Imagine Charles Bickford and Caroll Baker from The Big Country. Caroll has never met Gregory Peck and Bickford's never taken in a kid like Charlton Heston to raise in his own image. That's what you've got in Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston in Anthony Mann's The Furies.

The title is the name of Walter Huston's spread, like the Ponderosa for the Cartwrights. But Huston's is a guy who's got something going that neither Ben Cartwright or Charles Bickford had. This man he plays issues his own money, IOU notes described as TCS as per his character T.C. Jeffords. You take his notes and presumably they can be redeemed in regular coin of the realm later.

So he's a rich guy, but in his case rich is a relative term. And therein lies how Barbara Stanwyck after Huston hangs one of her childhood friends, Gilbert Roland, for horse stealing she vows vengeance on the father she loves above all.

This film with more than a hint of incest going on here marks Walter Huston's farewell performance. It's quite a contest between him and Stanwyck to see who out act each other.

Stanwyck has her own moment of fury when she goes after the elegant Judith Anderson who Huston has taken a fancy to and is planning to marry. That scene has to be watched, no further description is offered.

Blanche Yurka who learned revenge while playing Madame DeFarge in A Tale of Two Cities plays Roland's mother here and her DeFarge training comes in handy. Others in the cast are Wendell Corey, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, and John Bromfield.

Bromfield plays Stanwyck's brother a weak character who is disposed of rather early. I can't understand why his character wasn't developed more.

The Furies has some interesting moments, but as a western it's not half as good as Mann's work with James Stewart later on or with Devil's Doorway with Robert Taylor.

This film is about a nasty old rancher and his amazingly macho and unstable daughter. They go from the best of friends to the worst of enemies through the course of the film and the viewer is probably left wondering why all this really occurred.

I have seen most of Barbara Stanwyck's films, so my reaction to "The Furies" may be different from that of other viewers. Seeing Stanwyck playing yet another butch female was a bit tough for me. First, because this sort of role was way too common for her--it had become a cliché. Second, because this sort of lady, though present in 1940s and 50s movies was awfully anachronistic--you just didn't find women like this in the Old West. And so, as a retired history teacher, I blanched at such a character. I WISH there had been tough as nails like her but frankly women were not given this opportunity in those days. The closest you might find like her might have been a tough old prostitute--but the idea of a lady bossing EVERYONE around like a mini-tyrant just seemed silly. And, coming from petite Stanwyck who made a bazillion films about tough old broads, it just felt too familiar.

At the same time, I loved part of the film's plot. Seeing Stanwyck's character have a WAY too close relationship with her father (it looked like it was bordering on the incestuous--with their kissing each other on the lips and overly familiar manners) was exciting. This embodiment of the old Electra Complex (like an Oedipal Complex with with the genders reversed) was very interesting and fresh. And, what I really LOVED was how this eventually played out--when another woman (Judith Anderson) wanted the father (Walter Huston) sparks really, really flew. To me THIS is what makes the film worth seeing--and which makes it possible to overlook the silliness of Stanwyck's ultra-macho demeanor. It also helped to explain, in part, the twisted sort of relationship between father and daughter and the bizarre things they do through the course of the film. They fight because it is not permissible for them to act out their dark impulses--at least this is how the Freudians would interpret all this.

What's to like other than the incestuous aspects? The cinematography was great (not surprisingly it received an Oscar nomination) and the direction by Anthony Mann was very nice. What's no to like? Well, some of the acting (not just Stanwyck's) was very far from subtle--especially the crazy old lady who played Gilbert Roland's mother (Blanche Yurka)! And, overall, I think the film, despite its faults, is still worth watching. However, considering what great westerns Mann directed, I cannot agree with one reviewer who felt this was his best film. What about "Winchester '73" or "The Naked Spur" or "The Tin Star"?

By the way, the aging Walter Huston does some amazingly macho things for a guy who died before the film debuted. However, in at least one of these scenes you can see the wires that were used to provide the illusion of a tough and virile Huston. Towards the beginning of the film, Huston climbs in a mud hole to extricate a calf. As he's tossing it, look carefully for the wire that helps him with this arduous task.

Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston are reasons enough to see any film they're in and both were nearly always good and more. Have also liked a lot of Judith Anderson's work since her unforgettable Mrs Danvers in 'Rebecca', and Beulah Bondi and Albert Dekker were always dependable. Have also loved a good deal of Anthony Mann's other work, including some of the best Westerns around, and Franz Waxman was one of the best film composers at the time in my view.

'The Furies' does fall slightly short of being the brilliant film that it could easily have been, but goodness wasn't it close to being. That is of course my feelings from my own viewing of it not too long ago, but will never hold anything against anybody that didn't care for it a great deal. My reason for saying that it was this close to being a great film is that 'The Furies' has so many strengths and those strengths were more than well done, they were brilliantly done.

It is hard knowing where to start with the praise, but lets start with the performances which were, with only one major exception, great. Stanwyck is a tremendously powerful presence, bringing her usual steel and vulnerability while Huston in sadly his last film is mesmerising. His best moments are intensely moving at times and have even more so a lot of menacing fire, the lack of any Oscar nomination or any award attention for his performance here is in my view criminal. Anderson proves herself to be a scene stealer and the tension between her and Stanwyck is one of the best executed and most interesting character/acting relationships in 'The Furies', not to mention her great last line. Bondi and Dekker are good, even though their roles are somewhat small and Gilbert Roland is appealing.

Most of the character/acting relationships are handled very well. Liked the tension between Stanwyck and Anderson and Stanwyck is far more convincing with Roland than she is with Wendell Corey, much more of a sense of them being in love. The most interesting is the father-daughter relationship, which had furious intensity and at times creepiness. Excepting Vance, the characters are interesting. TC being the meatiest and quite larger than life while not unbalancing the film.

Furthermore, Mann directs brilliantly, and the atmosphere and evocative setting is enhanced by Victor Millner's magnificently atmospheric, beautifully crafted cinematography that was deservingly Oscar-nominated. And by Waxman's rousing and at times haunting score. The script is intelligently written and taut while allowing breathing space and the story is always absorbing and tense, there is melodrama here but it is not overwrought.

Despite all those great things, a couple of things could have been done better. Corey is very stiff and a complete blank as the main romantic lead. He and Stanwyck have no real chemistry either, which is something of a moderately big problem as he has more screen time than Roland (who has far more charm and easier chemistry with Stanwyck).

Also thought that Blanche Yurka was a bit too theatrical and out of place here, though her screen time was not near as big as Corey's so wasn't as distracting.

Shortcomings aside, all in all this was a very good film because the acting, direction and photography are so good. 8/10