JohnHowardReid NOTES: Burl Ives won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, defeating Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones, Leo Jacoby in The Brothers Karamazov, Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running, and Gig Young in Teacher's Pet. Jerome Moross was nominated for an Oscar for his Music Score, losing to Dimitri Tiomkin's The Old Man and the Sea. The New York Film Critics nominated the film for Best Picture and Wyler for Best Director, both losing to The Defiant Ones. Burl Ives, Best Supporting Actor - Hollywood Foreign Press. Best Western of the year - Film Daily annual poll of American film critics. Best Western of 1958 - New York Daily News. Best Western of 1958 - Time. Best Western of 1958 - New York Journal American. Best Western of 1958 - New York World-Telegram. Best Western of 1958 - New York Post. "Simply the best film ever made. My number one favorite film." - President Dwight D. Eisenhower.COMMENT: An epic western directed by William Wyler in an obvious attempt to recapture the success of "The Westerner". That the attempt is not wholly successful is due more to the stock characters in the script than to Wyler's somewhat old-hat technique. What makes "The Big Country" really outstanding, however, is Jerome Moross's invigorating music score - one of the most exciting ever composed for a motion picture.

HotToastyRag I haven't seen every western in the world, but I've seen my fair share, and in my opinion The Big Country is one of the best classic western films. If you haven't seen this oldie yet, go out and buy it now. Trust me, you'll want to watch it over and over again.William Wyler, director of another perfect American classic The Best Years of Our Lives, helmed The Big Country the year before using Charlton Heston again in Ben-Hur. Charlton Heston plays the antagonist in this movie, and it's great to see him in that rare role. The lead, the out-of-towner with a strong moral character, is played by Gregory Peck, the very portrait of American integrity. Greg comes to the open country to reunite with his fiancé Caroll Baker. He's an outsider, and he isn't welcomed with open arms by everyone. Along the way, he builds a friendship with Jean Simmons, who appreciates his high morals, and he finds himself in the middle of a decades-old family feud, led by Charles Bickford and Burl Ives.Jerome Moross wrote one of the greatest film scores of all time to The Big Country, but of course, lost the Oscar that year to a far less deserving rival. It's such a beautiful score, romantic, equestrian, and adventurous in all the right places.Every wonderful element that makes a classic western is found in The Big Country. There's a slow but steady pace set by a gentle director, grizzled old men with memorable one-liners in their bickering, a clash between country folk and city folk, love triangles, an untamable horse, a shootout, and beautiful music.

Timber Vance I enjoyed this movie very much until the end of it. The scene from afar made it difficult to see what was happening and the conclusion was very weak. Loved the scenic views and the complication of story, but it fizzled out at the end. Wonderful stars and action were awesome. Loved seeing several high quality people involved in this movie.

Robert J. Maxwell Gregory Peck is a ship's captain who moves to the Old West to marry his girl friend, Carol Baker, and is swept up in a family feud -- Burl Ives versus Charles Bickford -- over water rights for the cattle.Baker is Bickford's daughter, and Bickford's Stud Duck is Charlton Heston. Peck's arrival immediately generates a strong loathing in Heston, who believes Peck to have one foot in fairydom because he turns down an opportunity to mount an enraged horse and because he claims to have navigated the vast prairie with a compass, while everyone at the ranch believes the newcomer to have been lost. "The lostest thing I ever saw," says Heston.The name of Peck's character is James McKay. Heston is Steve Leech. I ask you, the discerning viewer, which are we to consider the "good guy" in this rivalry -- the character named McKay or the character named Leech? Someone wrote a ludicrous scene in which Burl Ives forces his fast-draw son, Chuck Connors, to shoot it out with Peck using a pair of old-fashioned dueling pistols. It ends with the discomfiture of one of the contestants.There are a lot of insults flung around, particularly aimed at masculinity. There is an epic fist fight that observes all the conventions of the Western movie of the 50s -- no blood and no bruises afterward. Curiously, Peck and Heston became good friends and remained so over the years, although Peck was "a card-carrying member of the ACLU" and Heston was the poster boy for the National Rifle Association.There is the requisite shoot out at the end. It's dramatic and nicely shot. The ending is sad but peaceful. We must assume that some sort of compromise is going to be reached because both gangs ride off into the sunset together.The photography and location shooting are marvelous. If it's not a vista of endless short-grass prairie, it's milk-white buttes and wadis veined with lavender. Very nicely directed by Anthony Mann. Peck had an argument with him during the shooting and the two didn't speak together for years. I'm inclined to think that the conflict was precipitated by the director. In his memoirs, Charlton Heston refers to Mann as an intransigent wild man.