When Jim McKay (Gregory Peck) stepped off the stagecoach in the open range of the West, Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) was already his excellent rival and adversary...

Steve - Major Terrill's strong right arm - was in love with the beautiful Pat (Carroll Baker) daughter of his boss, who intends to marry the innocent handsome Captain...

Soon than expected, McKay discovered a bitter blood feud between the Terrills, owner of a huge ranch, and the Hannasseys, simple mountain men..

Extreme hatred united the two families, the two cattlemen Major Terrill (Charles Bickford) and Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives).

Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons) was a strategic factor in the conflict... She was the key to supply water... Both, Terrill and Hannassey wanted her part of land to have their cattle watered, but she always said 'no' to either... Why not to say 'yes' now to Jim McKay! Julie was touched by his honesty, a quality she admired in a man...

Jim, a perfect gentleman - suffering humiliation since his arrival to the big country - grew to unlike Pat's ideas and manners which were in a primitive set of values... He became aware of Julie as a sensitive woman, an understanding human being with great heart...

When Julie is kidnapped by the Hannassey, McKay goes to meet Rifus... He wins esteem and consideration from the old man but fails to refrain a hostile confrontation between the two selfish, inflexible old barons...

"The Big Country" is distinguished by its magnificent landscapes... The high, wide and impressive buggy ride spread out a lavish, sumptuous scale of the State of Texas as never has been carried to the silver screen..

The film is about land and its influence and power over people... A story that can occur everyday in every country, zone and family... The love, the hatred, the war for land, for power, for water rights... always for an asset!

Gregory Peck is outstanding as the calm anti-traditional hero, balancing a deed of bravery, strength and endurance...

Jean Simmons is a big leading lady at that time, big enough to the 'Big Country.'

Carroll Baker, famous as the thumb-sucking child-wife in "Baby Doll," is Charles Bickford's willful daughter, acting according to his law and dictate...

Charlton Heston confirms a favorable impression by giving an excellent account as the grinning, menacing rival in love with the land and with McKay's attractive fiancée...

Burl Ives - Winner of the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor in the film - is impeccably cast as the gray-haired patriarch of a shameful, indecent, discourteous clan...

Charles Bickford (1891-1967) could play as easily the sincere man of virtue ("Duel in the Sun") as the dishonest villain... His generous character and his stubborn face fitted him perfectly to such roles as the proud misguided patriarch led by false and mistaken ideas in the range against Burl Ives...

Chuck Connors (1921-92) is always remembered for his success on T.V. notably in "The Rifleman" series (58-63). Here he plays the heavy coward, the rude and vulgar, the hypocrite impolite noisy disorderly son...

Directed by William Wyler, "The Big Country" is a spectacular Western featuring a brilliant cast at top shape...

If you like big action, big fights, big love, don't miss it!

Westerns, by their very nature, are mostly quite simplistic films. That's not to say they're bad – some of the simplest westerns of all are actually cinematic masterpieces because they've been pared to the bone for maximum impact. Stagecoach and High Noon, for example. But every now and then a western comes along that adds layers to the basic concept of the genre and becomes something more. This might be layers of psychology, layers of philosophy, layers of brutality – anything, really, that goes beyond the simple western framework and lends a more profound subtext to the film. Notable genre entries that have done this include The Searchers, The Wild Bunch and The Big Country, the latter of which is a 1958 epic made by William Wyler just a year before his incredible remake of Ben Hur.

Sea captain Jim Mackay (Gregory Peck) travels to the Wild West to reunite with a lady he met back east, the beautiful Pat Terrill (Carroll Baker). However, Jim finds nothing but hostility and danger in the west, and is quickly taunted by some the locals who find him effeminate and cowardly because of his belief that violence doesn't solve anything. Pat's father Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford) is a wealthy rancher, but Jim is troubled when he discovers that the Major is locked in a long-standing feud over water rights with a rival family, the Hannasseys. It doesn't take Jim long to figure out that Pat is not the woman for him – she may have seemed the perfect match back in the polite society of the East, but in her home region of the West she is dedicated to her father's aggressive attitudes and treats Jim differently, belittling him almost, because of his pacifist views. Worse still, the ranch foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) has designs of his own on Pat and wants to fight Jim for her affection. In the end, Jim switches his attention to school teacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons),who owns the patch of land that provides both the Terrills and the Hannasseys with their water. Violence erupts between the two warring families, with Jim and Julie getting caught literally in the middle of their fatal battle for supremacy.

