William Wyler Blogathon: The Big Country

(Background information and quotations are taken from the William Wyler biography “A Talent for Trouble” by Jan Herman (G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1995) and liner notes to the limited edition CD of “The Big Country” soundtrack).

William Wyler started his directing career making two- and five-reel westerns for Universal in the twenties. In 1930 he directed his first sound feature, “Hell’s Hinges”, which many consider the best version of the famous western novel, “The Three Godfathers” by Peter B. Kyne.

Wyler brought to “The Westerner” (1940) a flinty look that is quite atypical of westerns of the period, but it would be in 1958 in “The Big Country” that marked, in a large-scale manner, a return to his directorial roots.

A modest hit at the time, and only generating mildly enthusiastic reviews, “The Big Country”, for me, looks better with each passing year. Despite the lack of large-scale action set pieces, the almost three-hour running time flies by as we watched a gallery of flawed characters and hesitant heroes and heroines.

Like John Ford’s “Stagecoach” (1939), it’s a western for people who don’t like westerns. Rather than having stock characters dealing with outlaws or Indian attacks, “The Big Country” boasts half a dozen fascinating characters and their interweaving dynamics as they face each other over control of the Big Muddy, the large, watered acreage lusted after by Major Henry Terrill (Charles Bickford), the largest and most powerful cattle baron in the territory, and Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives), a coarser and, for want of a better word, “hillbilly” cattle rancher who wants the Big Muddy so he can readily water his cows. The Terrills and the Hannasseys clans detest each other like the Hatfield and the McCoys, and neither wants to give into the other.

At one time, the Big Muddy was shared by both families, as it was under the control of the grandfather of the local school teacher Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons). While she owns the Big Muddy, she doesn’t have the time, money or manpower to work it. But she desperately wants peace in the valley and does not want to sell it to either the Terrills or the Hannasseys.

 

The spark is lit with the arrival of Jim McKay (Gregory Peck), a former sea captain and fiance of Patricia Terrill (Carroll Baker), daughter of Major Terrill. Ranch foreman Steve Leech (Charlton Heston) picks McKay up in town to take him to the ranch and can barely conceal his contempt for Eastern dude McKay. (There are hints of a romantic past between Leech and Patricia).

Despite his derby hat and dandified clothes, McKay is no pushover. He thinks the feud is silly and offers to buy the Big Muddy from Julie as a wedding present for Patricia, with the understanding that the Big Muddy will be available to everyone, even the Hannasseys. Despite the peace this would bring, McKay’s plan is not acceptable to any of the parties.

Hannassey’s oldest son, Buck (Chuck Connors) is a mean, sadistic drunk who is sweet on Julie and tells Rufus that Julie is attracted to him and when they get married, the Big Muddy will be theirs. Julie can barely stomach Buck, but Buck tells Rufus otherwise.

 

McKay gets grief from all sides. Buck picks on McKay, Leech wants to show up McKay in front of everyone, and Patricia wants McKay to stand up for himself. But McKay knows who he is and doesn’t think he has to prove anything to anyone.

Wyler said, “The Big Country was about courage and cowardice. It was about a man’s refusal to act according to accepted standards of behavior. Customs of the Old West were sort of debunked.”

“The Big Country” was based on a Saturday Evening Post serial titled “Ambush at Blanco Canyon” written by Matt Helm creator Donald Hamilton. Screenwriter James Webb brought the story to the attention of Gregory Peck who was looking for a story to re-team with his “Roman Holiday” (1953) director William Wyler. Peck and Wyler had formed a production venture and were looking for a project that interested them both. Production stalled on a script called “Thieves’ Market”, about the planned robbery of some paintings from the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Script problems could not be licked and the Hamilton story seemed the ideal back-up. Herman writes: “The setup seemed perfect. Peck had a development deal with United Artists, which would finance and distribute the picture, but he and Wyler would be the bosses. The pair divided their producing responsibilities and formed separate companies. Wyler’s was World Wide Productions; Peck’s was Anthony Productions, named for his infant son. Wyler would be in charge of all things artistic. Peck would have casting and script approval, and he would handle the ranching aspects of the picture: hire the wranglers, rent the livestock, choose the horses, in effect serve as foreman.”

