BY JOHN
M. WHALEN
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.†That’s the
stock phrase you hear in most western films. But in William Wyler’s sprawling,
richly produced western extravaganza, “The Big Country†(1958), Jim McKay (Gregory
Peck) spends nearly three hours NOT doing what a man’s gotta do. And he reaps
the scorn of just about everybody, including his fiancé Patricia Terrill (Caroll
Baker), who lives on a gigantic Texas ranch with her father Major Henry Terrill
(Charles Bickford). McKay is a retired ship’s captain from back east, and he’s
come west to marry Pat and start a new life. But you know right off it’s not
going to be easy when he steps off the stagecoach dressed like a dude and ranch
foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) advises him that he doesn’t think it’s a
good idea for him to go around wearing that funny looking derby. Sure enough when
he and Patricia ride their buckboard out to the Terrill ranch some rough
cowboys, known as the Hannasseys, chase him down and pull that hat right off
his noggin and give him a bit of a roughing up. When McKay doesn’t get all
riled up about it, Patricia suspects her new fiancé might be a little bit
chicken.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, when Leech sets McKay up to
be humiliated by riding a killer bronc, and McKay declines the invitation, once
again Patricia is disappointed. Everybody goes through that initiation, she
tells him. McKay rides off and goes to visit Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), who
owns a valuable piece of land, and doesn’t come back until next day. Leech
tells the major McKay was lost—“the lostest man I ever saw,†thus causing McKay to call him out as a liar.
Now in these parts when a man calls you a liar you either go for your gun or
start swinging a fist or two. But instead McKay tells him he doesn’t intend to
let him draw him into a confrontation with horses, guns, or fists. Well, that
tears it. Pat can’t have any respect for a man who won’t stand up for himself.
McKay thinks it’s time to go back to town and rethink this marriage business.
All this takes place against the backdrop of a larger
conflict between the major and his next door neighbor, Rufus Hannassey (Burl
Ives) and his three sons, including the wild and vicious Buck (Chuck Connors).
They’ve been squabbling over the Big Muddy and water rights for years. Terrell
has the upper hand. He’s got the larger spread, more men and money, while the
Hannasseys live in relative squalor on an arid piece of dirt with little water.
The major uses the Hannassey boys’ hazing of McKay as a pretext to ride out to
their spread and teach them a lesson, which includes shooting holes in the
Hannassey’s water tower and later driving Hannassey’s cattle away from the
water of the Big Muddy.
“The Big Country†is based on a novel by pulp writer
Donald Hamilton, best-known for the Matt Helm books that were turned into Dean
Martin comedy/action flicks. (One of them, “The Wrecking Crew†with Sharon Tate
is featured in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once
Upon a Time in Hollywood.â€)_ But Wyler hired Quaker author Jessamyn West (“Friendly
Persuasionâ€) to write an adaptation that put pacifism front and center as the
central theme of the film. In 1958 the Cold War was in progress and the threat
of nuclear annihilation had everybody nervous. (It’s still a threat, but now we
have Netflix and binge-watching to keep us from thinking about it.) With “The
Big Country†Wyler tried to preach that there is a better way to solve disputes
other than by giving in to violence which can only end by wiping out
civilization. (“The Big Country†is the opposite of a Sam Peckinpah western,
where violence and destruction are portrayed as inevitable and ultimately cathartic.)
It’s an odd movie, in which most of the scenes are filled with tension and the
threat of violence, but fail to have a satisfactorily pay off. For example,
McKay walks away from the killer bronc, but later rides the horse when no one
is around to witness it except Ramon (Alfonso Bedoya), one of the Mexican ranch
hands. And when McKay decides to leave the ranch he wakes Leech up in the
middle of the night and fights him when no one is awake to see it. He makes the
point that he isn’t a coward, but doesn’t feel the need to prove it to anybody.
When Rufus comes
up with a scheme to kidnap Julie and force her to sell him the Big Muddy,
things come to a head and that’s when everyone seems to forget their supposed
to be pacifists and lead starts flying in all directions. Ultimately the ending
tries to live up to all the pacifist preaching by having the final showdown
come between just the major and Rufus. As a sidebar, McKay, using antique
dueling pistols (always the gentleman, you know), also settles things with Buck
for manhandling Miss Julie.
The cast does an impressive job with a somewhat unwieldy
script, with Peck and Simmons turning in the best performances. There are
stories that Peck and Wyler battled with each other during the filming, and I
can only imagine Peck asking how he was supposed to play this somewhat
confusing character. Caroll Baker does well in a thankless part as a shallow,
spoiled, self-centered girl full of dumb ideas. Burl Ives steals the film as
the primitive, larger- than- life Rufus Hannassey. He has a great scene when he
crashes the major’s welcoming party for McKay and after a few choice words
tosses a loaded shotgun on the floor and turns his back on Terrill, daring him
to shoot him in the back as he walks out. Later when Buck and his brothers
return home after being shot at by the major’s men, he kicks a stool out from
under Buck and snarls at him, “Why ain’t you dead?â€
Kino Lorber has done a terrific job transferring “The Big
Country†to Blu-Ray. The movie was shot by cinematographer Franz Planer in Technicolor’s
short-lived Technirama process, which was like Vista-Vision but with a 2.35:1
aspect ratio. The long vistas out on the prairie and the mountains in the
distance are rendered on screen in vivid detail. The fight between Peck and
Heston is shot at night using long lenses, dwarfing the battling men against
the giant landscape. The clarity of the picture is outstanding. It’s among the
most film-like Blu-rays I’ve ever watched.
The music score was provided by Jerome Moross, who also
did the music for the “Lancer†TV series (oddly enough also mentioned in “Once
Upon a Time in Hollywoodâ€), “The Valley of Gwangi†and other films. The music is
so beautifully recorded you can hardly tell it’s in mono.
The Blu-Ray is so loaded with extras you could stop
binge-watching Netflix for a day or two and spend that time checking everything
out. An audio commentary is provided by film historian Sir Christopher
Frayling. Extras include a 69 minute
documentary, “Directed by William Wyler,†and outtakes featuring Peck and Heston,
as well as interviews with Peck’s children, and Fraser Heston. Also included is
a featurette, “Larry Cohen on Chuck Connors,†two animated image galleries, the
original theatrical trailer, and a TV spot.
“The Big Country†is not a great film. It ends up losing
its pro-pacifist argument. But it’s impressive to see it on a large home
theater. As Gabby Hayes might say, if he were still around: “It’s good to see
natural wonders up there on the screen with nary a dab of CGI effects messin’
things up, yessirree bob. You’re dang tootin’.â€
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John M. Whalen is the author of "Tragon of Ramura". Click here to order from Amazon.