One of the pleasures of summer vacation (my heartfelt apologies go to all you 9 to 5ers still toiling day to day!) is staying up WAAAAAY past my usual bedtime to kick back and see what late night TV gems catch my eye. Flicking through the mostly brain numbing garbage that basic cable has to offer, I got lucky last night when I landed on a commercial-free screening on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) of the 1958 western "The Big Country". I'm not a fan of the western genre, but with this movie's top notch cast, including Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives, and direction by the great William Wyler, I thought this choice for nighttime viewing would be a pretty solid source of entertainment. And indeed it was. Check out the trailer, if you'd like.
Now, this blog is not a movie review site. In fact, I'm not so sure what the purpose of this blog is anyway except to document a few things I do over the course of the summer. So I'm not going to get into too much film analysis (that is what my day job is...when I have a day job!), however a few comments do need to be made with regard to "The Big Country":
Firstly, if you haven't seen it before, do so. There's a reason it consistently gets four stars on any number of movie review sites. As I mentioned, I'm no fan of westerns and what I characterize as the genre's use of historic American emblems turned cliche: horses, horizons, hoosegows and hold ups, just to name a few, gets real tiresome, real fast. In my experience this is a dangerous, sleep-inducing combination that makes my head nod, my lids flutter and my sleep apnea gurgle aloud--an a cappella groan that drowns out any cowboy themed music playing over the end credits.
However, with these visual tropes aside, the story of "The Big Country" stands above many other westerns due to the complex relationships between the multi-dimensional characters who inhabit the tale. There are no straight down the middle good guys and bad guys in this film. Each character is a study in human complexity. The dynamic interplay between each character's strengths and weaknesses builds as the players stumble through their celluloid existences...much like we do in our own lives, with, unfortunately, less cinematic flare! Peck's acting is a study in "less is more". Heston is at his all-time best. And Burl Ives eats up any scene he's in. The granddaddy of all "party crashers" character won Ives the Best Supporting Actor Award that year. (And here I thought he just played a '70s animated snowman!!) Check out Ives's performance as Rufus Hannassey (fast forward up to minute 7:00).
Watching this movie reminded me of a more recent western favorite--Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven", a film many in the industry have said is the last of the great western films. My favorite scene (and the favorite of many others on the web) is the "Helluva Thing" scene--the prototypical western scene (remember: horses, horizons, etc.). But it is so simply acted, so powerfully written and so beautifully paced. It's one of the reasons the film would lasso four Oscars in 1992 including Eastwood's own "share of the loot"--two statues for Best Director and Best Film. Sorry to take it out of context, but I found the clip on Youtube, so here 'tis:
A helluva scene and a helluva movie. I recommend "Unforgiven", as well, for your own late night viewing!!
And there you have it! Perhaps my only movie review for the summer. (But certainly not my only movie!!!)
-Marty
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