The Big Country

Retired sea captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) travels to the American West to join his fiancée Patricia (Carroll Baker) at the enormous ranch owned by her father, Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford), referred to by all as "the Major". After a meeting with Patricia's friend, schoolteacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), McKay and Patricia are accosted by a group of drunks led by Buck Hannassey (Chuck Connors), the son of the Major's ardent and implacable enemy Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives). In spite of the harassment and mockery, McKay surprises Patricia by standing his ground and allowing the group to leave without further incident.

The next morning, the Major's foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston), who is jealous of McKay’s relationship with Pat, attempts to get McKay to ride an indomitable bronco stallion named "Old Thunder", in hopes of embarrassing him in front of the other ranch hands. McKay declines, and then brings a pair of dueling pistols to the Major as a gift. When the Major learns of Buck's pestering of his daughter and future son-in-law, he gathers his men and goes to raid the Hannassey ranch despite McKay's attempts to defuse the situation. The Major's group finds neither Rufus nor Buck, so they settle for terrorizing the Hannassey women and children, as well as capturing and punishing the members of Buck's posse. Meanwhile, McKay privately tames and rides Old Thunder after many unsuccessful attempts, and swears his only witness, the ranch hand Ramone (Alfonso Bedoya), to secrecy.

A gala is held on the Terrill ranch in honor of Patricia and McKay's upcoming wedding. At the height of the festivities, Rufus, carrying a shotgun, crashes the party and accuses the Major of being a hypocrite. The next day, McKay sets out to explore the country around the Terrill ranch. He tells Ramone to tell Pat that he is perfectly safe - given his navigating skills as a sea captain. He chances upon the Maragons' deserted ranchhouse, on the "Big Muddy", as the ranch is known. The Big Muddy's territory is the location of the area's sole river, and as such, it is a vital source of water for both the Terrill and Hannassey cattle during times of drought. McKay persuades Julie Maragon to sell the ranch to him, thereby securing a wedding gift for Patricia. He assures her that both ranchers will continue to have unrestricted access to the river, continuing her policy of even-handedness.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it has become apparent that McKay is missing, and Leech attempts to use the opportunity to take advantage of Pat. Pat angrily refuses him. On his return, McKay rides into the camp of a search party organized by Terrill and led by Leech. Ramone has attempted to tell the Major and Pat of McKay's message, but they ignore him. The party rides back to the ranch, where Leech calls McKay a liar when McKay explains to the Terrills that he was never lost, but McKay again refuses to be goaded into a fight, disappointing Pat enough to make the pair reconsider their engagement. He leaves the ranch the next morning, but only after fulfilling Leech's challenge of the previous evening. He asks Leech to keep the encounter secret. At dawn, the two walk on to the prairie and fight until they both agree to end the encounter. The next morning, Julie tells Pat of McKay's purchase of the Big Muddy for her, which initially persuades her to considering making up with McKay. However when she learns of McKay's plan to allow the Hannasseys equal access to the water, she once again turns against McKay.

Meanwhile, Buck has persuaded Rufus that Julie and he are courting. Buck brings Julie to the Hannessey's, in hopes of persuading her to sell the Big Muddy to him and marry Buck, but Julie reveals that she sold it already, and Rufus realizes her interest is in McKay. He knows that the Major will attempt to rescue Julie, so he takes her hostage, wishing to lure the Major into an ambush in the canyon leading to his homestead. Although McKay personally promises Rufus equal access to the water, he finds himself in a clash with Buck, which is ultimately settled with a duel. Buck fires before the signal, but misses, his bullet grazing McKay's forehead and leaving him open to be shot by McKay. He merely shoots his round into the dust upon seeing Buck's craven response to the prospect of being shot. Seeing an opportunity to kill McKay, Buck snatches another gun from a nearby cowboy. Disgusted by his dishonorable action, Rufus shoots and kills his son. Rufus goes to the canyon for a final confrontation with the Major and challenges him to a one-on-one showdown. Armed with rifles, the two old men advance and kill one another. McKay, Julie, and Ramone ride off to start life together.

