The Big Country (1958) on Netflix
Passed19582h 46mActionRomanceWestern
Retired sea captain James McKay comes west to marry Patricia Terrill. Her father, Major Henry Terrill, feuds with Rufus Hannassey over water for cattle, and McKay wants no part in it.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.9/1024,763 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
James McKay, a wealthy sea captain newly retired, means to marry Patricia Terrill and settle at the ranch of her father, Major Henry Terrill. The ranchers find McKay's ways a mystery, and the foreman, Steve Leech, dislikes him at once. When Buck Hannassey, son of the Major's longtime enemy Rufus Hannassey, and a band of drunks mock McKay and Patricia on the trail, McKay laughs it off. The feud between the two families runs on water for their cattle, and the Major takes his men to the Hannassey ranch in answer. McKay refuses to be drawn in, though the property at the heart of the quarrel belongs to Patricia's friend Julie Maragon.
Cast
- Buff Bradyas Dude Hannassey
- Jim Burkas Blackie
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Big Country (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director William Wyler was known for shooting an excessive number of takes, usually without telling the actors what to do differently beyond "[make it] better", and Jean Simmons and Carroll Baker were so traumatized by his style that they refused to speak about the experience for years.
- Gregory Peck and William Wyler, who were good friends, fought constantly on the set and had a falling out that lasted three years, although they later reconciled.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower liked the movie so much that he screened it on four successive evenings in the White House during his second administration.
- Before principal photography was complete, Wyler left for Rome to start work on Ben-Hur, handing the final scenes involving McKay and Maragon to his assistant Robert Swink, who pleased him so much that Wyler wrote to him: "The shots you made are complete perfection."
- Wyler and Charles Bickford clashed on this production, as the two men had done 30 years previously on Wyler's 1929 film Hell's Heroes.
- Leon Uris wrote a screenplay for the film and Robert Wilder wrote another, but after arbitration Uris was given no credit at all, as his script deviated too much from the original story.
- The Snow Ranch location was later used for the pilot of Little House on the Prairie (1974) and other films; still a working cattle ranch, it now hosts National Association of Rocketry launches in winter and is playfully dubbed "Snow Ranch Spaceport".