Filming took place in the Mojave Desert and in the Stockdale, California area, deliberately chosen for their remoteness. Wyler “wanted to be able to look around 360 degrees and not see any telephone poles or TV antennas…any signs of civilization,” remembers second unit director Robert Swink.

 

“The Big Country” is a big movie, and never was a movie’s title more appropriate. The country is big, and Wyler often keeps his camera far, far away, showing how insignificant his characters are amidst the splendor of the country. One justly famous sequence is a fist fight between McKay and Leech. Wyler keeps the camera at a very great distance and while there are some close-ups, much of the fight is filmed from a great distance, showing how petty the fight really is.

Scenes of Terrill and his ranch hands riding to the Hannassey spread are often shot from a great distance, making the riders look like ants as they traverse the magnificent countryside.

An underlying theme is the advent of civilization, as represented by Peck’s character. Rough men like the Major and Rufus may have been needed to tame the wilderness, but there’s no place for blood feuds anymore. If the territory is to be tamed, it’s up to the McKays and Julie Maragons to make the frontier a civilized place.

 

Peck said art be damned, they were out to make money. “We wanted to make money out of this. We were going after a commercial hit, not the Academy Awards.”

Come Oscar time, “The Big Country” was only nominated for two Academy Awards, but both richly deserved. Burl Ives was nominated, and won, the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as the patriarchal Rufus. It’s a great, memorable performance. The same year, Ives appeared in the role he’s probably best remembered for, Big Daddy, in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Likely some voters were awarding him for that as well, as the two characters are a lot alike. But I think even if Ives didn’t essay his Big Daddy portrayal, he would have won that year. Competition was Arthur Kennedy for “Some Came Running”, Gig Young for “Teacher’s Pet”, Lee J. Cobb for “The Brothers Karamazov” and Theodore Bikel for “The Defiant Ones.” Ives’s closest competition was likely the criminally underrated Arthur Kennedy, but Ives is so memorable in “The Big Country that he easily dwarfs the competition.

His Rufus is talked about for the first half of the film and we know him only as the avowed enemy of the Terrills. If he’s anything like his son Buck and his wranglers, then he’s a scourge to the countryside.

 

We first see his hulking presence from the back, as he is ready to crash a fancy dance at the Terrill Ranch. Much more coarse than the Major, and living in poverty for years, Rufus begins to appear curiously sympathetic as he berates his rich neighbor.  All he wants is water to water his cows. Looking at his clothes, Rufus doesn’t have one eighth the material wealth that the Major possess, and while he has a mean streak a mile wide, we do sense a strange kind of honor within him.

Ives also delivers one of my all-time favorite movie lines in a response to Buck, his son he doesn’t like.

Buck: “You want me Pa?”

Rufus: “Before you was born, I did.”

Ouch.

The film’s other Oscar nomination was for Best Score by Jerome Moross, a true landmark score, and one of the most splendid examples of musical Americana every composed. Even decades later, the music was used in commercials and is one of the most identifiable ever for a western. I say give Aaron Copland’s western ballet scores a short rest in the concert hall and program selections from “The Big Country” score instead. Sit back and listen to the audience go nuts.

Wyler was known in Hollywood as a perfectionist, but he was busy prepping “Ben-Hur” and was not present at any of the scoring sessions, leaving that in the hands of supervising editor and second unit director Robert Swink. Swink said Gregory Peck, wearing his co-producer hat, attended several of the scoring sessions.

 

Charlton Heston, who has probably had more genuinely great film scores written for his movies than any other actor (with the possible exception of Errol Flynn), said, “I saw the final cut just before they added the music…and I’ve got to say, the difference that music makes for the better is immeasurable.”  

