The Big Country (1958)
This movie is just big in several ways. Big cast, big widescreen western landscapes, big hefty score, and not the least a big epic story about the frontier and laying the foundation for a better future.
There are countless westerns about a long running conflict between two land owners in a town without any official rule of law. What sets this apart is how it is (mostly) handled with developing well rounded characters around a well written drama. For most of the film, no guns are fired, and the conflict doesn’t fit into the good guys and bad guys trope. It is interesting how it downplays the traditional very “masculine” western hero trope. I guess Gregory Peck’s character as James McKay is the hero, but in a very downplayed and restrained manner. He doesn’t allow to get himself provoked, and his refusal of violence even provokes his fiancé when he doesn’t live up to her idea of a man “who stands up for himself”. Definitely a huge contrast to the rest of the male cast, that is the more well known boasting type. A similar theme is explored with Burl Ives’ character as the patriarch of the Hannassey family. He tries to “make a man” of his son Buck, with a very tragic outcome. Not sure if I want to call it outright progressive, but still surprised to see it handled like this in a western from the 50s.
Burl Ives is the absolute standout in this film. I found his personal story more interesting than the feud between the two families, and his Oscar is very well deserved.
I grew up watching the way more violent spaghetti westerns, and have only found an interest in the classic American westerns lately. This one shows that there is plenty of great epic dramas to be told in this genre and the frontier can also be portrayed as kind and beutiful, and not always grim and brutal. Good stuff.
Rating: 4