The Big Country (1958)

Second viewing; first viewed on August 31, 1997

A sea captain is engaged to be married to a rancher's daughter. His polite and diplomatic manners are viewed with suspicion by his fiancee and by the people living near her. A long-running feud between his father-in-law and another rancher seems to be the source of the violence he witnesses.

Interesting western, which nevertheless has some aspects which should be challenged. It belongs to a class of films in which the hero is an outsider who has a higher moral ground than the locals. This leads to a worldview which justifies many things which have wreaked havoc wherever they have been applied, for example in the case of American imperialism and its later-day offshoots. Also of note is the opposition of the sea person to the land person, about which philosopher Carl Schmitt has theorized, only applied to nations. Here too, the film is to be questioned, as one side appears to have the higher moral ground. All those caveats notwithstanding, the film is certainly of interest and not excessively unpleasant to watch. Christopher Mulrooney notes (here and here) the relationship with The Frisco Kid.

(pan-and-scan copy)

Rating: 53 (up from 42)