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| Genre | Westerns/Classics |
| Format | Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned |
| Contributor | James R. Webb, Charlton Heston, Buff Brady, Jessamyn West, Sy Bartlett, Robert Wilder, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Dorothy Adams, Donald Hamilton, Chuck Connors, Jim Burk, Carroll Baker, William Wyler, Jean Simmons, Alfonso Bedoya, Chuck Hayward, Robert Wyler, Gregory Peck See more |
| Language | English, French, Spanish |
| Runtime | 2 hours and 45 minutes |
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Product Description
A former sea captain goes west, woos women and joins a water-rights fight. Directed by William Wyler. Best supporting Oscar for Burl Ives.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 Ounces
- Item model number : 2288409
- Director : William Wyler
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Anamorphic, Widescreen
- Run time : 2 hours and 45 minutes
- Release date : March 20, 2001
- Actors : Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives
- Subtitles: : Spanish, French
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Unqualified, Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
- Studio : Mgm (Video & DVD)
- ASIN : B000056H2H
- Writers : Donald Hamilton, James R. Webb, Jessamyn West, Robert Wilder, Robert Wyler
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #9,767 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #184 in Westerns (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
3,536 global ratings
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Good movie very well made
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021
A very well made movie ,gregory peck,charlton heston,burl ives,chuck connors are in it,good movie .got it in brand new bluray,plays very well in my ps4.
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 21, 2022
The Big Country might just have one of the most stellar casts in one movie that ever happened. Gregory Peck, Carroll Baker, Chuck Connors, Jean Simmons, Burl Ives, Charlton Hesston and others. The cinematography is spectacular, and there's plenty of drama and action. It's reasonable paced. Well worth watching.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 25, 2010
THE BIG COUNTRY is what the big screen was created for, and THE BIG COUNTRY was certainly created for the big screen. Wide open spaces in the American west never looked so vast and intimidating, so welcoming and foreboding.
Some have argued that the plot is too thin for such a lengthy running time. When I first saw it as a youth on the screen of my father's small-town theatre, it seemed just like another western -- if longer than most. It seemed to lack the punch of a character-driven, action-filled western like WARLOCK or the excitement of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN -- still two of my all-time favorite westerns. Viewing it on DVD as an adult, I have changed my mind. I have since come to appreciate the skills of quintessential director William Wyler, the master of the mise-en-scene (or the arrangement of people and objects on the screen). Orson Welles may have originated the creative use of deep focus photography, but Wyler has utilized it to the point of perfection in THE BIG COUNTRY.
The repetition of the line "it's a big country" became a humorous point for a friend of mine from graduate school and I to have fun with, but this is appropriate for the wide-screen vistas and almost leisurely pace of this now-classic motion picture. Wyler breaks a few stereotypes by allowing the characters in some of the more important action sequences to be photographed from a distance -- the fist fight between Peck and Heston, and the final shootout between Ives and Bickford. Human beings are dwarfed by the landscape, often seen as no more than insects -- a decision purposely made by Wyler and his cinematographer to emphasize their petty hatreds and feuds. Particularly stirring is the sequence early in the film where the Terrill men, led by the Major (Bickford), gallop through the bleached-white canyon to reach the modest ranch of the Hannassey family. The music score accompanying this ride is stirring and grandiose. One might wonder, in fact, what this film would be like without this magnificent soundtrack. From the opening title sequence to the wordless finale, it is orchestral perfection -- possibly one of the greatest motion picture scores ever.
Although William Wyler's later production BED-HUR won scores of awards, THE BIG COUNTRY is, in my view, a greater film. Burl Ives deserved the Oscar for his role as the patriarch of a clan of cattlemen who are down-scale from their opponents -- the Terrills -- an actor who can hold our attention by merely looking out the window away from the camera. Despite his lower-class environment and his obvious hatred for Terrill (Bickford), he is still a man of justice and fair-play. In his struggle against the wealthy Major, he is the antagonist with whom we would be more likely to sympathize. His own son Buck (Chuck Connors) with a few two many rough edges is clearly a disappointment to him; he would prefer that Buck acquire a few of the gentlemanly attributes possessed by the eastern newcomer Jim McKay (Gregory Peck). The action he takes when he is forced to choose honor over love for his son might strain credibility for some viewers, but Ives makes his choice believable and touching.
