I'm most definitely with Doug on this! (How many times does that happen, Doug?)

The Big Country is what I consider the quintessential Western. It is big, it is sweeping, and it has everything, including all of the clichés one finds in a very satisfying Western:

A Stranger from back East, James McKay (Gregory Peck), formerly a seafaring man, comes out West to marry the rancher's (Charles Bickford) pretty daughter (Carroll Baker). Ranch foreman (Charlton Heston), is also in love with the rancher's daughter. There's a major fistfight out in the corral, but the outcome is not quite what one usually expects from this sort of dust-up. Pretty schoolmarm (Jean Simmons) whom all the males in the area are lusting after, not just because she's pretty, but because she owns some land that everybody wants. Major conflict between the wealthy rancher (Bickford) and the poor rancher Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives) over—what else?—water rights! Hannassey has a batch of rowdy sons, but one of the sons, Buck (Chuck Connors) is a particularly nasty piece of work. The inevitable face to face shoot-out between McKay and Buck Hannassey (but not like any quick-draw shoot-out you've ever seen in any Western). The father-son love-hate interplay between Rufus Hannassey and his son Buck is particularly poignant and marvelously acted. And finally, the conflict over water rights escalates into an all-out range war, complete with face to face confrontation between the wealthy rancher and Rufus Hannassey. Here, too, the outcome is not quite what one usually expects, but the inevitability of it proves to be quite satisfying.

All of the characters are fine-drawn, essentially Western movie stereotypes, but each one has something that is uniquely un-stereotypical. And all of the clichés are there, but each one has an unusual twist that turns this movie into a genuine Classic.

And it is BIG. I bought the VHS version a few decades ago and it covers two cassettes. Two hours and forty-five minutes.

Thanks for the reminder, Doug! I've gotta watch it yet again. I'm going to replace the VHS with the DVD version. Definitely a keeper!

Most people are under the impression that Burl Ives got his Oscar for his bravura performance as "Big Daddy" in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But no. It was for his portrayal of "Rufus Hannassey" in The Big Country. Bloody brilliant!!

Get it! Pig out!   Enjoy!!!

Don Firth