Moross should have won the Oscar that year for Best Score, but in one of the injustices in Oscar history, he undeservedly lost to that grand publicity hound Dimitri Tiomkin for “The Old Man and the Sea.” Just goes to show that Academy members were just as tone deaf then as they are now. Other nominees for Best Score that year were David Raksin for “Separate Tables”, Hugo Friedhofer for “The Young Lions” (my choice for runner-up winner) and Oliver Wallace for Disney’s “White Wilderness.”

While “The Big Country” movie ranked eleventh for 1958 releases, it barely broke even, grossing $5 million. The original budget was $3 million but production problems and delays caused the budget to eventually reach $4.1 million.

It was not a happy experience for many of the cast members, thanks to the lack of creature comforts in a remote location, and new script pages that were being written as filming was going on.

 

Peck and Wyler fought on the film, to the point where Wyler was using an intermediary to direct Peck. Jean Simmons wouldn’t talk about the film for years. Only Connors, Ives and Heston seemed to have escaped unscathed.

Herman quotes Peck: “There were a lot of good things about the movie, but I frankly don’t think it was audience’s fault. It was our fault.”

Heston said, “A good film, ‘The Big Country.’ I’d have to say it falls short of being a great film, but that’s not to suggest that it does not contain greatness.”

Still, Peck and Wyler have nothing to be ashamed of. “The Big Country” stands far over many of the same westerns that year, and the incredible production logistics, on-location shooting and balancing character dynamics over a long and demanding production no doubt stood Wyler in good stead for his next film, “Ben-Hur” (1959) the biggest film of his or anyone’s career.

 

To read about “Ben-Hur” and other Wyler masterpieces, visit the William Wyler blogathon page at The Movie Projector http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/p/wm-wyler-blogathon.html

My very great thanks to R.D. Finch of The Movie Projector for inviting me to participate in the blogathon.

Gentleman's Agreement

Gentleman's Agreement, 1947
Directed by Elia Kazan
Nominated for 8 Oscars, Won 3
Up Against: The Bishop's Wife, Crossfire, Great Expectations, Miracle on 34th Street

The Gentleman's Agreement is the story of a widowed father, who goes "undercover" as a Jew for research on an article he's writing on Antisemitism. I was really interested in this movie when I picked it up from the library and read the back cover (yes, I order them, not knowing anything about them), and hoped it was going to be a good one! And I was not disappointed.

Gregory Peck plays Phillip Skyler Green (Skyler Green is his writing name, Phil Green his normal name), the writer and widowed father living with his son and grandmother, having just arrived in New York City. Upon arriving he meets his new boss's (and head of the magazine) niece, Kathy. Kathy is a lovely girl, beautiful, and smart, and she and Phil are instantly attracted to each other, and find themselves quickly engaged. But when Phil's boss tells him he wants him to write a piece on antisemitism, Phil is hesitant, but takes the piece on. While mulling over how to go about it, he realizes he must declare himself as a Jew and see the results for himself. Nobody knows him in New York, he's only just arrived. And he quickly starts to see things he didn't quite imagine.

The story gets more complicated as Phil starts to realize what he can and can't do. He can't go to the hotel he wants for his Honeymoon because it's "restricted", he see's the way people react when he mentions he's Jewish, and the assumptions people make of him. All of this seems a little naive of Phil, considering his best friend growing up was a Jew, and antisemitism seems to be everywhere. Eventually, even Phil's son Tom gets targeted with name-calling.

The story is well told, a double plot concerning Phil and Kathy, and Phil's research on antisemitism. And what I really appreciated about the movie is that it didn't focus on the outwardly antisemitics and how horrible they are, but how the people who dislike it so much but don't do anything to change anything, let comments and jokes slip by, etc, are just as bad. And they're the ones who could make a difference if they spoke up. You can't change the world by hating something and knowing what's wrong. It's knowing what's wrong and doing something about it. It was a well-told message, and something most people forget. About any issue. 

