THE BIG COUNTRY fits two types of movies that were big in the 1950s: One was the modern western (a western where the characters behaved with modern sensibilities), and the other was the huge blockbuster movies made to attract the audience being lost to early television (ironically, mostly to westerns as programs). Directed by William Wyler, he takes a leaf from John Ford's movies, such as the "cavalry trilogy" and THE SEARCHERS, to let the audience see for themselves the immensity of the American west (more properly the southwest). In fact, a kind of mild running gag in the film is how when Gregory Peck arrives everyone from his future father-in-law Charles Bickford, and his fiancé Carol Baker, and even Charlton Heston mentions that it is a big country (and that he can get lost in it). At the party thrown by Bickford, one of the guests asks Peck if he's ever been impressed by anything larger than the country. Peck says he has. He was a sea captain, and he's seen the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans! Ironically, at one point, he is believed lost and scouting parties are sent for him. He is never lost - he had a map and a compass all the time!
Peck seems an eastern "dude" out of water when he arrives with his derby style hat (exciting the hoots of laughter from Chuck Connors and his men (the "Hannasey" white trash)). Actually he is simply not a man to demonstrate his emotions as readily as Bickford, Heston, Connors, or Burl Ives. They are always ready to defend their honor - as Bickford points out they are two hundred miles from the closest government seat, so they have to be their own policemen. But Peck keeps confounding them all. He conquers the horse that throws all the strangers - but he does it quietly when only Alfonso Bedoya is around to help. He won't stand up against Connors, whom he considers a drunken bully. He won't publicly fight Heston when the latter calls him a liar. But when alone they fight to a draw, and Heston realizes Peck is not a weakling or coward.
Peck also sees the tensions in the country as due to the antagonisms of two men: Bickford's Major Henry Terrill and Ives' Rufus Hannassay. It is a clash of class (on the surface), although Peck eventually says it is a confrontation between two selfish old men. He tries to find a happy medium out of the mess by buying Jean Simmons' land, but that is not as successful an idea as he hoped. Peck, somewhat simplistically, thinks that by promising open watering rights to everyone he is settling the main issue. But the hatred is too strong.
All the characters are well drawn. Baker, at first a loving girlfriend, turns out to be too deeply committed to her father's point of view on everything. Simmons, who owns the coveted watering area, "the big muddy", thinks in a similar way to Peck, but she underestimates her being a woman alone in a range war. Connors is determined to bully and grab what he can from everyone, but he doesn't fool his father (whom considers him a great disappointment), and can't prevent the world from seeing he's a coward. Heston is loyal to Bickford (who picked him out of the dust literally) but he does have as sense of right and wrong, and a sense of shame, that causes a break in their relationship in the end. Bedoya proves to be loyal to Peck, and the only one to accompany him on his last mission in the film. Bickford has striven to appear classy and a defender of "Christian values", but he is a ruthless cattle baron for all that who sees the silly attack on Peck as a "comment" on himself by his enemy Ives (who knew nothing about it).
But Ives is wonderful - and deserved his Oscar. His best remembered performance (of course) will always be "Big Daddy" in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF - one of the best written roles in modern American theater. Rufus Hannassy is white trash (note his advise of taking an occasional bath when dating a woman). But in comparison to the more hypocritical Bickford/Terrill, he does not push his men to confront anyone, nor does he get uptight about trivialities. He confronts Terrill at the latter's home during a party after Terrill had led his own men to raid Ives' ranch and destroy his water tower. He does understand what Terrill would never understand: a real gentleman is a good neighbor and a man of his word (two things Terrill can barely be). And finally there is the involved issue of Ives' relationship with his son Connors. Ives' has a sense of morality, and he beats up Connors when the latter tries to commit rape. Up to their last moments on screen together Connors is consistently disappointing him. It is only after the latter's death that Ives' comes to his senses, and agrees with Peck as to what he must do to stop the range war from continuing. Of the two selfish old men, Ives keeps the audience's sympathy.
Peck seems an eastern "dude" out of water when he arrives with his derby style hat (exciting the hoots of laughter from Chuck Connors and his men (the "Hannasey" white trash)). Actually he is simply not a man to demonstrate his emotions as readily as Bickford, Heston, Connors, or Burl Ives. They are always ready to defend their honor - as Bickford points out they are two hundred miles from the closest government seat, so they have to be their own policemen. But Peck keeps confounding them all. He conquers the horse that throws all the strangers - but he does it quietly when only Alfonso Bedoya is around to help. He won't stand up against Connors, whom he considers a drunken bully. He won't publicly fight Heston when the latter calls him a liar. But when alone they fight to a draw, and Heston realizes Peck is not a weakling or coward.
Peck also sees the tensions in the country as due to the antagonisms of two men: Bickford's Major Henry Terrill and Ives' Rufus Hannassay. It is a clash of class (on the surface), although Peck eventually says it is a confrontation between two selfish old men. He tries to find a happy medium out of the mess by buying Jean Simmons' land, but that is not as successful an idea as he hoped. Peck, somewhat simplistically, thinks that by promising open watering rights to everyone he is settling the main issue. But the hatred is too strong.
All the characters are well drawn. Baker, at first a loving girlfriend, turns out to be too deeply committed to her father's point of view on everything. Simmons, who owns the coveted watering area, "the big muddy", thinks in a similar way to Peck, but she underestimates her being a woman alone in a range war. Connors is determined to bully and grab what he can from everyone, but he doesn't fool his father (whom considers him a great disappointment), and can't prevent the world from seeing he's a coward. Heston is loyal to Bickford (who picked him out of the dust literally) but he does have as sense of right and wrong, and a sense of shame, that causes a break in their relationship in the end. Bedoya proves to be loyal to Peck, and the only one to accompany him on his last mission in the film. Bickford has striven to appear classy and a defender of "Christian values", but he is a ruthless cattle baron for all that who sees the silly attack on Peck as a "comment" on himself by his enemy Ives (who knew nothing about it).
But Ives is wonderful - and deserved his Oscar. His best remembered performance (of course) will always be "Big Daddy" in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF - one of the best written roles in modern American theater. Rufus Hannassy is white trash (note his advise of taking an occasional bath when dating a woman). But in comparison to the more hypocritical Bickford/Terrill, he does not push his men to confront anyone, nor does he get uptight about trivialities. He confronts Terrill at the latter's home during a party after Terrill had led his own men to raid Ives' ranch and destroy his water tower. He does understand what Terrill would never understand: a real gentleman is a good neighbor and a man of his word (two things Terrill can barely be). And finally there is the involved issue of Ives' relationship with his son Connors. Ives' has a sense of morality, and he beats up Connors when the latter tries to commit rape. Up to their last moments on screen together Connors is consistently disappointing him. It is only after the latter's death that Ives' comes to his senses, and agrees with Peck as to what he must do to stop the range war from continuing. Of the two selfish old men, Ives keeps the audience's sympathy.