Gregory Peck and Jean Simmons as the top-lined of the four leads are, at times, hard to swallow. Both are so virtuous as to be almost nauseating. Simmons is as beautiful as she was earlier in THE EGYPTIAN and later in SPARTACUS; she is a schoolteacher never seen near a schoolroom who had can afford a house to herself. Salaries in those small towns must have been more generous than they are for teachers today. All well-drawn characters are shown to have a dark or shadowy side, as we all have as human beings, but these two characters lack even a trace of a shadow. A character who has a shadow side but is able to overcome it in the end in order to emerge triumphant is not only more believable but compelling and enjoyable in a dramatic sense.
Peck appears as an eastern gentleman whose sense of honor and hatred of violence remains steadfast throughout. Only twice does he resort to fisticuffs -- once against Heston and later against Connors. In both cases, he appears to be over-matched physically. He is the one-dimensional purveyor of morality and justice -- the squeaky clean goodie-two-shoes who might be more believable if he were wearing a parson's grab. Peck (that "skinny liberal" as John Wayne once called him) has portrayed these morally upright characters before and since, mostly notably as a lawman in MacKENNA'S GOLD. The way he keeps dodging the physical affections of the amorous Native American lass (Julie Newmar) stretches credibility beyond the breaking point. In DUEL IN THE SUN, Peck plays a spoiled outlaw, again squaring off against Charles Bickford. In that film, however, the roles are reversed: Bickford is the older decent character who falls in love with Peck's backstreet half-breed mistress, Jennifer Jones -- unfortunately for him as Peck guns him down mercilessly.
Heston, not a great actor, is more believable as a character who changes his perspective regarding violence. He decides that he has fought the Major's battles long enough -- even though he relents at the last minute and is wounded in a canyon battle for his efforts. Carroll Baker is also more believable than the Simmons character as a spoiled daddy's girl with an Electra complex. The ending of the film leaves a few questions in our minds, trying to figure out what might happen beyond the classical happy ending.
In China, I often show films about American history when I am explaining the development of the English language. I have, for example, shown NEW WORLD, REVOLUTION, HOW THE WEST WAS WON, and others. I am planning on showing such films as THE LAST FRONTIER as believable views of the west as it was. THE BIG COUNTRY, one of the great westerns like SHANE and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, would also be an appropriate choice to show the wide vistas of the American west and the concerns of those humans who are often, as shown in THE BIG COUNTRY, dwarfed by the landscape.
Some have argued that the plot is too thin for such a lengthy running time. When I first saw it as a youth on the screen of my father's small-town theatre, it seemed just like another western -- if longer than most. It seemed to lack the punch of a character-driven, action-filled western like WARLOCK or the excitement of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN -- still two of my all-time favorite westerns. Viewing it on DVD as an adult, I have changed my mind. I have since come to appreciate the skills of quintessential director William Wyler, the master of the mise-en-scene (or the arrangement of people and objects on the screen). Orson Welles may have originated the creative use of deep focus photography, but Wyler has utilized it to the point of perfection in THE BIG COUNTRY.
The repetition of the line "it's a big country" became a humorous point for a friend of mine from graduate school and I to have fun with, but this is appropriate for the wide-screen vistas and almost leisurely pace of this now-classic motion picture. Wyler breaks a few stereotypes by allowing the characters in some of the more important action sequences to be photographed from a distance -- the fist fight between Peck and Heston, and the final shootout between Ives and Bickford. Human beings are dwarfed by the landscape, often seen as no more than insects -- a decision purposely made by Wyler and his cinematographer to emphasize their petty hatreds and feuds. Particularly stirring is the sequence early in the film where the Terrill men, led by the Major (Bickford), gallop through the bleached-white canyon to reach the modest ranch of the Hannassey family. The music score accompanying this ride is stirring and grandiose. One might wonder, in fact, what this film would be like without this magnificent soundtrack. From the opening title sequence to the wordless finale, it is orchestral perfection -- possibly one of the greatest motion picture scores ever.
Although William Wyler's later production BED-HUR won scores of awards, THE BIG COUNTRY is, in my view, a greater film. Burl Ives deserved the Oscar for his role as the patriarch of a clan of cattlemen who are down-scale from their opponents -- the Terrills -- an actor who can hold our attention by merely looking out the window away from the camera. Despite his lower-class environment and his obvious hatred for Terrill (Bickford), he is still a man of justice and fair-play. In his struggle against the wealthy Major, he is the antagonist with whom we would be more likely to sympathize. His own son Buck (Chuck Connors) with a few two many rough edges is clearly a disappointment to him; he would prefer that Buck acquire a few of the gentlemanly attributes possessed by the eastern newcomer Jim McKay (Gregory Peck). The action he takes when he is forced to choose honor over love for his son might strain credibility for some viewers, but Ives makes his choice believable and touching.
