The Big Country (1958) |
|
| Director(s) | William Wyler |
| Producer(s) | William Wyler, Gregory Peck, Robert Wyler |
| Top Genres | Drama, Romance, Western |
| Top Topics | Book-Based, Ranchers, Romance (Drama), Wild West |
Featured Cast of The Big Country See More »
Gregory Peck
(as James McKay)
Jean Simmons
(as Julie Maragon)
Carroll Baker
(as Patricia Terrill)
Charlton Heston
(as Steve Leech)
Burl Ives
(as Rufus Hannassey)
Charles Bickford
(as Maj. Henry Terrill)
Alfonso Bedoya
(as Ramón Guiteras)
Chuck Connors
(as Buck Hannassey)
The Big Country Overview:
The Big Country (1958) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by William Wyler and produced by William Wyler, Gregory Peck and Robert Wyler.
The film was based on the novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon and also Saturday Evening Post Serial written by Donald Hamilton published in 1958 (novel); Feb 1957 (magazine).
SYNOPSIS
Wyler's powerful Western covers a lot of territory with Peck a fish out of water as a sea captain who travels west to marry and settle, but finds himself in the middle of a bitter dispute over water rights and a jealous clash with the ranch foreman (Heston). He also discovers his fiancee isn't who he imagined and finds true romance with the local schoolmistress (Simmons).
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
Academy Awards 1958 --- Ceremony Number 31 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Supporting Actor | Burl Ives | Won |
| Best Music - Scoring | Jerome Moross | Nominated |
The Big Country BlogHub Articles:
The Big Country 60th Anniversary Blu-Ray Giveaway (now-Aug 4)
The Big Country 60th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-Ray Giveaway “Kino Lorber’s majestic Blu-ray presentation of The Big Country is nearly an essential presentation of William Wyler’s masterpiece, on a disc loaded with enough extras to satisfy casual and rabid collectors alike.&... Read full article
FAVORITE DIRECTOR BLOGATHON: William Wyler - Hell's Heroes (1929) and The Big Country (1958)
William Wyler (1902 - 1981) Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and The Midnite Drive-In are hosting The Favorite Director Blogathon running from May 26th to 29th. Click here or here for contributions. For me, William Wyler is a director who rarely puts a foot wrong. His dramas from These Three to D... Read full article
FAVORITE DIRECTOR BLOGATHON: William Wyler - Hell's Heroes (1929) and The Big Country (1958)
William Wyler (1902 - 1981) Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and The Midnite Drive-In are hosting The Favorite Director Blogathon running from May 26th to 29th. Click here or here for contributions. For me, William Wyler is a director who rarely puts a foot wrong. His dramas from These Three to D... Read full article
The Big Country (1958)
The Big Country (1958) Directed by William Wyler Written by James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett, and Robert Wyler from a novel by Donald Hamilton 1958/USA United Artists/Anthony Productions/Worldwide Productions Repeat viewing/Netflix rental William Wyler directed in more genres than just about any direct... Read full article
James Webb's babies: Raton Pass (1951) and The Big Country (1958)
Screenwriter James R. Webb was twice awarded the Bronze Wrangler by the Western Heritage Awards, in 1964 for How the West Was Won (also Oscar nominated) and 1965 for Cheyenne Autumn. The Writer's Guild of America honoured him three times with the Valentine Davies Award in 1965, the Morgan Cox Award... Read full article
See More The Big Country Articles
The Big Country Quotes:
James McKay: There's some things a man has to prove to himself alone... not to anyone else.
Patricia Terrill: Not even to the woman he loves.
James McKay: Least of all her... if she loves him.
Rufus Hannassey: Just payin' back the call that you and your men did to my boys this mornin'... sorry I wasn't there to give you the proper welcome. I got me something to say that's about thirty years overdue. This is a mighty fine house, Major Terrill, a gentleman's house. Those are mighty fine clothes your wearin'. Well, maybe you got some of these folks fooled, but you ain't got me fooled, not by a damn sight! The Hannassey's know and admire a real gentleman when they seen one, and they recgonize the smell of a high tone skunk when they smell one. Now, I'm not here tonight complaining about twenty-three of your brave men, beating three of my boys until they couldn't stand. Maybe they had it coming anyway - they're full grown and can take their lickin's. I'm also not here complaining that you're trying to buy the Big Muddy, to keep my cows from water. It's interesting to see the daughter of a genuine gentleman like Glenn Maragon under this roof! I'll tell you why I'm here, Major Terrill. The next time you come a busting and blazing into my place scaring the kids and the women folks, when you invade my home, like you was the law or God Almighty... then I say to you, I've seen every kind of critter God ever made, and I ain't never seen a more meaner, lower, pitiful, yellow, stinking hyprocrite than you! Now you can swallow up a lot of folks and make them like it, but you ain't swallowing me, I'm stuck in your crawl, Major Terrill, and you can't spit me out! You hear me now! You've rode into my place and beat my men for the last time and I give ya warning, you step foot in Blanco Canyon once more and this country goin' to run red with blood until there ain't one of us left! Now I don't hold mine so precious, so if you want to start, here, start now!
Rufus Hannassey: You don't shoot an unarmed man... not while I'm around.