The Big Country (1958)

Gregory Peck is James McKay, the shipping tycoon from the East to travels to cattle country to marry Patricia Terrill (Carroll Baker), daughter of a cattle king. He rides right into an old-fashioned range way between Pat’s dad Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) and the less gentlemanly Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives).

Hannassey’s boys rough up McKay upon his arrival, so Terrill — over McKay’s objections — has his men invade Hannassey’s camp inside Blanco Canyon to teach his longtime rival a lesson. The lessons keep escalating, until it’s time for a final showdown between the two sides.

Meanwhile, McKay’s relationship with Patricia is on shaky grounds because he refuses to fight back when accosted by the Hannasseys, refuses to ride a wild horse named Old Thunder that Terrill foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) tries to put on him, then refuses to fight Leech — at least in front of everyone.

Patricia cares very much what people think of her, and her fiane isn’t casting her in a very favorable light. That’s just fine with Leech, because he loves Patricia, too. Meanwhile, Hannassey’s oldest son Buck (Chuck Connors) would like to tie the knot with Patricia’s best friend, school teacher Julie Maragon.

You see, she holds the key to preventing all-out war between the two sides — a ranch called Old Muddy that includes a water source both the Hannasseys and Terrills rely on in times of drought.

Gregory Peck as James McKay, considering a ride on Old Thunder in The Big Country (1958)

Jean Simmons as Julie Maragon, showing off the Big Muddy to James McKay in The Big Country (1958)

Review:

A Western with epic aspirations that succeeds for the most part. Even at three hours, the film doesn’t drag because Wyler and company keep delivering fresh and memorable scenes, like gun-toting Burl Ives breaking in on Patricia Terrill’s homecoming party and inviting Bickford to kill him, then and there.

Speaking of Ives, the guy nicknamed the Singing Troubadour, doesn’t sing a note, but delivers a grand performance as a man who holds one hell of a grudge against Henry Terrill, but excepts his sons to act with honor, even in their dealings with the Terrill family. To quote on of his favorite sayings, it’ll be “a frosty Friday” if they don’t.

Heston was often overbearing to the point of being unbearable in his starring role in 1950s Westerns. Here, he plays a secondary role and turns in one of his best performances as a sort of adopted son of Henry Terrill, a foreman who can’t turn his back on the old man even when he knows he’s wrong.

And Chuck Connors, in a neat bit of casting, is Hannessay’s oldest, most cowardly and most unsavory son. He would start his six-year stint at TV’s “The Rifleman” the same year this film was released.

Other cast notes of note — Alfonso Bedoya has a sizeable role as an employee on the Terrill ranch. This marked his last film. In fact, he died before it was released. And Gregory Peck’s three young sons all have bit parts.

If the film breaks down at any point, it’s the ending, which somehow leaves the viewer wanting more. Then again, McKay’s character has questioned the sense and end result of violence. Perhaps the two bodies at the bottom of Blanco Canyon say it all.

Charles Bickford as Maj. Henry Terrell, listening to Rufus Hannassey’s rant at his party in The Big Country (1958)

Charlton Heston as Steve Leech, jealous that Patricia Terrell has fallen for another man in The Big Country (1958)

Directed by:
William Wyler

Cast:
Gregory Peck … James McKay
Jean Simmons … Julie Maragon
Carroll Baker .. Patricia Terrill
Charlton Heston … Steve Leech
Charles Bickford … Maj. Henry Terrill
Burl Ives … Rufus Hannassey
Chuck Connors … Buck Hannassey
Alfonso Bedoya … Ramon Guiteras
Chuck Hayward … Rafe Hannassey
Buff Brady … Dude Hannassey
Jim Burk … Cracker Hannassey
Dorothy Adams … Hannassey woman
Chuck Roberson .. Terrill cowboy
Bob Morgon … Terrill cowboy
John McKee … Terrill cowboy

Runtime: 165 min.