Gregory Peck and Jean Simmons as the top-lined of the four leads are, at times, hard to swallow. Both are so virtuous as to be almost nauseating. Simmons is as beautiful as she was earlier in THE EGYPTIAN and later in SPARTACUS; she is a schoolteacher never seen near a schoolroom who had can afford a house to herself. Salaries in those small towns must have been more generous than they are for teachers today. All well-drawn characters are shown to have a dark or shadowy side, as we all have as human beings, but these two characters lack even a trace of a shadow. A character who has a shadow side but is able to overcome it in the end in order to emerge triumphant is not only more believable but compelling and enjoyable in a dramatic sense.
Peck appears as an eastern gentleman whose sense of honor and hatred of violence remains steadfast throughout. Only twice does he resort to fisticuffs -- once against Heston and later against Connors. In both cases, he appears to be over-matched physically. He is the one-dimensional purveyor of morality and justice -- the squeaky clean goodie-two-shoes who might be more believable if he were wearing a parson's grab. Peck (that "skinny liberal" as John Wayne once called him) has portrayed these morally upright characters before and since, mostly notably as a lawman in MacKENNA'S GOLD. The way he keeps dodging the physical affections of the amorous Native American lass (Julie Newmar) stretches credibility beyond the breaking point. In DUEL IN THE SUN, Peck plays a spoiled outlaw, again squaring off against Charles Bickford. In that film, however, the roles are reversed: Bickford is the older decent character who falls in love with Peck's backstreet half-breed mistress, Jennifer Jones -- unfortunately for him as Peck guns him down mercilessly.
Heston, not a great actor, is more believable as a character who changes his perspective regarding violence. He decides that he has fought the Major's battles long enough -- even though he relents at the last minute and is wounded in a canyon battle for his efforts. Carroll Baker is also more believable than the Simmons character as a spoiled daddy's girl with an Electra complex. The ending of the film leaves a few questions in our minds, trying to figure out what might happen beyond the classical happy ending.
In China, I often show films about American history when I am explaining the development of the English language. I have, for example, shown NEW WORLD, REVOLUTION, HOW THE WEST WAS WON, and others. I am planning on showing such films as THE LAST FRONTIER as believable views of the west as it was. THE BIG COUNTRY, one of the great westerns like SHANE and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, would also be an appropriate choice to show the wide vistas of the American west and the concerns of those humans who are often, as shown in THE BIG COUNTRY, dwarfed by the landscape.
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 15, 2007
I enjoy a good Western. My three all time favorites are Silverado, The Professionals and The Big Country. Those are simply great.
The set up of The Big Country is a classic. Two battling landowning families, water rights, a man from the East (James MacKay played by Gregory Peck) coming to marry the daughter of the largest landowner, Major Henry Terrill, (played by Charles Bickford) whose ranch foreman, Steve Leech, (played by Charleton Heston) has eyes and hopes for also. The prize to be won is control of The Big Muddy, a stretch of river that is used by both Terrill and his counterpart Rufus Hannessey (played by Burl Ives) when the usual watering areas start to go dry.
The land through which the Big Muddy flows is owned by Julie Maragon (played by Jean Simmons) who inherited it from her father who was a revered gentlemen who gave watering rights to all who needed them. Julie has continued the tradition, however Terrill in an effort to provoke a confromtation with the Hanesseys has driven their cattle wawy from the river.
MacKay, a retied sea captain, although quite young to have been retired arrives to meet his fiance's family, he having met her while she attended school in the East. It isn't long before he finds himself in the middle of the feuding families activities. On the ride out to the ranch, Mackay and his fiancee, Pat Terrill (Carol Baker) are intercepted and Mackay is roughed up in a hazing type of fashion by Buck Hannessey and three of his ranch hands. The Major goes looking for Buck and in the process manages to invade and shoot up the Hannessey compound while Rufus is away and beat up the three ranch hands where he finds them in town while Buck is cowering in a buckboard, undiscovered.
As one might imagine, Rufus does not take kindly to that and shows up in the middle of a large welcoming party for Mackay to tell the Major what he thinks of it his face. It is a classic scene and one of several that propelled Ives to the Academy Award that year.
