Rent The Big Country (1958)

Dated - but a Classic of how the Wild West brought out the best and worst in men. - The Big Country review by MT

Amazing cast of stars, if you liked Gregory Peck in "To Kill a Mockingbird" you'll enjoy this. Burl Ives is excelllent as the father constantly disappointed but trying to see the best in his son but also coping with the seething hatred and rivalries all around them.

Epic Western (spoiler) - The Big Country review by Steve

William Wyler elevates a standard range wars western into an epic memorial to the vast American frontier. Not so much to the settlers, as the land before it was changed by them. The big country is magnificently photographed (by Franz Planer) in widescreen colour. Gregory Peck as the recently arrived sea captain can't help but scan the horizon of his brave new world.

He intends to marry Carroll Baker, the daughter of the powerful landowner (Charles Bickford) who makes the law in the territory with his loyal ranch hands and their six guns. Particularly his foreman (Charlton Heston) who locks antlers with the newcomer, including a monumental fistfight. Jean Simmons co-stars in a lesser romantic role.

And that's some cast, even before mentioning Burl Ives' (slightly baffling) Oscar for best supporting actor, as Bickford's rival who wages a long feud over territorial water rights. The resolution is anti-western. The impasse is not breached through violence, but mediation. With Peck in the saddle, it's like Atticus Finch goes west. And his star identity of implicit honour is a huge bonus.

So much so, that the film diminishes when he is offscreen. But there is always that mythic panorama of the Arizona landscape, energised by Jerome Morass' famous score. This is 166 minutes long and it loses impetus in the final act. But Wyler tells the story with his usual expertise. There is a very familiar western scenario, but revitalised by a great director.