Gregory Peck is great as Phil. He's serious, he's troubled, he's a caring father, and a romantic lover, and he's a serious writer. While the topic of antisemitism stays within the upper-class only (would've been more interesting to expand it wider than that), it was an interesting insight. Whether it's because it doesn't happen much anymore, or because it just doesn't happen here in Canada, I thought this film was interesting and I learned a lot. Sure, I knew about the goings on in the States, but not really to the extent of this movie showed.

In general the acting was very good. It scored 3 nominations, with Celeste Holm, who played Phil's flirty friend Anne, taking home the Supporting Actress Oscar. The pacing was really good, the music good, and it was just a really interesting and intriguing film. I can imagine it was quite controversial when it came out, being released in the 40s, right after WWII.

Overall, I liked it, learned a lot, and appreciated the strong message it gave. The only way to change the world is to get up and do something about it.

8/10

The World In His Arms

“The World in His Arms” (1952) is a rousing adventure film, the type today’s Hollywood would be completely incapable of making. Oh, they could try to make it, but they would be so insistent on giving psychological shadings to the characters, or creating elaborate back stories as to why the characters behave the way they do, that the entire enterprise would become a turgid two-and-a-half-hour bore.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with back stories, but sometimes you just want to sit back with an adventure yarn lavishly told with a strong handsome hero, a beautiful strong-willed woman, colorful supporting characters, large-scale action scenes, elaborate costumes, fabulous production design capable of creating exotic backgrounds for the story, and a lush orchestral score with a big sweeping melody sure to get the heart pumping. These elements are all front and center in “The World in his Arms”, a full-blooded adventure yarn directed by the master Raoul Walsh that uses all of its 104-mintue running time to tell an exciting story.

In this case, that exotic background I mentioned earlier is San Francisco circa 1850 and a Russian-governed Alaska territory. Gregory Peck is Sea Captain John Clark, known to everyone as “The Boston Man”, a procurer and trader of seal pelts he brings back to San Francisco from the shores of Alaska. He hatches the idea of buying the Alaska territory with his riches; not only for the territory, but to help end the cruel Russian rule of the territory. Of course there’s the beautiful Czarist Countess Maria Selanova (Ann Blyth) who he falls in love with after she disguises herself as a Barbary Coast dancing girl. She’s engaged to Prince Semyon (Carl Esmond, not as forceful as I would like), a cruel member of the nobility who tends to chop off the hands of uncooperative Eskimos in his territory.

Good stuff here, and a marvelous supporting cast including Anthony Quinn as a sometimes rival, sometimes friend to Peck; John McIntire, Eugenie Leontovich, Hans Conreid, Rhys Williams, and the incomparable Sig Ruman. There’s not a movie made that isn’t immediately improved by Sig Ruman’s presence.

Walsh is one of the best action directors of all time, with most of his movies brimming with lusty action and broad comedy. There’s a marvelous sequence here where Peck and Quinn race their ships from San Francisco to Alaska. We become so caught up in the action of the tall ships racing through the crashing ocean waves that we barely notice the scenes of the crew on deck filmed in front of a process screen.

The climax is memorable too, and very reminiscent of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938). This time, Peck’s men disguise themselves as hooded monks to crash the wedding between the Countess and the Prince. Peck disrupts the wedding when he makes a spectacular crash through a plate glass window in the church balcony.

I’m sure the cast and crew had no illusions they were creating art here, and were satisfied at turning out nothing more than a rousing good time at the movies. There’s no skimping on production values here, and the score by the underrated Frank Skinner is top notch. There’s a little something for everyone. Men like the action and the women are sure to appreciate the final scene, with Captain Clark and the Countess together at the wheel of his ship, off to new adventures. As John McIntire’s character says, “He’s got the world in his arms.”

The Boys From Brazil

“The Boys from Brazil” (1978) is a terrific thriller, feature a pair of powerhouse performances courtesy Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier. Add the great James Mason to the mix, and it’s triple the enjoyment. I caught it on TCM a few weeks ago, and liked it so much I went out and bought the DVD. I had forgotten how good it was.