Burl Ives as Rufus Hannassey, interrupting a party at the Terrell home in The Big Country (1958)

Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey, giving James ‘The Dude’ McKay a rude welcome in The Big Country (1958)

Memorable lines:

Party guest: “Well, Mr. McKay, how do you like this country?”
McKay: “I like it very much.”
Party guest: “Did you ever see anything so big?”
McKay: “Well, yes.”
Party guest: “You have? What?”
McKay: “A couple of oceans.”
Party guest: “I declare.”

Rufus Hannassey: “I’ve seen every kind of critter God ever made. And ain’t never seen a meaner, lower, more stinkin’ yellow hypocrite than you. Now you can swallow up a lot of folks and make ’em like it, but you ain’t swallowin’ me. I’m stuck in your crawl, Henry Terrill, and you can’t spit me out.”

Rufus Hannassey to Major Terrill: “What’s the matter? Can’t you shoot a man facin’ ya? I’ll make it easy for you. Here’s my back.”

Steve Leech: “McKay, you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were. And that just didn’t seem possible.”

Carroll Baker at Patricia Terrell, watching for her fiancee’s reaction to a Hannassey hunt in The Big Country (1958)

Gregory Peck as James McKay, engaged in an old-fashioned duel in The Big Country (1958)

Steve Leech, after they beaten one another senseless: “All I can say, McKay, is you take a hell of a long time to say goodbye.”
McKay: “I’m just about finished, if it’s alright with you.”
Leech: “It’s alright with me.”
McKay: “Now, tell me Leech, what did we prove? Huh?”

Rufus Hannassey, to his sons: “Why ain’t you dead? You let them run my cows off and you come back standing up.”
Buck Hannassey: “What could we do, pa? There were 20 of them, and just a few of us.”
Rufus: “Them cows is worth more than the whole lot of ya. We’ve gotta get ’em back to water. You hear?”

Buck Hannassey: “You wanted me, pa?”
Rufus Hannassey: “Before you was born, I did.”

Patricia Terrill: “Oh, Julie, he’s not the man I remembered.”
Julie Maragon: “Well, he couldn’t very well bring his ship with him, could he?”

Jean Simmons as Julie Maragon, reacting to the suggestion that she marry Buck Hannassey in The Big Country (1958)

Carroll Baker at Patricia Terrell, fretting over a fiancee she fears got lost in The Big Country (1958)

Patricia Terrill: “If he loved me, why would he let me think he’s a coward?”
Julie Maragon: “If you love him, why would you think it? How many times does a man have to win you?”

Rufus Hannassey: “When Henry Terrill comes a bustin’ in here this time, it’ll be the prettiest sight my aging eyeballs ever beheld. He’s gonna be the most surprised dead man you ever saw.”

Ramon: “How do you like Blanco Canyon?”
Jim McKay: “It’s a hell of a place for a sailor.”

James McKay, handed old-fashioned dueling pistols: “They haven’t been fired for a long time. The vents will have to be cleared out. I can do it for you, if you like.”
Rufus Hannassey: “Teach your grandmother to suck eggs. I’ve been handling guns like this, flintlock and cap-lock since before you were born. Follow me, gentlemen.”

Charlton Heston as Steve Leech, deciding to follow Maj. Terrell into Blanco Canyon in The Big Country (1958)

Charles Bickford as Maj. Henry Terrell, about to get the showdown he’s been pushing for in The Big Country (1958)

Burl Ives as Rufus Hannassey, watching his oldest son hide from a fair fight in The Big Country (1958)

Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey, hoping a romance with a ranch-owning school teacher might help him avoid his father’s scorn in The Big Country (1958)

Buck Hannassey (Chuck Conners) welcomes James McKay (Gregory Peck) to the West while finance Pat Terrell (Carroll Baker) looks on in The Big Country (1958)

Gregory Peck as James McKay, at his engagement party with Maj. Terrell (Charles Bickford) and Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) in The Big Country (1958)

Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey, trying to win over Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) in The Big Country (1958)

Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), James McKay (Gregory Peck) and Ramon (Alfonso Bedoya) attempt to make it back out Blanco Canyon without bloodshed in The Big Country (1958)