Taglines: Big they fought! Big they loved! Big their story!
The Big Country movie storyline. Retired, wealthy sea Captain James McKay arrives in the vast expanse of the West to marry fiancée Pat Terrill. McKay is a man whose values and approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers and ranch foreman Steve Leech takes an immediate dislike to him. Pat is spoiled, selfish and controlled by her wealthy father, Major Henry Terrill. The Major is involved in a ruthless land war, over watering rights for cattle, with a rough hewn clan led by Rufus Hannassey. The land in question is owned by Julie Maragon and both Terrill and Hannassey want it.
The Big Country is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. Filmed in Technicolor and Technirama, the picture was based on the serialized magazine novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon by Donald Hamilton[3] and was co-produced by Wyler and Peck. The opening title sequence was created by Saul Bass.
Ives won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance, as well as the Golden Globe Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score, composed by Jerome Moross. The film is one of very few in which Heston plays a major supporting role rather than the lead.
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 thirty 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.”
The Big Country (1958)
Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Carroll Baker, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors, Chuck Hayward, Buff Brady, Jim Burk, Dorothy Adams, Bob Morgan
Screenplay by: James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett, Robert Wilder
Production Design by: Tom Andre
Cinematography by: Franz F. Planer
Film Editing by: Robert Belcher, John Faure, Robert Swink
Costume Design by: Emile Santiago, Yvonne Wood
Set Decoration by: Edward G. Boyle
Art Direction by: Frank Hotaling
Music by: Jerome Moross
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: August 13, 1958 (Atlantic City)
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