• Gregory Peck as James McKay
• Jean Simmons as Julie Maragon
• Carroll Baker as Patricia Terrill
• Charlton Heston as Steve Leech
• Burl Ives as Rufus Hannassey
• Charles Bickford as Maj. Henry Terrill
• Alfonso Bedoya as Ramón Gutierrez
• Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey
• Chuck Hayward as Rafe Hannassey
• Buff Brady as Dude Hannassey
• Jim Burk as Blackie / Cracker Hannassey
• Dorothy Adams as Hannassey Woman
• Chuck Roberson as Terrill Cowboy
• Bob Morgan as Terrill Cowboy
• John McKee as Terrill Cowboy
• Peter Lawman as Terrill Cowboy

Director William Wyler was known for shooting an exorbitant number of takes on his films, usually without explaining to the actors what to do differently except "[make it] better", and this one was no exception. Many of the actors, including Jean Simmons and Carroll Baker, were so traumatized by his directing style that they refused to speak about the experience for years. Simmons later said they constantly received rewrites for the script, making acting extremely difficult. Gregory Peck and Wyler, who were good friends, fought constantly on the set and had a falling out for three years, although they later reconciled. Wyler and Charles Bickford also clashed, as they had done 30 years previously on the production of his 1929 film Hell's Heroes. Burl Ives, however, claimed to have enjoyed making the film.

Before principal photography was complete, Wyler left for Rome to start work on Ben-Hur, delegating creation of the final scenes involving McKay and Julie to his assistant Robert Swink, whose resulting scenes pleased Wyler so much that he wrote Swink a letter stating: "I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am with the new ending... The shots you made are complete perfection."[4]

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in a negative review that "for all this film's mighty pretensions, it does not get far beneath the skin of its conventional Western situation and its stock Western characters. It skims across standard complications and ends on a platitude. Peace is a pious precept, but fightin' is more excitin'. That's what it proves."[5] Variety called the film "one of the best photography jobs of the year", with a "serviceable, adult" storyline "which should find favor with audiences of all tastes."[6] Harrison's Reports declared it "a first-rate super-Western, beautifully photographed in the Technirama anamorphic process and Technicolor. It is a long picture, perhaps too long for what the story has to offer, but there is never a dull moment from start to finish and it holds one's interest tightly throughout."[7] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "super stuff. Franz Planer's photography of Texas is downright awe-inspiring, the characters are solid, the story line firm, the playing first-rate, the music more than dashing in this nearly three-hour tale which should delight everybody."[8]

John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote, "Of those involved in this massive enterprise, Mr. Bickford and Mr. Ives are the most commendable as they whoop and snort about the sagebrush. But even they are hardly credible types, and as for the rest of the cast, they can be set down as a rather wooden lot."[9] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times called the film "too self consciously 'epical' to be called great, but at its best, which is frequently, it's better than good."[10] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that the picture's attempts to convey a message were for the most part "superficial and pedestrian," and found that "the pivotal character of McKay, played on a monotonously self-righteous note by Gregory Peck, never comes alive. It is mainly due to the power of the climactic canyon battle, and Burl Ives' interesting playing as Rufus, that this remains a not unsympathetic film, decorated pleasantly by Jean Simmons and with spirit by Carroll Baker."[11]

The film was a big hit, being the second-most popular movie in Britain in 1959.[12] On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has an approval rating of 100% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10.[13]

Ives won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Golden Globe Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score by Jerome Moross.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower liked the movie so much, he screened it on four successive evenings in the White House during his second administration.[14]

Playmobil designed an entire cowboy line based on the architecture of the film.

In a poll of 500 films held by Empire, it was voted 187th greatest movie of all time.[15]

The Academy Film Archive preserved The Big Country in 2006.[16]

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.[17]

• List of American films of 1958

• The Big Country at IMDb
• The Big Country at the TCM Movie Database
• The Big Country at AllMovie
• The Big Country at the American Film Institute Catalog