The Big Country (1958)
Director: William Wyler
Stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker and Charlton Heston
So, I’m enjoying a nice meal on Sunday evening and I decide to start this “four star” behemoth I Tivo’d from TCM… I’m such a sucker for star studded films: I saw the description detailing a feud between families in the old west, I saw the director (you know I love William Wyler from my Ox-Box entry) and then I saw the cast… “Chuck Heston? I’m in!!”
Then I got about forty minutes into this soap opera. This was the part in the movie where Gregory Peck and Chuck Heston FINALLY fight each other. With their fists in an open field. And even THIS scene – a FIGHT SCENE, no less – lasted about eighteen minutes! At one point, they just sat on the ground and huffed, puffed and breathed at each other. It was then that I realized this wasn’t a “paced” film, as I sometimes say: it was down right slow. Unfortunately, I have give The Big Country a newfound status on this blog – a “Skip”. I have about fourteen 1950s films I’d prefer you see rather than this ridiculous three hour epic… Not to bash it too hard, I’m sure the film was entertaining in its day: but for me, the slow tempo, the overdone acting (outside of Peck) and the stupidity of the two villains makes this a definite “Skip”.
More to come this week – thanks to those who’re posting comments!