Product description

The Big Country [1958]

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5050070006490
Label : MGM Entertainment
Manufacturer : MGM Entertainment
Publisher : MGM Entertainment
Release date : 2001-06-11
Title : The Big Country [1958]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Parental Guidance
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1958-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 95
Studio : MGM Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 1958-10-01
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
William Wyler directed this epic Western, about the clash of East and West, intellect and action. Gregory Peck stars as a sea captain who moves way out West to marry Carroll Baker and become part of the ranch owned by her father (Charles Bickford). But he discovers that daddy's top hand (Charlton Heston) carries a torch for Baker and doesn't particularly like Peck stepping into his place. Peck also finds himself caught in the midst of a power struggle between Bickford and his surly neighbour, Burl Ives (and his reprehensibly bullying son, Chuck Connors). The Big Country is a long, sprawling tale that works because its characters are played by movie stars who know how to command the big screen in a big story. --Marshall Fine

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-06-08 rating:

The Big Country - an overlooked classic
This is an unreservedly great film, in so many respects. Previous reviewers have made good points about it that need no repetition from me. What intrigues me is that The Big Country is a neglected piece of cinema (I think the Radio Times Film Guide makes this very point). It shows what an astonishingly good actor the late Gregory Peck was, a master of quiet understatement and dignity. I believe he was a co-producer of the movie, so it was something of a labour of love. Whether you view it as an allegory of the Cold War, i.e. the pointlessly destructive head-to-head belligerence of two giant opponents, or you see it as a a cracking good western, you can't be disappointed. I think what intrigues and impresses me above all is that the style of the film doesn't date at all. It looks as if it could have been made last year, not nearly fifty years ago, and in fact looks better than slightly later Western classics such as The Magnificent Seven. It just has a fresh feel about it and is one of very few films that I could watch over and over again (if I had the time..!|). There is subtlety and nuance in every frame and the pace doesn't flag. The plot is clever and not stereotyped. Oh yes, and Jerome Moross' fabulous music score is unforgettable. And the cinematography. Oh well, everything about it really. Fantastic film. Watch. Enjoy.

review by: holger-erdmann date: 2007-01-04 rating:

Without a question this is a classic western movie
and this edition is quite good as well. Unfortunately, not all informations on Amazon are correct. There's NO German soundtrack version only a German version for the hearing impaired. That's of course not very important for all British viewers but for the few Germans...

review by: bobcar83 date: 2004-11-09 rating:

This is a full length version
Despite what a previous reviewer said this is a full length version. The running time is 160 minutes which is slightly shorter than the NTSC version because of PAL conversion, nothing is cut from this film. Perhaps people could see the film before reviewing it.

The mistake was made because the original packaging said 95 minutes, this mistake is repeated on the Amazon listing (and most others).

review by: xyzzy date: 2004-09-14 rating:

He came from the sea
Two men, Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) and Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives), each the head of their respective clans, feud over water rights. The major has a daughter (Carroll Baker) that has fallen in love with a sea captain James McKay (Gregory Peck.) James McKay's father owns a shipping company. This looks like a perfect match.

Shortly but surely we see on insight to the man about to be married. At the same time he gets a good glimpse of the major and Rufus Hannassey. It does not take us long to size up the situation. James refused to play the game. He won't get mad at hazing, won't write the wild hors on their time, and he won't get lost (I suspect he can calculate reveres azimuth.) And this is a big country.

There are many other notable characters in this movie including the owner of "the Big Muddy" (Jean Simmons) where the water is. The Majors right hand man (Charlton Heston). And what is a western with out the idiot son (Chuck Connors).

Pay attention to the love interest and the music.

This movie would give a Greek tragedy a run for its money.
Will Major Henry and Rufus Hannassey settle their differences or will the settle James McKay's hash?

review by: artist & illustrator date: 2004-06-22 rating:
Atticus Finch goes West
This is a sprawling, glorious saga that will be appreciated by people who don't even like the Western genre. With fabulous cinematography, an excellent script, and two of my favorite actors, it's a film I never tire of watching.
Gregory Peck is the sea captain with principles who goes west to meet his future bride, only to find feuds and fighting, and some lawless varmints who need his "non violent" ways of resolving territorial issues. He is terrific as James McKay, who is sort of an Atticus Finch in boots, and looks mighty fine as well.
Charlton Heston has the smaller part as Leech, a foreman who is seething with jealousy and obeys the orders of his unscrupulous boss (rancher Terrill, played with subtle menace by Charles Bickford) as he yearns for his daughter. Heston is brilliant as this rather complex character, and would a year later star in director William Wyler's next epic, "Ben Hur", which is perhaps my all-time most viewed and enjoyed film.

Both female leads are wonderful, and are portrayed with enormous strength; Jean Simmons, with her luminous eyes is the schoolteacher, and Carroll Baker is the tough daughter of rancher Bickford, and is too much like her daddy to make a suitable bride for Peck.
Among the many strong performances in the supporting parts are Burl Ives, and received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his gnarly old Rufus, Chuck Connors is his bad to the bone son, and Alfonso Bedoya, is a delight as Ramon, who along with a horse named "Old Thunder", provides some of the humor in the film.
The score by Jerome Moross is lovely (and received an Oscar nomination) and the cinematography by Franz Planner spectacular. The film was shot in the Yuba and San Joaquin Counties in California, as well as canyon country in Chinly, Arizona, and it is breathtakingly beautiful.

If you like a good screen fight like I do, this has a great one, "mano a mano" between Peck and Heston; it initially has no music, just the pounding of the fists and the men gasping for breath, and is very effective.
Romance, drama, and lots of action make this a film that appeals to many, and is suitable for the whole family.

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