It is one that also gets MacKay wondering about what kind of family he is marrying into. A series of events where MacKay refuses to be provoked into fighting or otherwise "showing his manhood" in the eyes of Pat Terrill, lead to harsh words between them and Mackay leaves the ranch, however before doing so, he goes to Leeche's bunkhouse to advise he is leaving and that he has come to say "goodbye." What follows is a classic fight between the two of them which is at best a draw and Leech gains a new respect for "the dude" while with both of them lying in the dust, winded and bloodied, Leech looks at his adversary and says, "You sure take a long time to say goodbye."
Unbeknown to his finacee, Mackay has done a survey of the Maragon land on his own and has gotten Julie Maragon to agree to sell the land to him as a wedding present with his promise that all who have need of its waters shall have them.
Maragon tells Pat of this after she finds out that the couple have parted and she is also instrumental in showing her that Mackay has his own manly way of doing things. Terrill rides into town to apologize and in the process of doing so makes matters far worse so that the rift between them is permanent.
After having his cattle run off of the Big Muddy, Rufus dispatches Buck to bring Julie Maragon to him, willingly or unwillingly. Buck has been feeding his father full of the line that Julie is "sweet on him." The confrontation between Rufus, Julie and Buck is another classic scene in which Julie disabuses Rufus of any notion that she has any interest in Buck and reveals that she no longer owns the land on The Big Muddy.
Major Terrill is told that Julie has been kidnapped and predictably organizes a rescue party to invade the Hanassey compound in Blanco Canyon which is just what Rufus wants as he has set up the mother of all ambushes to await the Terrill rescue efort which he tells Julie will make "Henry Terrill the most surprised dead man you ever saw."
MacKay also gets wind of the kidnapping and rides in alone to try and persuade Rufus to release her and demonstrates that he owns the land and promises that Hannesey will always have access to the water. He and Buck get into a confrontation that leads to one of the most dramtic parts of the movie, but before that, MacKay also tells Rufus that this is not about all them men that will die in the Blanco Canyon massacre that awaits. It is about Rufus and the Major, two selfish and pathetic old men.
Following the confronmtation with Buck, Makay and Julie are allowed to leave and as that happens the Terrill men are riding into a death trap which is sprung and the shooting starts.
Hanassey has gotten the message and rides to the area and tells his men to "Keep them covered, but hold your fire," after which he calls out Major Terrill and says this is about the two of them and they should resolve it. They do and the rest is history.
The scenery, the music and the acting in this movie are subperb, but the enduring memory one takes from this is the character of Rufus Hanessey, Burl Ives got the role because he was a poker buddy of Gregory Peck and Peck instinctively knew that this was the man for the job. One cannot imagine anyone else in that role.
This movie was made the same year that Ives also played Big Daddy in Cat in a Hot Tin Roof, yet it was the role of Rufus which brought him the Oscar.
It also brought all of us a memorable movie. If you love Westerns, you need to own this one.
The set up of The Big Country is a classic. Two battling landowning families, water rights, a man from the East (James MacKay played by Gregory Peck) coming to marry the daughter of the largest landowner, Major Henry Terrill, (played by Charles Bickford) whose ranch foreman, Steve Leech, (played by Charleton Heston) has eyes and hopes for also. The prize to be won is control of The Big Muddy, a stretch of river that is used by both Terrill and his counterpart Rufus Hannessey (played by Burl Ives) when the usual watering areas start to go dry.
The land through which the Big Muddy flows is owned by Julie Maragon (played by Jean Simmons) who inherited it from her father who was a revered gentlemen who gave watering rights to all who needed them. Julie has continued the tradition, however Terrill in an effort to provoke a confromtation with the Hanesseys has driven their cattle wawy from the river.
MacKay, a retied sea captain, although quite young to have been retired arrives to meet his fiance's family, he having met her while she attended school in the East. It isn't long before he finds himself in the middle of the feuding families activities. On the ride out to the ranch, Mackay and his fiancee, Pat Terrill (Carol Baker) are intercepted and Mackay is roughed up in a hazing type of fashion by Buck Hannessey and three of his ranch hands. The Major goes looking for Buck and in the process manages to invade and shoot up the Hannessey compound while Rufus is away and beat up the three ranch hands where he finds them in town while Buck is cowering in a buckboard, undiscovered.
As one might imagine, Rufus does not take kindly to that and shows up in the middle of a large welcoming party for Mackay to tell the Major what he thinks of it his face. It is a classic scene and one of several that propelled Ives to the Academy Award that year.
