Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1958)

'The Big Country" in the Tradition of 'Giant' Su^Ue^ 1^<UiH^ Q O OPIus Awesomely impressive outdoor epic studded with imposing cast of stars headed by Peck. Wyler's superb direction mokes sprawling Technirama-Technicolor production an event. Big grosser. If there were a prize for the most physically awesome and most magnificently produced western, United Artists' "The Big Country" would stampede away with it. Everything about this sprawling Technirama-Technicolor film is geared for eye-appeal from the picturesque assortment of stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives and Charles Bickford, to the splendidly pictorial direction of famed William Wyler. Unquestionably, this figures to be one of the biggest grossers of the year, appealing to both the mass and the class audience. It is being backed by a huge, typically hard-hitting UA promotion campaign that is bound to rouse public interest. This multi-million dollar production, which runs for nearly three hours, has been largesse with everything except story, which, while it is solid, does not match the film's overpowering visual greatness. There are individual scenes, especially those delineating the seething hate between Ives and Bickford, which are elemental, vital and have a granite-like grip. And there are others which crackle raucously upon the canvas as gritty gunmen whoop it up in town and on the range. Then, too, some telling points are made by hero Peck about the futility of roughhousing and killing to disprove oneself a coward, and in these scenes Wyler has given his epic a bona fide thoughtfulness westerns rarely possess. The rest of the James R. Webb-Sy Bartlett-Robert Wilder screenplay traverses familiar ground. Nevertheless, the stars, scenery and far-ranging style of "The Big Country" is of such magnitude many will liken it to "Giant". There are many moments that appear to be invested with all the overwhelming surge of nature at its freest and best, while others take the simple scene of a distant ranch house surrounded by an empire of rolling plains and cloudy vistas and produce a stark and shattering effect. Actually, director Wyler has performed at these times pure visual dramatics that tell in their lighting, compositions and camera angles far more than the sagebrush storyline does. Under Wyler's amazingly selective eye we are treated to shots which seem to crystalize the emotions of the characters involved: in all the granite and grit we get the slam-bang physical equivalent of the war of hate between Ives and Bickford, or in that stretch of watering land called Big Muddy we see the peace and dignity the old west outsiders. Peck and Miss Simmons, are searching for. Time and again throughout the film, Wyler has underscored the mere theatrics of dialogue and characterization with the natural elements and fusing these very properties within the dramatic atmosphere itself, as in that tremendously orchestrated last ditch [More REVIEWS Page 12 Film BULLETIN August 18, 1958 fight betw een the two rival desert barons. And his use of color captures the scorching manliness an age-old grandeur of the cowboy and his Eden more directly, more clearly and above all, more stirringly than anything yet on film. Franz Planer's photography is nothing short of superb, the Jerome Moross score a real rouser and every technical credit which producers Wyler and Peck assembled bears the mark of All depicts shoudoun fight between Peck aftd Heston when latter calls his eastern rival a coward. finely-finished craftsmanship. Peck as the Easterner who rejects the shoot-em-dead code. Miss Baker as the fiancee who suspects him of cowardice. Miss Simmons as a school teacher Peck finally loves, and Heston in the role of Bickford's foreman who loves Miss Baker and resents the arrival of Peck — these four take care of the romantic adventures with sure aplomb. However, it is Ives and Bickford who make things really volatile as they clash over a vital watering area, resulting in the film's finale when the rancher clans ride on each other. In the end, with both old men dead. Peck's route of peace with Miss Simmons alongside seems the new way for the west. William Wyler. on Page 21 ] Peck. Jean Simmons, Carro iam Wyler and Gregory Pe