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The Furies
This is an extraordinary Western, at times electrifying in its storytelling. It is about love turned to hatred and the search for revenge.
At its heart is a complex and intense relationship between a father and his daughter. At times they look at each other like lovers, at other times taunt each other and compete for the upper hand. The man’s son is an irrelevance to him, his daughter the sole focus of his attention. Most of all, though, he loves power.
She has a relationship with an older man, a squatter on her father’s vast property, who is like a father to her except that they share kisses which seem to go beyond the platonic.
She also develops a relationship with a gambler and businessman which looks like love but has a violent edge to it, kisses often alternating with slaps. Most of all, though, he loves money.
There are two acts of savagery in the film which shock the viewer and illustrate the brutality and ruthlessness to which the perpetrators are willing to go to hurt their enemies. The Director does not dwell on these acts - one occurs offscreen - but this does not lessen their impact.
The director (Anthony Mann), scriptwriter (Charles Schnee) and cinematographer (Victor Milner) have created a film that is noirish, at times an operatic melodrama, but never less than gripping and intriguing. Mann frames the story against a huge, rugged landscape and the night time sequences, rich with moody cloudscapes, are striking.
The father and daughter characters are brilliantly played by Walter Huston and Barbara Stanwyck respectively, both infusing subtle layers and complexity into their portrayals. Another exceptional performer is Judith Anderson, who holds her own in the scenes with the other two formidable actors and breaks the heart in her final scene with Huston.
The film is let down by its finale, whose sentimentality does not fit with the key characterisations so deeply developed in all that has proceeded.
The Criterion edition includes a copy of the fine novel by Niven Busch on which the movie was based. Reading it strengthens one’s appreciation of Mann’s artistry in turning the essence of the book into a great visual experience.
‘The Furies’ was released in 1950 and also that year came ‘Winchester 73’, the first of Mann’s superb Westerns starring James Stewart. The former film loses nothing in the comparison.
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