It is one that also gets MacKay wondering about what kind of family he is marrying into. A series of events where MacKay refuses to be provoked into fighting or otherwise "showing his manhood" in the eyes of Pat Terrill, lead to harsh words between them and Mackay leaves the ranch, however before doing so, he goes to Leeche's bunkhouse to advise he is leaving and that he has come to say "goodbye." What follows is a classic fight between the two of them which is at best a draw and Leech gains a new respect for "the dude" while with both of them lying in the dust, winded and bloodied, Leech looks at his adversary and says, "You sure take a long time to say goodbye."
Unbeknown to his finacee, Mackay has done a survey of the Maragon land on his own and has gotten Julie Maragon to agree to sell the land to him as a wedding present with his promise that all who have need of its waters shall have them.
Maragon tells Pat of this after she finds out that the couple have parted and she is also instrumental in showing her that Mackay has his own manly way of doing things. Terrill rides into town to apologize and in the process of doing so makes matters far worse so that the rift between them is permanent.
After having his cattle run off of the Big Muddy, Rufus dispatches Buck to bring Julie Maragon to him, willingly or unwillingly. Buck has been feeding his father full of the line that Julie is "sweet on him." The confrontation between Rufus, Julie and Buck is another classic scene in which Julie disabuses Rufus of any notion that she has any interest in Buck and reveals that she no longer owns the land on The Big Muddy.
Major Terrill is told that Julie has been kidnapped and predictably organizes a rescue party to invade the Hanassey compound in Blanco Canyon which is just what Rufus wants as he has set up the mother of all ambushes to await the Terrill rescue efort which he tells Julie will make "Henry Terrill the most surprised dead man you ever saw."
MacKay also gets wind of the kidnapping and rides in alone to try and persuade Rufus to release her and demonstrates that he owns the land and promises that Hannesey will always have access to the water. He and Buck get into a confrontation that leads to one of the most dramtic parts of the movie, but before that, MacKay also tells Rufus that this is not about all them men that will die in the Blanco Canyon massacre that awaits. It is about Rufus and the Major, two selfish and pathetic old men.
Following the confronmtation with Buck, Makay and Julie are allowed to leave and as that happens the Terrill men are riding into a death trap which is sprung and the shooting starts.
Hanassey has gotten the message and rides to the area and tells his men to "Keep them covered, but hold your fire," after which he calls out Major Terrill and says this is about the two of them and they should resolve it. They do and the rest is history.
The scenery, the music and the acting in this movie are subperb, but the enduring memory one takes from this is the character of Rufus Hanessey, Burl Ives got the role because he was a poker buddy of Gregory Peck and Peck instinctively knew that this was the man for the job. One cannot imagine anyone else in that role.
This movie was made the same year that Ives also played Big Daddy in Cat in a Hot Tin Roof, yet it was the role of Rufus which brought him the Oscar.
It also brought all of us a memorable movie. If you love Westerns, you need to own this one.
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 25, 2022
This is a wonderful western! It has great actor’s.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 29, 2022
If you like or don't like Westerns, this one is for you. Lots of action and conflicts. Watch the fight between Charlton Heston and Gregory Peck. Two six foot three inch actors slug it out, and no one gets seriously hurt. If you like either one or both, or any one else , this is your movie. The overture is Aaron Copland-esque. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes great movies.
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 31, 2022
Well-packaged, arrived on time, great movie. Loved it when I saw it as a kid, thrilled to have it in my classic movie library. Gregory Peck was a truly fantastic, somewhat under appreciated actor.
Top reviews from other countries
Caitriona Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was unsure I would like it, now I love it!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 20, 2019
I honestly thought I wouldn't enjoy this and was roped in to watch it during family time. But I do love Gregory Peck and as usual he didn't let me down. The casting is great full stop, the tale is heart-warming and gripping. The soundtrack is amazing, works so well and I'd listen to it on its own. Perfect film for a Sunday afternoon with the family.
3 people found this helpful
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S.M. Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars
A big favorite.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 8, 2015
This has long been one of my favourite films. I had a copy for many years which unfortunately went AWOL so I have just re-bought it. How I love it. For me it is one of the ultimate epics. The music starts just before the opening credits and sweeps through the whole film. Wonderful wide open country with the sun always shining. But nobody sweats and although dust clouds are raised everything is always spotlessly clean. A large cast of experienced actors. Young Gregory Peck extremely handsome, and young Charlton Heston sultry and menacing. Burl Ives gives a commanding performance. The first time we see him a back view head and shoulders shot against the colourful ball scene at his rival's house. It is a classic story of the hatred of two old men: young love, property and power in the wild west. It has been around for a long time so I am sure everyone who wants to see it has seen it but here are a few lines from me, for what they are worth. Oh yes and of course the lovers ride off together in the end, not into the sunset but to a viewpoint overlooking the panorama of the amazing rolling countryside, and presumably live happily ever after.