There's much to admire about The Big Country. Jerome Moross's amazing score is perhaps the most memorable thing of all, a wonderful piece of dramatic scoring that is now a classic and known by people who haven't even seen the film. It's good to see Peck in such fine form too – often criticised for being too wooden, his acting style here lends perfect credibility to the pacifist hero role. The entire cast in is excellent form if the truth be told, with Burl Ives the choice of the bunch as the fiercely proud leader of the Hannassey clan (an Oscar-winning role, and thoroughly deserving of it). Franz Planer's cinematography is quite majestic and helps the film to live up to its rather grand title. And Wyler directs the film exceptionally well, holding our attention over almost three hours and presenting characters and a back story that are totally convincing and involving. Critics have occasionally accused the film of being overblown, and there is an element of truth in that, and the ending rather unfairly asks us to care about the fate of Bickford and Ives when they've been portrayed as very unsympathetic characters up to that point. On the whole, though, The Big Country is definitely a western worth recommending.

Although there are some exceptional Westerns (such as The Oxbow Incident, The Gunfighter and The Fastest Gun Alive),this is my favorite.

I must first point out that Westerns are NOT among my favorite movies. I like them in small doses or when they rise above the crowd.

This movie is GREAT in so many ways. First, the soundtrack is tops. It's magnificent in scope and fits the movie so well. Second, the acting is great. Particular standouts are Gregory Peck (as the strong, confident yet humble newcomer),Charlton Heston, Charles Bickford and Burl Ives. Overall, this movie seemed to best showcase Ives and Peck, as their characters were so solidly written and mesmerizing. Third, as alluded to in the last sentence, the writing was incredible and it was in many ways an "anti-Western" that deliberately avoided clichés and debunked some of the macho excessiveness of some Westerns. Fourth, the brilliantly paced and masterful direction of William Wyler (perhaps the greatest Director who ever lived).

This is the plot in a nutshell: Gregory Peck is an Easterner who had been a ship's captain who met a girl (Carol Baker) and agreed to marry her and move back west with her. It turns out her father (Bickford) owns most of the county and is way too adamant on proving his machismo--particularly when it came to altercations with another big-shot landowner (Ives) who is his rival. The problems all begin when Ives' son (Chuck Conners) and his buddies give Peck a nasty hazing. Peck laughs it off but Bickford is bound and determined to "teach that trashy clan a lesson".

It becomes painfully obvious through the course of the movie that BOTH patriarchs are pig-headed bullies who won't back down until their rival is pushing up daisies! Peck realizes this rather quickly but is disheartened that his fiancée is all for a countrywide bloodbath. Her lust for revenge and mayhem drives poor Gregory Peck away--into the arms of the luscious schoolmarm (Jean Simmons--not THE Gene Simmons from KISS, but the actress).

As a compromise, Peck offers to buy a piece of land under dispute by the two patriarchs and give them BOTH equal access to the land. Neither one really wants this solution, as it will preclude them from killing each other.

I won't tell more about the basic plot or the conclusion, as it would spoil the experience, though there are a few WONDERFUL moments I want to highlight.

First, the cowboys try to get Peck on an evil (and seemingly unbreakable) horse, but he declines. They think he's "yellow" but he just doesn't think he has to prove himself to others. Instead, when no one other than Raoul (the servant--who is exceptionally well-played),he tries again and again to ride the horse until he ultimately succeeds into saddle-breaking it.

Second, for much of the movie, Charlton Heston (Bickford's foreman) is itching for a fight with Peck. Again and again, Peck backs off--not because of perceived cowardice but because he has neither an argument with him nor did he feel I needed to fight. Now remember, Peck was introduced as an ex-sea captain--this was certainly NOT a wimpy profession, but he was so self-confident in his own masculinity that he just felt no need to prove anything to himself or his fiancée. Finally, after repeated provocations, Peck agrees to fight but not publicly. Instead, they fight all alone in an open field. The fight lasts for what seems like hours, as they exchange blow after blow. All this is shown NOT with the typical closeup, but with a DISTANT shot in order to avoid glamorized the fight. Finally, after they both are spent, Peck asks Heston if this REALLY accomplished ANYTHING! This was a beautiful moment.

Overall, I think this movie's theme is REAL masculinity versus FAKE put-on masculinity and it does a masterful job.