| The Big Country | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Produced by | Gregory Peck William Wyler |
| Written by | Robert Wilder |
| Starring | Gregory Peck Jean Simmons |
| Music by | Jerome Moross |
| Cinematography | Franz F. Planer, ASC |
| Editing by | Robert Belcher John Faure |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | October 1, 1958 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 165 min |
| Language | English |
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.
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Wealthy, newly-retired sea captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) travels to the American west to join his fiancée Patricia (Carroll Baker) her father's, Major Terrill (Charles Bickford) enormous ranch. Terrill is feuding with the equally tough patriarch of a poorer, less refined clan, Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives). Patricia's friend, schoolteacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) owner of the "Big Muddy", a large ranch with a vital water supply is caught in the middle of the Terrill-Hannassey feud. Hannassey desperately needs Maragon's ranch for his cattle, while Terrill wants it just so he can deny it to his rival.
McKay puzzles 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, without telling anyone McKay rides to the Big Muddy and persuades Julie to sell him the ranch, promising that both the Terrills and the Hannasseys will always have access to the river. Believing McKay is lost 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 Terrill, but McKay refuses to be goaded into a fight. Privately Patricia expresses her shame at what she sees as McKay's cowardice and McKay tells her he will move 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, Maragon tells Patricia that McKay bought the Big Muddy. Patricia visits McKay to make up with him but lets him know she expects McKay to follow her father's wishes. 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 Maragon and offers to buy the Big Muddy in exchange for her freedom. He does not know whether to believe her when she says it was already sold to McKay. Hannassey keeps her at the ranch as bait to ambush Terrill. To rescue Maragon, Terrill and his men must pass through a narrow canyon, where they can be easily gunned down.
When McKay finds out about Maragon, he rides to the Hannassey place by himself. Hannassey's eldest son Buck (Chuck Connors), who wants Julie for himself, forces her to tell McKay she is there willingly. 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 declares to Hannassey that this is just a personal vendetta between two ruthless, vicious old men. McKay and Buck fight, but Hannassey 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 and Hannassey shoots 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 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.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Gregory Peck | James McKay |
| Jean Simmons | Julie Maragon |
| Carroll Baker | Patricia Terrill |
| Charlton Heston | Steve Leech |
| Burl Ives | Rufus Hannassey |
| Charles Bickford | Maj. Henry Terrill |
| Alfonso Bedoya | Ramón Guiteras |
| Chuck Connors | Buck Hannassey |
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]
A comic book adaptation of the novel and tie-in to the movie was first released in 1957.
The Blanco Canyon scenes were filmed in California's Red Rock Canyon State Park. The ranch and field scenes with greenery were filmed in the central California Sierra foothills near the town of Farmington.[2]
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