4 people found this helpful
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Spike Owen
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'm not going to go on living in the middle of a civil war.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 17, 2011
Retired sea Captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) arrives in the sprawling land of the West to marry fiancée Patricia Terrill (Carroll Baker). With an amiable, almost pacifistic approach to life, McKay confounds the ranchers he is now mixing with. Particularly the Terrill ranch foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) who takes an immediate dislike to him. Not only that but it seems that James has landed right in the middle of a family rivalry between the Terrill's and the Hannassey's: just as it's about to fully ignite into war.
Directed by William Wyler (Ben-Hur/Mrs. Miniver), The Big Country is adapted from a short story called Ambush at Blanco Canyon that was written by Donald Hamilton. Beautifully photographed by Franz Planer on location at the Red Rock Canyon in Mojave, California and at the three-thousand acre Drais ranch in Stockton, the film is epic in many ways. Tho the story, with its twin themes of violence begets violence and you don't have to act tough to be tough, is a thin one, it's given such an operatic make over by Wyler it's not hard to be swept away by it all. Helped enormously by the afore mentioned Planer, music composer Jerome Moross and an impressive and on form cast (Heston in superb tough guy mode and Burl Ives delivering a Oscar winning performance as head Hannassey patriarch Rufus).
Overall, The Big Country sees a small story made big as it's told in an astutely classic style. With memorable acting, gorgeous scenery, big music and notable moments of action {a fist fight between Peck & Heston alone is epic and apparently took three days to get right} it's a must see for the Western enthusiast. 8/10
Directed by William Wyler (Ben-Hur/Mrs. Miniver), The Big Country is adapted from a short story called Ambush at Blanco Canyon that was written by Donald Hamilton. Beautifully photographed by Franz Planer on location at the Red Rock Canyon in Mojave, California and at the three-thousand acre Drais ranch in Stockton, the film is epic in many ways. Tho the story, with its twin themes of violence begets violence and you don't have to act tough to be tough, is a thin one, it's given such an operatic make over by Wyler it's not hard to be swept away by it all. Helped enormously by the afore mentioned Planer, music composer Jerome Moross and an impressive and on form cast (Heston in superb tough guy mode and Burl Ives delivering a Oscar winning performance as head Hannassey patriarch Rufus).
Overall, The Big Country sees a small story made big as it's told in an astutely classic style. With memorable acting, gorgeous scenery, big music and notable moments of action {a fist fight between Peck & Heston alone is epic and apparently took three days to get right} it's a must see for the Western enthusiast. 8/10
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cristofori
5.0 out of 5 stars
A feuding Western.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 12, 2014
The stagecoach rolls into town, out steps an immaculately dressed tricenarian gentleman, complete with bowler hat: the 'dude'. An ex ship's captain who has navigated the oceans of the world. He is here to marry the daughter of a wealthy ranch owner. On the way to the ranch, the dude gets a 'friendly' duffing up from the local trash: a name bestowed upon them by the girl's father, whom has been feuding with their patriarch for decades...............The film has a strong cast, with an atmospheric Western sound track. The film is almost three hours long and perhaps a little drawn out in places. Nevertheless, it is an enthralling story and deserves my 5 stars.
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R H Warwick
4.0 out of 5 stars
Big Country, Big Film, Big Stars, Great Music score
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 23, 2015
Classic film, that has over the years been shoved to one side. It's a big film, with a big cast and a big great score.
Should have won more Oscars, How was the music score left out at Oscar time!!!. Did I say it's a forgotten film.
Forget the 3* and lower reviews, as its BIG in every way, but for its extras, It seems films like this can only have
a paltry bit film about "The Big Country" and a film trailer, that's all, such a shame.
Should have won more Oscars, How was the music score left out at Oscar time!!!. Did I say it's a forgotten film.
Forget the 3* and lower reviews, as its BIG in every way, but for its extras, It seems films like this can only have
a paltry bit film about "The Big Country" and a film trailer, that's all, such a shame.
5 people found this helpful
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