No need to go into the story, based on a novel by Ira Levin, but I think everyone knows that The Boys from Brazil refers to Hitler clones. Dr. Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck), a real character, is among the refugee Nazis in South America busy hatching a diabolical scheme for a Fourth Reich using the clones. Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier), an elderly Nazi hunter, gets wind of the scheme and tries to put a stop to it.

I remember when the movie came out and critics and audiences were pretty evenly split on the lead performances. Some thought Peck was laughably miscast as Mengele, while others thought the casting of good guy, All-American Peck in such a role was chilling and effective.

I can remember Peck appearing on “The Tonight Show” one night and pulling out clips of reviews from his pants, quoting the raves his performance had received from some critics. Apparently the barbs he took did not sit well with him.

For myself, I think Peck is quite good in the role. Not great, but better than I would have thought. It’s as amoral a role he ever played. Mengele was one of the great monsters of the 20th century, and Peck wisely does not try to humanize him.

Some found Olivier’s performance as Lieberman to be embarrassing and one-note, accusing him of doing an Albert Basserman impression. Others found him brilliant, and the Academy awarded him a Best Actor nomination that year.

I think Olivier is absolutely dazzling in the role. By turns warm and sarcastic, cynical and caring, aloof and tender, this is multi-dimensional character. It’s one of my all-time favorite Olivier performances. He lost the Best Actor Oscar to Jon Voight that year for “Coming Home.” I would have given it to Olivier, or Gary Busey for the wonderful “The Buddy Holly Story.”

Critics who didn’t like the movie made jokes about Peck and Olivier during their final fight scene, but let’s face it, the characters are old men, and they’re not going to be throwing each other across the room like Sean Connery and Robert Shaw. I have no problems with the scene as it plays out.

There’s some eerie imagery on display here. Mengele is not above genetically experimenting on the locals in his jungle compound, and the sight of those brown skinned, blue-eyed natives is chilling without being over the top. One of my favorite scenes occurs when Mengele returns to his old laboratory and he flashes back to his cloning experiments. No dialogue here, but the chilling operation scenes and the scenes of the mothers in the maternity ward are greatly helped by Jerry Goldsmith’s ominous music.

I love the score to “The Boys from Brazil.” Love it, love it, love it. The main waltz is one of Goldsmith’s great themes. It’s like another character in the movie. About 15 years ago I saw Goldsmith conduct the Milwaukee Symphony in a concert of his music and they played the waltz as part of a suite. It was wonderful to hear this music live. What a thrill that was.

(For my birthday following my initial viewing of the movie, my dad surprised me with the LP recording of the soundtrack, because he knew how much I liked the music. There aren’t many fathers who would have encouraged their son’s strange listening habits.)

Goldsmith’s score was nominated for an Oscar that year. but lost. So did John Williams’ score to “Superman.” Who did they lose to, but Giorgio Moroder for “Midnight Express.” In full disclosure, I’ve never seen that film or heard the score, so maybe it is a masterpiece. But I sure thought “Superman” was going to take the Best Score Oscar that year.

I can vividly remember the first time I saw the film. It seems like it was only yesterday.

My dad and I went to see the film on a Friday night at the Dolton, the second-run theater in my home town where I spent a large portion of my youth. It was the second show of the evening, and we were standing in the lobby waiting for the first show to let out. The doors opened as the end credits were rolling and we could hear that glorious Goldsmith score. I liked it the minute I heard it, and I couldn’t wait for the movie to start so I could hear it again.

Coming out of the theater with her family was Mary, a pretty, freckle-faced cute-as-can-be girl I had gone to grammar school and junior high with. We were going to separate high schools at the time, but I still saw her when she would come into the grocery store where I was working. We said hello to each other and she said it was a real good movie, that I would like it.

I saw her at the store the next week and agreed that yes, it was a terrific movie, my dad and I liked it a lot. Of course I wanted to tell her how much I liked the music but I learned very early on that there are some things –i.e. film scores – that you don’t discuss with girls. Still, I always wondered what she thought of the score to “The Boys from Brazil.” She probably didn’t even notice it. Her loss.

Rating for “The Boys from Brazil”: Three and a half stars.

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