madcardinal One of the best Westerns ever made. Superior to other films of its time because it possesses more realism and authenticity and shuns the silly, false and simplistic moralizing which was almost a requirement for American films of this period. This is a film about real, complex people involved is realistic, complex events. Film-maker Anthony Mann hailed from Great Britain - perhaps this had something to do with the unusual realism. Positives are: 1 - The beautiful cinematography alone is enough reason to rent. The lighting is superb, there is sumptuous use of darkness, and the twilight and night scenes are ravishingly beautiful. 2 - Strong, resourceful female characters instead of the usual phony, helpless, wilting flowers. These women are people in their own right, not merely appendages of some male character. 3 - The characters are an honest mix of good and bad qualities - not artificial cardboard cut-outs simplistically meant to serve as types. 4 - Minorities are portrayed as real people. The Mexicans are portrayed with sensitivity and understanding, instead of the usual condescending caricatures. 5 - Walter Huston, Barbara Stanwyck & Wendell Corey do an excellent job of bringing their characters to life. The other actors are solidly top drawer. 6 - Excellent story-telling at its finest. With repeated viewing, you see more deeply into the complex and surprisingly subtle motivations of the characters. The only negative is that the sensuality of real life was artificially pre-filtered out of the film; but in full fairness to "The Furies," this is true of all American films of this period, due to the de facto censorship which held sway at the time. In sum, a complex, vivid depiction of love, hate, greed, loyalty, betrayal, devotion, affirmation of life and the inexorability of death, as they course through the lives of real, breathing people. Anthony Mann was far ahead of his time in crafting this truthful gem. What a special achievement!

evanston_dad Barbara Stanwyck has some serious daddy issues in this weird cross between a women's picture, western and film noir from 1950.Walter Huston plays the daddy, and he steals the show in a vibrant performance. He owns a ranch called The Furies, which he hands over to his daughter when he tires of the daily management. But things go awry when he brings home a new wife from the city (Judith Anderson, excellent) and she has some ideas of her own about how things should be run. Tensions boil over to the point where father and daughter hate each other, and Stanwyck hatches a scheme to bankrupt her father and take the ranch away from him.It's an uneven movie at best. Characters seem to turn on a dime -- Huston and Stanwyck go from idolizing one another to hating each other back to idolizing each other -- but maybe that's the point. They're both ruled by their passions, and those passions extend to the father/daughter relationship, and sometimes confuse it, as much as to their business practices.Anthony Mann provided the noirish direction, and Franz Waxman delivers a frenzied, out-there score.Grade: B+

bkoganbing 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.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This is the second western made by Anthony Mann, he was destined to become one of the great masters of the genre. Even though a film is a joint effort, there is always an element that prevails, in this case the story by Niven Busch. As in Pursued and Duel in the Sun it is about love and hate.There are three magnificent performances here: Walter Huston, Barbara Stanwyck and Judith Anderson. Huston is a megalomaniac rancher who makes his payments with his own currency, T.C.s. He is so in love with his own image that to maintain it he will go to extreme cruelty. Stanwyck is his daughter, who administers the ranch when he is away and counts on being the future owner. When her power is threatened by Judith Anderson the woman Huston wants to marry, she becomes wild. Gilbert Roland is a squatter friendly with Stanwick, but hated by Huston. Wendell Corey is a gambler and Stanwyck's love interest. Worth seeing.