When Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) and James McKay (Gregory Peck) are exchanging scary stories the spoken words of the last part of Julie's story are intentionally obscured as though they're too scary for the audience to hear. What is she saying? You can see her lips moving but you can't hear her words. A lip reader may be able to tell us.

Great subversive Western, one of the greatest scores for a film ever.

"How Many Times Does A Man Have To Win You?"

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, USA

John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, and Joanne Dru in Red River (1948)

William Holden and John Wayne in The Horse Soldiers (1959)

Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Brandon De Wilde, Van Heflin, Jack Palance, and Ben Johnson in Shane (1953)

Gregory Peck and Helen Westcott in The Gunfighter (1950)

James Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Andy Devine, Vera Miles, and Edmond O'Brien in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

John Wayne, Richard Widmark, and Laurence Harvey in The Alamo (1960)

John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Ward Bond, Jeffrey Hunter, and Vera Miles in The Searchers (1956)

Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Robert Middleton, and Mary Murphy in The Desperate Hours (1955)

Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, and Eli Wallach in The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, and Burl Ives in The Big Country (1958)

Charles Bickford in The Big Country (1958)

"Big Country" Premeire, Clark Gable and wife Kay Spreckles, 1958.

Gregory Peck and Charles Bickford in The Big Country (1958)

Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, and Carroll Baker in The Big Country (1958)

Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charles Bickford, Carroll Baker, and Burl Ives in The Big Country (1958)

"The Big Country" (Saul Bass Poster) 1958 United Artists

Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, and Jean Simmons in The Big Country (1958)

Gregory Peck

Jean Simmons

Carroll Baker

James R. Webb

Sy Bartlett

Robert Wilder

A New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée&apos;s sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.

William Wyler

The Big Country

Magnificent

As a rule, I don&apos;t like westerns. This isn&apos;t because I&apos;m a city slicker (though now, I do live in a city). I grew up in rural Eastern Oregon where &quot;real&quot; cowboys still herd their cattle through the center of town in John Day, Oregon. My stepfather owned a 10,170 acre cattle ranch. After being raised among &quot;real&quot; cowboys, the Hollywood versions tend to leave me flat. The Big Country was an exception.

Jim McKay (Gregory Peck) introduced us to a different kind of man, far different than most stereotypical men of the Wild West. If I were to compare McKay&apos;s character to any other film character, it would be Ghandi. He&apos;s a man who doesn&apos;t feel obliged to seek the approval of others ... a man who believes that violence doesn&apos;t need to be used to solve problems. His secret ride of Old Thunder, making Ramon (Alfonso Bedoya) swear to keep quiet regardless of the outcome, set the tone for McKay&apos;s character. His later secret fight with Steve Leech (Charleton Heston), making him swear to keep quiet regardless of the outcome, cemented that tone. This was a REAL man whose opinion of himself was not dependent upon anyone else&apos;s opinion ... in stark contrast to anyone else in the film outside of Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons). As Ramon said, &quot;Such a man is very rare.&quot;

Outside of McKay, my #2 favorite character in the film was Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives). I found nothing about him distasteful considering he was a character whose back was against the wall ... whose livelihood was threatened. The things he did make perfect sense in such a situation. His only flaw was his obvious poor parenthood. He really blew it with Buck (Chuck Connors) and Buck&apos;s siblings were of the same ilk.

I&apos;m so glad that MGM/UA finally released the widescreen version in 2001. This is a film that deserves such a presence. It may not be playing in theaters anymore but seeing it in any other display size takes so much away from it. I&apos;ve seen the pan/scan version before and will never go back.

One note. The full listing of writing credits for the film adaptation is lacking. &quot;Ambush In Blanco Canyon,&quot; originally serialized in a magazine, was later novelized into &quot;The Big Country&quot; by Donald Hamilton ... and Hamilton also worked on the adaptation as well as Leon Uris (&quot;Topaz,&quot; &quot;Exodus,&quot; &quot;Gunfight At the OK Corral,&quot; etc.).

This epic film was not lacking for anything. It had the best writers, the best actors, the best musical score, and the best scenery of any other film of its time ... western or otherwise. And the film remains one of my favorite films of all time.

Official Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGQ1NDQ5OTktNTRkMi00YTI1LWI1MjItYzNjODc2MGE4YTVmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXRyYW5zY29kZS13b3JrZmxvdw@@._V1_.jpg

As a rule, I don't like westerns. This isn't because I'm a city slicker (though now, I do live in a city). I grew up in rural Eastern Oregon where "real" cowboys still herd their cattle through the center of town in John Day, Oregon. My stepfather owned a 10,170 acre cattle ranch. After being raised among "real" cowboys, the Hollywood versions tend to leave me flat. The Big Country was an exception.

Jim McKay (Gregory Peck) introduced us to a different kind of man, far different than most stereotypical men of the Wild West. If I were to compare McKay's character to any other film character, it would be Ghandi. He's a man who doesn't feel obliged to seek the approval of others ... a man who believes that violence doesn't need to be used to solve problems. His secret ride of Old Thunder, making Ramon (Alfonso Bedoya) swear to keep quiet regardless of the outcome, set the tone for McKay's character. His later secret fight with Steve Leech (Charleton Heston), making him swear to keep quiet regardless of the outcome, cemented that tone. This was a REAL man whose opinion of himself was not dependent upon anyone else's opinion ... in stark contrast to anyone else in the film outside of Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons). As Ramon said, "Such a man is very rare."

Outside of McKay, my #2 favorite character in the film was Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives). I found nothing about him distasteful considering he was a character whose back was against the wall ... whose livelihood was threatened. The things he did make perfect sense in such a situation. His only flaw was his obvious poor parenthood. He really blew it with Buck (Chuck Connors) and Buck's siblings were of the same ilk.

I'm so glad that MGM/UA finally released the widescreen version in 2001. This is a film that deserves such a presence. It may not be playing in theaters anymore but seeing it in any other display size takes so much away from it. I've seen the pan/scan version before and will never go back.

One note. The full listing of writing credits for the film adaptation is lacking. "Ambush In Blanco Canyon," originally serialized in a magazine, was later novelized into "The Big Country" by Donald Hamilton ... and Hamilton also worked on the adaptation as well as Leon Uris ("Topaz," "Exodus," "Gunfight At the OK Corral," etc.).

This epic film was not lacking for anything. It had the best writers, the best actors, the best musical score, and the best scenery of any other film of its time ... western or otherwise. And the film remains one of my favorite films of all time.

A New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.

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